All FLEX events are free for everyone — the festival isn't limited to students.
This is the first year for FLEX to be in Tampa; formerly, it was part of the Gainesville cinema scene. Warren Cockerham, UT’s media production coordinator, helped make that transfer from University of Florida to the University of Tampa. He commented that FLEX’s multiple showings — nine programs of experimental short films and video, and two programs of multi-projector expanded cinema —provide some of “the most exciting work happening in cinema in any form. With such a diversity of offerings, even those that may not know anything about experimental film are likely to find something they like and are encouraged to attend.”
Cockerham says FLEX is a film festival with a very wide appeal "from basements to biennials." There are "hot shot, world-renowned artists on slate and in the mix with a kind of neo-folk/post-punk Americana vibe."
For this year’s five-day festival, with more than 750 submissions from 52 countries on six continents, FLEX organizers selected 81 for inclusion in the competition. It clearly is an international gathering with half a dozen filmmakers from Canada along with two filmmakers from Argentina in attendance. Plus Bryan Wendorf, founder of the Chicago Underground Film Festival, will be coming to FLEX straight from his jury duty in Park City, Utah at Slamdance.
FLEX will also showcase selections of work by three jurors — including UT Professor of Film, Animation and New Media Dana Plays, Almudena Escobar López and Nazli Dinçel.
FLEX events happening on the UT campus include:
▪ Competition 5: Friday, Feb. 8, 6 p.m., Reeves Theater, 200 UT Poe Parkway, Vaughn Center second floor
▪ Juror Screening — Almudena Escobar López: Friday, Feb. 8, 8 p.m., Reeves Theater, 200 UT Poe Parkway, Vaughn Center second floor
▪ After-party, Friday, Feb. 8, 10 p.m., Quaid Gallery, 5128 N. Florida Ave., Tampa, featuring films by Mike Morris and Scott Stark
▪ Competition 6: Saturday, Feb. 9, 1 p.m., Reeves Theater, 200 UT Poe Parkway, Vaughn Center second floor
▪ Competition 7: Saturday, Feb. 9, 3 p.m., Reeves Theater, 200 UT Poe Parkway, Vaughn Center second floor
▪ Competition 8: Saturday, Feb. 9, 5 p.m., Reeves Theater, 200 UT Poe Parkway, Vaughn Center second floor
▪ Juror Screening — Nazli Dinçel: Saturday, Feb. 9, 8:30 p.m., Reeves Theater, 200 UT Poe Parkway, Vaughn Center second floor
▪ After Party, Saturday, Feb. 9, 10:00 p.m. Cunsthaus, 4634 N. Florida Ave., Tampa, featuring film by Kristen Reeves
▪ Juror Screening — Dana Plays: Sunday, Feb. 10, 1 p.m., Black Box, 611 UT University Drive, Cass Building Room 133
▪ Competition 9: Sunday, Feb. 10, 3 p.m. Black Box, 611 UT University Drive, Cass Building Room 133
The closing reception/awards ceremony (Sunday, Feb. 10, 5 p.m.) is at Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, 400 N. Ashley Dr. Cube 200, Tampa.
“Perhaps FLEX’s slate of filmmakers are not household names,” said Cockerham. “But many of these filmmakers are among the brightest luminaries in the world and have shown their films at film festivals and art venues around the globe.”
Founded in 2004 in Gainesville, FL, by University of Florida professor Roger Beebe, FLEX quickly became one of the premiere showcases for experimental short film in North America for the next 11 years. FLEX went on hiatus following its 2015 competition festival. This year, Cockerham, a former FLEX member, revived the event and moved FLEX to Tampa for its 2019 competition festival.
For more information, full schedule of events and program details with film titles, go to flexfest.org or contact flexfestflorida@gmail.com.
Ben Wiley taught literature and film at St. Petersburg College. At USF/Tampa, he was statewide Director of the Florida Consortium/University of Cambridge (UK) International Summer Schools. His interests are film, theater, books, and kayaking Florida rivers. He also writes the BookStories feature in Creative Loafing Tampa. Contact him here.
This article appears in Feb 7-14, 2019.