ESSI AUGUSTE VIRTANEN | Editor-in-Chief
Lindenwood digital cinema professor Peter Carlos’ short film “Gravity” has been selected as a semifinalist for the International Short Film Festival of Beveren, Belgium.
The film will be screened sometime between Dec. 4 and Dec. 8, but no exact timing has been set yet. Additionally, if the film is selected as a finalist, “Gravity” will be shown at the Grand Finale of the festival on Dec. 10.
Carlos said it is always exciting to get into festivals because it is a great platform for filmmakers to showcase their work.
His almost 15-minute-long film was shot in 2012. The story focuses on a shopkeeper who gets robbed by a man he went to school with. The pair ends up sitting on the floor of the shop to talk about their lives and where they ended up.
Carlos said the film won the best short drama at a filmmakers’ showcase in St. Louis in 2012 and also was shown in a theater in Texas in 2015.
Photo from Peter Carlos
Ben Scholle, the director of photography and cinematographer of the film, said it’s been impressive to see “the long festival life” the film has had.
“I think its recent acceptance into a Belgian festival affirms how broadly relatable the story is and how it has universal appeal,” Scholle said in an email.
Scholle said Carlos was eager to explore some new technological capabilities with the film, including better light sensitivity, slow motion and pixel oversampling.
“As his cinematographer, it was exciting for me to have a real-world environment in which to test the possibilities,” he said.
Carlos said besides Scholle, who also teaches digital cinema arts at Lindenwood, they had current and former students working on the film as well, including former student Greg Hunsaker, who portrayed the shopkeeper.
When it comes to the title “Gravity,” Carlos said viewers will see it at the end of the film based on the idea how gravity pulls us down and how things in life “weighs upon us.”
Carlos said he is proud of “Gravity” and is excited to get a new audience in Belgium and looks forward to how the festival-goers will react to it.
