The lights were turned off as the room dimmed to darkness. The only illumination was the beams of midday sunlight as they shoot through the metallic swinging doors at the entrance.
Seconds later, the light of the projector filled up the movie theater as the short films commenced.
The KINO Short Film Festival is a once-a-year opportunity for people across the Pacific Northwest and the University of Idaho to showcase films they created. This film festival has been held 23 times and is organized by the UI College of Letter, Arts and Social Sciences film department.
This year, along with the showing of 45 short films, there were several workshops that provided extra help to aspiring filmmakers. Some of these workshops included setting up lighting in an outdoor setting, shooting films on a low budget and setting up lighting to better convey a story.
Films played on both Friday and Saturday and spanned across many genres and styles of filmmaking.
About 100 people packed into the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre during the final sessions of films Saturday night. During this final session, many awards were handed out to various short films.
The Best Student Film and Audience Choice Award were given to “My Friend Karl.” This short film follows the story of a hitman tasked with retrieving $500,000 from a man named Karl who took the money.
As the story progresses, the mix of comedic moments as the hitman and Karl become friends ultimately leaves the hitman’s choice to kill or spare Karl ambiguous and left to the audience to decide.
Although there were many comedy films, the film that took the Best Film prize was given to a somber film, “The Eve of May.” This film follows the experience of an older woman as she discovers that her friend from when she went to school is now nonverbal and suffering from memory loss.
The interactions between the two women tells a somber story as one of the women recounts to her friend’s husband all of the experiences they had as kids.
Many films tackled very serious topics with writing that highlighted the importance of the topic without taking anything away from the gravity of the stories.
“Order 61,” a short film that told the story of the aftermath of a sexual assault through a conversation between a rape victim and the rapist, was awarded the Best Actor Award for Zach Haas’ performance.
When talking about the actor, the director highlighted how important the actor’s contributions were to their project.
“People go through this and it is important to treat it as seriously as it is and give it a lot of thought,” Marcel Fisher, the director of the film, said.
The producer, Brooklyn Browne, said that the script needed to be brought to life. Browne emphasized the significance of the writer and award-winning actor Haas and how they needed their story to be treated with respect.
Fisher said Haas had to play two very different characters during a weekend shooting stretch and how impressive he thought that was.
“I think that shows a lot of versatility… I am so proud of him,” Fisher said.
The KINO Short Film Festival provided many unique opportunities for actors and film makers alike to show off their work with other like-minded filmmakers and community members.
As the lights illuminated the room yet again, many audience members rose with smiles as the films came to an end.
Dominic Dorigo can be reached at [email protected]