Albany, California is a very small town. So it has a very small film festival. And what kind of movies play in a small town’s film festival? Shorts, of course. If a movie is too long or too boring, something interesting will soon come along.
This year, the Albany FilmFest opens Thursday, October 12 at 7:00pm. The festival doesn’t play Friday. Then, on Saturday and Sunday, they’ll play only about 2.5 hour each day. I thought that the Saturday and Sunday events ran the whole day. That’s not true. Sorry about my mistake.
This year, I’m going to the FilmFest for the first time. I should have gone long ago. I’ve lived in Albany for more than 20 years. During those years, I’ve written about SFFilm, The Mill Valley Film Festival, Noir City, The San Francisco Silent Film Festival, The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, and many other such events.
We almost lost the FilmFest. The Albany Theater – the only cinema in town – went dark in June. Thanks to the Rialto Cinemas, the FilmFest will happen, even if it’s not actually in Albany. The event will play at the Cerrito Cinema, which is less than a mile away. Besides, the Cerrito has much better food. Check out their menu. You can also buy beer or wine.
As I write this, I have not seen any of the short films that will be screened. I wanted to see them with an audience.
The FilmFest opens with the first selection of shorts: Albany GreenDocs, on October 12, 7:00pm. They’ll play four short documentaries about the environment. Among them is the story of a boy who helped stop urban sprawl in the Bay Area, and another is about Florida’s water rights.
The first full day, Saturday, October 14, is named Seeing/Believing. It starts at 10:00am and goes throughout the day. The seven films screened this day, both narrative and documentary shorts, are about events that are not supposed to happen, such as life after death, and parallel worlds. Or maybe just some surprising works of art. Remember, I haven’t seen any of these films.
The FilmFest closes Sunday, October 15, with seven shorts about connecting people to each other. Among the films is Outlook, about a jaded private eye. The last film of the FilmFest is River of Life, a world premiere.
This should be an interesting festival.
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