Raeden stars as accidental action hero in "The Mirror"
"Toots" by Chris Allen Evans wins the top prize at the Rogers Short Film Festival
The family drama Toots won the top award at the Rogers Short Film Festival in May, which showcased the works of filmmakers from Arkansas and far-away places like Berlin and Ukraine.
In addition to screening dozens of new and significant short films, the event at the 2nd Street Studio in downtown Rogers buzzed with creative energy. Filmmakers brainstormed for future collaborations, exchanged contact information, and traded tips and tricks.
Directed by Chris Alan Evans, Toots depicts the close relationship between a mother and son from the moment of his birth until her death decades later. As the mother's health declines from Parkinson's disease, the son struggles as her caregiver. Pam Dougherty and Logan Sledge star in the 12-minute film.
Evans and the film’s director of photography/colorist Alexander Jeffery are part of the El Dorado-Shreveport enclave of filmmakers who make many fine indie movies. Clayton Henderson’s Fast was another example shown at the Rogers festival.
The Mirror by Fayetteville director Benjamin Harrison rocked the audience like an amphetamine blast. The premiere screening of the low-budget thriller won the festival prize in the amateur category.
The story involves a criminal conspiracy to spring a murderer from police custody. Director of photography Hayden Morris shot the movie in wide letterbox format at locations in and around Fayetteville. Andrew Jenner wrote the screenplay, which seems like the 12-minute denouement of a full-length picture.
It features convincing performances by Jasper Mize as a deputy with a hangover and an assault rifle, Taylor Holbert as a creepy serial killer, and Raeden Greer as a desperate news reporter caught between them in a bloody gunfight.
Despite a couple of rough spots, the various aspects of the film mesh well. Special effects, props, sound and editing are terrific. A sparse guitar score by Brooklyn composer Noland Vannoy complements borrowed songs from the Brudi Brothers and Fayetteville singer-songwriter Ashtyn Barbaree.
This is the first dramatic film for director Harrison who made some earlier documentaries and is a professional prop master in the film industry. Next he’s planning a full-length feature called The Robbery.
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The two-day festival, in its fifth year, took place at 2nd Street Studio, a commercial soundstage in downtown Rogers. In 2025, it showed 50 films, nearly twice as many as the first year. The festival also offered classes in screenplay writing, casting and film finance.
In earlier years the Rogers festival was at the Victory Theater, built in 1927, which was damaged by a tornado that hit the Northwest Arkansas city in May 2024. Barry Cobbs, festival director, said he hopes the theater will be repaired in time for next year.
Cobbs was impressed by the level of craftsmanship in this year’s films. “There was a more holistic approach that involves every element of filmmaking.” he said. “Lighting design, props, production design, acting – everything in the frame should move the story forward. It’s amazing what they do with small crews.”
In the future, he hopes the festival will attract a larger number of movie submissions and offer more filmmaking classes.
A wall-sized screen composed of smaller flat-panel monitors displayed the films. The venue was somewhat small for several hundred filmmakers and paying customers, but that encouraged more social interaction. And the bar was decent, with local actors like “The Mirror” actors Cassie Self and Taylor Holbert pouring $6 drinks.
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Director Cole Borgstadt’s Mudpuppy begins and ends with the deliriously gorgeous cinematography of Jenna Huskisson, the film’s director of photography. It won the category of best professional film.
Mudpuppy is visual poetry as much a narrative drama, alternating between color and black and white. It’s a generational saga that meanders into nature documentary with picturesque scenes of the Buffalo River region of Arkansas. Then it comes alive with action footage from the Rodeo of the Ozarks in Springdale.
The film also disputes the myth of hyper-gendered masculinity in professional rodeo. Stars are Leeroy Crossland and Barry Clifton. Borgstadt is a Northwest Arkansas native now making films in California.
Buyer’s Remorse is a five-minute comedy from Little Rock by Ben Aaron. “It’s a comment on the absurdity of lengthy packaging info,” the director said.
Aaron shot the movie at Stratton's Market, which he chose partly for its natural light. An unhinged customer, played by Johnnie Brannon, enters the store and proceeds to read aloud the lengthy fine print on a bag of candy.
Nora B. plays the store cashier who listens cheerfully for a while, but becomes increasingly annoyed by the verbose customer. The audience begins to identify with the unfortunate cashier as she grows frustrated by the boring, ad nauseum recitation of arcane packaging text.
One could almost say that Buyer’s Remorse is a rare – possibly unique – film intended to irritate the audience and make them want it to end. “I had no real goals in mind,” said director Aaron. “I just wanted it to be fun and absurd.”
Aaron, a professional video producer and editor, said he has already shot his next short film. It’s about a man standing on a bridge, ready to commit suicide by jumping off. Nora B., who’s also known as the musician Princeaus, composed the score.
Nowhere’s the Place to Be is a quiet film about a college-age man and woman who drive a van to an outdoor music festival. They’ve been looking forward to a fun weekend. But they arrive at the rural site to learn that the concert is cancelled.
Regardless, they find a way to have a good time. They go hiking in the woods, make a camp, build a bonfire and eat snacks bought earlier at a gas station.
Outwardly, the film is about taking life as it comes, living in the moment, and making the best of whatever you get.
On another level, the film depicts a friendship on the cusp of becoming a romance. The two young people are in love with each other but haven’t quite realized it yet. That lends the movie an innocent eroticism.
This 12-minute film by Maddie Welborn competed in the category for post-secondary students.
The crowd-pleasing sports film The Fundamentals by Kyle Yazzie was made in Bentonville. It’s about an adolescent girl (Mia Carney) discovering her exceptional talent for basketball. Her father (Gabe Williams) tutors her in the fundamentals of the game
Whispers of Freedom is a fact-based drama from Germany directed by Brandon Ashplant. Set in 1989, it tells the tragic story of Chris Gueffroy, who was killed in one of the last daring attempts to escape East Germany by climbing the Berlin Wall. He mistakenly thought that the shoot-on-sight order had expired as Communism crumbled in eastern Europe. The film features Wendy Makkena, a well-known harpist and ballet dancer from New York City who appears as Gueffroy’s mother.
And finally the Ukrainian movie Before the Dawn by Alexander Denysenko is not about the current war. It depicts Slavic mysticism and unspeakable tradition in a 19-century thatch-roofed village.
The full list of winners is here: https://rogersshortfilm.org/#winners
Text copyright 2025 by Mickey Mercier.