The start of the fall season arrives wordlessly: warm-colored leaves gathering on sidewalks, trucks on Storrow Drive flipping, heads spinning from reaction-surges after a heavily-anticipated film debuts at festivals. Real-time updates on social media have made it easier to follow the festival circuit, whether it takes place in another state or an overseas affair. But it’s also easy to get swept up in the flashiness. The length of standing ovations and the number of early walk-outs shouldn’t define the best/worst of the program. Lest we forget, film festivals are curated experiences for and by film lovers.
Over the years, the Hassle has devotedly covered several of many annual joints (BUFF, IFFBoston, BAAFF, to name a few). The Regent Theatre in Arlington will be hosting Summerdance this Sunday, September 8. The festival will premiere seven new short films from filmmakers in the New England region.
Short films are often a featured program in festivals. Sometimes they are part of the gestational phase of a full-length project, or a succinct showcase of technical execution and vision. However, it might be fair to say that, unless grouped by others and pushed by big-name distributors (the Oscar-nominated short film program may be the only consistent one that you’ll find in both independent and chain theaters), short films rarely make it to the big screen.
“The fact is that short films don’t have a market where one can make money,” Chris Esper, director of Distant Memories, shares with the Hassle. “There are short film streaming services where you may gain profit, but it’s few and far between.”
After attending the New England Institute of Technology and working as an editor and cinematographer, Esper came up with the script for Distant Memories to reflect his grandparents’ experience. “When prepping for the film, I had seen several films about Alzheimer’s,” Esper says. “But I was anxious to do something different with this one by trying to use visuals to tell the story and get inside of the head of the character experiencing the disease.”
Summerdance’s selection this year explores different genres, from the comedic workplace revenge Bandiots to the 1850s historical drama Le Monstro. A Woman Under An Inferno Sky, directed by Kris Salvi, is described as a loose adaptation of Dante’s Inferno. “I knew I could never do an exact representation of the story, so I kinda twisted it and turned into a story about a crisis of faith and with a female lead,” Salvi explains of the experimental piece.
Filmmaking is not a complete straight path for everyone. After working in Hollywood, Salvi returned to the East Coast to work in local theater plays and immersing in the independent scene. For Gabrielle Rosson, the director/star in Le Monstro, it was putting together an honors thesis that led her into making a film instead. “There is no other medium that allows me to combine my passions for storytelling, visual art, and music in this way,” Rosson says. “The experience was life-changing for me and I’ve never looked back.”
After seeing my fair share of films over the few years I’ve written for the Hassle, there is one that I carry with me when I think about the greatness of films. I saw it at a student competition on a night that I was supposed to be studying. Made by Northeastern students, the film’s charm — a mellow-ish hero saving the princess — extended beyond production means. Ideas about “homemade” and “small budget” escapes your mind when you watch an idea taking up the big screen.
“Come to an independent film screening if you want to see some truly original stories and art,” Rosson says. “You’ll never regret it. And you might even get inspired.”
Summerdance 2024 will be at the Regent Theatre on Sunday, September 8. There will be a pre-screening cocktail hour an hour before screening, which starts at 3 pm. Q&A sessions will follow after each film. For more information about the event and to purchase tickets, check out the Regent Theatre website.
