As I have previously stated I have not always been a fan of short films. I always thought they were silly and not worth my time. But one year at The Sundance Film Festival I had a block of time where I had no movies scheduled and the only thing I could get tickets for was the Documentary Short Program. Not knowing what to expect I decided to check it out. And I was wowed. It turns out that shorts are pretty amazing piece of filmmaking. The next two times I went to Sundance I always made the documentary shorts a must see.
One day I saw an advertisement looking for volunteers to be on the selection committee for the Milwaukee Film Festival. I applied hoping to be on the feature film selection committee but instead got on the short film selection committee. Not what I wanted but was still cool to be on the inside of the film festival (and I got free tickets to the festival). When you are on a selection committee you basically sit in a room for a few hours watching movies. What I learned is that when dealing with short films you can watch a lot of movies in 2 hours. And there are some amazing short films out there. Now short films are a main stay in my movie watching. I try to watch the short films that are nominated for Oscars, I watch short films online, and I always see a short film program at a film festival.
This year I am really excited for The Milwaukee Short Film Festival because it will be showcasing a lot of local talent. One of the things that people don’t realize is that Milwaukee has a growing film community and some great movies are being made but no one is seeing them. This festival gives those making smaller movies a chance to get their work shown and rewarded. I am especially looking forward to the Voices Heard program which showcases local minority filmmakers. They bring a fresh perspective to films and can’t wait to see what these filmmakers have in store for us.
As the official bloggers of the festival we will be there and giving our opinions afterward. We hope to be able to Periscope some of the speeches so be sure to follow us on Twitter @mkemovietalk
Thanks and hope to see you at the festival.