What’s Up?! Short Film and George Clooney

Suburbicon….a true story, and a new movie that is in wide release, October 26, 2017. Don’t miss it! George Clooney, Julianne Moore and Matt Damon tell a true story about Levittown, Pennsylvania. We’ve had experience recently in Levittown, their way of life may continue. Levittown was designed to be a town that excluded people of color, specifically African Americans. Remarkably, the Meyer family, an African American family, bought a house and moved there in 1957. The movie tells the story of a significant period in their life living in Levittown.

Marshall

itsashort.com caught up with Reggie Hudlin, the director and several members of the cast who talked about making the movie, it’s another true story, and its significance as it relates to the events of today is surprisingly relevant.

Reggie Hudlin worked to tell a true story, worked to share actual historical context and offered insight and details about a lawsuit in 1941 in Connecticut. There are lots of surprises throughout the movie and very moving tributes. Maybe not the most significant for us, the most personally moving was a tribute to Trayvon Martin. In the closing scene, The central figure, Thurgood Marshall, is called to a new case in the south and when he finally arrives by train, he’s greeted by the local officials of the community. They are portrayed by the living parents of Trayvon Martin. Its those kinds of details throughout the movie that sharpen the focus, punch the points and allow each viewer a more profound historic glimpse.

The Shorts!

George Clooney is also committed to short film! Here’s the trailer for a short film he made, The Big Empty, in 2005!

ITSASHORT.COM, we are hosting FirstGlance online short film contest. Please check it out here. The contest and the short films included are fascinating, heart breaking, scary and very funny!

Harvey Weinstein: well…what can be said, its a piece of the culture whose time has finally ended. Yes, ended.. this kind of behavior, intimidation, threats and other forms of bullying of women for being women, that is over. Hopefully, those women who have been silenced will continue to find their voice and tell their stories, as truth telling is our pathway to prosperity. Thank you to the women for standing and telling their truth and thank you to the men who stand for truth.

Finally, we want to welcome and thank our sister blog: Tinsel and Tine! Its a wonderful blog about film…including short film and food! Delicious!

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What’s Up?! The Short Film Life with a touch of Feature

Chadwick Boseman, aka Thurgood Marshall for the next several weeks is a remarkably versatile actor. We know him in ‘42′, he was also one of my favorite characters in the movie Draft Day. It’s not a movie about the infamous Brown v Board litigation but in fact begins in 1941 with a very controversial case where the then young Thurgood Marshall was not allowed to argue the case in the courtroom.

Reggie Hudlin, the gifted director whose first movie was House Party, has delivered a unique and thoughtful film. The cast is amazing and includes Kate Hudson, Josh Gad and Sterling K Brown. It opens Friday, October 13th! Look for it!

Chicago International Film Festival

The festival opens today! And, it’s opening feature is the movie Marshall. This years festival, it’s 53rd year will be chock full of feature films from around the world, industry days for the ‘working filmmaker, film enthusiast crowd’ and a rich roster of short film. itsashort.com is there for the shorts…but we are not going to miss the amazing moments of opening night which include Chdwick Boseman and Reggie Hudlin in attendance.

Festivals This Week!

Festivals opening this week around the country too many to count. There are 3 in Chicago and hundreds around the country. Check your local listings…and support these artists. Two favorites this time of year are Heartland Film Festival and Mill Valley Film Festival. We are excited about the Austin Film festival and a hidden gem Hells Half Mile Film Fest which ran September 28- October 1, 2017.

Itsashort.com

There’s lots going on! The FirstGlance online short film contest launched this week, check it out the shorts are amazing. Watch and vote for your favorite everyday! We would like to introduce you to one of our blogging partners. She is interested in supporting crowdfunding efforts for short film and feature length film. The blog is Tinsel and Tine and here’s the story and the offer:

This summer, a Crowd Funding Campaign for a short film by a Philly filmmaker came to my attention and I decided to reach out and help to promote her Indiegogo Campaign via T&T’s social media platforms and site. Here’s the link – http://www.tinseltine.com/2017/09/crowdfunding-campaign-highlight-for.html I’d like to think my efforts helped to drive some donating traffic; at any rate, she made her goal. I’ve decided I’d like this to be an ongoing feature, to choose an upcoming Crowd Funding Campaign and help promote it. I need at least a 2 week lead time before the campaign is set to begin.

If interested, email me: tinseltinepromotions@gmail.com

As always, short film gives us life!

