Pass the Popcorn: Omaha Film Festival Kicks Off

February 6th, 2025

The first day of spring is still 42 days away, but my favorite season starts in 2 days — that is Omaha Film Festival season.

Hello, this is Christine Burright, graduate of the UNO MFA in screenwriting program, filmmaker and aspiring TV writer, for KVNO’s Pass the Popcorn.

The Omaha Film Festival (known as OFF) starts March 11th, and officially kicks off the countdown to its 20th season with this weekend’s OFF program selection announcement on Facebook live.

Every year, the festival gets around 700 film submissions from around the world and selects 100 for screening. The program selection on Facebook Live is an opportunity for filmmakers to enjoy a little bit of recognition for their hard work and a chance for you to get a sneak peak at what’s coming to this year’s festival.

Think of it like Omaha’s version of the Oscar nominations announcement, but festival director Marc Longbrake doesn’t make everyone get up at 5am for it.

Maybe you’re new to film festivals and you want to check OFF this year out but you’re thinking: “I don’t know enough about film to participate.” Or maybe you aren’t sure the festival will screen things you’re interested in. No worries. The festival screens live action, animation and documentary films, in both short and feature lengths. There really is something for everyone.

My personal favorites are the shorts. Perhaps short films are something new to you and you’d like to see what they’re all about before heading into an entire block of them at a festival. Well, you’re in luck. There’s this thing called: the internet.

I first got into short films back in high school (in the previous millennium, I might add) and at that time, I would have to go to Sam Goody at the mall and search their in-store database for short film collections, then wait two weeks for my special order to be shipped to the store, if they even were able to find a copy of it.

But fortunately for all of us living in the 2000s, the internet has made the discovery process for short films shorter. Well, shorter.

Right now, you could go to any streaming service of your choice and search for short films.

I took a look at Netflix and in the first twelve results, I found among other things: A short documentary titled Inside the Mind of Cats, several live-action narrative shorts by big-name directors Pedro Almodóvar and Wes Anderson, as well as many beautiful, magical animated shorts — including an animated short titled If Anything Happens I Love You that had its world premier at the Omaha Film Festival in 2020, then went on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Film.

To me, this is one of the magical things about the combination of short films and this film festival. Here you are in Omaha, Nebraska, and you have the opportunity to be among the first people in the world to see a film that could go on to win an Oscar.

Not only that, but you also have the chance to watch locally-produced films by folks who live in Nebraska or have Nebraska ties. OFF is a national and international festival, but there is a huge emphasis on films made right here in your great state.

You support means the world to local, independent filmmakers and hey, you never know which local creative might one day go on to bring home their own Academy Award.

Afterall, what’s cooler than getting to say, “Hey, I know that Oscar winner! I saw their film back in 2025 at the Omaha Film Festival.”

More information about the festival, running March 11-16, can be found at omahafilmfestival.org. The selection announcement will be made live via the Omaha Film Festival Facebook page this coming Saturday, February 8th at 5:30 — PM — I confirmed it.

This has been Christine Burright for KVNO’s Pass the Popcorn.