This weekend, a celebration of all things independent cinema is happening just 30 minutes outside of the city.
The Loveland Shorts Film Festival returns once again for a third year inside the Loveland Stage Company’s theater at 111 S 2nd St. Attendees can expect shorts of all sorts, from horror to documentary to animation, alongside educational panels and workshops from film industry professionals.
“When I started the festival, I was just looking for other types of entertainment to bring in that would supplement the theater just for a weekend or a night when the theater didn’t have anything going on,” said Gary Giver, an employee of the Loveland Stage Company and the festival’s founder and executive director. “Back in the early 70s, there was a TV show I liked, “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.” They always had a short film from independent filmmakers, and I just loved that … so I thought, why not do our own short film festival?”
As mentioned, there are no rules or genre constraints for the festival, except that each film is under 20 minutes or less. Films are grouped together by themes and screened in blocks, like a series of films all about “Emotions and Other Burdens,” a family-friendly block of screenings, or a group of “Friday Night Frights.”
125 short films were submitted to this year’s festival, and “quite a few were from local filmmakers,” Giver said. A panel of 23 people screened the submissions, then cut the field to 43 films in total. After that, a different committee made up of industry professionals — including Hollywood producers, screenwriters and local film professors — determined which of the festival’s 43 short films will win awards like “Sweetheart of the Fest” and “Best First Time Filmmaker.”
“To really attract a broad range of people and a broad range of filmmakers, we opened it up to all types of film,” Giver said. “What excites me the most is communicating with the filmmakers and hearing their excitement about having their film screened, then seeing them here at the festival, interacting with each other, networking, communicating to the audience members. And then, afterwards, to get letters from them talking about how much they enjoyed it. It really keeps me going.”
Thanks for reading, but eventually you need to get off the couch. Find something to do with Cincinnati’s busiest events calendar!
Giver emphasized how important the festival is for filmmakers without experience or a major budget.
“We’ve actually had feedback from filmmakers that say ‘Hey, what you do is important. You’re allowing us to get our art on a big screen and in front of an audience, where typically we really struggle to make that happen,'” Giver said.
In the past few years, the festival has received support from other major arts organizations in Cincinnati, like Summerfair and the Cindependent Film Festival. This year, the Mayor of Loveland officially dedicated this weekend to the festival for future years to come. It’s proof to Giver that what the festival’s team is doing is important for the region, and that they’re “bringing a whole ‘nother type of entertainment to this area.”
“Loveland’s a very art centric community, and they fully embrace it … I love to see the filmmakers come in, big smiles on their face, then audience members come and talk about the films. Short films tell a story in a very condensed window, so people have varying opinions of what the film was trying to communicate,” Giver said. “Listening to their different takes on the film or what they really liked about it, that’s also what keeps me going. Just seeing people embrace what my team is trying to bring to the Loveland area.”
The Loveland Shorts Film Festival takes place this weekend, from July 31 to Aug. 2. Tickets are $10 per screening block or $25 for access to every single film screening, panel, and pre- and post-showing parties. For more information, visit the festival’s official website.