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What’s Up!? Short Film: Must Kill Karl

Must Kill Karl makes its Canadian premiere at the Edmonton Film Festival this Friday, October 6, 2017. The festival opened September 28, but clearly one of the best of the short film is yet to be seen. Three key figures who serve as writer, director and actor, happen to be best friends and two of the three are coupled!

The short film is about the one friend we all love to hate and in this movie, ultimately decide must be killed? The three people involved in the creation are: Karen Moore, Mike Lobel and Joe Kicak. Karen and Joe are the writer producer team and Mike, their real life high school ‘bud’ is the principal actor. Below is the ‘press note’ about Karen, Mike and Joe.

‘Karen Moore is a Toronto-based writer and producer of narrative TV and films. Karen’s currently a writer/co-producer on the hit comedy series Workin’ Moms (CBC). Her TV writing/story editing credits include What Would Sal Do? (Crave) and Rookie Blue (ABC/Shaw). Karen is in development with CBC Kids on a Digital Original series. Karen wrote/produced the 2012 BravoFACT drama, Your Place or Mine, and the award-winning drama, Frozen Marbles.

Mike Lobel as Karl is best known for his roles as Jay Hogart on CTV’s “Degrassi: The Next Generation” and DJ on the Family Channel sitcom “Really Me”. A trained musician, Mike has been a member of the indie-pop band Future Peers. Co-starring an ensemble cast, Must Kill Karl takes an unexpected turn that will take you by surprise.

Award-winning filmmaker Joe Kicak is a writer/director/producer keeping busy with his other award wining short ‘Frigid’ on the festival circuit. Joe is currently in development with CBC Kids with a Digital Original series. His previous directing credits include the award-winning short film Distilled Love, which received the National Screen Institute’s Drama Prize. His feature film, Two Days Till Tomorrow, screened at festivals across North America and won a limited Canadian theatrical release with AMC theatres.’

Must Kill Karl Trailer

Must Kill Karl makes its US debut this year at the Austin Film Festival and Karen, Mike and Joe will be there!

itsashort.com

In the itsashort universe, we are preparing to launch the FirstGlance online short film contest October 9, 2017. The shorts are amazing. Participating in the contest is beyond easy! Just click here starting Monday October 9, at noon central.

Puerto Rico, the CariBbean and Mexico City

Many of our fans, subscribers and friends of itsashort.com have been affected by either the awful events in Las Vegas, the devastating effects of the hurricane throughout the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico where enormous numbers of people have been affected and Mexico City which is still reeling from the devastating affects of the earthquake. The losses will be incalculable in human and even material costs but the opportunity to somehow help is being embraced in astonishing ways throughout the world. Our instincts to care for others is exampled everywhere. We know that everyone who can help is helping…and so are we here at itsashort.com. We will post something every week that shares the work of everyday people helping others.

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What’s Up? Black Harvest Film Festival

Black Harvest Film Festival completed its 23rd festival and announced the Best Short Film winner, The Suit. The features, shorts, industry moments and the most recent addition, the expo were great. There is always a nod to the local artists, many of whom premiered their work. Special note goes to David Weathersby and Shahari Moore. The shorts programs were amazing; this year there were seven short film program tracks: Women of Color, Made in Chicago 1, Black history – Lost and Found, International, Family Matters, A Black Harvest Feast, Love African American Style and Made in Chicago 2. But meeting filmmakers and fans, networking and learning the background stories and challenges of the artists were real highlights of the festival. amazing to hear. Floyd Norman, a Disney legend who offered a master class in animation was a reminder of the number of true filmmaker pioneers.

The brilliance of opening the festival with a series of award winning short films and the close with the iconic Love Jones, as a celebration of its 20th year cannot be overstated…next year will be amazing. Its the month of August, every year!

Black Harvest Film Festival Audience Favorite

The Suit

The Suit is a short film by Jarryd Coetsee from South Africa. It’s a Fifties-set drama based on a short story by once banned South African writer Can Themba. The story is about a husband who devises a cruel and unusual punishment for his unfaithful wife. It has been admitted to two Oscar Qualifying Festivals and has won Best Short Film Prize at the prestigious South African Film and Television Awards.

The story is that a husband catches his wife with another man in their home, yeah…in the bedroom. Her punishment, this is set in the fifties, was that she was required to carry The Suit of her lover everywhere she went! Gotta love South African story telling….the ending is tragic, beyond sad but mirrors the harsh conditions of South Africa at the time…somehow there is a kind of odd parallell.

The short film is beautifully ‘shot’ and a definite must see.

As we prepare for the FirstGlance online short film contest which starts October 9, 2017 on the itsashort.com platform. Checkout the trailer for the Spring winning short film Chocolate:

This is the ‘teaser’ for the short film Chocolate by Thiago DaDalt a Brazilian filmmaker about the unbelievable experience of someone who is dealing with Alzheimers, or some form of brain deterioration. It has garnered more than 9 Short Film Festival awards. It’s focus is the ‘real life’ story of woman, Nancy Paulikas, who has been missing for over a year. Partnering with the Alzheimers Association, the search continues, the commitment to raising awareness of this debilitating disease is unrelenting.

Finally, please checkout our online platform: itsashort.com. In addition to amazing short film, we are launching the FirstGlance online short film contest October 9, 2017. Many have participated, this contest will be ‘lit’!

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What’s UP! The Women’s Film Festival

Recently we caught up with Phuong Nyugen and Layne Marie Williams, co-founders of The Women’s Film Festival in Philadelphia. We talked with them about their inspiration and ideas for creating what has become a very successful festival for women, going into its 5th year!

My question was to describe the birthing process for this festival. Their response: ‘The Birthing process: we had no funding, no money we used our charm to get discounts for venues, getting donations from companies and using our passion to help women succeed. Once we got the ball rolling we realized there was huge interest. We opened submissions to the rest of the world. The response was amazing, we realized how much women needed us. Our first film festival we started with 50 submissions, second year tripled, next year 400 submissions. We are open now for submissions for next year. We’ve been open a few months, we see 100 submissions, closing date is November 5th. It seems to double and triple, over time women get into the film festival and the fact that someone other than family and friends see their films is just an amazing experience. So, an untapped community of artists looking for expression! Check out their festival next year, March 2018!

The Expanding Roles of Women!

Flip to Maggie Gyllenhaal in addition to starring in two different series is also a producer on both those series. The first, Deuce is about an oddly considered role for women.

The role of women is finally expanding to include so much more than acting, but also becoming part of the creative process including developing story lines and characters. The role of women is beginning to be defined by earnings, a classic yard stick. The four women who lead the earnings ‘leader list': Emma Stone, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lawrence and newcomer to the list, Emma Watson…all earned more than $20M in a 12 month period…that is a huge amount of of just cash but compared to the male counterparts? We wonder.

According to Emma Stone, her male actors actually took a pay cut to equalize pay…so doesn’t seem as if things are completely worked out in the industry, but we are making progress!

Closer to Home:

What’s happening on the itsashort.com platform? Lots of cool stuff, we are partnering with film festivals for the fall including our fan favorite First Glance Film Festival, watch for their contest on our platform. Here’s the trailer for last year’s Philadelphia winner, the short and interview are available on our platform.

We are also looking forward to another great festival in Miami, the Miami International Shorts Film Festival, the always amazing Chicago International Film Festival and The Austin Film Festival.

Get ready for Generation Z! (anyone born after 1995 ish)

Girl Cult, a one day event for Gen Z women from the amazing creative team, Galore Magazine, the hot design house that has taken campaigns to a completely new and almost unimagined level, is launching it’s inaugural event. Check out their ‘About’ page here. They combine amazing artistic expression with events, amazing influencers and a ridiculous set of social media campaigns…but let’s be clear, they totally do it.

itsashort.com is an online platform for award winning/award nominated short film, video and web series. Check outf itsashort.com for amazing short film!

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What’s Up? Traverse City Film Festival and Short Film Tracks

The Traverse City Film Festival kicked off this Tuesday, July 25th and reports are that it is amazing, today is Day 3! Below is the ‘daily’ video that talks about two aspects of the festival: food and films about food; and the volunteer experience.

itsashort.com partners with festivals to share significant events, news about the festival or just a genuine honorable mention, just because. We are huge fans of Michael Moore since like the beginning and this festival is a brilliant expression of his vision and that of so many people involved. if you can’t make it this weekend…bookmark it for next year.

Favorite Feature

There’s one film that has special resonance for current and past residents of the City of Detroit: 12th and Clairmont. This film is a kind of documentary about the Detroit Riots in 1967 and the realizations that flowed from that moment in the city’s history.

Finally a great opportunity for short filmmakers! Check out this announcement from The Hollywood Reporter! Its a collaboration between TIFF and Instagram, the launch of a digital short film competition.

