The Sister Bay Advancement Association (SBAA) has announced that the 11th Annual Door County Short Film Fest (DCSFF) will once again take place in the Sister Bay Village Hall on Friday, Feb. 14 and Saturday, Feb. 15. For the first time ever, limited advance Festival tickets will be available online at doorcountytickets.com.
Friday night will feature submitted short films from around the world from 7:00–8:30 pm (doors open at 6:30 pm), while on Saturday, more short films will be screened from 1:00–5:00 pm (doors open at 12:30 pm), with intermissions for talk-backs with attending filmmakers. Festival tickets are just $15 for an all-access weekend pass and include a delightful Valentine’s Weekend dessert from DC Chocolate.
“When I look back,” said Chris Opper, the Festival’s executive director, “I think the reason for our success is continual experimentation. The result is more creative growth and a happy audience. We also have a great team of volunteers and local sponsors. The combination of hard-to-find excellent short films, a low ticket price and the best free popcorn you’ll ever eat have all been a powerful draw on a February winter weekend!”
This year’s Short Film Fest will again feature an opening night party at 6:30 pm and the premiere of unique short films from creative filmmakers located across the globe. On Saturday, more short films will be shown from 1–5 pm. During the intermissions, filmmakers in attendance will discuss their movies, production process and movie-making techniques, and answer audience questions.
The 2020 Juried Golden Mug Award will be presented to the winning film that a local four-person jury selects as the “best of the fest.” The 2020 People’s Choice Mug Award will be
presented to the film that receives the most votes from attendees over the course of the Festival. Check the festival Facebook page for more details and updates.
New for 2020, The Door County Short Film Fest has created a new student-focused film contest, the Student Film Challenge, which invites all Door County students to submit their own unique short films and vie for three levels of scholarship awards and a potential film internship with a local video production house. Films must be at least one minute in length, but less than ten minutes in length, and must be submitted through the Film Freeway portal by May 31, 2020. For additional entry specs and details, contact Executive Director Chris Opper at dcshortfilmfest@gmail.com.
In a special encore presentation, “The Best of the 11th Annual Short Film Festival” will be publicly screened by local business organization Door County North on April 17-18 at Kick Ash Coffee in Ellison Bay.