The third annual 815HORTS: A 5HORT Film Festival was help Friday-Saturday, December 13-14, 2024, at City Stage Studios in Rockford, Illinois. This year's 815HORTS screened 25 acclaimed short films including Edgar Barens’s 2014 Oscar-nominated short film documentary “Prison Terminal”, three 815HORTS short film blocks featuring the work of local and national award-winning filmmakers, and the return of the Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour for the third-straight year.

 

This year's festival also incorporated a variety of educational content highlighted by two 5HORT Talk interviews featuring Barens (Friday night) and creative entrepreneur Davarion Jarvelle (Saturday night) alongside moderator Peter Hawley, 815HORTS emcee and director of the Illinois Film Office. Hawley also moderated two panel discussions Saturday morning and afternoon featuring Barens, award-winning Indie filmmaker Colleen Griffen and Tribeca Festival shorts programmer Madison Egan.

 

The 5HORT Awards closed out the festivities by awarding two 2024 winners: "Nogglers (Mavericks of Time)" [Written by Guilherme Fleury | Directed by Mercello Laruccia | Produced by Cesar Barbosa, João Pedro Costa, Zach Hendrix and Aurelio Ribeiro] won Best Animated Short Film, while "Cruelty" [Written and Directed by Sam Das | Produced by Naomi Alexander and Harris McCabe] won Best 5HORT (Best in Show).