For more info and amazing short film, checkout our site: itsashort.com, an online platform for award winning and award nominated short film, video and web series!

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LA Film Festival, Our Weekly Short and Short Film News

The LA Film Festival, ArcLight Cinema and Culver City Studios, short film , wow!

In 1981 band of directors, writers and producers began gathering regularly to share creative ideas and discuss ways to increase resources for independent filmmakers. National recognition quickly followed when the organization took on production of the Independent Spirit Awards in the late 1980s and assumed ownership of the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2000.

So, what do we think? The first few days and the first weekend was great. We left in the middle of the festival, ugh! But not before talking with Lena Waite, Elvis Mitchell one of the heroes of the festival, and @CandyceCayne one of the panelist for the Diversity in Tech weekend discussion. We also filmed an interview with filmmaker Amanda Evans whose feature, Serpent premiered and won the LA Film Festival Night Fall award!

In the spirit, the weekend was movies and an entire weekend devoted to Diversity in Film. We love that the diversity conversation is rich, textured, not just about race but all the isms and told from a wide variety of perspectives. Lots of issues were raised that may or may not occur for everyone but as the discussion flowed…everyone experienced at some point, a moment of ‘aha’.

The short film series was amazing great shorts ranging from The Night Shift to Black America Again – Common. So, the ‘short film’ programming did not disappoint.

The Winners for Short Film were just announced!

Award for Documentary Short
Black America Again, directed by Bradford Young

Audience Award for Short Film
Swim, directed by Mari Walker

Award for Short Film 
A Funeral for Lightning, directed by Emily Kai Bock

This Week’s Featured Short Film

Our weekly short is “Animator vs Animation IV” one of our personal favorites directed and animated by Alan Becker. The struggle between a stick figure and its creator, a computer animator. The stick figure, resisting his tormentor, attacks his social life by hacking his Facebook account, traveling onto his iPhone via USB cord, and drawing animations of his own to dismantle the animation interface.

Watch the trailer by clicking on the play button above or watch it full here.

Highlights for short film from the web:

Lexus Short Film Series Winners Unveiled: Watch Them Here

UK Media Depot Club short film selected for Pikeville festival

How These 4 Directors Got Their Shorts Produced and Distributed …

Our Mission

Itsashort.com is a platform for filmmakers and creators the world over. We love the short film genre. Plus, we at itsashort.com want to introduce audiences to award-winning and award-nominated artists who create movies, web series, and videos. Check out itsashort.com and subscribe for $2 a month to see the wonderful work of these creatives.

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What’s Up?! New Short Film News for the New Year!

what’s up, good people?! 2017 means resolutions and reinvention. just make sure you stay true to yourself and we’ll do the same. Now let’s get to some short film news.

We here at itsashort.com support the equal and equitable representation of voices not often heard in the film industry. Media outlets such as Film Independent are good at drawing attention to programs that work to pump up the volume to make sure those voices are heard.

One such program is Fox Global Directors Initiative (FDI), dedicated to shining a spotlight on the careers of underrepresented filmmakers. Jessica Sanders was one of 20 women directors in FDI’s first cohort and created a short film to express her feelings about what programs like FDI can do to make Hollywood more inclusive, particularly for women. She’s since shared some thoughts and even made a short film about her experience. Check out her mini documentary below.

This Week’s Short

AJ Briones has a beautifully shot short film in “The Smiling Man,” the story of a little girl facing a purely evil being. This creepy, horror story turns some dark corners, but manages to look wonderfully cinematic while doing it in such a brief span of time. You should not watch with children. In fact, you may need to watch with several adults.

Seriously, people. Silence is used quite well in this piece. Click the link to scare your New Year’s socks off.

Around the Web…

Mark March 21-26 off on your calendar as a “you must be here” moment for the much-anticipated Ann Arbor Film Festival. This program contains a myriad of voices from all over the world in both film as well as other presentations of art. From “Video Bureau: Works from an Archive of Chinese Video Art,” programmed by Ellen Zweig to a screening of works by African-American women artists—these folks understand what ‘inclusive’ means.

The 2017 schedule is soon coming, but in the meantime, you can absolutely check out the films from the previous festivals. In other words, you can support the short film and feature filmmakers by purchasing a DVD with last year’s films along with additional highlights from the festival at large. Click here for more details on how you get your hands on some of the most ground-breaking, experimental short film of the year.

