Posted 10:31 pm Saturday, August 04, 2012
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'Show Us UR Shorts' expanding submissions to anyone, anywhere
By Stewart Smith
ssmith@tylerpaper.com
The Downtown Tyler Film Festival wants you to show your shorts again — short films, that is.
ssmith@tylerpaper.com
The Downtown Tyler Film Festival wants you to show your shorts again — short films, that is.
Last year the festival asked Texas filmmakers to “Show Us UR Shorts.” The same will be in effect once more, only this year's festival has organizers casting the net wider. Last year's fest — a resurrection of the previously abandoned “No Name Film Festival” — limited entries to only those made by Texans in Texas and to a single genre: Comedy. This year, however, the proceedings are open to submissions from anyone, anywhere (even internationally, should filmmakers be so inclined) and within a multitude of genres, including science fiction, horror, comedy, drama and action-adventure.
The initial plan was to focus exclusively on short films in the festival's inaugural year, with an expansion to feature-length films in subsequent years. However, as organizers began to consider the future of the festival and its impact on entrants, as well as the city of Tyler, they realized that keeping the focus on short films would be beneficial in the long run.
“The whole motive is to attract film to Tyler, in all aspects,” said Chris Abraham, festival co-chair.
Abraham said it would be nice if Tyler could eventually attract the attention of a film production the size of, say, “Bernie,” but even if it never gets that big, it still has a chance of being a city that launches the careers of aspiring movie makers.
“If Tyler became known as the city that helped first-time filmmakers get their films made, and we got smaller productions coming here, $100,000 films still brings a crew who are spending money, that's still something,” he said. “So we're looking to bring first-time filmmakers, and short films are the kinds of films that bring those filmmakers, the people that we want to come here.”
The festival committee remains open to the possibility of expanding to feature-length films, but for the near future shorts will remain the focus, Abraham said.
“It's kind of a niche thing. There aren't a lot of short film festivals or possibility for exposure to short films in this area,” he said. “It's also easy for us to manage, because we can show a lot of films and not have to have so much space for them.”
Other changes to the festival include a shorter length for each film (from 15 down to 10 minutes), as well as the winners being decided by a panel of judges rather than audience voting, as was the case last year. Additionally, films will be screened in two locations, at Liberty Hall, as well as at Gallery Main Street.
The festival will take place over the course of four nights, with the top two films in each category being screened on the final night. A total of $3,000 will be given away to winners, with the top winner able to take home as much as $1,500.
The festival will be held Oct. 24-27. In addition, multiple educational workshops will be held for those interested in learning more about filmmaking. The content and dates of those workshops will be announced as the festival draws closer.
For more information on the festival or how to submit films, visit www.tylerfilmfest.com.
“The whole motive is to attract film to Tyler, in all aspects,” said Chris Abraham, festival co-chair.
Abraham said it would be nice if Tyler could eventually attract the attention of a film production the size of, say, “Bernie,” but even if it never gets that big, it still has a chance of being a city that launches the careers of aspiring movie makers.
“If Tyler became known as the city that helped first-time filmmakers get their films made, and we got smaller productions coming here, $100,000 films still brings a crew who are spending money, that's still something,” he said. “So we're looking to bring first-time filmmakers, and short films are the kinds of films that bring those filmmakers, the people that we want to come here.”
The festival committee remains open to the possibility of expanding to feature-length films, but for the near future shorts will remain the focus, Abraham said.
“It's kind of a niche thing. There aren't a lot of short film festivals or possibility for exposure to short films in this area,” he said. “It's also easy for us to manage, because we can show a lot of films and not have to have so much space for them.”
Other changes to the festival include a shorter length for each film (from 15 down to 10 minutes), as well as the winners being decided by a panel of judges rather than audience voting, as was the case last year. Additionally, films will be screened in two locations, at Liberty Hall, as well as at Gallery Main Street.
The festival will take place over the course of four nights, with the top two films in each category being screened on the final night. A total of $3,000 will be given away to winners, with the top winner able to take home as much as $1,500.
The festival will be held Oct. 24-27. In addition, multiple educational workshops will be held for those interested in learning more about filmmaking. The content and dates of those workshops will be announced as the festival draws closer.
For more information on the festival or how to submit films, visit www.tylerfilmfest.com.
