Returning this Sunday to the Raven Theater is a program of the best entries of the 2024 Healdsburg International Short Film Festival, which ran in September of last year. The 12 films will be presented in three identical screenings, at 1pm, 4pm and 7pm, so audience members need not feel they missed anything. That’s often the feeling at larger festivals, where a plethora of screening times and themes are used to exhibit a multitude of entries.
But this isn’t just the “Best of” the 2024 festival, it includes films from the past 10 years of festivals. “Next week includes all winning films from the four festivals we have produced,” said Pamela Demorest, who co-founded the Festival with husband Kirk Demorest. “Now that we are annual at the Raven, we expect to present a ‘Best of’ each late winter of the previous year’s winning films.”
The films in this year’s screening are those that received top numbers from the audience and judge voting when they first screened.
Co-Founders
Though their short film festival has become synonymous with Healdsburg, the first iteration of Pamela and Kirk Demorest’s festival took place in Bodega Bay more than 10 years ago, and they have produced four short film festivals in all. So it might be said they know the medium: Both have a film background in Hollywood, Kirk as an editor on feature films for studios including Disney and Universal, and Pamela as an acting coach in Sebastopol.
“The great thing about shorts is that the technology today enables anyone with a good phone and editing software to make a decent-looking short film,” Pamela said.
Kirk uses an analogy: “Anyone can afford a paintbrush, but who can actually paint compelling art?”
Then there’s the money factor. International features can eat up a $100-million budget (though there are a number of economic exceptions in the Oscar race this year). But a short film costs next to nothing these days, the most important piece of equipment being the ubiquitous cell phone.
Despite the opportunity a film festival creates with its potential prize money, recognition and perhaps as a calling card into a feature future, it’s no way to make a living. That’s why many European and Asian countries have strong government support for short films, including funding, distribution and TV broadcasting. In France and Germany, theaters are sometimes required to screen shorts before features.
The practice is optional in the United States, though not unknown. But it’s unlikely additional government funding for the short-film arts will increase soon.
The Medium
A couple of other short film festivals exist in the area, including Sebastopol’s Documentary Film Festival in March, and Nevada City’s Wild and Scenic Festival (usually in February).
Their entries however have a specific factual context, often political or ecological; but artistic short films can live entirely in the mind of the creator—and the audience. The 12 films in this year’s collection are as varied as they are brief (the shortest is 1 minute, the longest 19) and include memorable imaginary friends and situations.
On the bill for this year is the return of Wild Salmon, a natural history fantasy following the lifecycle of the wild salmon in human form. Narrated by the late Marianne Faithfull, it closes the first half of the 12-film program.
The award-winning films returning to town give Healdsburgers who may have missed some or all of the films when they first screened in past festivals a chance to catch up. It’s probable the festival will continue in future years: It has the enviable URL healdsburgfilm.com, and in the hyperlinked universe that’s as valuable as real estate.
Films are currently being screened for acceptance in the September 2025 festival, with rules and even a video from Kirk Demorest on how best to shape a short for entry.
“So far, we have watched 135 short films of which only 13 have been green-lit,” Pamela Demorest reported. “That gives you an idea of how talented people have to be to make a good short.”
Additional information, including playlist, at healdsburgfilm.com.
Pamela and Kirk are the best programmers for this and any film festival! They are accomplished filmmakers and passionate about the tremendous work required of film festivals. I encourage you to attend and participate in the Festival, and give a high-five to Pamela and Kirk for me!