When we first launched the video half of our CL Visions contest, I wasn’t sure we’d get that many entries. After all, filmmaking is a collaborative art that often requires the hard work and personal sacrifice of a whole busload of people. Would there be enough of these creative types in the area producing enough short films to fill up a Friday night timeslot at the Gasparilla International Film Festival?
Sixty-two entries later we had a real battle on our hands. You, the people, voted on your favorites, and I’m proud (though somewhat befuddled) to report that the winner of the readers’ pick for Best 60 Second Short is … Five Monkeys Playing One Guitar, submitted by Kiaralinda. Guitars and monkeys are crowd-pleasers, I guess.
After much agonizing and several rounds of voting, the judges — Wendy Babcox, Associate Professor, University of South Florida School of Art and Art History; Andrew Lee, Co-Owner, Roundhouse Creative Studios; Megan Voeller, Creative Loafing Visual Art Critic; and me, Joe Bardi, CL’s Movies & TV Editor — narrowed the field to 10 Finalists and 14 runners up, and eventually settled on one winner. So, who won the favor of the judges? I can’t tell you that just yet …
All will be revealed Friday night when we present the CL Visions screening, as part of the Gasparilla International Film Festival, at 6 p.m. at Cinebistro in Old Hyde Park. All 24 films selected by the judges plus the readers’ pick will be shown on the big screen, and one filmmaker will leave with $1000.
The finalists are:
60 Agonizing Seconds — Ryan Wendell Bauer
A Colliding Breath — Mark Farag
A Product of My Past — Gregor Knell
A random minute in Tampa — Andy Herbon
A Sixty Second Letter To You — Kevin Contento
Anxious — Nicole Abbett
Closer — Adrian Errico
Family Ties — Domonic Smith
Half an Hour in Arkansas in 60 Seconds — Vincent J Kral
Half Awake — Brook Eschenroeder And Kristin Eschenroeder
Just Kickin It — Sean DeGraw
Lloviznas en Mi Barrio — Gabriel Ramos
Now — John P
Office — Kathleen Bly
O Time — The Faza Brothers
Run — Daniel Moore
Scape — Desiree Moore
Sunrise St. Pete — Eric Hunter
There Is Still Time For A Change — Jordan Hicks
The Time Capsule — Caleb Ekeroth
Time Drag — Greg Reed
Time & Memories — Arianna Dubauskas
Time Travel — Errol Johnson And Greg Maxwell
What Movies Are Made Of — Andy Nguyen
[Correction: I originally said there were 25 films selected. It was actually 24. The text has been corrected above.]
This article appears in Mar 29 – Apr 4, 2012.