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June 14, 2002

11:30 a.m.

The 2002, Fourth Short Shorts Film Festival officially begins! Audiences lined up for a panel discussion in the LaForet Screening room. The discussion, led by Premiere Japan's Editor-in-Chief, Gregory Starr, asked the interesting and important question: 'Does nationality play a part in filmmaking?' Panel members - all female directors! - included Mexico's Lorenza Manrique ("Aqui no hay remedio"), Christina Hadjicharalambous of Greece ("Trip to Venice"), Liliana Sulzbach of Brazil ("The Invention of Childhood") and Leanna Creel of the U.S. ("Offside"). One's nationality - or more specifically, one's unique culture - can often be captured in film. "In my film, there is magic, something I think is very Mexican. I think to make films is to look for an identity, to create one. And through films, we can learn from each other, about each other's differences," Lorenza said.

1:50 p.m.

The festival screenings begin!

Movie-goers nearly packed the theatre to see the festival's first program of films, after which Brooke Keesling, director of Student Academy Award winning "Boobie Girl" delighted audiences with her enthusiasm for her film and explained the process by which she created her film. She also announced the sale of her incredibly popular "Boobie Girl" T-shirts. "I sell these in order to afford trips like this to Japan, as well as raise money for my next project," she said. At the open of Program B, Co-founder Doug Williams announced that Japan had just defeated Tunisia 2-0 in the second round of the World Cup. The audience was ecstatic! Salamo Levin, Director of "Black People Hate Me and They Hate My Glasses" was present to talk about his film and was intrigued at the audience's reaction, in that many of the Japanese members attending laughed in very different parts of the film from the non-Japanese members. Elias Leon Siminiani and Liliana Sulzbach got their first glimpse of a Japanese audience watching their films, "Dos Mas," and "The Invention of Childhood," which they found thrilling.