Arts This Week: The Indie Short Film Festival
By Sage Tanguay
Date: 03/21/2025 - 03/23/2025
Coco Ahn 00:07
The second Indie Short Film Festival will be held March 21st through 23rd in Charlottesville, Virginia. For Arts This Week, we spoke with Ty Cooper, the director of the event.
Ty Cooper 00:17
My name is Ty Cooper. I’m the Festival Director and Founder of the Indie Short Film Festival. The Indie Short Film Festival, March 21st through the 23rd, is a festival that brings people together, tell untold stories from many different facets of our society. You know, I have 14 countries represented in the festival. You know, from documentaries to narrative films, it’s a short film festival, so films that’s 30 minutes or less is qualified for us as a short.
Coco Ahn 00:46
What else, besides films, can audiences expect as part of the festival?
Ty Cooper 00:50
So the festival is not just about films. We have a launch party, we have a live band and a DJ. We also have panel discussions. So it’s really a learning environment that we try to promote. We have five different panel discussions about different topics within the film industry. We have professionals that’s on those panels. Seven-time Emmy Award-winning documentarian, Annette banks, she will be here. She’s on the documentary panel. We have Eric Hurt. He’s a local legend. You know, he did commercials for Boeing. But then we have an award winning actor and acting coach, Roslyn Coleman Williams, who’s coming from New York, and she’s teaching an acting workshop on acting in the digital age. It’s an intense workshop four hours, so they get some refreshments, and then they get right into it, and for three and a half hours, she’s teaching a lot of techniques. Within the festival, we have a screenwriting competition, and the top three screenplays, they get cash, but they also get a table read where we have actors, you know, reading these scripts. So it’s a lot more to it than just showing 110 films. Enthusiasts have come people and patrons, just regular people, but then also filmmakers, because the festival provides the opportunity for filmmakers to have a place to show their work. You know, their creativity, the things that they put into their scripts and their film. It’s okay to create art for yourself if you want, but most people create art for people to see it and experience and interpret it. And if they want to do that, then the Film Fest was the perfect place.
Coco Ahn 02:23
How did this event come about?
Ty Cooper 02:24
I started the indie short film series, which was every other month screening event that I screened seven or nine short films. People fly in and speak on the panel if they have their films in the screening. I wanted to convert this series to a film festival. Last year with the film festival, you always want to do better the following year and make it bigger. You know, you want to do more, right? I have a writing workshop which didn’t exist last year. We have four panel discussions. Now I have five. So we have an extra panel discussion and one that’s on AI and filmmaking, because a lot of additional filmmakers, they push back against AI. They don’t think that is art, you know. And I think that that’s a discussion that people should have. And also, we have a Virginia filmmaking showcase on Sunday. We have two of them, because we have a lot of Virginia filmmakers, you know. And I think they need to be celebrated. So that’s why, on Sunday, I created these two screening blocks, and then I included 37 more films, which is like bananas, that’s 50% more. So I did that. And I think what I’m most excited about, about this year’s festival is just kind of seeing how people take to it, you know, seeing how people accept it as part of the arts and culture landscape. Here in Charlottesville, the screenings are atViolet Crown and Vinegar Hill theater, the launch party and the panel discussions at Common House. And we have the Sunday brunch at the Bradbury and Vault Virginia hosts the table reads and the workshop.
Coco Ahn 03:55
Where can people get tickets or learn more about the event?
Ty Cooper 03:58
We have tickets available now online at indieshortfilmfestival.net. We have two different level passes. We have All Access passes, and we have Movie Buff passes. The All Access Pass is just that the launch party, the Sunday brunch awards, at the bribery all the screenings, preferred seating at the table read, preferred sitting at the panel discussions. The Movie Buff Pass gives you access to all the movies. Many of us are on a budget, and I recognize that so people could buy individual tickets to their preferred screening blocks. Now, if you look at the schedule, you’re going to fall in love with all like all the screening blocks, because they all, they all really good screening blocks. Tickets will be sold at the door. But here’s the issue, we have Violet Crown and Vinegar Hill Theater. The Violet Crown Theater is smaller than the Vinegar Hill Theater, so you may want to get it now. If you see something at Violet Crown, you shouldn’t procrastinate anyway, get them, whatever. But if you see stuff at Violet Crown, which I know you will you. You may want to get those now instead of waiting,
Coco Ahn 05:02
The second Indie Short Film Festival will be held March 21st through 23rd in Charlottesville, Virginia. The festival will feature over 100 independent short films as well as a launch party, panels, awards, and for the first time, an acting workshop.
Arts This Week is supported by the UVA Arts Council and Piedmont Virginia Community College. PVCC Arts presents a rich array of dance music, theater and visual arts programming. Learn more at pvcc.edu
