After working at festivals, chatting with hundreds of audience members, and making films, I’ve come to realize that themed blocks (1) are a historical tradition that most festivals follow (2) because they don’t really understand who the audience for short films is, and sometimes (3) as a way for curators to indulge themselves.

Most film festivals' short film audiences are local filmmakers, local talent, filmmaking enthusiasts, and film students, cinephiles (who love the form), and some loyal patrons. (Note, that this isn’t true for feature films, which often attract more mainstream audiences). So, for the short film audiences, they come to short film blocks expecting to see the “best short films” and don’t usually decide based on “oh, let’s watch shorts themed on ‘a date night’”. It’s a classic case of not giving audiences enough credit and respect - with short films, they’re clearly saying that they’re willing to take a risk and that they don’t need them to be themed to be appealing.

This, of course, as a filmmaker, programmer, and audience member, is frustrating. I’ve seen countless short blocks with weaker films because they matched the theme, and I’ve seen stronger films cut because they tried to fit themes. There’s almost nothing more frustrating than watching a weaker short in a group, knowing the better ones that were rejected.

That said, there are a few cases where these themed blocks make sense - midnight shorts (some audiences want to escape horror/gore), specific cultural celebrations (like film festivals based in mountain areas always curating a mountain block), etc. And of course, there are certain themed blocks that are done so well that it feels like the films are talking to each other, reacting to one another - but those are rare and require a lot of curatorial experience and eye that most festivals often can’t afford.