JCSM hosts Short Circuit Traveling Film Festival Jan. 27

The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art presents the Southern Arts Federation’s 2nd Annual Short Circuit Traveling Film Festival on Tuesday, January 27, 2009. The films begin at 6pm and JCSM will provide a complimentary snack during the break at 7pm. Short Circuit is the only program that spotlights short films created by filmmakers living and working in the Southeastern United States. This event is free and open to the public.

The Short Circuit Traveling Film Festival is comprised of 12 short films selected for their artistic merit by a panel of esteemed media arts professionals. These engaging selections range from fiction and animation to experimental and documentary. This year, the festival features work by filmmakers from Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida. Short Circuit will travel from November 2008-May 2009 as a self-contained, three-hour film festival that may be enjoyed in a single afternoon or evening. The films are:

“99 to 1: Ovarian Cancer and Me”
Documentary Short
Directed by Phoebe Brown
Atlanta, Georgia
In the summer of 2005, doctors said they were 99% sure that filmmaker Phoebe Brown did not have ovarian cancer. She turned out to be part of the 1%. “99 to 1” is a quirky, funny self-portrait of a cancer survivor.

“Carnival Picaresque”
Experimental/Animation
Directed by Dave Greber
New Orleans, Louisiana
When a nameless narrator embarks with his companion on an excursion from the Big Apple to the Big Easy, they are met by a small entourage of delusional revelers. Together they embark on a psychotropic tour of post-Katrina Mardi Gras celebrations wrought with danger, dizziness and decadent fun.

“Category 4”
Narrative Short
Directed by Verena Faden
Miami, Florida
This narrative short tells the story of a Cuban-American family in Miami as they weather their stormy relationships and a hurricane.

“Crossin’ All the Boundaries”
Documentary Short
Directed by Rebecca Parrish and Brooke Bassin
Atlanta, Georgia
Through interviews with local residents, this short documentary explores race, class, gender and power in Clarksdale, a small Southern town in the Mississippi River Delta, during the 2008 Mississippi Presidential Primaries.

“February Stars”
Narrative Short
Directed by Sean Heyboer
Winter Park, Florida
A young deaf man is on his way home to take care of his severely ill grandmother when he has a chance encounter with a young woman who may change the course of his life.

“Going to the Beach”
Narrative Short
Directed by Elizabeth Strickler
Atlanta, Georgia
In a future memory, young parents desperate to find their lost son cross paths with a boy who is altogether different in this Ballardesque parable filled with cold tension and stark fear.

“I Always Do My Collars First: A Film About Ironing”
Documentary Short
Directed by Conni Castille and Allison Bohl
Breaux Bridge, Louisiana
This short documentary follows four dynamic Cajun women in Southwestern Louisiana as they go about their daily lives and their ironing routine. An emotional and cultural process, ironing is performed with an aesthetic sensibility that helps define these women and their families.

“Our World”
Animation
Produced and Created by Larry Lauria
Savannah, Georgia
“Our World” is an animation relay, a process where animators develop something they want to express through independent work around a central idea. The animation in “Our World” moves from art to sports, from solving a crisis to home shopping by television, from a post-nuclear holocaust to terrorism. The film intends to evoke a discussion about the state of humanity.

“Swimming to the Moon”
Narrative Short
Directed by Greg Thompson
Atlanta, Georgia
When burned-out rock star Orion Gold puts the moves on successful journalist Dana Long, neither of them knows how to brace for the impact. Could Orion’s unique approach to life bring clarity to Dana’s career-driven existence? Could she be his missing muse? Someone's going to fall... hard.

“The Mess”
Narrative Short
Directed by Art D’Alessandro
Maitland, Florida
A man comes home from a hard day at the office to find his house a mess, even worse than usual. He explodes into a violent rage, calms himself, cleans the house and then lies in wait for his wife to discuss their relationship and her inability to change her messy ways. But she didn’t make this mess all by herself.

“Torn Asunder”
Experimental
Directed by Bob Barancik
St. Petersburg, Florida
This experimental film creatively explores America’s increasingly frayed national psyche.

“Undocumented”
Narrative Short
Directed by Joel Rodriguez
Miami, Florida
Immigrant parents prepare for their daughter’s Quinceañera, but their plans are abruptly interrupted by the question of the father’s legal status which threatens to pull the family apart.

The Short Circuit Traveling Film Festival is a program of the Southern Arts Federation (SAF), a non-profit regional arts organization. For more information on the Southern Arts Federation and its programs visit www.southarts.org.

CONTACT: Colleen Bourdeau, Marketing and Events Manager
334.844.7075
cbourdeau@auburn.edu