The Tiny Film Fest, a coordinated celebration of small creators who showcased their work on the big screen, kicked off on April 27 with a myriad of short films for audience members to indulge in.
Before anyone was allowed in the theater, both audience members and directors congregated outside and discussed what was to come. Directors in particular seemed keen on talking to everyone they could.
Before the first showings, Tiny Film Fest’s event director Heather Coates addressed the audience and said the event would be broken down into three programs throughout the day: non-fiction, narrative and animated films.
“It will be so satisfying seeing one [program] but you might be tempted to see the rest,” Coates said.
Coates then passed the microphone to her film mentor, Scott Young, who said he was excited to bring to the big screen
“Micro-short films that tell very heartfelt stories,” Young said. “We wanted to validate all of the filmmakers who have submitted films that are being screened today. Many people don’t know this, but Christopher Nolan also started his career with a short, 2 minute and 59-second film called ‘Doodlebug.'”
Following the opening remarks, the lights of the theater dimmed and the first set of films commenced in the non-fiction category. The first film in this category, “Night Flower” by Nina Gofur, was depicted in the late 1900s in 5:4 film resolution.
The short depicted an unnamed, rural part of the world and conveyed its message through imagery rather than sound. “Night Flower” had a rustic feel and depicted human nature in its most vulnerable state.
The visuals allowed audience members to become immersed in each of the storylines.
“Fortune” by Yumeng Shirley begins with a mass production factory full of workers, then cuts to children laughing in the streets and opening fortune cookies to exemplify coming of age.
“Slauson and La Brea”, another non-fiction film, depicted the events that led up to the violent Windsor Hills crash in Los Angeles on Aug. 4, 2022 that killed six people, including an unborn child.
The silent film eerily depicted a clown dancing and doing tricks across the same intersection mere weeks before the incident.
The film continued to depict other events that occurred near that intersection leading up to the crash before showing the intense, fiery wreck.
The narrative films that followed set a different tone with themes that were open to audience interpretation.
“Someone’s In Here” by Ben Kitnick showed a man alone in a public restroom scrolling on his phone before an unnamed stranger suddenly tried to forcefully break into his stall.
Finally, the animation block portrayed some of the most unsettling imagery throughout the event.
“Mattricide” by Gemma Rigg was a stop-motion film that depicted a woman running away from mattresses that were trying to consume her.
“Rat Hands” by Rose Moon Longo was a hand-drawn depiction of a rat seemingly freeing a ghost from a jar. This eerie short was reminiscent of Tim Burton films like “Coraline” with its unsettling sound and animation.
The first block of films ended with an animated short called “Cat with Glasses” by Dirk Verschure. It featured a cat with intelligence akin to humans who watched an advertisement for vision correction and proceeded to visit a surgeon who replaced his eyes with technologically advanced ones.
Director Heather Coates accomplished her vision in highlighting up-and-coming directors at the Tiny Film Fest. The event allowed directors to share their stories with a wider audience of film fans.