In case you haven’t seen the short films nominated for Oscars this year, the Sylvania Community Arts Commission (SCAC) has your back.
For the third year, the Tree City Film Fest will include a screening of every Oscar nominated short film from around the world on April 17. This includes live-action as well as animated short films, and it’s one of the few places in the area you can view these shorts on the big screen.
Jennifer Archer, executive director of SCAC, said it’s a big opportunity for film buffs to see films they may otherwise miss.
“For me, because I’ve got kids, most of the shorts I get to see throughout the year are animated shorts,” Archer said. “This is the one place I get to see them all.”
Tickets to the Oscar shorts are $8, which includes over three hours of entertainment.
This is just day one of the weekend-long festival, which will also include showings from the 50-hour film challenge on April 18 and original short films on April 19.
The 50-hour film challenge gives teams of local filmmakers the chance for local acclaim by creating original shorts. Each team is assigned a genre, prop, line of dialogue, character name, and shooting location to be used somewhere in the film. These shorts must be shot and submitted between March 20-22.
The deadline for entering the 50-hour film challenge is March 1, and cost is $45 per team.
On April 19, selections from Shorties Film Challenge will be screened and a winner will be announced.
The Shorties Film Challenge invites 3-5 minute short film entries from teams of children grades K-12. At the screening, children will be able to walk the red carpet with their families before seeing their masterpieces on the big screen.
Leading in to the Shorties Film Challenge is a four-week workshop called Shorties U, where 50 area kids are chosen to learn every aspect of filmmaking from local masters as well as industry professionals.
Hands-on projects during the workshop include screenwriting, filming and the editing process. Every kid will leave the program with a completed short film, and they’re encouraged to create a short in their own time to enter in the Shorties Film Challenge.
Although this year’s workshop is full, it’s never too early to think about applying for next year’s program, Archer said.
“We’ll have way more than 50 registrations, and part of our application process is asking, ‘Why does your kid want to be part of this?’” creator Jeremy Baumhower, a Toledo Free Press columnist, said.
Archer said the film festival helps locals experience the beauty of film, since Sylvania doesn’t have a movie theater.
To meet the challenge of not having a theater available, SCAC will convert the historical chamber in Sylvania into a screening house for the weekend.
“This engages everyone no matter what level they’re at, so if you want to try something new you can do it here,” Archer said.
Tickets to the Oscar shorts and release forms for contest participants are available at www.sylvaniaarts.org.
