The Bozeman Film Festival and MSU’s School of Film and Photography have collaborated to launch a short-film series showcasing student films. Highlighting the works of emerging filmmakers enrolled in one of the nation’s top film programs, SharpShorts will open Film Festival feature screenings throughout the year, and student filmmakers will be invited to introduce their work.

The Bozeman Film Festival (BFF) has been a vital part of the Bozeman cultural community since 1978, bringing the best independent, foreign-language and documentary films to the Gallatin Valley for thirty-five years. The MSU School of Film and Photography (SFP) has been educating aspiring filmmakers for over fifty years. The BFF and SFP are pleased to spotlight selected, recently made student films through the SharpShorts program, bringing added value and entertainment to Bozeman’s Film Festival patrons.

SharpShorts will screen at 7:30 pm before feature films, and will be included in the admission price ($8 / general, $7 / students & seniors). The Bozeman Film Festival screens in the Emerson Center’s Crawford Theater and features a new, top-rated film every two or three weeks throughout the year. For a current BFF screening schedule, visit bozemanfilmfestival.org.

The Bozeman Film Festival will screen Woody Allen’s latest film, Blue Jasmine in The Emerson Center’s Crawford Theatre Thursday, November 14th directly after the seven-minute SharpShort* ePILLepsy, directed by Ingrid Pfau, which begins at 7:30 pm.

Drawing from Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, Blue Jasmine stars Cate Blanchett (who has played Blanche du Bois onstage) as Jasmine Francis, a former New York socialite who arrives in San Francisco as the film opens. She looks a million, but isn’t bringing money, peace, or love — after a financial scandal involving her former husband, Hal (Alec Baldwin), Jasmine is homeless, and is forced to rely on the comfort of her estranged sister, Ginger (Sally Hawkins). Time Out’s Dave Calhoun raves: “You have to dig deep in Allen’s back catalogue to find a single performance as affecting and well-judged as the one Cate Blanchett delivers.”

Like Jasmine/Blanche, writer-director Allen makes little attempt to hide his near contempt for blue collar culture in portraying Ginger, her ex Augie (Andrew Dice Clay) and her current squeeze, an auto mechanic named Chili (Bobby Cannavale). “Woody Allen’s latter films just seem to get better and better…another A-grade movie to join Match Point, Midnight in Paris and Vicky Cristina Barcelona….a superb Cate Blanchett does some of her best film work to date,” says 3AW’s Jim Schreibri. Rated PG-13, this comedy-drama runs 98 minutes.

Tickets to BFF Films including SharpShorts are $8 / General Admission; $7 / Seniors and Students, and are available in advance at Cactus Records and one hour before the show in The Emerson’s Lobby. Come early for wine, beer and cocktails courtesy of The Zebra Cocktail Lounge. For a current BFF screening schedule, visit bozemanfilmfestival.org.

Keep ‘em flickering — support independent films and local filmmakers!