Welcome to MergingArts Productions

MergingArts Productions produces cultural events and radio programming related to music and visual arts, reaching out to communities both locally and globally.

Short Short Story Film Festival

The Short Short Story Film Festival is a competitive international festival of films that tell a story in under six minutes.

The 16th edition of the festival takes place in Hartford, Connecticut, USA, on Saturday, 25th November.

The Short Short Story Film Festival celebrates brevity in filmmaking, with films from across the globe, both live-action and animated.

Two programs, Heartstrings and Headtrip, both showcase dozens of films tightly sequenced in under ninety minutes, each with a distinctive tone yet wide-ranging styles and topics.

Submissions

We are now accepting submissions!

There is no fee to submit your film to the festival.

Click here for details on submission requirements and process.

The 2023 submission deadline is 16th October.

More On The Festival

Audiences vote on their three favorite films to determine award winners in each program. A panel of Spoiler Alert Radio interviewees judge the films and selects the best in each program.

Commissioned custom art objects created by past festival participants are presented to the winners. Scroll down to see some of last year's awards.

More On The Festival

Click here to read details of last year's festival.

To learn more about the festival concept and history, click here.

Music Charting

Toni (aka DJ Madame B) is a global music genre director showcasing sounds from around the world. She hosts Pacifica affiliate syndicated and regional world music shows.

She submits MergingArts Global Radio weekly charts to NACC (North American College & Community Chart) and RMR (Roots Music Report).

She is an active panelist of international charting organizations, TWMC (Transglobal World Music Chart), BWMC (Balkan World Music Chart), and RWMC (Russian World Music Chart), representing MergingArts.

Click here to view weekly and monthly world music charts and adds.

Radio Syndication

World Music

Donne del Mondo showcases global music by women, celebrating musical women of the world. Available Saturday afternoons, it is distributed via the Pacifica Radio Network on select affiliates throughout North America.

Transworld Airwaves features a cross-cultural musical journey united in voices and rhythms. As well as syndicating on Pacifica, it broadcasts every other Sunday evening from 7:00 to 8:00 pm (US Eastern time) on WZBC 90.3 FM from Boston College in Newton/Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

You can hear more international sounds every Sunday from 8:00 am to 11:00 am Eastern, by tuning in to World Wide Waves, with rotating hosts. It can be heard on 90.3 FM WRIU, non-commercial radio broadcasting from the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, RI.

Spoiler Alert Radio

Featuring conversations on the craft of filmmaking, Spoiler Alert Radio continues to syndicate weekly on selected Pacifica affiliates.

You can find out more about the show, including syndication information, by clicking here, or visit our podcast and archive page by clicking here.

Women ... Animation ... Womanimation!

Womanimation! is a festival showcasing acclaimed animated short film stories created by women from around the world.

The thirteenth edition of Womanimation! took place on Saturday 8th July at Greenwood Features in Bethel, CT, USA.

To find out more on this year's festival, click here.

Awards

The Audience Award winner for 2023 was Носки для Звезды (Socks for the Star), directed by Olga Titova from Russia.

In a new twist for this year’s event, a special jury was assembled consisting of women musicians who have topped one of the MergingArts Global Radio weekly charts. The jury reviewed and rated the films, with the winner being Testigo del Viento (Wind Whisperer), from Fernanda Caicedo (Ecuador/Germany).

Click here for a list of jury members.

Award winners received custom awards created by previous award winners, Joanna Lurie (France) and Indra Sproģe (Latvia).

Check out the awards pics on the left or right side of the page.

Festival Films

Twelve films from nine nations were screened, all of which were US or International premieres. Styles ranged from stop-motion to traditional hand-drawn to several varieties of 2D/computer hybrids.

The films emphasized well-developed narratives as well as visual daring, exploring themes including our relationship with nature, culture clashes, family bonds, and the fragility of life.

The perspectives are of course uniquely female, delving into issues related to affairs of the heart, body image, and gender roles or expectations.

Click here for a detailed listing of the Womanimation! 2023 films.