How did you celebrate your 21st birthday? A beloved local film festival blows out 21 candles this week!
The 21st annual D.C. Shorts International Film Festival returns Thursday through Sunday.
“Let’s be honest, when you turn 21, your life gets wild and I think that’s D.C. Shorts Year 21, we’re about to get wild,” Program Director Joe Carabeo told WTOP. “The films are more in your face, they’re more impactful, you’ve never seen these filmmakers make these types of films before.”
This year’s festival will once again be held at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on Bryant Street in Northeast D.C., as well as a new location at Crescendo Studios in Falls Church, Virginia.
“We’re trying to bring people out this direction and try to include more of the local scene,” Festival Director Anavic Ibanez Canlas told WTOP. “We’ve got 11 showcases, 14 world premieres, 12 U.S. premieres and 52 Washington, D.C., premieres, so please come out and support your creatives from the filmmaking industry.”
The festival kicks off with short documentaries ranging from the family-friendly to the risqué.
“We always start with kickass documentaries,” Carabeo said. “There’s one called ‘Entering Pornland,’ you basically follow a girl on her journey entering pornography. To counterbalance that, there’s a film called ‘Pet Store’ about a pet owner who takes in sloths. … I’ve gotta give you the two contrasting ones, that’s the diversity that we have! We also have Yoichi’s White House, a documentary on one of the main photographers in the White House.”
Friday is the best day for fans of so-called “genre flicks,” such as action, sci-fi, fantasy and horror.
“There is a film called ‘Dummy’ where someone falls in love with a dummy,” Carabeo said. “‘Leverage’ is an action movie about a down-and-out Santa Claus. We have international heist films that take place in Paris. We have ‘The Soul Trader,’ which is a socialite taking souls in Hollywood.”
Saturday brings animation, drama and rom-coms, followed by the annual LGBTQ+ showcase.
“You start your day with animation, then you want to bring it down a little with ‘Did You Feel Something?’, that’s our dramas, ‘Rom Com Is Not Dead,’ which is romance and comedy, then ‘Wonderful As You Are’ is always one of the most popular screenings because pride is strong in D.C.,” Carabeo said. “‘Tennis, Oranges,’ one of those Rumbas escapes a hospital and tries to live a normal life but discovers life on the outside is not nice.”
It all culminates Sunday with local films and the fan-voted awards ceremony.
“The first block is called ‘Oh, I Can Do That,’ essentially a block of films about creators, people who are musicians, filmmakers, artists,” Carabeo said. “Then to follow that up afterwards is a block called ‘Why Not Make It Here?’ which is our local filmmakers block. … There are so many people out there like, ‘You can’t make movies in the DMV,’ and we have proven that this is a go-to place to make movies.”
Listen to our full conversation here.
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