Laguna Beach will be invaded with producers, writers, directors and short films just 5 miles from the shore of the beach from Oct. 16 – 18. Laguna Film Festival goers can look forward to this year’s theme – short films.
According to festival organizer, 18-year-old Austin Fickman, Laguna Beach has the largest art community in Southern California and yet lacks strong support for film despite the many Orange County filmmakers in the community.
Film fest attendees can look forward to opening night, starting at 5:30 p.m., with special never-before-seen screenings of Academy Award nominated short films and guest celebrity short films, which have yet to be revealed.
The three-day event will present film screenings from various genres, a panel on Saturday with industry professionals and Q-and-A’s with surprise guest speakers.
“One of the reasons [for the short film theme] was because it’s only a weekend,” Fickman said. “This is the best way for festival guests to see a wide variety of content in short period of time.”
There are nine different genre categories: drama, horror, comedy, sci-fi/fantasy, documentary, experimental, animation, youth filmmakers and film school students showcase.
This will be an event for all ages since there will be family-friendly animations like: Another Everest, Cry of the Fox, Hum, Pokey Pokey and Vincent the Artist. For the more mature audiences they have the option for horror screenings in the spirit of October like: Blind Date, Corridors, Don’t let them in, Night of the Slasher, The Call and The Stomach.
The films were watched multiple times by the judging panel in the three months leading up to the festival, Fickman said.
All submissions are 30 minutes or less and presented in English or with English subtitles. There were 1,007 submissions in the one-month submission period from 69 different countries.
“There were many awesome films and it was so hard to winnow it down to the final number of [76] short films,” Fickman said. “So many films deserved to be screened and it really did come down to how much time we had.”
Prizes range from cash to meet and greets with producer and director of “The Game Plan” and “Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2” Andy Fickman, talent manager Elissa Leeds and film agent Meredith Wechter.
Fickman explained that short films are growing in popularity, which is the reason for the festival’s short film theme. Their smaller budgets and crews make it easier for independent filmmakers to get their foot in the door at film festivals such as Laguna. For example, the Oscar-nominated film “Whiplash” started off as a short film at the Sundance Film Festival.
With two parents in the film industry, the film festival environment he grew up around inspired Austin. He is the son of filmmakers and festival judges Andy Fickman and Elissa Leeds. Austin felt that Laguna was such a thriving community and organized the festival with the guidance of his team and family.
“So far the response has been extremely tremendous,” Fickman said. “Time will tell, we are looking at a pretty good turnout, the response on social media seems to be pretty good.”
The Film Festival screenings will be held in the state-of-the-art Regency Directors Cut Cinema in Laguna Niguel. The theater consists of seven auditoriums filled with luxury seating and high-quality projectors and sound.
Fickman hinted to check the site on Wednesday for more reveals of prizes, panels, celebrity guests and about the special screenings.