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PSFN #10 wrap-up

PSFN audience enjoying a film in 3S ArtspaceJune 2015 screening

A wonderful crowd made the most of a rainy evening this past Sunday and filled up 3S Artspace for our June screening. If you missed it, we’re sad, but never fear – we have our screening scheduled for next quarter, and details on all the films from this event down below. Hope to see you next time!My Mom's Motorcycle screening at Portsmouth Short Film Night

Next date

Come back and join us at our next scheduled screening, Sunday, September 27, at 3S Artspace.

Line-up & filmmaker links

Nuance

by Marc-Antoine Locatelli (France)

My Mom’s Motorcycle

by Douglas Gautraud (Kentucky)

Erlösung

by Mark Gerstorfer (Austria)

Not currently available to watch online – keep an eye out for it on the Erlösung Facebook page. In the meantime, check out the trailer:

https://vimeo.com/88682509

Horseface

by Marc Martínez Jordán (Spain)

Not currently available to watch online – keep an eye out for it on the Horseface webpage. While you’re waiting, you can watch the trailer:

Harold

by Katey Carson (South Africa)

Not currently available to watch online – keep an eye out for it on the Harold website. In the meantime, check out the trailer:

Also, take a peek behind the scenes:

Last Ex- Girl Seizure

by Gabe Mangold (Portland, OR)

Lila

by Carlos Lascano (Argentina)

For more background on the film, watch this BTS video, featuring an interview with director Carlos Lascano:

Screening #10 – Sunday, June 28

Still from LilaDouble Digits

Get out of the house this cold, rainy Sunday and come join us in front of the warm glow of a movie screen as we break into double digits with the tenth edition of Portsmouth Short Film Night! We’re continuing in our new home at 3S Artspace, with all the comfort, high-quality projection, and tasty food and drink which that entails.

Still from HorsefaceEssentials

Buy tickets ($5 online or at the door)
When: 7:30pm – 9pm (doors at 7pm) on Sunday, June 28
Where: 3S Artspace, 319 Vaughan St, Portsmouth, NH 03801 (get directions)

Program

Still from ErlösungThis quarter’s selection remains true to PSFN’s eclectic style, featuring drama, comedy, documentary, dance, music, and magical realism. Films hail from such diverse locales as South Africa, Argentina, Austria, Spain, France, Kentucky, and Oregon. The evening’s program will run approximately 90 minutes, non-stop.

See you there!

 

PSFN #9 wrap-up

"On Loop" screening at PSFN

Photo courtesy Michael Sterling

March 2015 second birthday screening

Last week’s Portsmouth Short Film Night saw a great turnout to our second anniversary screening, and our first in the brand-new 3S Artspace. It was wonderful to be able to show the films in their best possible quality, thanks to the state-of-the-art facilities, and we’re very happy to be able to do right by our filmmakers in this way.

Michael presenting the lineup at PSFN

Photo courtesy Michael Sterling

2015 screening schedule

PSFN will continue through 2015 on a quarterly basis with 3S Artspace as our permanent home. Screenings will be held in June, September, and December, with exact dates to be announced soon.

March 2015 line-up

For your cinematic pleasure, here’s a recap of all the films we saw on the night, links to view online where available, and links to further information about the filmmakers:

The Mysterious Disappearance of the Town’s Last Resident
by Damon Mohl (Indiana)
Not currently available to watch online – keep an eye out for it on Damon’s Vimeo.
Still from "The Mysterious Disappearance of the Town’s Last Resident"

Searcy County
by Noam Osband (New York)
Trivia: Noam, a PhD student in anthropology, once competed on Jeopardy and Who Wants to be a Millionaire — where he won $250,000!

https://vimeo.com/39247973

Voluntario
by Javier Marco (Spain)
Not currently available to watch online, but you can check out the trailer in the meantime:

Rattle
by Rene Dongo (Massachusetts)

Room 8
by James Griffiths (United Kingdom)
Room 8 was made as part of a film competition where all the filmmakers were given a script with the exact same dialogue, but no stage direction. Take a look at some of the other ones to see how different they all turned out!
Trivia: Director James Griffiths was the editor on a previous PSFN film, Stanley Pickle.

