Upcoming festival highlights short films
The Sandpoint Film Festival started eight years ago with presenting short films for a one-day film festival. SFF is a non-profit organization started by Janice Jarzabek in an effort to present high quality short films from around the world.
Sandpoint Film Festival takes place on Saturday, Nov. 4, at the Panida Theater. This year it consists of 37 films — all but one 20 minutes or shorter — picked from around 3,000 submissions from around the globe, including two filmed here in Idaho. Beside many films from the U.S. the films originate from countries as diverse as India, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Canada, Afghanistan, Iraq, Qatar, Ukraine and others.
For the last three or four years I have been part of the Sandpoint Film Festival, screening and helping select the various short films that we show for our little festival.
The primary goal is to find the films that excel in telling a story, whether it is in a narrative, animation or documentary category. This year we selected 37 films that we feel contributes to the art of filmmaking through telling compelling stories and presenting issues that are important to us as human beings in today’s world. They also give us a window into that same world by showing other cultures, lives and environments that are important to us in recognizing our similarities rather than our differences.
Among the many superb films in this years festival is a documentary about the tragic Kent State massacre that occurred 47 years ago in the middle of the Vietnam War. A comedy from Sweden makes fun of our dependence on smartphones; a U.S. comedy takes on the political realities and issues of the day and another comedy from France explores Muslim relations.
A few of the highlights:
- “Time of Silence” is a documentary from Afghanistan about girls being able to attend schools.
- “Adina E - Changing” is a lovely animated film from Israel about a young girl running away and venturing out into the world.
- “A Walk” is a love story from Ukraine and “Hind’s Dream” from Qatar is about a young woman in a changing desert landscape.
- “Buttercup” is all about friendship, loss and grief — beautifully filmed in the Camas Prairie area of Idaho a couple hundred miles south of Sandpoint.
- “My Sister Buggy” is about climate change and man’s impact on the environment, starring two adorable young local girls and filmed in the Sandpoint area.
- “What the Waves Brought In” is a powerful, heartbreaking short film from an Irish filmmaker living in the U.S.
- “Soneri” from India is a lovely look at the memories of childhood and whatever place that we might have come from.
Other films tackle the subjects of family, lost love, race relations, climate change and many other subjects.
On Friday, Nov. 3, there is a pre-production party at Café Trinity from 4:30 to 6 p.m.. That evening at 7:30 p.m., the Panida will screen “Liza, Liza, Skies are Grey”, the latest project from two-time Academy Award winning director Terry Sanders and photographed by Erik Daarstad.
Saturday morning starts with Filmmakers Coffee at Creations on the Cedar Street Bridge at 9 a.m.. The vestival films are presented in three blocks starting at 11:30 a.m.. The second block starts at 3 p.m. and the third at 6 p.m. The festival concludes with a post-production party at the Café Trinity Lounge starting at 9 p.m.
The price of admission is $ 7 per block or $ 20 for an all-access pass. Advance tickets are available at panida.org or through Sandpoint Films at 208-290-0597.
Janice Jarzabek, Erik Daarstad and Bernice Webb work together as an all-volunteer board. Becky Revak downloads and prepares the films for screening. Lori Reid created the festival poster. Eric Ridgway will host the event. Cafe Trinity. Best Western and Elsaesser Jarzabek Anderson Elliott and Macdonald have sponsored the festival since 2010.