Screening event to be held for flash film festival
Sep. 5—A screening event for the Yuba-Sutter Flash Film Festival will be held Friday night in Yuba City featuring six short films created by local filmmakers.
Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture announced the competition on July 22 with an informational meeting held on Aug. 8. The screening event marks the completion of the first flash film festival to be held in the Yuba-Sutter area.
Last year, Yuba Sutter Arts launched a similar event entitled "Look at Us, Yuba Sutter!" which featured a collection of local short films, the Appeal previously reported. However, the films that will be featured at this screening event are much shorter and were created in just two days.
Participants in the film festival were given 48 hours to write a script, film and edit a 4-6 minute short film between Aug. 19 and 21. Each group was assigned a prompt to center their film around at random during a "Kick Off" event on Aug. 19, The Appeal previously reported.
The only pre-planning afforded to each team was the assembly of the actors, script writers, directors, cinematographers, grips, editors, and musicians.
Filmmakers were also required to include a prop and line of dialogue that was assigned to them. The props had to be used in full view on camera and each line of dialogue had to be either said, sung or written verbatim to fulfill the requirements.
"We wanted to offer filmmakers from amateur to professional the opportunity to take on a new type of cinematic challenge," said David Read, executive director for Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture.
Shamaya Sutton, a participant in the film festival and a reporter with the Appeal, said that while the short time limit was challenging, her group was able to tap into their creativity to fulfill the requirements for the film festival.
"This was our first time putting a film together and not gonna lie, it was a bit stressful at times. But we learned so much and the pressure of having such a quick deadline really forced us to work together and be creative," Sutton said. "I hope the judges and the audience appreciate our efforts, and I'm looking forward to seeing all the other films that were created."
Films will be judged based on the overall quality of the plot, camera technique, understandable audio, lighting and editing transitions and use of music, organizers said. Cash prizes of $500, $300 and $200 will be given to first-, second- and third-place winners.
The Yuba-Sutter Flash Film Festival will be held at the Sutter Theater for the Arts at 754 Plumas St. in Yuba City on Friday at 7 p.m. Admission is $10 and will include a free bag of popcorn.
