With 15 years under his belt as director of the annual locally based Short. Sweet. Film Fest., Michael Suglio finally had the chance to expand last year. By chance, he met up with a college friend from Case Western who landed in New York and worked at a brewery. Upon visiting the brewery, Suglio had an epiphany.
“I went to New York for Pokemon Go Fest,” says Suglio one recent afternoon over a few cask ale beers at Brick and Barrel. “We went to the basement area of the brewery, and I had goosebumps. The space was exactly the same size as [the site of a previous Short. Sweet. Film Fest.]. Market Garden Brewery. He had surround sound and a stage where they do comedy and music. I asked if we could have a film festival there. He said, ‘Let me ask the boss.’ She said, ‘Yeah sure.’”
In addition to expanding to New York, where an abbreviated version of the festival will again take place this year, the festival will expand its Cleveland program. Suglio received nearly 600 submissions for this year’s event and chose just under 350 films to screen at his festival, which kicks off on Monday, March 2, at Atlas Cinemas at Shaker Square. The festival runs through Sunday, March 8, at the theater.
“The big new thing is that we have three Women in Focus programs,” says Suglio. “It’s films made by women that explore areas that are uniquely women-based. It was interesting to learn things that wouldn’t even cross my mind. I learned about issues and heard stories that I normally wouldn’t have heard. They are great short films for everyone.”
While other film fests are shrinking, Short. Sweet. Film Fest. is growing and adding new programs. An opening night featuring local student filmmakers takes place on Monday, March 2, and more student films will screen on Tuesday, March 3, and Wednesday, March 4. Local filmmakers get the spotlight on Thursday, March 5, as do documentary filmmakers. Friday, March 6 is devoted to experimental films, animated movies and comedy and drama, and many more films will screen on Saturday, March 7 and Sunday, March 8.
“This year, we have a closed captioning program on Tuesday,” says Suglio. “We have an opened-captioned film about accessibility and voting in Cleveland. That’s a first. And it’s free. Anyone can attend. We’re also pushing the environmental program on Wednesday, March 4. We’re showing a documentary about the Ohio National Parks system, which is really cool. We have several horror programs. It’s popular and we had so many films. We even have a program that is just local horror.”
The number of replies from directors who said they would attend the festival for Q&As has increased, and Suglio says that’s been a pleasant surprise.
“The likelihood of having a filmmaker present is really high this year, especially on the weekend,” he says. “I allowed a few days to allow people to travel in. It’s really rewarding to see people get to experience the city where I’ve lived my whole life and obviously love and care about.”
Suglio says he’s always surprised by number of dedicated local filmmakers who submit their movies.
“It’s nice to have that community of filmmakers present and represented,” he says. “With so many people coming in, [the national filmmakers] will hopefully meet and network with the local guys.”
Going forward, Suglio says he wants to continue to develop programs that focus on women’s issues, and he also wants to feature Latin American and Hispanic films.
“In the future, I will also have a category that features vertical films,” he says. “They’re designed to be seen on your phone. I’m hoping that will attract a whole new audience. That’s a whole new type of filmmaking that’s becoming popular. I think short form is here to stay. All these TikToks are essentially short documentaries. I am glad we have been a part of this short film movement for 15 years now.”
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