Over the past few weeks, word on film street is that short films are dead; but is this true? Well, from my point of view, coming from a film festival angle, in all honesty I'm not sure. It might be a bit harsh to say that they are dead (they are certainly a lot less fashionable than what they were) yet I would argue that they are still important for a certain type of audience.

Who are shorts important for, or more specifically who watches short films? Whilst at the Encounters Film Festival last month, members of the public tend not to buy a ticket to come and watch an anthology of short films, as it appears that the audience for shorts are short film distributors & film industry professionals, so they are definitely not pointless.  

Clearly, judging from the above, they are important for film industry folks as its crucial for them to see what new emerging talent is currently around yet with no (or not much) money to give to filmmakers, it seems that the powers that be with the money don't tend to see what shorts are avaliable.   

So I guess the Jerry Springer moment to end this blog then is don't give up; keep making shorts and keep submitting to film festivals, because the people who organise short film fests can see the value contained within them and craft a strong programme together for the important people around the world who attend these festivals. :)