YC Film & Media Arts & Prescott Film Festival offer a pre-Oscar peek, Feb. 15 & 18
Cold weather got you down? The surest sign of an early spring is when you start seeing shorts. Yavapai College’s Film & Media Arts Program, in partnership with The Prescott Film Festival, invites you to see the world’s top live-action, animated and documentary stories. SHORTS: A Festival of 2025’s Oscar-nominated Short Films, runs Saturday, February 15 at 1 p.m. & 6:30 p.m.; and Tuesday, February 18 at 6:30 p.m., at the Elks Theater, in Prescott.
This 20th Anniversary edition of SHORTS allows local film buffs to preview Oscar-worthy movies and mark their favorites before the March 2 ceremony in Los Angeles. Shown in three separate sessions – documentaries at 1 p.m. on Saturday, live-action shorts at 6:30 p.m. Saturday; and animated shorts at 6: 30 p.m. on Tuesday – the festival gives cinephiles full access to an entire category of innovative filmmakers vying for Oscar gold.
“The Oscar Nominated short films are an audience favorite and a great opportunity for students to see the year’s best films from around the world.” Helen Stephenson, YC’s Film & Media Arts Director and Prescott Film Festival Director, said. “I encourage students to attend and discover how they can apply what they see in these films to their own projects. And if people go to an Oscar party, it’s a way to get a jump on their ballots!”
Saturday’s 1 p.m. Short-Subject Documentary screening will feature five films, including the Japanese entry, Instruments of a Beating Heart. Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s 23-minute documentary follows first graders in a Tokyo public elementary school, who are presented with a challenge for the final semester: form an orchestra and perform Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” at a school ceremony.
The Saturday evening live-action screening (at 6:30 p.m.) also features five films, led by I’m Not a Robot, directed by Victoria Warmerdam. This Belgian entry tells the story of a music producer named Lara who, after repeatedly failing Captcha tests, spirals into obsession, haunted by the disturbing question of whether she might actually be a robot.
The Festival concludes Tuesday February 18, with a 6:30 p.m. screening of five animated shorts, anchored by the Belgian/French/Dutch film Beautiful Men. Director Nicolas Keppens takes us to Istanbul, where three balding brothers have come for hair transplants. Stuck with each other in a hotel far from home, their insecurities grow faster than their hair.
The SHORTS Film Festival will be held at The Elks Theater and Performing Arts Center, 117 E. Gurley Street, in Prescott. Tickets for each screening are $12 general admission and $6 for YC Faculty & Staff, including fees. Tickets are available at the Elks Theater Box Office, or by clicking here. For more information about the SHORTS Film Festival, please contact Helen Stephenson at: Helen.Haxton-Stephenson@yc.edu
Yavapai College operates six campuses and centers throughout Yavapai County and offers over 100 degrees and certificates, two baccalaureate degrees, student and community services, and cultural events and activities. To learn more about YC, visit www.yc.edu.