When Bill Hargreaves and Sinohui Hinojosa launched the San Jose International Short Film Festival in 2009, YouTube was in its relative infancy and TikTok was still just the sound a clock made.
But as the festival rolls out its 16th edition tonight at Santana Row, it’s pretty clear that those guys were on to something. Film shorts — which run anywhere from 2 to 30 minutes — have found their place in society.
The theme of this year’s festival is “Explore the Unknown,” and the founders — Hargreaves serves as festival director and Hinojosa is the artistic director and programmer — say they hope viewers discover some hidden gems in genres including world cinema, drama, animation, documentary or comedy.
There’ll be plenty to choose from. The festival at the CineArts theater will feature more than 130 short films packaged in 20 screening blocks through Sunday. And you never know who’s going to show up in some of these movies — the lineup includes “Death Pays Flora a Visit” with Eric Roberts and “Catherine & Michael” with Molly Ringwald.
The red-carpet opening night event, which starts at 7 p.m. includes a diverse selection of six films, with two U.S. films, one each from the United Kingdom, Gambia, Australia and Germany. The screenings will be followed by an after-party at Suspiro at Santana Row.
Tickets start at $10-$12 for a screening block, with day passes costing between $40 and $49 and a VIP all-access pass, including access to the VIP lounge, priced at $150. You can get more information on the lineup and tickets at www.sjsff.com.