Big Willow
by Jared Katsiane (Massachusetts)

https://vimeo.com/58688400

On Loop
by Christine Hooper (United Kingdom)
Trivia: PSFN organizers Catherine and Michael went to university in the UK with the woman who appears in the film, Jayne Edwards.

TORO
by Lynn Kim (New York)

Art to Self: Ree Katrak
by Chris Spencer (New Hampshire)

Driving Without License
by Canal180 (Portugal)

PSFN #9 – Next Week!

TORO (2)PSFN #9 is taking place next week at 3S Artspace, Portsmouth’s newest venue.  This dynamic arts venue features a 400-capacity performance space, a non-commercial gallery and a wonderful restaurant, Block Six.  The venue’s grand opening weekend starts today, and more details of the programming can be found at their website.

We are delighted to collaborate with 3S Artspace to present Portsmouth Short Film Night in their first week open, on Tuesday, March 24th at 7.30pm.  Feel free to come early and check out the space and say hello at the Filmmaker Meetup starting at 6pm in the restaurant.

We have a fun line-up this time around from filmmakers across the globe and a little closer to home.  Chatting with our selected filmmakers recently we asked a few questions about their work. Happy reading and we will see you next week at PSFN #9.

Lynn Kim, creator of TORO said this about the creation of short-form work:

“For me, short films present the challenge to filmmakers of conveying an idea or emotion as succinctly and airtight as possible. I like that I’m constantly asking myself if particular shots or scenes are absolutely necessary, and feeling that every moment of the film is essential to the whole is very unique. Also, as an experimental animator who works alone, I don’t think I have the interest, stamina, or actual hands (for labor!) to make a feature length!”
We also asked, does the changing way we consume media affect your filmmaking and distribution? How?
“Oh, absolutely. Though it is interesting, I wonder if there might be a divide in opinion on this question based on whether one works in live-action or animation? Distribution is not such a concern in my work as an animator, and I never make my films with any expectation for how it might be received in the public domain, let alone distribution rights/sales. I’m often happy just to know that someone has stumbled across my work, whether it’s online or at a festival. Also in my experience, the accessibility and use of video streaming sites like vimeo have made it exponentially easier for people to find me, so I really love that. It has made it easier to submit for festivals, competitions, and allows me the freedom to share my work for free.”
More thoughts from our filmmakers to come in the Wrap-Up post for PSFN#9 which will be out next week.

Introducing the Filmmaker Meetup

Portsmouth Short Film Night has been growing in submissions and audience members for the last two years, and we are delighted with the support the event has received from the community. One of our main goals with this event was to help foster and support the professional filmmaking industry that exists in the region, and we’ve met great filmmakers, supported projects and even found a few collaborators ourselves.  We are excited to announce our next program designed to help support filmmakers by introducing our first ever Filmmaker Meetup, which will take place between 6pm and 7pm on Tuesday, March 24th just prior to the PSFN #9 screening.  3

The Meetup is a chance to relax with your fellow filmmakers, chat about your work, meet new people and plan future collaborations.  We will be hanging out in the brand new restaurant at 3S Artspace, Block Six, where you can grab a drink, or some amazing food prior to checking out the screenings which start at 7.30pm.

PSFN #9 – Tuesday, March 24

Portsmouth Short Film Night returns for it’s first installment of 2015!

We are on the hunt for the best short films again !

So, what are you waiting for? We need your film, same criteria as always. Anything under 25 minutes in length; any style, any genre, any theme. Our next event takes place on Tuesday, March 24 at our new permanent home, 3S Artspace.

9With a huge jump in the number of submissions we receive, the competition is now fierce – so make sure your film is top notch before you send it in.  If you’ve submitted before, don’t worry, your film is still in the running for this event – so please don’t submit the same film twice.

PSFN #9 will start at 7.30pm, and the line-up….well that’s down to you – isn’t it? Keep an eye on this blog or our facebook page for more information. Tickets are $5, and there will be a free filmmaker meet-up starting at 6pm.

So spread the word, tell your filmmaker friends, dig out an old film, finish that edit of your current project or pick up your camera and see what you can film now.

THE DEADLINE IS MARCH 10TH, so go ahead – submit your film using our handy form!

We can’t wait to watch them all.

Bonus Material from PSFN #8!

