Shorts International Film Festival

In a town already riddled with festivals, the second annual Shorts International Film Festival in New York City took advantage of locally based star power to give it some extra glitter, a swanky department store as an original setting for its closing night party, and the donation of space at the Sony Theatres Lincoln Square to provide a relatively central location for its screenings.

Like last year’s SIFF, this year’s outing saw a number of films that were far from festival virgins. Elizabeth Schub’s Cuba 15, Amy Talkington’s Second Skin, and Joel Hopkins’s Jorge were among the films that had already enjoyed numerous successes prior to their appearances here. As was also the case with last year’s event, the Documentary Category was especially strong, offering Horse Dreams in BBQ Country, the tale of two openly gay ranchers in the heart of Texas, and the incredible Rate Women by Minkie Spiro about a blossoming subculture of otherwise normal-seeming English women who own legions of rats as pets.

Except for the showing of the winning films at the Awards Ceremony, the vast bulk of screenings took place during the day in the donated space of the Sony Theatres Lincoln Square location. This scheduling constraint probably was responsible for the relatively sparse audiences, even on Veteran’s Day, which happened to fall on one of the festival’s weekdays. One can’t help but wonder if the filmmakers might be better served by the festival paying for a space with ticket revenues and perhaps reaching wider audiences with screenings scheduled either in the evenings or on weekends.

Of the festival’s winners from each category, the most affecting were those from the Experimental and Animation sections. Bill Cote’s Seventeen Seconds to Sophie was a stop-frame animated picture of his wife’s nine months of pregnancy. Debra Solomon’s animation winner, Everybody’s Pregnant, was a musical account of a woman’s struggle with infertility as everyone around her seemed to be popping out babies with ease, and its emotional power was nicely wrapped in a humorous, quick-moving package. Other winners included the Belgian short Noel au Balcon by Martine Doyen in the Drama Category, Sylvie Rosenthal’s Canadian comedy, La Bombe au Chocolat, Jay Rosenblatt’s documentary, Human Remains, and Enrique Chediak’s student short El Rio.

Venice International Film Festival by Belle Burke
Toronto International Film Festival by Ray Pride
Marco Island Film Festival by Brandon Judell
Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival by Stephen Gallagher
Tacoma Film Festival by Liane Bonin
International Film Festival, Mannheim-Heidelberg by Diane Sippl
Hawaii International Film Festival by Mike Jones
London Film Festival by Laura Macdonald
Shorts International Film Festival by Amy Veltman
CinemaTexas by Holly Willis