Lights, camera, action: Tally Shorts Film Festival is back

Photo Courtesy of the Tally Shorts Film Festival Facebook Page

A unique independent cinema experience showcasing short films is heading back to the capital city.

The sixth annual Tally Shorts Film Festival offers an array of short films to the North Florida region comprised of a two-day celebration. The festival will begin on Friday, Jan. 26, and continue throughout the day on Saturday, Jan. 27, located at the Challenger Learning Center in downtown Tallahasse.

In preparations for this year’s festival, program director of the Tally Shorts Film Festival, Carlos Miranda highlighted the key elements that he hopes to accomplish with the event.

“Independent cinema is an art form here in North Florida and our goal for the festival is to increase the community awareness. We also want to branch out to filmmakers that are international filmmakers in other regions in the world,” said Miranda.

With over 300 short films submitted to this year’s festival, the Film Review Committee selected 82 films that will be screened to the Tallahassee community.  Out of the 82 films there are 18 international films from countries such as Bahrain, Colombia and Spain.

Through providing the Tallahasse community with a diversity of short films allows the community to learn about other cultures while celebrating quality cinema.

There will be films of all genres including comedy, horrors, animations, dramas and documentaries.

With a variety of films to enjoy, the Tally Shorts Film Festival has also added a panel discussion into the list of events for the festival.

The panel discussion, entitled “The Importance of Short Films,” will allow attendees to learn about short films, networking opportunities and get a chance to interact with the filmmakers in a Q&A format.

In additions to initiating a conversation between the attendee and the filmmakers, marketing director of this year’s Film Festival, Mark Bauer, said the misrepresentation of short films and why adding an educational component is important.

“Short films do not get seen as often but they are just as powerful and can be just as enjoyable as feature-length blockbusters. We want the Tallahasse community to come out and hear from filmmakers who have created short films and continue to teach others how to create short films,” said Bauer.

The panel discussion and the festival will also allow local filmmakers a chance to learn more about the art of filmmaking and gain more exposure to expand their businesses.

Lovette McCloud, a filmmaker and junior economics student at FAMU, highlighted the importance of the festival to the community and its impact.

“It is important to have events like this because it gives creators exposure and an opportunity to showcase their talents while inspiring people who may not be interested in film to do the same,” said McCloud.

Through creating an avenue to cultivate local filmmakers from around the world, the Tally Shorts Film Festival plans to celebrate the power of short films and provide entertainment to the community.

To learn more information about the tickets, full schedule, and panel discussion, visit http://tallyshorts.com/.