Talking Show Me Shorts with festival director Gina Dellabarca

Talking Show Me Shorts with festival director Gina Dellabarca

The Show Me Shorts festival gets underway soon and is now Oscar accredited.

I caught up with Gina Dellabarca, the festival's director, who's been involved right from the get go to discuss this year's upcoming event.

            So, what’s the marketplace like at the moment for Short films?

Buzzing! The place of short films in the entertainment landscape is becoming increasingly central. Short films continue to become more accessible and more in demand. It’s exciting for those of us involved in this part of the industry.

How do you feel the creativity levels are currently?

Audiences are bored of derivative stories. They want something fresh and different. That gives short filmmakers a licence to unleash their imaginations to the full. And we are just starting to see the tip of that now. It’s only going to get better in the next couple of years. 

You’ve been with the festival since its inception – what changes have you seen?

Show Me Shorts has grown, and we’ve watched the careers of filmmakers take off. We’re still doing what we set out to do though, and that is connect New Zealanders with the very best short films. We’re just doing it in more ways now, like through our Yoobee Short Film Talks, and with the monthly online short films we post in our Screening Room (http://www.showmeshorts.co.nz/screeningroom/). 

What’s the one thing which surprises you annually?

We love discovering new talent. I’m always surprised by the scale of some of the self-funded short films that come to us though. People pour their heart and soul into these films, not to mention their life savings! It’s amazing what can be achieved when you call in all your favours and set yourself an ambitious goal.

How difficult is it to select the films which appear?

Programming the festival is a huge undertaking, but one that the team and I relish. It’s a privilege to be able to view the work of so many hundreds of entries. We have huge respect for the time and energy that has gone into making every film entered. But ultimately we can only select 40 films, so we have to be hard and cull anything that we don’t absolutely love.

Talk us through the selection process

Entries open in February and close in July. The programming team consists of about eight of the volunteers on my team and I. All people who love film and have been a part of the festival for at least two or three years. We start watching the shorts as soon as the first ones arrive, and don’t stop until August when we have to lock off our programme choices in order to meet deadlines for print and collecting screening materials.

In the first round of watching, we cut out about two thirds of the films. Anything that doesn’t meet our minimum standards of high production values and an engaging, entertaining story. The second round is much harder and involves more of the team. A film basically needs to pick up an advocate from my team who loves it and will champion it through to the final short list stage. We do a lot of arguing at this point, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Once we have our very top picks in place, we examine those and try to look for gaps to make sure our programme is balanced in terms of types of story. We don’t want to leave audiences feeling flat or un-moved by screenings, so we look for films that we can connect together thematically and take people on a journey. It’s an art not a science and we’re always learning. Audience feedback is welcome through our surveys in cinemas or online at our website.

 Tell us about your favourite films this year – why have these made the cut?

I love actors. Some of the best films in the programme this year feature high profile acting talent such as Michael Richards (Seinfeld's Kramer), who stars in Walk the Light, as a man who works inside a ‘walk / don’t walk’ traffic signal box. A Cautionary Tail features is an award winning animation featuring the voices of Cate Blanchett and David Wenham, who tell the story of a little girl born with a tail that expresses her emotions. Closer to home, Andy Anderson gives a career highlight performance in Honk if You’re Horny, as a lascivious taxi driver telling a dirty story. Aidee Walker hits it out of the park in the award winning short film that she also directed – Friday Tigers. These films are all stand outs for me. It’s so great to see these performers nailing it. I’m proud to be presenting their work.  
Have you ever been part of a short film? If so, tell us more

I’ve worked for a film production company, film distributors, been a film publicist and a cinema manager/programmer. I learned early on how much hard work making films is. I love them, but you’ve got to play to your strengths. For me those are organisation and marketing, so I’m more of a film cheerleader than a filmmaker.

What’s your hope with the festival this year?

We’ve already had some big wins this year with our Academy Awards accreditation meaning our Rush Munro’s Best Film winner qualifies for entry to the Oscars. The announcement of our ambassadors was a highlight for me, especially having the iconic Sir Richard Taylor publicly endorse Show Me Shorts. I was also invited by the German Federal Foreign Office to attend the Berlin International Film Festival in February, which allowed me to also attend the largest short film festival in the world (Clermont-Ferrand). What a great year, right!

I can’t ask for anything more than for people to come along and check out the short films that my team and I have curated for you all.
How do you plan to evolve this festival in the ever-changing cinematic landscape for next year?

We have a million ideas for ways we can show more short films, in new and different ways. Next year we’re announcing an exciting new award category, that I can’t wait to share. But you’ll have to wait until February to find out about that. In the meantime, we are programming some of our back catalogue of great short films for Art in the Dark festival (7-9 November) and Silo Cinema outdoor screenings all summer long.
What’s the one short film nobody should miss this year – and why?

Ooh good question! If you like zombie movies (and I do) Here Be Monsters is frick-tastic. Simple film, great premise, well executed. A man returns home from the front fighting in the zombie wars, to his wife and child. He’s been bitten and has a timer ready to go off for when he will turn, but can spend his last few human hours with his family. This film is in the ‘Through the Looking Glass’ section. Don’t miss it!