We usually call any film under 40 minutes a short film, but all short films differ in production quality, length, style, genre, subject matter, etc. In other words, there are no precise guidelines for what defines a "short film."
The films presented in a typical program of the American Short Shorts Film Festival range in length 1 to 30 minutes. (This year, all of the films we've selected are 20 minutes or under except for Tim Burton's "Frankenweenie.")
Our selections include comedies, dramas, suspense films, animated films, documentaries, experimental films, and heart-warming films. The common denominator of all "short films" is that that they express a director's creativity, energy and style in a very limited time.
This intense concentration of talent is what makes short film such a fascinating and unique form of entertainment.
A major Hollywood producer is impressed by a young director's short film. The director gets the phone call. The director goes to Hollywood for a feature film deal... So goes the American Dream in the world of Short Films. Just as painters and photographers rely on their portfolios to showcase their talent, young film directors usually make short films not only to express their unique ideas, but also to demonstrate their filmmaking style and technique.
The filmmaking process can be a grueling ordeal for young filmmakers. Renting camera equipment, hiring actors and crew or- convincing them to volunteer their services--and scheduling shoots under the most frugal time and budget constraints are daunting challenges in themselves.
To endure the experience and come out with a great film is an admirable feat. But even then a filmmaker's work is not complete. If the film is going to attract any attention it has to be submitted to festivals all over the world, to Hollywood agents, and to film distributors.
Particularly in Hollywood, it is common knowledge that the next generation of cinema's elite directors and producers are among the talented short filmmakers of today. They max out their credit cards, beg and borrow to make a short in the hope that they might be rewarded by a phone call from major producer. That's what happened to a USC student named George Lucas when his short film "THX 1138 4EB" caught attention in the industry.
Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Tim Burton and this year's Academy Award winning director Steven Soderbergh are among a long list of major Hollywood directors whose careers began with short films.
The short film is perhaps the perfect fusion of art and entertainment because filmmakers must satisfy both callings if their shorts are to serve as portfolios.
The intense competition in the Hollywood film industry drives the high quality of American short films. Every year more and more film festivals feature short film programs.
Since its first edition in 1999, the American Short Shorts Film Festival has served as an outlet for this pure form of entertainment in Japan, screening shorts at public venues on its national tour and broadcasting shorts on satellite television.
The popularity of short films is on the rise, and we hope that an ever-growing Japanese audience will be enchanted with the world of short films.
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