Comedies, dramas, animated films and documentaries from nearly three dozen different countries will be screening at the Wheeler Opera House this spring for Aspen Film’s annual “Shortsfest” scheduled April 10-16.
Aspen Film announced a lineup of 79 titles for the short film festival on Tuesday.
Most selections run between 5 minutes and half an hour long, with each individual screening program of several shorts lasting about a couple of hours.
There are 11 different screening programs scheduled at the Wheeler for April 11-16, but the festival officially kicks off April 10 with a “Voices in Film Youth Forum” at the Aspen District Theater.
That event will present a selection of this year’s festival films and a filmmaker q-and-a during school hours; unlike most Shortsfest programming this year, it will also be broadcast live for students and teachers who cannot attend in person.
Filmmaker q-and-as are also slated to follow the main screening programs at the Wheeler.
Shortsfest is one of only four Oscar-qualifying festivals in the United States that is “strictly dedicated to short film in the fields of animation, documentary, and live-action narrative,” according to an Aspen Film press release.
Some of the directors selected for this year’s lineup have already earned accolades at other acclaimed festivals.
Earlier this year, Kayla Abuda Galang won Sundance Film Festival’s short film grand prize for “When You Left Me on That Boulevard” and Crystal Kayiza won the short film jury award for “Rest Stop,” both of which are also slated to screen at Shortsfest in Aspen.
Story Chen’s “The Water Murmurs” won the Palme d’Or for best short film at Cannes Film Festival last year; that, too, will be screening at Shortsfest.
Other films in the lineup have not been screened elsewhere. Directing team Geeta Gandbhir and Samantha Knowles will debut “How We Get Free,” a documentary about activist and Colorado State Representative Elisabeth Epps.
Julia Elihu’s “In the Garden of Tulips,” about a father and daughter during the Iran-Iraq war, will have its world premiere at Shortsfest; likewise for Kyle Sims’ “Galapagos,” about a lonely school teacher whose beloved rabbit disappears.
Several films also feature big-name actors, from comedic performers like Ken Marino and Kate Flannery and Rachael Harris (all cast in “Help Me Understand” at Shortsfest) to dramatic stars like Hugo Weaving (narrating the animation “Teacup”) and Honorary Academy Award recipient Wes Studi.
In Aspen, all the films at Shortsfest are eligible for cash prizes, some awarded by jury panels and others awarded by audience members.
In addition to “best of” categories, a festival jury chooses the winner of “Ellen Award for artistic merit and originality,” a nod to Aspen Film’s late founder and former executive director Ellen Kohner Hunt.
Shortsfest also honors one film that represents the experience of today’s youth, selected by a jury panel of middle and high school students; there’s also a competition for films created by students.
And audience members select their favorite films for the audience award.
Passes are already on sale for the entire festival, including film programs, panels, and other extracurriculars like “après screening” cocktail hours at locations around Aspen.
Single tickets for individual programs are available on March 21st for Aspen Film members and March 24th for the general public.
Ticket holders also get access to some extracurricular events. The full lineup is posted at aspenfilm.org.
