Carnival Kid Finishes Festival Run at One of DC’s Best; AwesomeCon Short Film Festival
WASHINGTON, DC-After a three year festival tour across the country, Carnival Kid completes its tour at the AwesomeCon short film fest!
AwesomeCon is Washington, DC’s premier Comic Con, and is “a celebration of geek culture.” Since its inception in 2013, AwesomeCon has grown considerably. In its freshman year the convention had around 7,000 attendees, while in 2017 this number grew to over 70,000. Over its history, AwesomeCon has had many notable celebrity guests, such as William Shatner, Stan Lee, David Tennet and George Takei, just to name a few.
A favorite among AwesomeCon attendees, is AwesomeCon Short Film Festival (ACSFF). ACSFF celebrates indie films from across the globe, with genre spanning cinema from science fiction, action, comedy, to drama. Entering its 5th year, the short film festival has become very popular among filmmakers from around the world, receiving thousands of submissions this year.
With all the success it may come as a surprise that the short film festival has a humble beginning; only originally acting as a supplement to the convention’s filmmakers panel. After the initial success, Joe Carabeo Festival Director, decided it was time for the next logical step, complimenting the filmmaker’s panel by showing their films. This was really when ACSFF began to take shape. Eventually, the rooms for the screenings were so packed, that Joe had to request larger rooms from the AwesomeCon organizers every year. The festival continued to develop and grow as they opened up film submissions for all filmmakers. While the festival certainly champions up and coming filmmakers, it has screened films from many notable filmmakers such as Amy Jo Johnson, Sam Rami and the Strong Brothers. Joe Carabeo reflected on ACSFF’s growth and success over the years, “This festival has grown into a people’s film festival… AwesomeCon has such a huge audience . What filmmaker wouldn’t want to be seen by a real audience!”
Due to safety concerns the festival will take place online from December 9th – December 13th. While initially this might seem disappointing, the festival appearing online can allow virtual attendees from all over the world to see some of the top films, from the comfort of their own home. A new addition to ACSFF is already causing a buzz in the filmmaking community. This year marks a new tradition of an “Audience Choice Award.” All films at the festival will be eligible for the award with voting continuing up until December 12th at midnight. Virtual attendees of the festival will vote in real time, to choose the winner. With so many amazing films from all different genres it should be quite interesting to see how this new award shakes things up. When asked about this new award and how he thought it would go, Joe Carabeo couldn’t help but smile saying, “We have a crazy range of amazing films. I’m so excited to see how it goes, it could be the wild, wild west.”
Carnival Kid’s director Michael Perry will be taking part in a panel of filmmakers during the AwesomeCon Short Film Festival. Carnival Kid has enjoyed a successful festival run over the last three years. Since its premiere as the headlining film at the Chelsea Fashion and Film Festival in New York City , the film has gone on to win many prestigious awards such as the Special Jury Award at the Northern Virginia International Film and Music Festival and the Judge’s Award at the F3 Film Festival. Another notable selection was to one of the nation’s top dance festivals: The Sans Souci Festival of Dance, where the film enjoyed a double showing, including a special children’s block. Writer Joey Fama reflected on its success, “It blows my mind to think of all the places it (Carnival Kid) has been. From New York to my hometown in West Virginia. I am really glad it is finishing up in Washington, DC. DC is like a second home to me, and was actually where I met Carnival Kid’s director Michael Perry. We are so excited about AwesomeCon.”
Tickets are still available for AwesomeCon Short Film Fest please visit: AwesomeCon Short Film Fest
