By: Sam Mallon, Bates Class of 2026

Things are ramping up in the “Film Festival Studies” (RFSS 391) seminar this week. We have a long list of impressive films being considered for the final festival slate, and we have devoted time to writing our bios for the website, selecting our poster, and finalizing our mission statement. With the festival planning window quickly narrowing, every moment and contribution counts as we work to finalize the program. There are only so many days to pull this thing together!

The Bates Film Festival draws from far and wide for our programming and that extends beyond feature-length films. Shorts are a crucial part of the filmmaking world, and we gladly include them in our lineup. One of the festivals we have looked to for inspiration is the Aspen Shortsfest, a premier short film festival in North America. Known for its Academy Award-qualifying status and its reputation for discovering emerging filmmakers, Aspen excels not only in programming but also in scheduling. I was impressed by how they were able to package a wide variety of creative and beautiful shorts together in carefully curated blocks.

“A vote determined the films the class would pursue, and often our choices were driven by our commitment to curating an excellent experience for everyone. This required thinking about our audience and also our desire to make a deliberate, collective statement about the world in which we live and the voices we want to amplify.“

When trying to decide which Aspen films were most relevant to our festival, we operated off of limited information. We had only titles, brief descriptions, cast and crew lists, and perhaps, a short trailer. A vote determined the films the class would pursue, and often our choices were driven by our commitment to curating an excellent experience for everyone. This required thinking about our audience and also our desire to make a deliberate, collective statement about the world in which we live and the voices we want to amplify.

In the selection process, we consistently ask ourselves:

How does this fit with the programming we have already selected or may select?

Will this film appeal to festival-goers from campus, surrounding communities, or both?

What statement would we be making by selecting this film?

Shorts can pack a lot of punch into a small amount of time, leveraging every technique to tell a compelling and thought-provoking story in a truncated format. Every shot is crucial to the final product, and it’s imperative that short filmmakers not waste time. We are looking at everything from innovative animated stories and powerful documentaries to experimental works and genre-bending narrative pieces. The format of shorts allows for much more variety which can make for an engaging and potentially challenging experience for an audience. With half a dozen shorts or more fitting into the same block, the range of genres can be expansive!

Ultimately, the shorts we select will be a representation of the festival’s mission: to bring world-class, thought-provoking media to the Lewiston-Auburn and Portland communities. Don’t underestimate the power of short-form storytelling to surprise, inspire, and spark conversation at the festival. With the selection process underway, we’re getting closer and closer to finalizing a fantastic program that we can’t wait to share with you all.