Festival heading to the drive-in
The 14th annual Arkansas Shorts — A Night of Short Films is set for January, but this time the event will be held as a drive-in, with films shown in the parking lot of Hot Springs Mall instead of at the Malco Theatre.
“Like many things related to movies and festivals, we are taking Arkansas Shorts to the drive-in this year,” festival Director Jen Gerber said. The event will be held Saturday, Jan. 2.
Gerber, who has worked on six previous installments of Arkansas Shorts, said the move to the drive-in is not the only change this year. At past festivals, there have been three blocks of films: International, North American and Arkansas made.
“This year, because it’s a drive-in, (we will show them) all together and keep it two hours,” Gerber said, noting at past festivals, they would start showing movies at 4 p.m. and would finish around 11 p.m.
The festival will be shorter, but Gerber said it will offer “more bang for your buck.”
Between 100 and 120 shorts were submitted for the festival, she said, and her committee, made up of fellow filmmakers, are still deliberating on the final lineup. Choosing the films for the festival has been the “hardest ever” due to the reduced run-time, she said.
“Have to turn a lot of great films away,” Gerber said.
Getting to see a short film on a big screen, she said, “is harder more than ever.” Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most festivals have turned either to virtual screenings or drive-ins and most drive-ins only show feature-length movies.
On the decision to go with the drive-in plan rather than do a virtual festival, Gerber said she wanted to share the movies “with our community.”
“We will do it safely. Make sure it’s comfortable and safe,” she said.
The festival is hosted by Low Key Arts, which hosts a filmmaking class each summer where students make their own short films, which are then shown at Arkansas Shorts. The class is taught by Gerber and due to the pandemic, only around half of the student films will be completed in time for
the festival, she said.
The classes were taught by Gerber virtually via Zoom. She said a positive result of this is they were able to allow people to participate who do not live in Hot Springs. “We had students participate from all over the state,” she said, including students from Fayetteville and El Dorado.
Another class Gerber offered the students was a feature-length screenplay writing course. She said she wanted to allow the students to showcase their work, so actors will be filmed reading several pages from some of the student scripts and the performances will be shown during Arkansas Shorts.
As for the unfinished student films, Gerber said the plan is to hold another event in the future to show them once they are done. “We’ll probably do another event in summertime,” she said.
Prior to the pandemic, Gerber had never attended a drivein, but this will be the fifth one she has produced since it started, she said, noting it is “fun to see people out and about in a safe way” at the events.
“All year we’ve watched films in isolation on a computer or in our houses, not next to someone,” Gerber said.
While attendees will not be sitting directly next to each other, like in a movie theater, the community can enjoy the movies together again, she said.
“The whole reason to create a film is to show it with an audience.”
“I’m excited about it,” Sonny Kay, executive director of Low Key Arts, said, noting drive-ins have “kind of had a few test runs” recently with the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival.
Kay said getting to see the shorts created by the students, “for me, that’s a highlight,” noting it is a “shame we won’t (be able to show) more ( student film).” But with COVID-19, it was amazing they have any finished student films, he said.
In 2018, Kay participated in the short film class as a student and noted it was a difficult class “and the more serious you take it, the more difficult it becomes.” He said it was fun for him to see a movie he made get shown on a big screen. He described screening his short for an audience as “a little bit scary but also thrilling.”
Kay said he is also looking forward to the performances of the student scripts. “I have been cast in one,” he said. “Definitely excited about seeing these.” He noted the script readings will “fill in the gaps” created by the other student films not being finished in time for the festival.
A final lineup of films is expected to be released in about two weeks, Gerber said. Around 200 cars can fit at the event, and the entry fee is $20 per car.