Movies: Loft’s ShortFest film festival has some international flavor
by Chuck Graham on Apr. 13, 2006, under Calendar, Local
"The true star (of a mini-cinema festival) is the variety of subjects you can show each time. I know there are hidden gems sitting in people's closets all over Tucson,"organizer Tim Gassen says.
There’s a new kind of short film festival coming to The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. We’re talking the TucsonFilm.com ShortFest.
For one thing, unlike the First Friday short film competition held the first Friday of every month at The Loft, the TucsonFilm.com ShortFest has longer films. Some are as long as 16 minutes.
“And they are better films,” says the ShortFest’s enthusiastic producer and host Timothy Gassen.
That’s because this three-hour film showcase set for Saturday is a juried festival dedicated to screening quality short films by independent filmmakers not just from Tucson but also from Phoenix and points beyond. Such as Spain and England.
While the homegrown ShortFest eagerly encourages Tucson filmmakers to submit entries, the judges have been willing to watch just about anything from anywhere – at least for a few minutes.
“We want to keep putting the films and filmmakers first,” says Gassen. “That’s why we’ve created this festival.” Gassen has charged no entry fees for filmmakers and says any film will be considered, even if it is not selected as an entry. Plans are to hold a TucsonFilm.com Shortfest every six months at The Loft.
Included in this debut program are a selection of 21 award-winning shorts from Spain, other international and U.S. entries, as well as “the best from Arizona.” Purely by coincidence there are seven from Phoenix and seven from Tucson.
Included in the collection from Spain is the Oscar-nominated short film “7:35 in the Morning” by Nacho Vigalondo.
“The films from Tucson and Phoenix take completely different approaches,” said Gassen, but he declined to describe those differences.
The ShortFest event begins at 3 p.m. with a 2 1/2 hour seminar on the challenges of working in independent production and shortform filmmaking. On the panel are Dick Fisher (“The Brothers McMullen”), Emmy nominee Marlowe Weisman (“Baby Looney Tunes”), veteran actor Joe Jones and Tucson-based independent film producer and director Mike Rom.
A reception for the filmmakers is at 6 p.m., followed by screening the festival films at 7 p.m. Then at 10 p.m. the first ever ShortFest awards will be announced.
“Every city of any size has at least one place showing these truly independent films made on shoestring budgets,” Gassen said.
Think of these independent spirits not as Hollywood wanna-bes but as mad scientists in their research and development labs trying this and that. Taking chances, using dumb combinations of incongruous elements just to see what happens.
“The true star (of a minicinema festival) is the variety of subjects you can show each time,” said Gassen. “I know there are hidden gems sitting in people’s closets all over Tucson.”
Gassen sees his festival not as competition with the First Friday Shorts events hosted by Max Cannon, but as one more building block in the foundation for a local film community. Whenever this subject comes up, people always point to Austin, Texas, as the brightest example of a new film center springing up where there was nothing.
“We hope to draw local filmmakers out of their respective corners, to help foster a greater sense of film community here” Gassen explained.
In complete agreement is Peggy Johnson, The Loft’s executive director. She says Gassen’s festival is “an important event for us, expanding our mission to support filmmakers, especially locals. This curated festival is a perfect counterpoint to our highly successful First Friday Shorts open screen nights.”
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IF YOU GO
What: TucsonFilm.com ShortFest 2006.
When: 3-11 p.m. April 15.
Where: The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd.
How much: $10 festival pass gets you in to everything.
Details: www.tucsonfilm.com
