$15 General Admission, $12 Member
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The screening on September 11 will feature a bonus Q & A with several directors and actors from the featured short films!
PLAYING ONLINE AND AT THE MV FILM CENTER
From more than 300 entries our festival selection committee has chosen 10 finalists. We will screen each short film and our jury will select the “Best Overall” film at the conclusion of the program. The winning short film will be shown again prior to the Closing Night feature.
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Our Jury:
Diana Barrett has been a long time festival jury member and president and founder of the Fledgling Fund, a philanthropic organization that supports documentary films that have a social impact.
Tony Fair’s short film HOME ROOM was our 2020 MVIFF winning short film. As is tradition, we asked the previous year’s winner to be a part of the jury for this year.
Sarah Kernochan is a twice time Academy Award winner for short documentary film, a director, and screenwriter.
*** Extreme Thanks to our Short Film Selection committee (Anne Evasick, Jennifer Smith Turner, Linda Comstock and Don Wertlieb) for their work over the last six months to view, rate and select our ten finalists from close to 300 submissions. Bravo!
2021 MVIFF SHORT FILM FINALISTS
1) “THE PRATT IN THE HAT” – (15:00) Directed by Susan Hillary, United States
Beneath the brims of hundreds of colorful hats is a woman who shares her wisdom, humor, and personal experiences about being black in America, then and now. Frances Pratt’s hats make a bold statement as does her southern charm and pithy expressions which she garnered through a lifetime of service to her community fighting for racial equality, voting rights and education.
Susan Hillary, Director of THE PRATT IN THE HAT will be joining us live at the Film Center
Susan Hillary (aka Susan Hillary Shapiro) has been making independent feature films and documentaries since the 1980s. Some of her films have premiered and filmed at the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals. The documentary “Studio 54” on which she was the archival cinematographer is streaming on netflix. The PRATT in the HAT is her first film after an almost 20 year hiatus from filmmaking.
2) “SINTRA III” – (12:00) Directed by Aitor Echeverría & Iván Casajús, Spain
Oscar lives traumatized by the death of his girlfriend Elena. During a job trip, he has an accident and, when changing the spare wheel, he discovers an old box full of music tapes. Those are mixtapes that Elena used to create for their trips. Oscar decides to continue driving listening to those songs which transports him to the past.
3) “MISTER CACHEMIRE” – (16:12) Directed by Iouri Philippe Paillé, Canada
A mysterious and eccentric man walks into a bank to ask for a loan and to summon dark secrets from the past.
4) “NOW YOU SEE US” – (11:00) Directed by Romina Schwedler, United States
A COMING OF a certain AGE STORY!
Two actresses “of a certain age” compete fiercely for a role in a TV commercial, but as their audition approaches, the lifelong rivals begin to discover that they face a much larger threat: A society that finds them invisible!
Caroline Ryburn, star of NOW YOU SEE US will be joining us live at the Film Center
Caroline Ryburn grew up in East Tennessee – the daughter of a dance teacher, her father operated his own studio in their home. Caroline has performed extensively on stage in everything from musicals and original sketch comedy to Shakespeare and American classics. Her credits include the Tony Award-nominated Largely New York with Bill Irwin, Letter to the World, No Song of An Ingenue, The Glass Menagerie, Other Desert Cities, The Plantation, The Miser, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Hamlet, and The Crucible, among many others for companies such as City Center, The Lambs, Abingdon Theater, Atlantic Stage 2, and Brave New World Rep. In addition to Now You See Us, other films include psycho-thriller feature, Mouse, drama short, Finding Jane, web-series, Lords of the Bowery, and the mini-series sitcom, Life Sucks. Caroline is an avid biker, who dreams of touring around the world with her husband on two wheels.
5) “FEELING THROUGH” – (18:17) Directed by Doug Roland, United States
Feeling Through, the first film to star a DeafBlind actor, is a coming of age story that follows Tereek, a teen wandering the streets of New York, desperate for a place to crash when he encounters Artie, a DeafBlind man in need of help getting home. From an awkward meeting between strangers emerges an intimate bond, and a journey that forever changes Tereek.
6) “AFTER THE EGG” – (18:04) Directed by Chelsea Slayter, New Zealand
Based loosely on the experiences of the director, AFTER THE EGG is a short film about a young woman who becomes an unlikely caregiver for her estranged father and his new chicken friend after he suffers a life altering stroke.
Chelsea Slayter, director of AFTER THE EGG will be joining us live at the Film Center
A Jersey Shore based filmmaker, Chelsea has traveled the world telling intimate nonfiction stories that capture the resilience of the human spirit. Her filmmaking journey began in journalism, and now her fictional work continues to reflect an approach rooted in documentary. Inspired by her experiences with her father, AFTER THE EGG is her narrative short film debut.
7) “TÂM” – (11:52) Directed by Noora Niasari, Australia
Tâm wakes up in a strange hotel room. As she pieces together the night before, she realizes she is not alone.
8) “THE KICKSLED CHOIR” – (18:00) Directed by Torfinn Iversen, Norway
Shortlisted for the 93rd Academy Awards for Live-Action Short
Ten-year-old Gabriel loves to sing and has one desire: to sing in the local choir. The group rides kick-sled through the snowy landscape of Northern-Norway and is known for their kindness and charity towards the village refugees. But when Gabriel’s father gets into a fight with one of the local refugees, Gabriel’s quest to join The Kicksled Choir becomes challenging.
9) “THE BEST OF FRIENDS” – (18:51) Directed by Eyal Tzadik & Yotam Kislev, Israel
This is a tale of two beggars.
A friendship that could end miserably. Sasha prepares Simon for a meeting with the woman who ran him over with her limousine. A ridiculous heir. If they succeed, Simon could live a better life, and Sasha will stay alone in the streets.
10) “GRACELAND” – (13:48) Directed by Bonnie Discepolo (Ryan), United States
Anna Camp stars as a southern mom whose life is all-shook-up when her fourth grader claims to be reincarnation of the king of ‘rock-n-roll.’
