Two Short Nights Film Festival
Published December 9, 2014
Exeter Phoenix’s Two Short Nights Film Festival is set to return for its 13th year and is promising to showcase some of the most extraordinary and exciting short films from around the world. From Thursday 11th to Friday 12th December film lovers can watch screenings of newly commissioned shorts, international shorts and films that have been made in only 48 hours, as well as attending talks and the opportunity to watch filmmakers battle it out in a live pitch for our new £750 Documentary Shorts Commission run in partnership with returning festival sponsor Colourburn.
The final celebratory screening of the festival is the premiere of six shorts commissioned by Exeter Phoenix Digital. Five of this year’s commissions are specifically for Devon-based short film projects that provide vital opportunities to local filmmakers. The Devon shorts Ashes, The Exam, BabyBird, Seeing Red and the site specific short Insite will all premiere on the Friday night at 9.15pm.
Following the success of the first Exeter Phoenix Digital/ crowdfunder matched commission last year (Host Familie, Tom Austin), the sixth commission to premiere will be this year’s crowdfunder film A Penny for Them, created by Oddbodies. A complementary Fraid Not ale (Exeter Brewery) will welcome guests to the premiere that provides not only exclusive film screenings, but also includes the Festival awards presentation and the Two Short Nights after party with live music in the Exeter Phoenix Cafébar. DJ Dr. John Sealey will then spin the decks with some funky jazz tunes to see the evening into the early hours.
Approximately 140 short films were submitted for this year’s International Shorts Screenings, now shortlisted into three separate screenings and grouped by the themes of 1. Stretching Boundaries: The Strange & the Experimental, 2.Youth, Bravery, Exploration and 3. Documentary.
Award winning animation Drag Me: An Urban Music Tale, by Nikos Kellis (Greece) will be screened at International Shorts Screening 1 at 6pm on Thurs 11th December, alongside a range of international shorts which experiment with genre, technique or narrative in differing ways.
Arcadia, Dir. Rick Fisher, Canada, 2014. Stretching Boundaries: International Shorts Screening 1, Thurs 11th Dec 6pm.
Horoscope, the new film by Maya Rudolph will be screened at International Shorts Screening 2 at 7.15pm on Thurs 11th December. Maya won the award for Best International Film at Two Short Nights Film Festival 2013 with her film Iceberg so this new short made in China is not to be missed.