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Growing Van Isle short film fest now accepting submissions

Jul 27, 2018 | 1:23 PM

NANAIMO — Aspiring film makers now have their chance to screen their films in front of a major audience.

Entries are being accepted for the 14th annual Vancouver Island Short Film Festival, which has grown remarkably in recent years.

Festival director Karla Duarte said with more than 120 entrees submitted last year, they’re trying to be as flexible and adaptable as possible with their programming.

“We have the tough call of whether we want to keep it the same as it’s always been, with narrowing the submissions down to 15 or 20 films, or expand it with several programs throughout several days. There’s so many good films out there in all different genres.”

All options are being considered to help them showcase as many great short films as possible.

“When we receive five amazing animation or horror films, it gets very hard to find that balance while maintaining a really good diversity.”

Every year 10 per cent of screen time is dedicated to local film makers.

With entrees last year coming in from all over the world, Duarte said their short film festival is now in a higher tier of events.

“It puts little old Nanaimo on the map. Film makers from across the world get to explore Nanaimo and go ‘Wow, this place is really great and there’s really enthusiastic film makers here.’”

It’s amazing what can be accomplished in 12 minutes or less, which is the run time restriction for submissions.

“It’s very hard to create good narrative in that short period of time, so I think that film makers who enter the realm of short films are extremely creative, extremely passionate and we always see some jaw-dropping films.”

Submissions sent in before October 12 only cost $25 per film. Entry is free for Vancouver Island-based film makers.

The festival runs from February 1 to 2 at VIU’s Malaspina Theatre.

 

 

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On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit