Roll up, to the Cinema of Distraction

Peter 'Magic' Johnston at the 15 Second Film FestivalAnnoyed with those bladder-straining, buttock-aching movies that often last for two, sometimes even three hours? Well fear not pilgrim, salvation is at hand in the form of the 15 Second Film Festival. Rediscovering the century-old thrill of enthralment through beautiful micro-short films is the essence of the 15 Second Film Festival experience. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to what we affectionately call the Cinema of Distraction.

The festival delivers a carefully curated programme of eye-popping, lip-smacking, brain-tickling quarter-minute masterpieces. Uniquely, the festival tours all year in a small but perfectly formed, two-seater itinerant Art-Deco Picture Palace (not to mention our other wondrous little vehicles). We welcome submissions from anyone, whether you’re a megastar movie magnate, or a bedsit boffin with nothing but a brilliant idea. The brainchild of Peter ‘Magic’ Johnston, the 15 Second Film Festival has been testing the human mind’s capacity for boggling since 2005.

And with notables like Roddy ‘Fecking’ Doyle, Oscar nominee Seamus ‘Atonement’ McGarvey, Shimmy ‘Headrush’ Marcus, Tim ‘World of Wrestling’ Plester, Mik ‘Hitch’ Duffy, Jo ‘The Performance Corporation’ Mangan and Enda ‘Flying Saucer Rock ‘n’ Roll’ Hughes all contributing micro-budget viral meisterwerks to our showcase, it really is a cinematic experience like no other.




Peter “Magic” Johnston runs through the making, and future, of the 15 Second Film Festival


Why Fifteeen Seconds?

With even most short films lasting over a minute we often get asked why we’ve opted a for a mere 15 Seconds. Some think us mad. Others wonder if it’s an elaborate ruse to save videotape and film stock. So, just to head any future questions off at the pass, here’s ten reasons why fifteen second cinema makes perfect sense.

1. Firstly, both Thomas Edison and The Lumière Brother’s very early films were 15 Seconds long. From Boxing Cats to Strong Men flexing their muscles, screening (using Bioscope Projectors) in a tent, with the “Moth to a Flame” attraction of Electric Light as part of a traveling fair. This period of cinematic spectatorship is referred to as “The Cinema of Attraction”, basically because it was a novelty-type Fairground Attraction. The ’15 Second Film Festival’, now at the cutting-edge of a New-Media age, refers to itself as the “Cinema of DIStraction”.

2. In a spurious form of Numerology we’ve just invented to pad out this list the conjunction of the numerals 1 and 5 brings great prosperity to all.

3. In the later half of the 20th century cash strapped filmmakers often resorted to using the legendary Bolex 16mm camera. Effectively driven by clockwork the Bolex had to be hand wound before each shot. Alas, all that winding would still only leave the camera enough kinetic energy to capture 15 or so seconds.

4. With attention spans now shrinking so short that most of you won’t even make it to the end of this needlessly long sentence there’s something to be said for making very, very short Short Films. As the Bard once put it, “Brevity is the soul of wit.”

5. Though we now have the technology to watch full length movies on our phones and I-pods most films are still too long to comfortably watch on teensy tiny screens. Not so our quarter-minute “Viral” masterpieces. Effectively the fun-size Mars Bars of cinema our films are an ideal length for those portable media gizmos.

6. For filmmakers the 15 Second format offers fresh challenges and room for experimentation. Sure, any bozo can tell you a story if they’ve got two hours, but delivering a 15 Second narrative requires the cinematic equivalent of the Right Stuff.

7. For viewers the 15 Second format offers the endless ceaseless variety today’s audiences demand. And, if for some reason you hate the 15 Seconder currently playing, there’ll soon be one more to your liking.

8. Ever tried e-mailing someone ‘The Godfather’ Trilogy? Have you ever wasted precious hours of your fleeting existence waiting for a video file to download? Well, even if you’re Internet connection speed is glacial the compact running times of our films should ensure a relatively speedy delivery.

9. It’s fun. No really. In fact, when scientifically measured using Noimann’s famous Barrel of Monkey gauge, our recent selection of 15 Second shorts topped the scale at a staggering 97.34 Barmonks.

10. For aspirant filmmakers the 15 Second format allows wannabes to dip their toes in cinema’s raging sea without losing their feet to Piranhas. And yes, we know that Piranhas can’t actually live in seawater, we’re just not very good at metaphors.