OUR MISSION

To support, promote and recognize the art of short film and its artists.

OUR VISION

The Love Your Shorts Film Festival will be one of the preeminent short film festivals in the world. As the art of short film changes, the festival will adapt with it. We will be known for treating our visiting filmmakers with the highest level of hospitality. The festival will be a platform where film lovers and filmmakers can socialize and collaborate. We will be a respected member within the local creative arts community.

ABOUT

The Festival screens only short films under 30 minutes in length. Films are divided into different blocks for screening and the audience votes for their favorites.

The winning films from each block advance to a final block for a panel of judges to pick the overall festival winner. Winners of each block earn the festival’s award, the “Monroe,” an original piece of metal artwork named after Sanford’s Lake Monroe.

At the end of each block a brief Q&A session is conducted between the filmmakers and audience members. The Festival also hosts an hour-long moderated filmmakers panel.

In 2013, 72 short films were shown to an estimated 2100 people. Over 30 filmmakers attended.

For our 2014 submissions we will be providing feedback for EVERY film submitted.

To view 2013 festival photos visit www.facebook.com/LoveYourShorts.

SUBMIT NOW!

Questions?

Good Karma $1

Screener Award Winners:

Best Screenplay – Over Lunch

Best Cinematography – 1937

Best Directing – Ester’s House

Best Scene – The Things My Father Never Taught Me

Audience Awards:

Best Opening Night – Good Karma $1

Best E for Everyone – TIE – Sincerely Kati and The Handshake

Best Documentary – Bo

Best Animation – The Ballad of Poisonberry Pete

Best Comedy – Ben Dovre

Best Sci-Fi/Horror – Asternauts

Best Drama – Parallax

Best Florida Flavor – The Guy Knows Everything

The Love Your Shorts Film Festival welcomes and thanks our panel of judges for selecting the 2013 Best of the Fest award:

TIM ANDERSON

Tim Anderson, a music and film critic from Sanford, also is the host and programmer of the monthly Enzian FilmSlam in Maitland. His reviews have been published in Metroxmix, Film Threat, Cult Movies Magazine, Amazon.com and other media. Anderson is the DVD managing editor for Bloody-Disgusting.com, executive producer of the film “Die & Let Live,” and producer of the short film “2:22,” which has been shown at more than a dozen international film festivals.

DENISE K. CUMMINGS

Denise K. Cummings is associate professor in the Department of Critical Media and Cultural Studies at Rollins College, where her areas of teaching and research interest include film history, theory, and criticism; 20th century American and American Indian literatures, cultures, and film; critical theory; cultural studies; and Florida studies. At Rollins she co-coordinates the Film Studies program, and annually leads student-immersion courses and service-learning experiences in the Global Peace Film Festival (Orlando) and the Florida Film Festival (Maitland). She is editor of “Visualities: Perspectives on Contemporary American Indian Film and Art” (Michigan State University Press, 2011), and is working with LeAnne Howe and Harvey Markowitz on a new edited collection on American Indians and the cinema.

TRACY FRENKEL

Tracy Frenkel is a producer, director, casting director, acting teacher and member of the Screen Actors Guild. He earned his BFA in Theater at UCF along with a minor in Radio/TV Communications. He has appeared in several films including “Things Change,” “The Bros.,” and “Extreme Force,” various Nickelodeon programs such as Coach Roach/Coach Rochelle on “Welcome Freshmen,” “Kenan & Kel,” “Slime Time Live,” TV commercials, HBO’s “Earth to the Moon” and many live venues, including stand-up comedy. He is a graduate scholarship student of The Second City Training Center in Chicago, where he also was employed from 1987-1989, working alongside actors such as Bonnie Hunt, Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Richard Kind, Tim Meadows, Jane Lynch, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Jeff Garland, Amy Sedaris, and others.

