Short+Sweet, started in 2002, was primarily a theatre festival, initiated by Mark Cleary in Sydney, Australia. Today it has branched into a worldwide, multi-form arts platform that also includes S+S dance, song, comedy and more. To encourage the short filmmakers, theatre professional Mathivanan Rajendran and actor Pooja Devariya are bringing the first edition of Short+Sweet film festival to Chennai!
Mathivanan Rajendran of Stray Factory is the festival director and he believes that the fest will be a massive platform for short filmmakers. “Short+Sweet is a great forum for people to explore their skills and develop their network. It has grown to various countries and helped a lot of people. I am glad that we could bring the S+S film festival to Chennai. We have partnered with the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in Los Angeles,” says Mathivanan.
The festival’s ambassador, Pooja, reveals, “Mathivanan and I were part of the Short+Sweet theatre festival that debuted in Hollywood last year. We staged our play My Name is Cine-ma there. We met Mark and he got talking to us about the short film festival idea as short films are the next big thing. That’s how we decided to host the Chennai chapter of this initiative.”
Pooja says that it will help filmmakers — amateurs, aspiring and professionals — to share their ideas and help find new collaborations with like-minded people.
“We have so many film schools in the city and there are a lot of directors, actors, and technicians who pass out every year. But unfortunately, we don’t have a proper platform to showcase and support each other’s works. When Mathivanan and I performed at the theatre festival last year, it brought together the entire theatre community. We could feel the energy and vibrancy of various artistes. And the community members became so close! Likewise, we hope this film festival will help short filmmakers get some much-needed attention.”
Anyone can submit short films under a duration of 10-mins before the deadline of June 6. “From the entries, we will filter down 40 films that will be screened from June 22 to 24 at Wandering Artist. The winner will be selected via a public voting; a separate jury will also monitor them. The winner gets an entry to Short+Sweet Hollywood, which will happen later this year, where he/she will get to compete with filmmakers from different parts of the world!” Pooja concludes.
