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SHORT, SWEET
Q&A Dan Bernardi
A conversation with Executive Director Mike Suglio.
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ince 2012, Mike Suglio and company at the Short. Sweet. Film Fest have showcased cinematic gems from unsung filmmakers in the Cleveland area and beyond. With the ninth annual fest just around the corner, we pow-wowed with Mike for a behind the screen scoop.
How would you describe your spark of inspiration for founding the Short. Sweet. Film Fest, and how much did your personal experience as a filmmaker impact its creation? Mike Suglio: As a filmmaker in Cleveland in 2011, there were limited opportunities to showcase your work. Festivals were few and hard to get into and I couldn't afford to rent out a movie theater. I also simply didn't want to toss my work on YouTube, which at the time really just comprised of silly cat videos. While attending a punk concert my friend was performing in, my co-creator Alex Pavloff and I realized the whole audience were fellow
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musicians except for us two. He turned to me and asked if we really had a big celebration of local filmmakers coming together to celebrate and share their art, like this concert. We didn't and thus we decided to start this film festival. You accept submissions from filmmakers across the country, from veterans to students of the craft. How varied do you find participation to be and in what ways does this result in a unique, diverse festival? MS: We receive films that are "for consideration" for the Academy Awards to student films shot on smartphones on the campus of Cleveland State University. Regardless of what quality of a camera filmmakers use, it still all comes down to shots and story. If you have good shot composition and an interesting story, your low-budget film could be just as good if not better than a big production. By having low budget and big budget films often playing right after each, it provides a learning experience for everyone. Maybe students will be inspired
