Project Twenty1, the Philadelphia-based film festival and competition, is holding its 5th annual Film & Animation Festival the weekend of October 1st through 3rd at the 350-seat International House theater at 3701 Chestnut St.
This year’s festival is Project Twenty1’s largest ever, featuring 96 short & feature length films, including over 60 World Premieres. Among the films being screened: entries into this year’s 21-Day Filmmaking Competition, in which teams of filmmakers had three weeks to create 10 minute films from scratch based on the common theme “Between the Lines.” The festival also includes films from The Philadelphia Filmathon, which exhibits “the best of the best independent shorts and features from around the world,” according to Artistic Director Matt Conant. Project Twenty1 will also host educational workshops, an Awards Ceremony, and Opening & Closing Night Parties.
The 21-Day Filmmaking Competition, the largest filmmaking contest in Philadelphia, this year welcomed 57 competitors from in and around Philadelphia, as well as California, Arizona, Minnesota, Canada, and Hong Kong, to name a few. The shorts created run the gamut of styles and genres from comedy to film noir to animation. All 57 films will have their World Premieres at the 2010 Project Twenty1 Film & Animation Festival. All attendees receive ballots to vote on their favorite entries; the Audience Awards are announced Sunday night.
The Philadelphia Filmathon screenings will include over 30 additional films, both shorts and features. This year, features include “No Footing,” directed by Jersey native Michael Licisyn, and “Handlebar,” directed by Michigan actor/filmmaker Michael McCallum. Handlebar will screen with the short “Emily in the A.M.” from local filmmaker Dan Brown. All three directors will be in attendance and hosting audience Q&A’s. Other short films screening include the bizarre satire “The Zucchini That Ate New York vs. Tomatozilla,” the Swedish suspense film “Leka med Dockor” (An Affair with Dolls) and the Philadelphia premiere of “Skimming the Surface,” a documentary on the BP oil spill and its aftermath from the perspective of an affected community in Louisiana.
Project Twenty1’s Opening Night Party will take place after the screenings, Friday October 1st at indie mecca The Ellen Powell Tiberino Museum (3819 Hamilton St). The Awards Ceremony will be Sunday evening at the International House, with prizes from Sony Creative Software, Glidecam, and Final Draft, among others. Awards presenters include Academy-Award-winning producer Tammy Tiehel-Stedman (My Mother Dreams the Satan’s Disciples in New York), actress/producer Deborah Twiss (Kick-Ass, Gravity), producer/director Robbie Bryan (iMurders, Man from Earth), and filmmaker James Rolfe (The Angry Video Game Nerd). After the Awards Ceremony, the Closing Night Party will be an open-mic-style screening called Shorts & Shots at Marathon Grill (40th & Walnut).