Not a single movie at this year’s Melrose Film Festival will ask for more than 10 minutes of your time, in case your commitment-phobia was already starting to flare up. The Orlando Public Library’s home-grown film fest returns with 31 selections spanning micro shorts, animation, documentaries, traditional shorts and a nine-film block devoted entirely to … AI? (disgruntled spit take) Yes, artificial intelligence gets its own hour on the bill, along with considerably more human-made films from Central Florida directors and international entrants.
Among the local names, Ricardo Miranda screens corporate thriller Means To an End, while Full Sail grad Jodie M. Cordell brings café-set comedy No Reservations. Documentary selections range from Clare Brittain’s Vietnam-filmed Little Rose: The Choice I Made to James Hyams’ The Last Rooster: Artist Len Zuks, about an Australian sculptor turning discarded materials into towering works of art. Screenings run throughout Saturday afternoon with filmmaker Q&As between blocks, before the festival wraps with an awards ceremony. It’s all free, and all without requiring feature-length attention spans — you’re welcome.
12:30-5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, Melrose Center, Orlando Public Library, 101 E. Central Blvd., ocls.org/melrose-film-festival, free.
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This article appears in Sept. 23-29, 2026.
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