Photo By Dan Derby http://danderby.com/

Photo By Dan Derby http://danderby.com/

In case you missed our Halloween Special or just want more, here are responses from  some of the filmmakers, BTS content and photos of the event!

 

Filmmaker Responses:

The filmmakers were asked 2 questions: 1.Why do you make short films? 2. What can a short do that a feature can’t? Here are their answers!

Elliot Cowan
Film: The Thing In The Distance

1. Well, sometimes you’ve got a small idea and sometimes you’ve got a big idea. Small ideas do very well in a short film. If you’re very clever you can make a big idea work well in a short. Also, if you’re itching to make an animated film, starting short is the best place to start. I’ve made shorts and a feature and the challenges of a feature are insane. A short is much more manageable especially if you’re not being paid to do it full.
Does the changing way we consume media affect your filmmaking and distribution? How?

2. It doesn’t effect what I do at all. Frankly the modern method of exploring media simply means that there are more opportunities for people to see your films but less opportunities to make any money.

Thomas Tosi
Film: The October Garden

1. The obvious answer is that it costs a heck of lot less money to make a short than it does to make a feature. Besides that (and largely because of that), there’s much more freedom in making a short. With a small-budget indie feature, you can cling to the hope that, even though the odds are terribly against you, you can actually make money with the film. That hope is pretty well erased with a short film. Everybody, including the filmmaker, knows that a short film isn’t being made to make money. While that may sound like a bad thing, the upshot is that you don’t waste any effort worrying about commercial viability; you tell the story the way you feel it should be told whether it be in one minute or one hour. When that is understood by all involved, it can give short films a wonderful kind of integrity.

2. It’s almost impossible to track how many outlets there are today for media. The flip-side of that, of course, is that there is a tremendous amount of white noise. The digital age doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s easy to get an audience for your work. Also, attention spans are so short. At approximately ten minutes in length, “The October Garden” (as well as most of my other “short” films) is an epic compared to a six-second vine. These days, while I still certainly wouldn’t give away my feature scripts or feature film, I’m not so concerned about making money with my short films. YouTube, Vimeo, and the like, are merely fun ways to reach an audience for me. I suspect that I would be thoroughly frustrated if I was trying to monetize the shorts. The people I see being commercially successful (via likes, hits, and ads) with shorts on these high-technology driven channels, carefully craft their content to be “viral” and tantalizingly “clickable” (e.g. “This man handed a frog to a total stranger and you won’t believe what happened next!”). That’s not to say that some people don’t put effort into viral videos; it’s just that, more often than not, these pieces are ephemeral. Any of my work on which I expect some type of return, goes through traditional DVD sales and paid streaming, such as Amazon Instant Video.

Jeff Palmer
Film: Caveat Emptor

1. Making short format films and music videos is a great way to go through the same creative process of building something bigger, like a feature for instance, but at a fraction of what one would spend on budget and in time. After attending dozens of film festivals and viewing hundreds of films online, well-crafted shorts come in all shapes and genres, and no two are exactly alike. What seems to matter most to any audience is entertainment value. Obviously what is “entertaining” to one viewer won’t be the same for another, but if the filmmaker has done his or her work crafting a meaningful story with mindful direction and attention to detail, even the smallest and shortest of films can produce a big impact on its audience. As is often the case, big stories can come wrapped in small packages and, all too often, we find small, misguided stories filling the big theaters, which end up being more lackluster than blockbuster. I’d say that many ideas work just fine in the short format and needn’t be extrapolated or embellished into grander, glossier productions. In fact doing such can diminish the very charm that made an intimate or personal story so appealing to begin with.

2. In terms of new media and methods of distribution, I’m not in a position where that really affects my filmmaking at the moment. YouTube and outlets like Vimeo have been around long enough that anyone can play writer/producer/director and post their ‘epic’ cat videos or cooking shows for the world to watch, with varying results. Most of the shorts and music videos that I’ve produced have screened at film festivals in front of live audiences, which is always the preferred format because, typically, everyone has collected to enjoy cinema and share in that somewhat magical experience together as a group. Cell Phone Cinema is definitely not what inspires me to make movies, yet venues like Netflix, Amazon and other channels with streaming content have already become viable resources for aspiring writers and producers, especially those interested in episodic stories. Shoot it and they will watch? One can only hope!

