Caitlin Durkin:
As a junior just now finding out about this event at Garden Theater, I feel sad I haven’t attended in the past. I have absolutely loved attending these screenings. Short films are so often overlooked, but they are such a fun and specific style of art that I really love. There is often no time for exposition which means that we are thrown into the action much quicker as an audience. I really appreciate the ability for a film to make me feel fully immersed into a world and make me care deeply about the characters even though I am only acquainted with them on the screen for 20 minutes. What a feat.
I especially loved watching the live action shorts. They all had very intense and dark themes but each dealt with the themes in very different ways. Shorts allow for creative uses of the form more than full features that have more time to tease out their characters and messaging. My favorite short was Knight of Fortune from Denmark because it told a story of grief but also balanced humor very well. It was the perfect amount of absurd while remaining fully grounded in real life emotion. I loved it.
I have been encouraging my friends outside of the collective and family to look for screenings near them because of how much fun I’ve had going to see them. It’s fun knowing that I have seen three entire categories of Oscar nominations. It will definitely make that portion of the show more interesting! I look forward to attending this event next year as well.