Amelia Island Film Festival

Discover the dynamic world of short filmmaking at the Fernandina Little Theatre's Third Annual Oscar-Nominated Short Films Festival February 15-17.

The three-day festival in downtown Fernandina Beach will expand this year to include the Oscar-nominated documentary short films.

The Oscar-Nominated Short Films Festival will feature the 15 films nominated for best animated, best live action, and best documentary short films, shown in four alternating screenings at the Fernandina Little Theatre, 1014 Beech St. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits.

"Interest in this festival has increased every year," said FLT Artistic Director Kate Hart. "With the addition of the documentary films, we expect our biggest turn-out yet."

The Oscar-Nominated Short Films Festival this year again covers a wide-range of stories and experiences, Hart said -- from a documentary about five seniors living in a typical American retirement resort to a fiction film about the coming of age of a young boy in Somalia to an animated rumination about what happened during the first days of Creation to make Man and Dog so inseparable.

The screenings will feature video introductions by filmmakers who have previously won Oscars for their short films, including local favorite Luke Matheny, whose mother DiAnn lives in Fernandina Beach. Luke Matheny's "The God of Love" won the Oscar in 2011 for Best Live Action Short Film.

The screenings at FLT will include an opportunity for film-goers to pick the films they think will win the Oscar in all three categories. Those who correctly pick the three short films which win Oscars on February 24 will be entered into a drawing to win two tickets to an upcoming production at the theatre, now celebrating its 21st season.

The animated short films, which includes three animated films of note in addition to the five nominees, will screen at 10 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. February 16; and 4 p.m. February 17.

The live-action shorts will screen at 7 p.m. February 15; 2 and 7:30 p.m. February 16; and 11 a.m. February 17.

The five documentary shorts will be shown in two sessions. Group 1 films will screen at 9 p.m. February 15; 4 p.m. February 16; and 1 p.m. February 17. Group 2 will screen at noon and 9 p.m. February 16; and 5:30 p.m. February 17.

Admission to an individual screening session is $10; an all-sessions screening pass is $30. Tickets are available at Once Upon a Time Booksellers in downtown Saint Marys, and in Fernandina Beach at The UPS Store in the Publix shopping center on Sadler Road. Fernandina Little Theatre is an intimate space, and patrons are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance to guarantee seating availability.

For more information about the festival, visit www.ameliaflt.org.