SHORT FILMS

Partying With John Coogan (l) and Darrell M. Smith (r)
 


The Gotham City Short Film Festival -- subject of our recent short post -- is having its final day of screenings on Sunday, Sept 25, from 2 to 6 PM, at Cooper Union's Great Hall in NYC.

Some of the films to look for are Subliminal, a very short (almost subliminal?) film by a young, interesting director, Regalia Thomas; The Reader, a drama with Tony Award winner Elizabeth Franz, by Duncan Rogers, a very serious and accomplished director; Night Shift (which is not related to a film shown earlier called Day Shift); and I Aim To Please, which seems to be a live action puppet movie.

Earlier, the festival showed Box of Buttons, a sophisticated foreign film directed by Natasha Mehler and produced by the team of Claudina Del Guidice and Matt Morrison, a pair that is developing a slate of edgy and interesting films. (Note: The web site linked to for Claudina and Matt is still in development as of 9/24/2005.) One More Chance is a film I did not see, but I did meet the impressive actor/director, Darrell M. Smith, and some of his team, and he is worth watching and following.

The festival is a competition, with a jury including Steven Haft (a producer), Greta Seacat and Jaid Barrymore (both well known dramatic coaches), and Tom Dolby (a writer). It was organized by John Coogan, President of Seventh Dimension Group Productions. He is an accomplished and ambitious producer, who managed, in a fairly short time, to pull together a quite large and complex festival.