The dilapidated but charming warehouse at 2nd St. and 5th Av. SE. in Minneapolis known as the Soap Factory is empty on a Thursday afternoon in mid-June, save for one office where three judges, huddled around a large Mac desktop screen, are reviewing films. Very short films.
"I like it," says one of the judges, Katherine Rochester. She's referring to a short titled "The Hotel San Jose Pool Bee" by local filmmaker Gene Pittman. The title says it all: This is a story about a bee floating around in a pool. That's it.
"Yeah, kind of a 'Moment of Zen,' " adds Chris Pennington. "Kind of a nice conclusion -- little bit too long," he adds.
With a running time of 20 seconds, "The Hotel San Jose Pool Bee" is perhaps too epic for the fifth annual Ten Second Film Festival, which returns to the outdoors near the Minneapolis riverfront this July 4th.
"Can't use it," says Rochester, program manager at the Soap Factory and new curator of the festival.
"We get mad if it's too long," says Pennington, the festival's creator and former curator.
Obviously, brevity is key at the Ten Second Film Festival, which has grown each year both in popularity (a reported 3,000 people attended last year) and in submissions. This year, 218 short films were entered.
Throughout their long review session, the staff will come across everything from Britney Spears cartoons, to car crashes, to slapstick humor. They even saw a film of a man picking his nose. Think of the Ricky Fitts character from "American Beauty," finding beauty in almost anything shot on video.