Spotlight shines on short films

The cream of the crop from last year’s Sunderland Shorts Film Festival are being shown across the city in special taster screenings to get the region excited about the four-day festival this summer, which will run from June 30 to July 3.

Taster screenings range from hour-long evening screenings – suitable for anyone 16 and over – to family screenings, which last for 30 minutes with films selected for younger viewers.

The first event will take place at PopRecs in the Stockton Road tonight from 7pm.

Anne Tye, festival director, said: “Our first festival last year was a great success – we were really encouraged by the fantastic turn out to the four-day event, and by the amazing talent we saw in the submissions, so we’re upping our offer this year because we want to make sure no one misses out on the brilliant films we have to showcase.

“A lot of people don’t realise how great short films are – they come in all shapes and sizes, from an epic tale of romance told in twenty minutes, to short animations that can be real tear-jerkers. We hope people across the region join us at the taster screenings.”

The festival was created in collaboration with the DC Shorts Film Festival in Washington DC to further links between the two. A timetable of future screenings can be found at www.blog.sunderlandshorts.co.uk, with screenings taking place in venues including Canny Space, City Library, Back on The Map and Pallion Action Group, with more dates to be confirmed.