The Tally Shorts Film Festival is adding five countries to its lineup. Work from Senegal, Colombia, Costa Rica, Malta, and Cypress will be shown.
The Tally Shorts Film Festival will put on its eighth incarnation this February. What began as a small event with only 16 video submissions, has now grown to include 72 videos from 34 countries. This year, Programming Director Carlos Miranda is scheduling films in preparation for the big event.
"Normally, film festivals are designed to give and open the doors to newcomer filmmakers. A lot of studios look at film festivals to find new talent: Actors, directors or producers," Miranda says.
Out of the 72 films that will be screened, six are from local filmmakers. Three of those six are directed by women, which Miranda says is notable given the male-dominated world of filmmaking.
The festival uses a platform called FilmFreeway for advertisement. Submissions spiked during Tally Shorts' sixth year, but have since decreased. Miranda says that's due to the decreased amount of time applicants have to apply. However, he says the quality of films has increased, pointing to notable actors like Gina Torres from Firefly appearing in the 2020 film lineup. Miranda also says Tallahassee's southern hospitality gives his festival an edge.
“You don’t know how many times filmmakers come to our festival and said 'Look I was in Sundance and I was a selected film and I wasn’t even allowed to go to the parties. They will turn me back at the front door or I’ll have to pay this fee to go somewhere,'" Miranda says.
Miranda says festival volunteers find someone who can help visiting filmmakers get around Tallahassee, as well as invite them to parties. Last years’ festival cost around $10,500 with $700 left over to use for this years’ event. Ticket sales, submission costs, personal donations, and sponsors fund the program. It runs February 7-8.
