The San Jose Short Film Festival (Dec 9, 11, 12) completed its second year with a stunning array of high-quality short films from around the world. Shown in downtown San Jose at the Camera 3 theater, it was a small but vibrant festival celebrating short films under fifteen minutes long.
“Blueberry” (dir. Matthew Sanger) is a twelve-minute short from the United Kingdom that will steal your heart with its innocent charm while having you on the edge of your seat with building suspense. Starring Harley Bird as Daisy, a small girl for whom the world is forever wonderful. Convinced that mummy has simply gone on holiday (without either her or her father and with her uncle) and that daddy (Jay Simpson) has the sniffles and an eye infection (that he treats with “medicine”), Daisy falls in love with an enormous python in the pet shop and takes it, the eponymous Blueberry, home. Soon Blueberry becomes the focus of Daisy’s play and attention, but there is something not quite right with the snake…
“Los Gritones” (“The Screamers”) (dir. Roberto Perex Toledo) is a short film from Spain that reminds you that good stories can be told in very little time. The shortest film it the festival with a running time just under two minutes, including the title and credits, Los Gritones allows you to share a moment of revelation with a couple as they yell into an urban void.