Jeff Stewart (2)

Trenton-based filmmaker Jeff Stewart.

The Trenton Film Society (TFS) is doubling down this March by presenting both its annual Oscar Shorts Weekend and the Trenton Film Festival. All screenings will be at the Mill Hill Playhouse.

The Oscar Short Weekend runs Thursday through Saturday, March 1, through 3, and is designed as a cinematic countdown to the annual Academy of Motion Pictures of Arts and Science Awards — aka the Oscars — on Sunday, March 4.

The TFS’s screenings of 25 films include Oscar-nominated documentaries, live action, and animated shorts.

The Thursday, March 1, 6:30 p.m. opener gets things moving with a night of documentary shorts, divided into two parts with an intermission.

The Friday, March 2, screening at 7:30 p.m. is also devoted to documentaries screened in two parts.

Then on Saturday, March 3, TFS gets ambitious with a schedule of live action horts, screened at 12:30 p.m. and again at 4:30 p.m.; Animated Shorts, 2:30 p.m.; and a double feature of the animated and live action films shown in two parts with an intermission (with free refreshments), 6:30 p.m.

Ticket prices range from $10 for a single showing to $25 for the double-feature event.

The TFS’ 2018 Trenton Film Festival follows three weeks later and runs Thursday through Sunday, March 22 through 25.

With organizers calling it “an exploration of all things cinematic,” the festival features 53 films by filmmakers from 16 countries or, as press materials note, “as close as Trenton, Bradley Beach, and other parts of NJ to as far away as Kosovo, Spain, and Iran.” Screenings include documentary, narrative storytelling, music videos, and animation filmmaking.

The Thursday, March 22, opener starts at 7 p.m. and includes three films from Iran.

Friday, March 23, offers two screenings: at 7 p.m., a series of short films connected by unusual states of minds, and at 9 p.m. a showing of six short films from Austria, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Saturday, March 24, features several separate programs including short films connected by theme or mixtures of international shorts and features. Screening times are 11 a.m.; 1:15 p.m. (including a screening of “Hope Works Here: A Camden Story”); 3:45 p.m.; 6 p.m.; and 8:15 p.m.

The final events on Sunday, March 25, start with a 12:30 p.m. panel discussion with filmmakers and organizers. Screenings continue at 2 and 4:30 p.m. with a series of short films including “Frieda and Eddie, A Jersey Shore Love Story” and Trenton filmmaker Jeff Stewart’s “The Ballad of Craig Kelly.”

At 6:30 p.m. the festival closes with a reception and award ceremony.

Tickets range from $8 per screening or $25 for the Festival Pass.

For more information and a complete schedule, visit trentonfilmsociety.org.

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