With eight different programs and over 70 films, screening one of the Shorts Programs of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival was as reliable as a gorgeous South Coast day. Popular with platinum pass holder and single ticket buyers alike, the shorts were usually crowded, if not filled for each screening. (Pictured at left "Alien Dinner Theatre")
With each program, a wide variety of films were available for attendees, including this year's shorts winner "Spin", the winner of both the Bruce Corwin Award for Best Live Action Short, and VAFTA/LA Best Short Under Ten Minutes Award.Directed by Jamin Winans, the hilarious film is about a dj's ability to alter consequences via his turntable. (Pictured Left "1 Dance 2 Sea").
While I felt that "Spin" was the best choice, there were several outstanding shorts on the program including Krishna Devine's deliciously funny "Sly Dog", a dark suburban comedy about infidelity, bad neighbors, and missing pets; and Tim Garrick's "The Receipt", an homage to "Run Lola Run". Other shorts were notable not just because of their quality, but their diversity. "Coming Home" (executive producer Brooke Scharfstein and her husband director Lee Emery Scharfstein are pictured at left), was a beautifully cinemgraphed film that has the viewer nodding their head with realization and understanding the shock of the young man who has returned to his mother's home only to find a table full of young children who are strangers. To hear more from Scharfstein, click on link: Download Leeemery.wav . Animated films like Carolle-Shelley Abrams "Oola Oop L'eau de Ohh!" are so popular, that in addition to getting an encore performance 0f the 2005 Best Aimated Short, her character Natalie, the French chain smoking, high maintenance coquette is back in "Alien Dinner Theatre". (Hear Abrams voice by clicking on the link Download caroleshelley.wav . Other shorts don't fall into a certain category just like R.T. Livingston and Robin Bisio's "1 Dance 2 Sea" video installment does. In its most effective form, their production of interpretive dance near the sea is played on a flowing curtain. rather than a typical screen. Livingston explains this here: Download onedance2sea.jpg .
In the world of the arts I hope these types of programs are not cut. Everyone is looking to cut the budget but hopefully these types of arts will be spared.
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