Winter Garden gets short

Garden Theatre to host Asbury Short Film Concert

From The Orlando Weekly, August 1, 2017

They may be short, but the films playing Winter Garden’s Garden Theatre on Friday night are not short on respect. In fact, all 11 of the mini-movies that comprise the Asbury Short Film Concert have received major recognition, from Oscar nominations to festival awards.

The event is set to start at 7:30 p.m. and is divided into two sections, each totaling about one hour, with a 15-minute intermission. Tickets cost $11.

“Asbury Shorts is New York City’s longest-running non-competitive short-film showcase [36 years], with a mission to keep great short films in theaters as opposed to You Tube, smart phones and computers,” says Director Doug LeClaire. “We are not a traditional film festival, more of an Off-Off-Broadway, non-competitive touring exhibition of award-winning shorts from the past. This is our first foray in the mid-Florida area.”

Though LeClaire never releases all titles in advance, to mimic the spontaneity of a live concert (and to prevent the public from simply searching YouTube), he has revealed more than half the lineup. Friday’s show will include The Tailor (2011), a black-and-white comedy by Gordon Grinberg; The Quality of Mercy (2002), a dark comedy by Stephen Marro; Dad in Mum (2014), a comedy with a decidedly French sensibility that previously played the Manhattan Short Film Festival, by Fabrice Baracq; Tulip (2000), a former Academy Award nominee by Rachel Griffiths; director Dirk Beliën’s dark comedy Fait d’Hiver (2001), another former Oscar nominee; Love at First Sight (2010), a dramedy starring John Hurt; and Bryan Buckley’s Oscar-nominated Somali drama Asad (2012), which, at 18 minutes, is the longest film.

Rick Spencer of Orlando’s Universal Studios will serve as guest host.

The show is recommended for ages 16 and up. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2988895.

© 2017 Orlando Weekly / MeierMovies, LLC