At Mac festival, making short work of film

Short films from Oregon filmmakers and their counterparts around the world will be featured Feb. 27 to March 2 at the annual McMinnville Short Film Festival. Most events will be held at the McMinnville Cinemas, 300 N.E. Norton Lane.

This the 14th edition of the festival, started by Dan and Nancy Morrow and now run by a team of film lovers and cinema professionals.

Over the years, the event has grown into one of the most respected short film festivals in the world, drawing entries from numerous countries. More than 100 of the entries are chosen for screening.

All the films are 20 minutes or shorter. They are screened during the festival in groups by genre, including locals only, drama, comedy, horror, sci fi, documentary, Native American and LGBTQ.

In addition to screenings, the festival includes panel discussions, workshops, meet-and-greets with filmmakers, breakfast with an entertainment lawyer and an awards dinner.

Tickets are $10 for each screening event; $40 for full days Thursday, Friday or Saturday; and $25 for the awards event.

This year’s judges include Peter Billingsly, the actor who played Ralphie on “A Christmas Story” and now is a filmmaker in his own right. He spoke at the MSFF in 2023 and was a judge last year as well.

Other judges are actor and author Ione Skye, filmmaker and performer Haroula Rose, Spanish filmmaker Sonia Sebastian, production specialist Sara Hofstein, director/writer/producer Kyle Marvin, actress and writer Laura Silverman and film festival programmer Bojana Sandic.

The 2025 schedule includes, with events held at the cinema unless otherwise noted:

The festival opens Thursday, Feb. 27, with a showcase of films by Native American directors at 10 a.m., followed by environmental films at noon. At 2:30 p.m., there will be a panel discussion about “VFX: The Ins and Outs and How to Cut Costs for Your Short Film,” with Sara Hofstein.

Screenings will continue at 6 p.m. Thursday, with the animation category, followed at 8 p.m. by a retrospective of Kevin Jerome Everson film, moderated by Kahlil Pedizisai of Linfield University.

On Friday, Feb. 28, films by college students will be shown at 10:30 a.m., followed by those by Oregon filmmakers at 12:30 p.m. The Friday discussion at 2:30 p.m. will be about “Distribution: How to Manage Your Short Film” with Sandrine Faucher Cassidy.

A filmmaker mixer will follow at 4 p.m. Friday at The Grove tasting room on Third Street.

Friday’s screenings will resume at 7 p.m. with drama and comedy, followed by late night comedy at 9 p.m.

On Saturday, documentaries will be screened at 10 a.m. and drama/comedy films at 12:30 p.m. At 3 p.m., there will be a panel discussion of “Navigating Success” with filmmakers Ellie Foumbi and R.J. Daniel Hanna.

Another filmmaker mixer will follow at 4:30 p.m. Horror films will be screened at 9 p.m. to close out the Saturday activities.

Sunday will open with a breakfast with an entertainment lawyer, who will talk about contracts and deal memos.

Screenings on Sunday include films by local makers at 10:30 a.m. and drama/comedy films at noon.

The awards luncheon will start at 2 p.m. Sunday in The Bindery venue on Fourth Street downtown.

For more information, go to mcminnvillefilmfest.org.