LISA MILLS

Dr. Lisa Mills is an assistant professor of film, documentary, at the University of Central Florida. She received her BA in English from Jacksonville University, her MA in Mass Communication from the University of Central Florida, and her PhD in Political Communication from the University of Florida. Before entering academia in 1999, she was a broadcast journalist for 25 years at several television stations in the Southeast. “The Young Composers Challenge,” her second feature documentary, won the national faculty award for “best long-form documentary” at the Broadcast Educators Association’s Festival of Media Arts in 2010. Her feature film “Dear Mr. Gore” screened in film festivals in the United Kingdom, Spain and South Korea in 2009. Her short films have also won awards. “The Circle Closes” won for best editing from the Florida Motion Picture Television Association in 2010. “Peace Corps: JFK’s Bold Legacy” won the cultural achievement award at the MOFILM festival in Spain in 2009. She is working on a new feature documentary, “Wally’s Way to the Moon,” about a retired rocket scientist.

ROGER MOORE

Roger Moore was, for years, film critic and film industry reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, and is now chief critic and entertainment writer for McClatchy-Tribune News Service, which places his reviews and profiles in thousands of newspapers and websites all over North America.

You may have noticed we have started a little tradition – announcing our Official Selections on January 1st.  To see this year’s line up click here.

It is always tough to program the festival.  We receive so many quality films, but we are constrained by time.  We want all of the filmmakers to know that we value each and every submission and the hard work that went into each project.

As some of you may know we had our 2012 Summer Rewind in August with about 250 fans in attendance.  Everyone had a great time seeing some favorites from the February festival for either the second or very first time.

And of course throughout the Summer and Fall we’ve been screening film submissions from around the world.  There is MUCH to look forward to in February.  So far we’ve received 230 submissions from 21 countries.

We will be announcing our official selections on New Year’s Day per tradition.  Our screeners have a tough job ahead of them this month as they choose and program roughly 70 films.

Tickets for the Festival will go on sale later this month for those who like to get them early!   We’ll keep you posted on that.

Also, you may be interested in helping us put on this fantastic event in Sanford by becoming a Sponsor.  The benefits are great and spread far and wide to our filmmakers and community.

But in the meantime perhaps you could also do us a small favor and head on over to TheDailyCity.com and vote for us for Best Orlando Film Festival (Section 4, Question 66)!

Many thanks to artist and board member, Frank Loose, for his design!

Love Your Shorts was recently featured in a new segment titled “On Location with ICS.”  ICS visited us during our February 2012 festival and caught a glimpse of the excitement.

View the entire ICS episode below (the “On Location” segment begins at 25:14) or click here to view the “On Location” segment on YouTube.

For more information about Indie Cinema Showcase, visit their website at indiecinemashowcase.com.  They are continually accepting short film submissions and trailer to feature on the program.

Below you’ll find a synopsis of the film and previous and upcoming screenings.  And be sure to visit the film’s website and Facebook page!

“Film Fest: We Could Do This in Sanford” Synopsis:

With recent advances in technology, filmmaking equipment is becoming cheaper and more accessible to independent and guerilla filmmakers. As the number of people making films increases, the demand for a place to exhibit these films increases as well. Film festivals are popping up all over the planet. From large cities to smaller communities, people are experiencing the benefits of film festivals.

In “Film Fest: We Could Do This In Sanford,” a group of friends in the community of Sanford, Florida decide to share their love of film with the community and start a film festival. This documentary short film explores the process of creating and executing a film festival as well as its impact on friendships and the community.

Screenings:

March 21, 2012: Class Screening – Full Sail University – Winter Park, Florida, USA
April 23, 2012: Wrap Party/Screening with LYSFF Board- Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center – Sanford, Florida, USA
May 27, 2012: Enzian FilmSlam at 1pm – Enzian Theater – Maitland, Florida, USA
July 6, 2012: The Northwest Ohio Independent Film Festival at 6pm – Lima, Ohio, USA
August 24, 2012: Love Your Shorts Film Festival Summer Rewind at 8pm – Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center – Sanford, Florida, USA
October 18 & 19, 2012: Orlando Film Festival – Orlando, Florida, USA
November 11, 2012: Daytona Beach Film Festival – Daytona Beach, Florida, USA