The D.C. Shorts International Film Festival is coming back to Merrifield.
The four-day festival will kick off its 21st year this Thursday (Sept. 5) with an afternoon of movie screenings and a welcome party at Crescendo Studios, a music school at 8101-A Route 29 that features a recording studio, a Black Box typically used for concerts and other event spaces.
DC Shorts secured the space through its executive, Beau Canlas, who happens to also be Crescendo’s events coordinator, according to festival program director Joe Carabeo, who describes the school as “a pretty amazing location.”
“That allowed us the option of auditioning this space and plus allowing us to transform it for our welcome party location too,” Carabeo told FFXnow. “Economically it seemed like a perfect choice. Plus with the current regime of DC Shorts, having the first day at a unique location might become a tradition.”
The festival will continue through Sunday (Sept. 8), with the film screenings and concluding awards ceremony shifting over to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on Bryant Street in D.C.
Launched in September 2004, the DC Shorts Film Festival was conceived by founder John Ganz out of a desire to give both filmmakers and audiences a more personal experience, one less driven by celebrity and corporate sponsorships, the Washington Post reported when the festival celebrated its 10th anniversary.
The festival’s scale has varied over the years, sprawling across 11 days and six venues, including the Angelika Film Center in the Mosaic District, for its 10th edition, according to the Post. Last year, the 20th annual DC Shorts Film Festival lasted five days and included 16 world premieres.
This year, DC Shorts will present 109 films, including 14 world premieres, two North American premieres, three U.S. premieres and dozens that will be screening on the East Coast or in the D.C. area for the first time.
Films from around the world, including the U.K., Japan, Ireland, Israel, Australia and other countries, will vie for the top “Best of Fest” prize as well as showcase awards voted on by audience members. There are also awards for local filmmakers from the D.C. area and first-time filmmakers.
The movies are grouped in 11 different “showcase” screenings organized by different genres and themes, such as animated films, documentaries, rom-coms, horror and LGBTQ stories. Thursday’s screenings at Crescendo Studios will focus on documentary shorts that examine individuals and specific places.
Tickets for individual showcases and all-access festival passes, which come with reserved seating and entry to two after-parties, are currently on sale through the DC Shorts website.
After it wraps up in person, the festival will have online screenings through its website, though those won’t include the filmmaker discussions at the end of each showcase. The full schedule can be found online.
“I think DC Shorts is at a place where every new year is a milestone,” Carabeo said. “20 years was a great unheard of achievement and 21 years is a dream. I personally love seeing the evolution of filmmakers…Being a working filmmaker myself, I love being able to tell the world that the D.C. area is also a go-to place to make films and be a creative.”
