Miami Short Film Festival Kicks Off

Above: Miami Short Film Festival Director Robert Vela, wearing shorts in honor of the short film, addresses the audience before the first film Monday night

If last night’s selection of films is any indicator, the Miami Short Film Festival is anything but short on quality.

A total of seven short films were presented during the opening night of the festival at the Colony Theater Monday evening, combining for a total time of less than two hours – the same amount of time you’ll spend in a typical mediocre feature film from Hollywood.

But here audience members were treated to a diverse set of plots, storylines and concepts from Russia, Spain, Slovenia, Denmark and the United States.

My favorite was called Grisen, which is Danish for pig; a 23-minute film set in a bare hospital room depicting a battle between personal freedom and religious rights.

An elderly man checks into the hospital for an operation, finding a painting of a pig on the wall, in which he finds solace.

But another man is moved into the same room who happens to be Muslim. His family removes the painting because it offends their religion.

The debate ensues between the first man’s daughter, who is a lawyer, and the second man’s son, who insists the painting offends his father.

Eventually the families are asked to leave the room, leaving the two patients lying in their beds, which is when the second man confides to the first man that he is blind from glaucoma, proving the debate to be fruitless anyway.

Unfortunately, two of the films that were listed in the program were not shown for some reason, perhaps because the evening started off in the customary Miami time and Colony Theater workers appeared to be in a rush to whisk everybody out at a certain time.

But thanks to the internet, I was able to find those films online. And thanks to their brevity, I was able to watch both of them in less than 20 minutes.

My favorite of the two was Frankie, a 12-minute film from Ireland about a 15-year-old boy who is preparing to be a father.

The festival runs every night this week until Saturday. Click here for the schedule and details.

Above: Miami Short Film Festival Director Robert Vela poses with friends on the red carpet during the opening night of the festival Monday

Related Categories: Miami: Local News, Miami: Things to Do, Carlos Miller is a featured writer at Miami Beach 411. He also operates Photography is Not a Crime, a blog about photographer rights, New Media and First Amendment issues. See more articles by Carlos Miller. See more articles by Carlos Miller Was This Post Helpful? Please Share It With Others! Tweet

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