There seems to be a disturbance in the Force. As in, there’s another take on the highly popular universe that provides an alternate perspective on the franchise. This short film garnered a little bit of steam in Los Angeles and Atlanta screenings last year. Follow the link to watch and let us know what you think. Does it rank among your favorite fan films?

Exciting stuff, good people.

Our Mission

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What’s Up?! Short Film NYE!

what’s up, good people?! 2016 was a great year of short film. let’s be sure to make the new year even better!

Even though Kylie Jenner “gifted” us with a smokey short film starring her and her rapper-boyfriend Tyga, we thought we’d end the year by sharing some beautiful and bright animation about the importance of soul mates. Luke Sanders envisions the future through a neon gaze in his sci-fi short, “The Fisherman.” When a young woman takes the reins of her father’s scientific research, the power of attraction turns everything on its ear. Check out the electric short film below. You’ll be hooked! Get it? You get it.

This Week’s Short

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Toy Story” is the perfect follow up for Raymond Montemayor’s previous (prequel?) “Star Wars: A Toy Story.” In This Week’s Short, a young Star Wars fan forcibly awakens her father’s dark side when she plays with his sacred toys without permission in order to gain his attention. Take a look at this short film to see how it stacks up against the newly-released feature in theaters now. Sure it may not have the same star power (see what we did there?) but we think it’s out of this world.

Click the link to see the toy story from not that long ago in a land that’s actually pretty close.

PS – This fan film was produced for LucasFilms‘ #GoRogue contest. Does this make it canon? Hm…

Around the Web…

Oh, so you’re wondering just how you can kick off the new year with some awesome short film consumption? Allow us to assist you. Slamdance Film Festival gets going January 20-26 in Park City, Utah. If you’re still in the throes of your holiday travel, maybe you can add a stop and swing over to check out the schedule for either the Experimental or the Anarchy short film program. Terms like “anarchy” and “rogue”…a pattern, we sense. (That’s Yoda-speak.)

By the way, the image above is from Houston native, Tommy C. Burns who contributed the image as the official 2017 film festival artwork. Gotta love it.

Keeping with the outer space motif, Ridley Scott is back among the stars with the upcoming Alien: Covenant. An apparent sequel to a prequel (Prometheus), the teaser trailer was released over the holiday and has people up in arms. Without giving away too much, there are some familiar faces and a few tweaks to what we know as common alien imagery that may raise some eyebrows. Based on this sneak peek, can you tell us where you think you’d rank this entry in the series? Maybe you’re interested in making your own fan-centered short film based on this iconic franchise… Here’s the mini-trailer:

Exciting stuff, good people.

Our Mission

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What’s Up?! World Day of Short Film!

what’s up, good people?! don’t let the polar vortex keep you from celebrating A world day of short film!

“X-Story” is the stuff of lore. It’s being described as Akira meets Indiana Jones by people like the folks at The Verge. It took two years for animator Vitaliy Shushko and his team to create this masterpiece. And guess what: there’s not even any dialogue. That’s impressive storytelling. The adventure of a Lara Croft video game with the gravitas of a silent film is no small feat.

We can dig it! You can, too. Click the link to peep this masterpiece.

This Week’s Short

“Eve & Steve” is a fun and light webseries written, directed, and produced by Nell Teare and John A. Griffin about a young woman and her gay best friend. It’s billed as the “edgier Will & Grace for the mobile generation.” Would you be able to school your bestie on…ahem…adult matters? In the “Sexting” episode, Eve learns all there is to know about what the pool boy and the pizza delivery boy do behind closed doors.

Click here to watch. Just to be clear, we’ll only link to the webseries, not the pool boy’s videos.

Around the Web…

If you want to celebrate the holidays with short film programs from Down Under, Flickerfest 2017 is kicking off just after the new year. Flickerfest is Australia’s leading Academy® Accredited & BAFTA Recognised Short Film Festival, so it’s the real deal. From indie short film premieres to re-realizing Oscar award nominated and winning short films, you’re bound to find something to love. Click the link to see the complete schedule.

Watch the trailer below to get a glimpse of what’s to come!

Oh, and in case you were interested in a free program honoring World Day of Short Film, we got word from CyprusMail that International Short Film Festival of Cyprus (ISFFC) is having a shindig.

There’ll be food from a team of barbecuers named Serial Grillers and, of course, booze. December 21 at 6pm is when you can attend this event. Market of the Old Town Hall of Nicosia is where. We can hear your eyebrows raising in anticipation. Check out the parent short film festival here.

Exciting stuff, good people.

Our Mission

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