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The fascination of Short Film is the high level of talent and creativity of the filmmaker to tell a story in an entertaining way within a limited time frame, anywhere from one to thirty minutes.
American Short Shorts showcases a select group of highly regarded and entertaining short films from the U.S. A wide variety of styles are presented, from drama to comedy. Indeed, something for everyone. With the kind cooperation of the University of Southern California, six short films by the acclaimed director George Lucas will be shown for the first time in Japan. 『STAR WARS』 |
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History of Short Movies |
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Short films go back to the beginning of movie making around 1900. Shorts were the main focus of movie making until the late 1930's and early 40's.
Most old silent films were all shorts, and only with talking movies did feature films began to grow in popularity and quality.
But shorts were still popular. Until the middle 40's shorts always preceded the feature film in American theater houses. Movie studios groomed their new recruits by having them first make shorts, then move into feature films. The trend is still the same today, but now film makers create their shorts independent from the major movie houses that run Hollywood. The next re-birth of short film came in the late 1950's when a handful of art house theaters started running shorts again. But the comeback never propelled shorts to become mainstream, nor did shorts ever make the jump over to television. Today, only a few television channels like Showtime, the Sundance Channel and Fox air shorts on television, and theater opportunities are limited to film festivals and special screenings. One thing to be said for shorts is they are truly the starting point for the world's great film makers and films. Martin Scorcese, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Spike Lee and Francis Ford Coppola all made shorts. and some short films have been developed in to recent Hollywood hits, such as "Twelve Monkeys", "Sling Blade" and "Houseparty". The reputation of the "ultra independent movie" that comes with shorts keeps them popular film festival items, but their evolution into more mainstream channels continues to be limited. Australia, European countries and Canada all have government funds that are allocated for film makers to produce short films, thus the appetite for shorts is greater in those countries. Right now, the U.S. does not support short film makers, thus many films are created here with donations or funded directly by the film makers themselves. Worldwide, thousands of short films are released annually, and prominent film festivals like Sundance and the Aspen Shorts Film Festival receive around 1000 entries every year. There is never an under supply of short films, the problem today is finding the opportunity to view them. Pacific Voice LA LLC Douglas Williams 
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