Annual Short. Sweet. Film Fest. To Screen Nearly 300 Short Films

Last year, organizer Mike Suglio took his annual Short. Sweet. Film Fest. to Atlas Cinemas Shaker Square.

He’s been quite happy with the results.

“It’s been fantastic,” he says over beers one night at Brick and Barrel. “It’s really cool to have not only four screens but we’re showing these wonderful films in a movie theater environment. There is great sound and projection and concessions. It has brought us to the next level of professionalism.”

For the first time in its 13-year run, the festival, which takes place from  Feb. 28 to March 3 at the aforementioned Atlas Cinemas Shaker Square, will expand to four screens.

“It allows us to show way more films,” says Suglio. “We are nearly at 300 films this year.”

One thing that surprised Suglio when he began looking through the submissions that came in last year was the number of action and thriller movies. As a result, he created a new category for those films. On Sunday, March 3, the festival will offer a whole program on environmental films. Discounted pre-sale tickets to the Short. Sweet. Film Fest. environmental program are available on Eventbrite for only $5. Actor Richard Gere narrates one film.

Another change for this year's festival: This year's mini-competition has expanded to include more teams aiming to create shorts in just 30 days.

And Suglio received a slew of submissions from talented student filmmakers.

“We have a ton of films from Cleveland State, Case Western and Tri-C and Kent State,” says Suglio, an instructor at Case Western, CSU and Tri-C. “I can’t believe how many films these four universities are turning out. So many college students make films now. The production quality is amazing. I think people are getting better at making films because it’s more accessible. The production quality is important and there’s been some great storytelling. I’m impressed by the quality of the student films. That doesn’t necessarily apply just to Cleveland.”

In addition to screening short films, the festival will offer two seminars on filmmaking.

“Scott Hallgren of Kent State is doing one on sound and the film industry, and Mike Wendt from the Greater Cleveland Film Commission is doing one on the history of cinema in Cleveland,” says Suglio. “Those are both free.”

When it comes to the shorts themselves, Suglio notes two particular favorites.

“Lunchbox by Anne Hu is an autobiography and explores how as a child her lunch was a little different from most lunches,” he says. “It’s a bigger allegory about growing up, and she’s a mother herself. It’s a wonderful tale. Another really good film is called Lucid. It’s a son and a father duo. They made this suspenseful film, and you don’t know everything that’s happening.”

Suglio says he plans to bring the festival back to Shaker Square again next year too.

“I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for so long,” he says. “It grows every year, and it’s very organic. Atlas has been really good. It’s a really good family-owned business. What’s so nice about them is whenever I work with Atlas, when I ask them something, it’s never ‘no.’ It’s ‘how can we do this?’ That’s wonderful. Working in the film industry is such an imaginative thing, and you have to have that mindset of ‘how can we make something happen?' That’s the magic of cinema.”

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