Show Me Shorts Film Festival

Overview

The seventh annual Show Me Shorts Film Festival showcases the 40 best short films from New Zealand and around the world. Having received the largest number of entries this year, you can rest assured that the team behind the festival have selected only the most engaging and entertaining films for your viewing pleasure.

The shorts are divided into six themed sessions, running for about 80 minutes in total. Film lengths vary from between 2 and 20 minutes and have all been made within the last 2 years, with over half of them having their New Zealand premiere at Show Me Shorts Film Festival.

I was lucky enough to have attended the Festival Programme Launch and was very impressed with the calibre of the six highlight films on offer. Here's a blurb about a couple of my favourites:

There was local film Lambs, which is featured in the My Hero section. It's the story of a boy growing up in a highly dysfunctional family. With an absent father, and as the eldest child, Jimmy's expected to play his part by selling drugs to his classmates. At home the threat of violence and sexual abuse constantly hangs over him and his younger brother and sister. The question is does he stay to protect his siblings from an almost inevitable future or does he escape to Auckland? This is a stellar short film; quietly moving, beautifully shot and impressively acted.

Another great local film is The Dump, which is featured in the Unrestricted Access section. 11-year-old Utah lives with his mother and her boyfriend. Utah doesn't think much of his real dad. For one, he runs a dump and what's more his mum's boyfriend is constantly telling him what a loser his dad is. It's not till one day he's left to spend a day with his old man that he starts to see him for what he really is. This is a quirky coming of age story full of humour and heart.

This is a competitive film festival so if you want to see the winning films of the various awards, check out opening night which includes the six films, a glass of Soulo wine and a pottle of Rush Munro icecream, what a bargain.

For full timetable information, click here.

(Picture credit: The Dump)