Culture
Drop Your Shorts at The Athena Tonight
By: Domonique Alexander
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Aspiring area directors and screenwriters will have their second opportunity this year to showcase their short films in the Drop Your Shorts event, taking place later this evening at the Athena Cinema.
Conceived and directed by actor and Athena technical director Yang Miller, the small film festival provides ample opportunity for budding filmmakers to present their work on the big screen. Selected short films will run alongside trailers prior to feature films, urging theatergoers to discover new talent, and directors to hone their craft.
Since its debut in spring of 2016, the celebration of short films has undoubtedly seen growth with a rise in submissions for the upcoming event. According to Miller, this fall’s showing will screen not only new submissions, but also re-edited submissions of previous work.
“One of the films was really quirky, weird, really funny with low production quality,” he said of one submission. “The same film was resubmitted this time; re-done with a higher production quality.”
Miller himself received a substantial amount of attention following the premiere of his feature film Arcadia this past summer, directed by Andy J. Hall. Filmed in Marietta, Ohio, the movie spins the tale of a journalist (Miller) who stumbles upon an underground society. The cast received critical acclaim for their performances and sold out one theater at The Athena during its one-night run.
For Miller, the festival provides the opportunity for filmmakers to see a wider distribution of their work as opposed to submission via YouTube or other online outlets.
“You learn a lot. All the flaws and the good things of your film really shine when you’re surrounded by people,” he said. “Having your film shown for a month is pretty cool. It’s really getting your work up on the screen and getting it into people’s eyes.”
Films are subjected to a relaxed selection process, chosen based on the fulfillment of basic pre-determined criteria: each film must be under 12 minutes long, “fun to watch”, and contribute to a variety of different works. With the future to come, Miller anticipates hopeful changes such as competitions for specific genres as well as a continued growth in interest.
The Drop Your Shorts event will take place tonight at 7 p.m. with tickets at $5. Questions may be fielded to Athena director Alexandra Karmody at 740-594-7382.