A Tall Task For Short Films: How Festivals Are Adapting To A Changing Landscape For Viewers

A Tall Task For Short Films: How Festivals Are Adapting To A Changing Landscape For Viewers

No story in the world of short-form content attracted as much attention (and derision) as the staggering collapse of Quibi, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman’s mobile video platform dedicated solely to “quick bites” of content. Don’t write the epitaph for shorts solely based on the demise of Quibi, however. As smartphones and internet speeds have better adapted to a video-based web, the ecosystem to exhibit and enjoy short films has only grown more expansive and exciting.Over the past decade, there has been something of a renaissance for short film distribution online. Communities sprung up around curatorial sections like Vimeo’s staff picks and Short of the Week. Dedicated channels for short films like Field of Vision, Newness and Omeleto have built up large followings and racked up big view counts for their videos. Massive journalistic outfits such asThe New York TimesandThe New Yorkerinvested heavily in short films, particularly documentaries, as part of their pivots beyond the written word. Feature-heavy streamers like Criterion Channel and Mubi also push their viewers towards shorts; even Netflix, which saw the short film categories as an easy path to Oscar glory, has gotten in on the game in a major way.The bet Quibi made was that people felt so overwhelmed by this new media environment that they’d flock to a service that promised them less: shorter videos, quicker information and tighter storytelling. But the opposite is true. The short film boom of recent years proves people want more content, greater investment and a diversity of experiences.The greater leveler that is COVID-19 forced film festivals, one of the few physical spaces that regularly host screenings of short films, to compete on this digital turf as in-person gatherings became impossible. I spoke with programmers from across America at festivals of all sizes to learn how their jobs and missions have been affected by both the pandemic and long-gestating forces within the medium. What changed – or didn’t – may point the way to what the emerging hybrid landscape will look like once the virus abates.

Whither the Curated Short Film Program?

No “Graduation” from Shorts

There is, of course, one exception to NYFF’s insistence on maintaining the short film programs: Pedro Almodóvar’sThe Human Voice, a 30-minute adaptation of a Jean Cocteau play starring Tilda Swinton. Nash mentioned that the short technically fell under the auspices of the festival’s “Spotlight” section, a sidebar for gala events and sneak previews new for the 2020 edition. This irresistible meeting of talents also drew the attention of distributor Sony Pictures Classics, who acquiredThe Human Voicefor distribution in 2021 – their first non-feature length release since dabbling in IMAX 3D back in the 1990s.How exactly Sony Classics intends to roll it out remains a question mark; the studio declined to offer any more specifics on the theatrical release when I reached out for comment. Nonetheless, it’s certainly an exclamation point on an exciting time for short films to have a powerhouse independent distributor putting its distribution muscle behind a 30-minute film. Almodóvar was far from the only marquee-name director with a short film at NYFF in 2020; fans of world cinema might have recognized such heavyweights as Jafar Panahi, Sergei Losnitza and Guy Maddin nestled within a short film block at the festival.“I don’t know if this was just an especially unique year where maybe filmmakers […] felt the need to just make a film of some kind right now,” replied Wilson when I asked the NYFF shorts programmers if they thought there might be a “moment” happening within the form, attributable to the rise in new viewing opportunities or not. “I’m sure there are a lot of restless artists,” he postulated, and Almodóvar is certainly among them – he directedThe Human Voicein July 2020 under tight COVID production protocols.Wilson seemed to chalk up the high volume of established artists bringing shorts to NYFF as a fortuitous coincidence of timing, and one driven by the enduring features of the medium rather than advances in exhibition. There’s a prevailing notion today that short films are like a playground for young, scrappy filmmakers. Many of the shorts with the most visibility are ones made as proof of concept for a full feature; think Damien Chazelle, who went from the Sundance shorts program to becoming the youngest person to win the Oscar for Best Director in four years.The audience that has traditionally shown up for shorts at in-person festivals supports this view. One constant I heard across all my interviews with programmers is that there is one reliable component of the crowd: students. “I’ve definitely noticed that there are more younger audiences that attend short films,” Wilson observed. “Perhaps they […] are just trying to see what the landscape of short films is in a given year to see what artists are doing and just how audiences are responding to that work.“But take a look inside any short film program at a festival and you’ll find that, within the medium, it’s not just a glimpse at the future. Short films are the present, too. “I generally don’t feel the short film is something that filmmakers should graduate from or use as a steppingstone into feature-length filmmaking,” Wilson opined. “I really do think it is its own form. I think the reason so many established filmmakers return to it [is that] they tend to be the filmmakers who are still willing to take risks in their filmmaking. They’re not necessarily settling on a particular profile or style. I think it’s an opportunity to step away from the commercial demands that feature films typically require.““We see a lot of filmmakers who’ve made features also returned to making shorts,” Nash concurred. “I don’t think it’s a one-way direction where you go from making shorts into features […] I think it allows filmmakers to continue to reinvent their practice and do things that they can’t do in features.” At a moment when the expansion of the miniseries and limited series format seems to be pushing artists towards creating longer and more drawn-out works, it’s heartening to see that there’s a countercurrent pushing some intrepid artists in the opposite direction. Whether this increases demand to see individual shorts on their own could further upend festival programming, especially if a recession endures and feature film financing becomes even more strained.The need for concision and to give every moment a magnified impact has created many inspired works throughout the years. Though it does not negate the unnecessary harm inflicted this year, one unexpected gift of 2020 across the board has been to help us see the good that’s already before our eyes but under our noses – and ensuring we have the proper infrastructure in place to appreciate it. “I think it could be really nice, if it’s possible,” Nash suggested, “to still show some shorts online or in a way that can be accessed by people across the country who aren’t able to attend in person. Or somehow retain some of the positive things have come out of doing it virtually.“While nothing replaces that feeling of a communal filmgoing experience, perhaps a lasting legacy of this year in the world of film festivals will be to bring them more in line with the trend towards accessibility in viewing. (Maybe Sony Classics can find a way to reinvent the wheel with their rollout ofThe Human Voicein 2021, which would certainly be something to look forward to.) There’s simply no reason to keep shorts cloistered away from people clamoring to see them without a more robust theatrical exhibition model.“But we won’t know until next year,” Nash concluded as to the persistence of the virtual shorts programs.