OK, I must admit: I'm super excited. I just spent time perusing the Waterfront Film Festival program, and so much of it sounds so good that I've developed this underlying frantic excitement in my belly. It makes me realize how bereft I am when it comes to having access to truly intriguing, unexpected films--the kind that leave you feeling different about everything you think and hear and see.

What I'm most excited about in terms of Waterfront is the line-up of short films. My experience with the genre is limited, but I already have an affection for them, spilling over from my love for short stories. What I love about short stories is how compact they are--how quickly they get to the heart of the matter and make you feel something, make you connect with someone.

Take some of the shorts that will be at Waterfront: Unhitched, a documentary about the residents of Faerie Ring Campground and RV Park, tucked away in the Redwoods, which serves as one of the only options for low income housing in its Northern California region. Twelve minutes long. Or Lighten Up, in which a man confesses to his best friend what he is doing to handle his life's challenges. Told in eight minutes. Or Losing Lusk, the story of the least populated county in the country's least populated state, Wyoming. Told in five minutes. And Twitch, which introduces us to a young girl torn between two worlds: her domestic life where she cares for her wheelchair-bound mother, and her escape into the world of sexuality with her eager boyfriend. Ten minutes.

Is anyone else amazed by this? That we can be told anything, become connected to a character, or be transported in any sense in such short bursts of time? I'm amazed. Kudos to the makers of short films. Let's put our heads together to figure out how to see more of this genre outside of film festivals. Any ideas?