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Arts & Entertainment

Artisphere Hosts 10th Shortie Awards

Young filmmakers were honored on Sunday at the Shortie Awards for films made by youth from seven to 18 years old.

Motion pictures have captivated and inspired young people for as long as they have existed. With new technology for making movies and new outlets for sharing movies, today's youth have more opportunities than ever to explore their creativity. For the past decade, the Shortie Awards have been given to young filmmakers who have shown excellence in categories such as animation, live-action and documentary. MHz Networks education director Elizabeth Pringle considers filmmaking to be an “incredible educational tool that combines academics and the arts.”

For the first time, the Shortie Awards, along with the Art Institute of Washington, also hosted ShortieCon, a two-day event designed to help educators and youth in creating film. Saturday at ShortieCon was for teachers and other educators, while Sunday's program was aimed at kids. Whether youth were making movies with their Legos or doing live-action with other kids, the workshops were designed to help youth improve their filmmaking skills and give them a chance to experience the work of their peers. Pringle says that the workshops show youth “the potential for collaboration and how to work with others.”

This year, over 500 films were submitted for consideration from across the United States and Canada, as well as countries such as China, Finland, England and Turkey. Each film was viewed by a panel of judges that included professional filmmakers, educators and regular people. The judges provided detailed feedback on each film to help the young filmmakers in their creative process. Arlington had four finalists in this year's awards ceremony. Arlingtonian Jasmine Weiss won the 7-10 Live Action category with “Flip Flop,” a story about flip flops and stepping in something unpleasant. She is looking to become a professional filmmaker when she grows up. The other three Arlington films were runners-up in their categories: “Frog on the Loose” in 7-10 Live Action, “The Dog Who Saved a Pompeii Family” in 7-10 Animation and “HBTV” in 7-10 Daily News.

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For more information about the Shortie Awards, see their website, which includes a YouTube link to some of this year's entries:

http://www.shortieawards.org/

Find out what's happening in Arlingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

For more information on the Artisphere, visit their website:

http://www.artisphere.com/

For more information on the Art Institute of Washington, visit their website:

http://www.artinstitutes.edu/arlington/

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