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Marvel might make viewers long for the bygone era when Inception’s two-and-a-half-hour ramble was notable, but plenty of other movies now shamelessly blow past the 120-minute mark. When Nosferatu’s two hours felt like three, short films may be exactly what we need to encourage directors to get to the point already.
Thank goodness the Oregon Short Film Festival comes back to Clinton Street Theater on Sunday, Jan. 12, to celebrate compact storytelling with its winter edition. Now in its ninth year, the festival will show 60 films that compete for awards in 22 wide-ranging categories: animation, music videos, science fiction, documentaries, fantasy, mockumentaries, horror, romantic comedies, dark dramas, and more.
OSFF organizer Mikel Fair tells WW that this year’s winter edition comes by popular demand after receiving so many submissions for the spring and fall versions of the festival. The following four films are just a few morsels of what festivalgoers can expect from OSFF’s chilliest iteration. You may get scared, you will probably laugh, but you most definitely will have fun people-watching other cinephiles.
Good Girls Get Fed (2023, dir. Kelly Lou Dennis)
A man forces three trapped women to perform for food. They work together to escape, but will they succeed? Good Girls Get Fed’s title aptly describes the rules of their entrapment: Women who play along with whatever nightmares men put them through while wearing smiles on their faces will do well. Dennis’ work asserts that we should not only be concerned with the dystopian fiction of The Handmaid’s Tale but with the present where women’s equity could be as far away as 100 years if we continue to make progress at the current rate. Good Girls Get Fed’s writing wants audiences to consider how society forces women to behave and dictates how they suffer.
Cat Murder Potluck (2024, dir. Jordan Barsky)
The murder mystery genre has seen a resurgence recently with worldwide audiences gobbling up Only Murders in the Building and Knives Out. This dramedy wants to fall into the same category, and while it’s not clear if it will land on its feet, Cat Murder Potluck could be an event all the same. Old friends gather for a potluck, but the sudden death of the hostess’s cat quickly curdles the dinner party into a locked-room whodunit. Cat Murder Potluck pays homage to 1985’s Clue as guests finger-point their way through the feline fatality. Skilled filmmaking and quick character development allow viewers to both care about our suspects and be able to judge them. Great mysteries need to tell us enough that we can figure out the truth while also withholding enough so that the solution isn’t obvious and boring. Hopefully, Cat Murder Potluck turns out to be a fancy feast and not a hairball.
Closing the Gap (2024, dirs. Maura Smith and Kate Smith)
Now that a half decade separates the present from the harshest moments of the COVID-19 pandemic, it finally feels like useful subject for reflection. The Smiths’ new film, Closing the Gap, examines how the community of Norwood, Mass., dealt with intense demands that the health emergency placed on childhood education. Maura Smith in particular was inspired to make Closing the Gap after watching her mother adapt in real time as a teacher with 40 years of experience. Early in the pandemic, teachers were applauded for their quick response in pivoting to remote learning, and were proud of students and caregivers for making the change work even though it was difficult. Negative consequences still emerged, but this was a Herculean task that educators don’t get enough credit for pulling off in a time crunch. Given the current climate of division and hostile rhetoric now too common in politics and education, it will be interesting to revisit a moment when it felt like everyone genuinely cared for each others’ well-being.
Queer Crush: Places (2024, dir. Margaret Grant)
Queer Crush: Places is a nostalgic story about feeling out of place in the real world but right at home in classic childhood books and imagination. It is a story about putting other, cooler people on unreachable pedestals only to find out in the end that they too are just people. Grant’s storytelling is incredibly charming. Watching this movie feels like your friend Margaret is just reminiscing enthusiastically about having a crush on a cool older girl back in fourth grade. Queer Crush: Places intentionally does not scream “great” production quality. Grant uses amateur styles and tools to show that authentic storytelling is more important than having the right equipment brands. With an iPhone and iMovie, anyone can make a film that can connect deeply with others. This animated film is shot how children’s book videos were shot for television, with mechanical zooms and pans across a page. Grant’s pen and watercolor illustrations are generously expressive, deeply textured and rich with life. The font, motion and music choices may seem a little cheesy at times, but what makes this film amazing is that it feels real, genuine, and earnest in a way that seeing it at the start of the new year offers a break from stale, overpolished, content-first 2024.
SEE IT: Oregon Short Film Festival Winter 2025 at Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton St., 971-808-3331, cstpdx.com. 2 pm Sunday, Jan. 12. $50.