Beyond the Frame

The State of the Short Film and Film Festivals: 

We received a personal letter from Tribeca programmer Ben Thompson today.  He informed us that The Assassination of Chicago’s Mayor (trailer above) will not be screening at this year’s festival.  The news was obviously disappointing but it is hardly surprising.  Our roster of high-quality short films have had a festival acceptance rate of less than 5%.  Between programming and shipping costs in the last five years, our total bill for that success rate has amounted to over $2,000.  In the grand scheme of things, this is not a lot of money for promotion.  But considering the risk incurred on behalf of the filmmaker and the lack of transparency in the festival selection process, it is not necessarily the best way to spend valuable promotion dollars.  Ben’s thoughtful letter was an exception.  There are festivals that don’t even bother to send out a notice of rejection, let alone an acknowledgement that it was even previewed.

Short film selection feels particularly arbitrary to the filmmaker.  It’s nearly impossible for an individual short film to build a buzz.  Audiences attend these screenings because they love the genre as a whole, not because they have heard of one individual film.  So why does a programmer chose one film over the other?  It completely depends on their taste and how a film fits within the context of the other films that are selected.  A feature can at least build enough buzz that an on-the-fence programmer may select it because he or she knows it will sell tickets.

The truth of the matter is that the web has become, by far, the best distribution outlet for short film.  The only rub is that Vimeo seems to be the only platform where a dramatic short film can gain traction.  There are, of course, exceptions to that, but internet consumers tend to watch and share comedy on the web, not drama.  There is no true dramatic equivalent to Funny or Die or The Onion News Network.

I’ll take this opportunity to share a nice, dramatic short film directed by Po Chan called The Last 3 Minutes.  

~ü