BTS Material from the film Waste, directed by Anton Groves:

To see how the wonderful paper monsters from the film Waste were made, check out the tutorial videos here!

Photos from the Event:

PSFN #8 Wrap-Up

DSC00022 Halloween Special

That’s a wrap! Last night we presented our 8th screening of the series, hosted at the wonderful PPMtv. Attendants enjoyed pizza, so generously provided by the Portsmouth Pizza Factory, popcorn and Halloween candy. It truly made for a perfect movie night!

The event was filled with laughs, gasps and much applause. The filmmakers in attendance participated in engaging Q&As and we even provided some behind the scenes content.

As of now, Portsmouth Short Film Night will be on hiatus until further notice, but you can sign up to our mailing list to stay updated on future screenings, or follow us on our Twitter and Facebook pages!

If you enjoy PSFN, please also consider making a donation to help us defray the costs of continuing to run this free series. Thank you!

Halloween Special Lineup

Until next time, enjoy these wonderful films from PSFN #8:

Cólera
by Sr.&Sra. (Donosti, Spain)

Cólera- Making Of
By Sr.&Sra. (Donosti, Spain)

The Thing In The Distance
by Elliot Cowan (New York City, NY)

The October Garden
by Thomas Tosi (New Hampshire)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRefRRjnNJU

Also, check out his feature, which can be found on his site.

Caveat Emptor
by Flicker Pictures (Massachusetts)

Hyde and Seek
by Angelic Films (UK)
This film is not currently available online, however keep updated on their website.

Waste
by Studio Set (Romania)

Solipsist
by Andrew Thomas Huang (Los Angeles, CA)

This Way Up
by Nexus (London, UK)

 

PSFN #8 One week to go!

One day before Halloween, this screening is appropriately comprised of spooky, thrilling films. From zombies to typewriters, horror to comedy, experimental to animation, this collection is a perfect balance of film genre that is sure to evoke both chills and laughs.

Some of the shorts include Australian native Elliot Cowan’s animated film The Thing In The Distance, a humorous yet dark story exploring the dangers of curiosity from award winning series Boxhead and Roundhead. Fellow New Hampshirite Thomas Tosi’s recovered black and white, 16mm film The October Garden shot in Portsmouth in 1983.

“We have always had a dedicated to showcasing local talent, and this time around we get to go back into the archives of Portsmouth’s rich cinema history and screen a spooky little tale shot in Strawbery Banke many years ago,” explains PSFN co-founder Catherine Stewart. “It makes us feel pretty special, and spooky!” More than 30 years ago The October Garden was screened in the long demolished Colonial Theatre on Congress Street and we are incredibly pleased to announce its return to the Portsmouth screen.

In addition the night will include a special behind the Cólera scenes look at the making of multi-award winning short from Spanish audiovisual company Sr.&Sra. This night will truly be full of spirit…(s)!

The evening will last roughly 100 minutes, and families should note that adult themes are explored throughout some of the films that may be inappropriate for young audiences.

film camera and projector

photo credit: Fernando H. C. Oliveira (http://www.flickr.com/photos/leftyjoe/8373725162/) cc (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/)

The event takes place Thursday, October 30th at 7pm at PPMtv.

PSFN is brought to you by Film Unbound and 3S Artspace

 

Stay updated on: Facebook, Twitter

 

PSFN #8 seeks spooky films, and not so spooky films too

We are on the hunt for the best short films again and this time we want you to make it spooky!

So, what are you waiting for? We need your film, same criteria as always. Anything under 25 minutes in length; any style, any genre, any theme. Since our next event takes place on Thursday, October 30 at PPMtv we are looking for a few spooky films too – but really, anything goes!

With a huge jump in the number of submissions we receive, the competition is now fierce – so make sure your film is top notch before you send it in.  If you’ve submitted before, don’t worry, your film is still in the running for this event – so please don’t submit the same film twice.

PSFN #8 will start at 7pm, and the line-up….well that’s down to you – isn’t it? Keep an eye on this blog or our facebook page for more information.IMG_3220

So spread the word, tell your filmmaker friends, dig out an old film, finish that edit of your current project or pick up your camera and see what you can film now.

THE DEADLINE IS OCTOBER 10TH, so go ahead – submit your film using our handy form!

We can’t wait to watch them all.