SHORT FILM FESTIVAL in HEALDSBURG-Doc. Shorts Sept. 27-29th

The Healdsburg Int'l Short Film Festival kicked off last Friday, Sept. 27th at the Raven Performance Theater with a champagne party and a screening of mixed genre films including comedies, music videos, animation and dramas. The countries represented were the USA, Italy, Ghana, Germany and Sweden. One of the programs was a "Youth Perspectives" which were student films. Only two of the ten films from outside the USA; from Korea and Nepal. I attended one of the last three programs on the final day of the festival which consisted of documentaries. Of the eight short films, two were from students; one student was from the USA and one from Finland. These two films were sophomoric, "When the Devil Smoked in Paradise" (USA) and the other, "Shape of Ritual" (Finland) was an investigative reporting on the release of benzene from a plant aimed at crying foul but fell far short of laying blame or finding resolution and was dull.  Four of the other films failed to elicit much interest. Although, "Pinatas of Earthly Delights" presented the artistic" piñatas" created by Roberto Benavides were magnificent to behold, his biracial ethnicity (Mexican and Caucasian) and homosexual orientation did create the conflict the filmmaker wanted to achieve. There were two films that were noteworthy for their subject matter, prison reform "From Pen to Paper" (USA) and "Four Chambers to the Heart" (Belgium), a stunning film that melded animation with a magical flair that left me breathless and craving a longer film. "From Pen to Paper" documents inmates in a writing program taught by a Univ. Prof. and several of his students. Both the prof. and students volunteer their time. There's no cost to taxpayers. This powerful film illuminates positive changes and outcomes to both the inmates and instructors from their participation and putting thoughts to paper. The humanization of these prisoners has shown a 0% recidivism. The film "Four Chambers to the Heart"features paintings by the revered Flemish painter, Sir Anthony Van Dyke (1599 -1641). The filmmaker used artistic license with the documentary genre and created a hybrid documentary artistic work that enlightened the viewer many of Van Dyke's paintings and transcending us into the paintings. "Four Chambers to the Heart" received my vote for best film in the documentary series. It achieved what successful documentaries do. It was educational and entertaining. It left me wanting to know more about the subject and wanting to see more films by this ingenious movie maker. Patrons were asked to vote for their favorite films. Cash prizes were awarded last night which marked the finish of the festival.