Love Your Shorts 2020

Festival brings international films to Sanford

From The Orlando Weekly, February 12, 2020

Turning 10 years old this year, Sanford’s Love Your Shorts Film Festival has always been a local favorite thanks to its commitment to Orlando filmmakers. But with a new emphasis on international selections, the event is drawing increased interest from around the globe. Turns out it’s a short world after all.

“We have long had strong international submissions,” says Brian Casey, screening and programming director. “What changed this year is … we noticed that we had so many great international submissions, and we have talked about a block for foreign films for several years. [So] we felt it was time to take the step and do it this year because when we grouped some of the international films together, … it freed up space in other blocks to show more films in general.”

Indeed, the festival, which is scheduled for February 13-16 at the Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center, will screen more films than ever: 81 total. As usual, all movies are less than 30 minutes and are divided into genre blocks. With the addition of the international program on Saturday at 5 p.m. (a time filled in past years by a discussion panel), the festival will now contain 10 blocks. (International films are not confined to the international block.)

To kick things off, organizers will hold a free “education day” on February 13, with a discussion panel and films by UCF students. The festival then gets underway in earnest on Friday evening with a block of films from all genres. It continues on Saturday with E for Everyone, animation, documentary, international, comedy and sci-fi/horror, and concludes on Sunday with drama, Florida Flavor and Best of the Fest, which compiles the audience winners from the previous blocks. A panel of judges then picks the overall winner.

France’s Sabine Crossen and England’s Andrew Margetson both hope to hop the Atlantic Ocean for Florida. Margetson’s movie will screen in the international block while Crossen’s will play the drama program.

“I hope to meet fellow filmmakers, exchange with film buffs and make myself available to the public to talk about my short film, Resurrection … and film in general. I would love to visit local places and, well, if the film is well received, why not bring back an award from Sanford to Paris?” Crossen jokes.

“I first heard about Love Your Shorts from the Film Freeway website,” Margetson says. “My film, Housekeeping, had just shown at Naples [Florida] International Film Festival, where I’d had a great experience. … If I come [to Sanford], I will use the opportunity to meet as many other filmmakers and industry people as possible, plus see a load of shorts. If I have any spare time, I’ll look into trying to do some fishing!”

Other filmmakers will also be fishing: for feedback. Moviemakers from around the world often submit to the festival to receive both compliments and constructive criticism from Sanford audiences, which often differ from those in the filmmakers’ countries. Those nations include Australia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, England, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Moldova, the Netherlands and New Zealand.

Despite the international attention, the festival’s success is due mostly to its local connections.

“None of this could have happened without the involvement of the Sanford community: our sponsors, volunteers, partners and friends of the festival, who have supported this event from the beginning,” says festival co-founder Gene Kruckemyer. “The right people have become involved at the right time along the way.”

Perhaps Australia’s Henry Boffin, director of Lavender, says it best.

“The vibe I got from the festival was that the coordinators truly believe in making a showcase of films that the community will respond to and they wish to celebrate those who pour their all into the often thankless task of filmmaking,” Boffin says. “I can tell that Love Your Shorts does exactly what it says in the name.”

Tickets to a single block cost $10, except for E for Everyone, which is $3. A weekend pass is $75. For more information, visit LoveYourShorts.com.

 

Epilogue

The above article proved partially prophetic, as Crossen’s film, Resurrection, won best of the fest. Congratulations, Sabine (far left in the photo)! I wrote this article having not seen her movie, but after seeing it, I’d place it among my top two of the entire festival. The other film joining Resurrection at the top of my list would be the Oscar-nominated Daughter, which played in the animation block. That film, sadly, was not picked by the audience and was therefore unable to move on to the best of the fest.

 

© 2020 Orlando Weekly / MeierMovies, LLC