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Pismo airs at the
Tower Theatre at 8:15 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29. |
Short films offer the best and worst of
movie watching. The good thing about a bad short film is that
it’s short. The bad thing about a good short film is that it’s
short. Starting Monday, Nov. 26, moviegoers can see a number of
good (and, undoubtedly, some not so good) short films as part of
the Sixth Annual Miami Short Film Festival, which runs through
Sunday, Dec. 2.
More
than 550 films from around the world — from
Canada
to Australia, Singapore to
South America
— were submitted for consideration, and 150 will be screened at
venues throughout the city.
What
constitutes a “short” film? “There’s a big debate about that,”
said William Vela, who founded the festival in 2001 as an outlet
for his own shorts. “Some say 20 minutes or less makes it a
short, but [the group that hands out the Academy Awards]
considers films that are 30 minutes or less as shorts, so that’s
what we go with.”
Although
the festival has 17 individual events during its week-long run,
including opening and closing night ceremonies, one evening of
note is dedicated to Latin cinema. Six shorts from Latin
countries will be shown at the Tower Theatre at 8:15 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 30. Among others, the screening will feature La
Lucha (“The Fight”), a U.K./Cuban documentary about a
pianist fighting to live a better life.
“It’s a
great opportunity for people in the Latin community to learn
more about this type of film,” Vela said. “We also hope it will
inspire more Latin submissions to the festival. It’s important
for Latin filmmakers to know they have a venue for their
movies.”
Like
feature films, shorts come in a variety of forms, including
narrative, experimental, documentary and animation. The film
festival offers awards in each category and a best local film
award; the winner of the best overall film will receive a check
for $12,000.
Narrative films to look for include Aquarium, in which a
suburban kid finds truth at the bottom of a fish tank, and
Checkpoint, an Australian piece about an encounter that ends
in tragedy when a Lebanese-Australian family is harassed by a
group of soldiers at a checkpoint. Loom, an American
animated film of note, is about a street musician who risks his
life to save a child. Experimental films abide by no rules, as
is evident in DJ: LA, which remixes the sights and sounds
of the Los Angeles landscape to uncover the rhythm and melody of
the city.
Screenings for the Miami Short Film Festival will be held Nov.
26-Dec.2 at the Miami
Science Museum and
Planetarium, the Bill Cosford Cinema at the University of
Miami,
the Tower Theatre in Little Havana, the Miami Beach Cinematheque
and the Miami Children’s Museum. Tickets are $10 to $13 and
include four to 15 short films at each venue. For more
information, visit www.miamishortfilmfestival.com or call
305-854-2229.
Comments? E-mail
letters@miamisunpost.com. |
