Last week I took in a press preview of the Manhattan Short Film Festival. It’s screening again in San Antonio at the URBAN-15 Studio. This will be the fourth or fifth year I’ve gone. There will be 10 short films from nine countries. All films will screen twice. So head over to URBAN-15 this Friday or Saturday at 7pm. Each person gets to vote for his or her favorite film. And then theaters from 173 cities (here and abroad) will email in their votes and the winner will be announced the following Tuesday.
The four films I previewed were all wonderful. “The Boundary” (from the USA) is a gut-wrenching exposition of American xenophobia. “Love Child” (from Sweden) is a hilarious and wonderfully weird story about a sort of inter-species sibling rivalry. “Mozambique” (from Mozambique) is a very moving documentary made by an orphaned boy in search of his family. “Skhizein” (from France), which appears to be the only animation this year, is a beautiful and offbeat story of a man who, after an encounter with a meteorite, struggles to make it through his daily routines while living ninety-one centimeters from his actual, physical location.
Hope to see you there.
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Speaking of film-related events, tomorrow (Tuesday) is the September San Antonio Film Forum, the free monthly shindig put on by the San Antonio Film Commission. The subject this month is all about Locations. The program begins at 7pm, but people will be mingling as early as 6:30. The downtown public library, first floor meeting room. The first hour of parking is free (make sure to get your parking ticket validated), but after that, it’ll cost you.
Oh, yeah. According to Drew’s Facebook, the San Antonio 48 Hour Film Experience will be happening again this year! This is our own, homegrown film race, put on by Drew Mayer-Oakes and the San Antonio Film Commission. I expect it’ll be happening sometime in November. But if you’re interested, you might want to show up at Tuesday’s forum–I’d not be surprised to hear an official announcement then.