Members of the Ohio filmmaking community come together to showcase their work at the “Shorts in January” event taking place at the Maumee Indoor Theatre on Friday, January 19.
Featuring 16 films by 9 different local filmmakers, the event is the brainchild of Resurrection Films’ M.J. Koleszar, who will showcase three of his own films that evening, including the world premiere of his “Skinling.”
“I thought, wouldn’t it be great if we could just get everyone together, have one big night so everyone can showcase their stuff. Those of us who [don’t] have anything new, or maybe only have a few new things, rent the space to be cost effective and everyone splits the costs,” Koleszar said.
In addition to the creative spirit that the films represent, Koleszar sees the event as demonstrating how Toledo filmmakers have begun to come together and support each other as a community.
“I want to see Toledo be like Cleveland or Detroit, where we actually have a bigger filmmaking community, and it’s kind of more noticed.”
Enlarging filmaker circles
For those looking for something a little more intense, look no further than Capture1 Studios’ contribution, “Mental State: Revelation.” Running at a whopping 37 minutes long, the short focuses on a young girl having recurring nightmares about a pair of men electrocuting her.
“We tried to throw a bunch of different feelings and emotions into the movie to get someone to enjoy it. Instead of just making a typical action-adventure type of movie, we decided to invent kind of an odd storyline and throw that on top of it to make it unique,” said Matt Erman of Capture1 studios who edited and was the cinematographer of the film, directed by his collaborator Chris Page.
“I hope it makes our filmmaker circle a little bigger,” Erman said of Shorts in January. “The bigger our network can get, the more successful I think it can be. But I also hope that it shows that you can take a relatively small budget and a relatively small crew and make something that has a little bit higher of a bar to it.”
$7 | 6:30pm | Friday, January 19.
Maumee Indoor Theatre, 601 Conant St., Maumee
419-897-8902 | facebook.com/maumeeindoortheater
