Nothing quite compares to a summer evening in New England, especially when you can sit outside under the stars, watching an entertaining mix of locally produced short movies. For the past five years, Portland, Maine has provided such a venue for the Portland Media Artists Independent Short Film Festival. This year the festival took place on Friday, August 22nd at 7:30 PM. Held at the Eastland Hotel courtyard on Congress Square, the event has become the perfect vehicle for local filmmakers to showcase their latest work.
The pre-screening party in the hotel lobby bar got under way just as a brief shower threatened to postpone the proceedings. Attendees mingled with filmmakers and actors and exchanged news about this year's entries. Photographer Franklin McMahon captured the gala with his camera. When the skies cleared, Greg Powers and AV Advantage got the tapes rolling.
Lew-Ann Leen's entry, MALE TALE, kicked off the screenings. The movie is the female version of juicy stories about sexual escapades. Four women share their tales as they watch their male friends surf the Rivermouth. Lew-Ann, from Ogunquit, represented the only female in the line up of filmmakers. Her perspective was refreshing and comical.
Dave Poole of Portland, a favorite with the local crowd, delighted the audience with his animated shorts, ZEV - ON HUMANS and THE CIRCUS AUDITION. Dave has become a festival regular, supplying humor and captivating takes on the human condition with such characters as the alien Zev who comments on the preferred method of preparing people for consumption. The second short starred a pig that auditioned for an off-screen, implacable director. Both of Dave's clips were under five minutes and had the audience in stitches.
Andy Davis of Porter submitted BENEATH THE FROST LINE, a drama about a blind woman who seeks the answers to her brother's disappearance. Andy used a series of quick cuts and soft focus shots to highlight the dilemma of the woman as she stumbles deeper and deeper into the intricacies of the horrible truth. He provided elements of surprise and plot twists to heighten the suspense.
SPLIT SECOND by Kevin DiBacco of Lewiston involved the haunting tale of a man who relives his worst nightmare. Kevin used flashbacks and repetition to reveal the protagonist's implication in the death of his son. The character's inability to deal with his guilt creates a set of tragic circumstances that drive him further into insanity.
The festival was sponsored by Coffee By Design. Admission is free and open to the public. This year's judges were Molly O'Neill and Liz Acheson.
Portland Media Artists meet every second and fourth Monday of the month at 7PM at the Javanet Café, 37 Exchange Street in Portland. The group collaborates on independent artistic projects such as film, video, stage, multimedia performance, writing and photography. Writers, directors, actors, musicians, technicians, models and artists are always welcome and are encouraged to attend meetings.