A Night of Short Films scheduled for Saturday
The 14th annual Arkansas Shorts — A Night of Short Films, hosted by Low Key Arts, will be held as a drive-in festival Saturday night in the Hot Springs Mall parking lot, screening 22 films over the course of the night.
Eighteen of the films were selected from submissions, and the other four are student films created in the LKA filmmaking class Inception to Projection. Jen Gerber, director of the festival, said narrowing the selections down to 18 films was difficult.
“It was harder than ever,” Gerber said, noting they typically accept around 40 films for the festival.
“We had to cut films that would be accepted and be contenders (in normal years),” she said.
To create the lineup, Gerber said she had a committee of seven filmmakers watch and rate the submissions.
“It’s really impressive to get films made during a pandemic,” she said, noting most of the selections were filmed during it. A filmmaker herself, Gerber said “filmmaking is already incredibly hard” when there isn’t a pandemic to deal with.
Those who did get their films made had to be very creative to get their projects finished, she said. “This year has taught us that creativity can’t be squashed.”
The three finalists competing for the festival’s Jury Prize, of the 18 submitted films, are “Animal,” by Russell Sharman, “Ms. Blue,” by Mary McDade Casteel, and “My Dear God,” by Tara Sheffer, which Gerber noted was filmed in Hot Springs.
Many of the filmmakers are planning to attend the event, she said, noting, “Most of them seem to be coming, That’s awesome. We’re seeing a lot of enthusiasm.”
The LKA student films are also shown during the annual festival. Due to the pandemic, only four were finished in time. Gerber, who also taught the Inception to Projection classes, said “I’m so proud of them.”
The students who will screen their movies have been in the program for a while and have made “giant leaps” in their work, Gerber said. The student films that will be shown are by Kristine Artymowski, Janie Gentry, Gabe Henks and Mason Tabor.
The student films that could not be finished in time for the festival will still be completed. Gerber said they are planning to do an event to screen those films in the summer.
Gerber also taught a screenwriting class for Low Key and short excerpts from two scripts by Kristine Artymowski and Alisa Harral will be showcased.
Gates open at 5 p. m., and the movies start screening at 6 p.m. The cost will be $20 per car, and they can fit around 200 cars, Gerber said, noting if inclement weather postpones the event, it will be held on Sunday.