“Perfect Houseguest,” directed by Ru Kuwahata and Max Porter. Part of the showcase, “Lend a Helping Hand”

By DCist contributor Elena Goukassian

When it comes to movies, most people stick to what they know, and Netflix recommendations don’t help broaden our horizons. “People have preconceived notions of what kinds of films they like and don’t like,” says Joe Bilancio, the DC Shorts Film Festival & Screenplay Competition’s new director of programming. “Watching shorts, you realize you’re wrong, and you start to give things another chance.” Because you’ve only committed to a maximum of 30 minutes of your time, it doesn’t feel like much of a risk, either.

Starting this weekend, the 13th Annual DC Shorts Film Festival presents 131 short films from 33 countries in eighteen 90-minute showcases. Unlike past years, the showcases are organized by themes—like “Blood is Thicker Than Water,” “The Price of Fame,” and “Comedy & Horror Genres Collide.”

Bilancio notes that the categories fell into place rather organically, adding that all the films were chosen on their own merits, not in order to fill a specific showcase. However, patterns did emerge. Apparently comedy/horror is a thing now, hence the showcase. (Bilancio says he’s particularly intrigued to see what kinds of people show up at this bizarrely specific showcase.) Two “spotlight showcases” around the themes of immigration and technology addiction are also representative of trending film topics.

The films themselves cover a wide array of genres and themes, and this year, each showcase includes at least one animated short, which is part of the effort to get audiences out of their movie comfort zones. “It’s important to make people like animation and new innovations,” Bilancio says. “At times you may not even know it’s animation.”

This year’s festival includes:

• “Pickle,” a documentary about an endearingly eccentric couple that collects injured animals as pets, including a paraplegic possum (they make a wheelchair for it) and a fish that can’t swim
• “Shining Star of Losers Everywhere,” a documentary about a Japanese racehorse whose never-ending losing streak won the hearts of a whole nation and saved a near-bankrupt racetrack
• “The Chop,” a comedy about a Kosher butcher who pretends to be Muslim to get a new job
• “T.P.,” an oddly disturbing animated film that follows the life of a naive roll of toilet paper in a dirty gas station bathroom.

Then there are the local D.C. films, like “DCDC,” a documentary that follows a group of skateboarders who drive around town cleaning up people’s forgotten backyard pools, creating unique mini-skate parks.

Although the films take center stage, DC Shorts has always had a strong community component. In addition to a commitment to showing locally made films, the festival features a free “Family Showcase” hosted at public libraries in all 8 wards, free seminars for filmmakers and film-lovers alike, viewing parties and events, and an annual screenplay competition, which hires local actors to do table readings. For local Spanish-speakers, the “Viva Hispanica” showcase features all Spanish-language films, and for those unable to make it to the movie theater, many of the shorts are also available online (for a small fee). “We see it as more than just a film festival,” Bilancio says. “We’re enriching the community through film.”

The DC Shorts Film Festival & Screenplay Competition runs through September 18. Tickets are available at http://dcshorts.com.