The Portable Film Festival collects international submissions of various types of film: short films, animations, music videos, feature films. They are then put up online where users can view them (freely, I should note), vote on their favourites, download them at will, etc. All of the festival awards are granted via user votes, and anyone can register to vote. The site includes amateur submissions, as well as more professional ones from the festival circuit. Each film is previewed by a "curatorial" staff from the festival before being placed on the site, thus ensuring a minimum quality filter.
I've been watching the shorter films, though I've by no means made my way through the entire archive. I was unsurprised by their quality (by which I mean, they were very good, which did not surprise me), but I was surprised at my lack of surprise, if that makes sense- I seem to have started to take for granted the fact that the content I can get for free on the internet is just as imaginative, and, increasingly, well-made and "professional" as paid content from outside the internet.
Possible avenues of discussion:
-Questions raised by the actual festival itself. Its wikipedia article boldly announces that "the festival represents the growing democratization of filmmaking and viewing processes across the world". Thoughts on this? Are these short films merely the equivalent of loss-leaders for the filmmakers? As in, submitting them to be viewed and downloaded freely allows the earlier and shorter works of filmmakers to be widely disemminated, thus creating discussion and word-of-mouth renown, thus creating paid work? (At least two films featured on the PFF went on to be nominated for Academy Awards, several filmmakers appear to have gone on to creating paid advertisements). Alternatively, does the festival represent a genuine shift in the way film is being made and distributed, along with the more culturally pervasive and famous youtube?
- Discussion about the actual films themselves. I've by no means seen every film, but so far I'd recommend the lovely mythical animation Crow Moon and the visually slick To Fall or Fly. Lone Rider is hilarious and a bit heartbreaking.
I keep expecting every one of the live-action short films to be advertising something at the end, which is probably because the only kind of short films I (and most people) ever watch are actual advertisements. |
