Kicking off Friday, the Indie Short Film Festival is back in full-swing for its third year in Charlottesville, cementing the Indie Short Film Festival as a Charlottesville staple. The festival will run from Friday through Sunday with showings of around 130 short films in venues along the Downtown Mall, as well as panels, a cinematography workshop and a launch party for the festival featuring live musical performances.
The festival originally began in 2019 as a smaller independent short film series spearheaded by festival director Ty Cooper. These series often included panels as well as a screening of around seven or nine short films per month, and from that series came the idea to turn it into a full three-day festival. The festival’s first year in its current form took place in 2024, featuring around 70 films and has since grown to screen over 130 movies.
The schedule for this year features 16 film blocks that are themed around broad grounding ideas such as “All About the Music,” “Black Expressions in Cinema,” “Women Telling the Story” and “Life Isn’t So Simple.” After each block of films, the festival includes time for a Q&A session in the theater, allowing those in attendance to interact deeply with these films and their filmmakers. While these blocks each have a central theme, Cooper explained that he wanted to organize these blocks and series — like one highlighting Asian films and filmmakers — to confront viewers with different perspectives and create connections across the medium.
“I mixed some things up so that I could make sure that if you come in, let’s say you’re Asian and you want to come to see the Asian films. That’s cool but I’m also going to add [something else] into that block so you are exposed to this new thing,” Cooper said.
Interspersed between these blocks are other opportunities for viewers and filmmakers alike to indulge in their passions for the art form. The first day includes a launch party featuring a performance by SHAGWUF — a local Charlottesville band — where attendees can celebrate the artistry that is to come in the following days. Additionally, panels are making their anticipated return in this year’s film festival with seven panels sprinkled throughout Saturday.
One specific panel titled “Words on Pages to the Screen: Unlocking the Power of Story” is in collaboration with the upcoming Virginia Festival of the Book, another large Charlottesville-based arts festival. Cooper discussed how collaborating with other local festivals allows for the Indie Short Film Festival to become more immersed within the Charlottesville community after two years in the city.
“We plant our flag here in Charlottesville for the Indie Short Film Festival,” Cooper said. “So we want to take baby steps of collaboration and then let that collaboration grow organically over time.”
New to the festival this year is the introduction of a cinematography workshop taught by award-winning cinematographer Luke Kreger. The four hour workshop will allow small filmmakers to learn how to enhance their stories through cinematography such as lighting, exposure and camera movement. This workshop enables each participant to work closely with Kreger, receiving personalized attention throughout. Cooper explained that these special events are vital aspects to any festival.
“And then we also have, you know, you can't have a film festival without movies, right? But you want to have other things that’s part of [the festival] to enrich the experience of the patrons as well as the filmmakers who are visiting,” Cooper said.
The festival will also feature its annual screenwriting competition, which allows for filmmakers to submit their scripts for judging. The festival awards the winner of the competition a table read by professional actors during the festival. This opportunity gives independent filmmakers both exposure but also the chance to see their screenplays performed in front of a live audience.
Central to the festival’s operations are its volunteers who ensure the festival functions without any problems. Volunteers help out by working the box office, assisting in the theaters, assisting in the production of the panels and greeting people entering the festival.
The festival welcomes volunteers with the requirement that they undergo a short training session before their first shift. After that, volunteers are free to take advantage of their time working for the festival by attending all of the programming opportunities that the festival offers. Claire Kaplan, the volunteer coordinator for the festival, said that the volunteers get an enriching experience out of their service.
“You can stay there and watch all the films, which is a lot of fun, and meet filmmakers, so you get the chance to interact with them,” Kaplan said. “I think the biggest part is seeing what the volunteers get out of it, and seeing young people being inspired.”
Cooper hopes to expand the festival further not only in the number of films the festival shows but also in its outreach. Dubbing Charlottesville’s festival as only one half of the complete Indie Short Film Festival project, Cooper said he hopes that one day the festival can reach a market in the western United States as well.
“I see two festivals coming out of it. This is going to be Indie Short Film Festival East, and I'm gonna be putting together one for Indie Short Film Festival West,” Cooper said. “I would love to have my festival in Park City, where Sundance was.”
Tickets for the Indie Short Film Festival are on sale now on the festival’s website.
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