After a year off due to the pandemic, the Elgin Short Film Festival is once again rolling out the red carpet.

This year’s hybrid event, which begins at 6 p.m. Sept. 18 at the Hemmens Cultural Center in Elgin, offers film lovers the option of attending in person or streaming the festivities online.

“Everything that I’ve heard and what I’ve seen is we have some very, very good films. The quality of storylines and just general filmmaking has gone up since we did this in 2019,” said Joe Vassallo, co-chair of the festival. “Everybody seemed to be very impressed with the group of films that came in. … They had a tough decision this year.”

The film festival, now in its 13th year, begins with a red carpet event at 6 p.m. outside the Hemmens. Filmmakers and judges will walk the red carpet. In addition, Motown-themed entertainment featuring singers and dancers, created by Judi Brownfield, will also take place outside the Hemmens.

There is no charge to watch the red carpet activities. Vassallo said the outdoor festivities often inspires passersby to purchase tickets for the screenings.

“It’s a lot of walk-up sales the day of, and I think a lot of that has to do with what Judi puts together for the red carpet,” he said.

Students from Beacon Academy of Media & Digital Arts at South Elgin High School will conduct live red carpet interviews with filmmakers that will stream in real time.

“They will be running cameras so we’ll be broadcasting from the Hemmens onto online,” Vassallo said.

The students will also operate the cameras for the events inside the Hemmens, with screenings set to begin at 7 p.m. Mike Toomey, regularly seen on “WGN Morning News,” will serve as master of ceremonies.

Inside the Hemmens, masks are required for all attendees. Social distancing will also be in place.

“We’ve set up the theater and ticketing so that we can space some people out and so we don’t have people sitting on top of each other,” Vassallo said.

Six films will be screened at the film festival, which those watching online will also get to see.

A total of 21 films were submitted this year. A selection committee judges all of the films submitted in advance. The top two films for both categories — live action and animation — go directly to the finals.

The week before the film festival, six other films are shown during the Elgin Fringe Festival to select two “next in” films. The Fringe audience votes on their favorites in each category, with the top voted films added to those shown during the finals at the Hemmens.

In the week leading up to the film festival, the event’s Facebook page will be updated with the complete list of finalists.

According to the rules, films are 20 minutes or less. This year’s finalists include drama, comedy and a lit bit of science fiction, Vassallo said.

“It’s across the board,” he said. “That has historically been what has been exciting about our festival. Every- thing that comes in, it’s just across the board.”

Parents wishing to bring their children should know some of the films content can be considered up to an R-rating level.

“We always say that the films can be of an R rating. We’re not an official rating body so can’t say this is R or this is G … but we made that switch a couple of years ago, partly because we were getting some really good films that the selection committees were looking at and saying ‘this is a great film’ but they were afraid to put something forward for maybe a language issue or something like that,” Vassallo said.

Typically if something would be considered R, it’s because of language or deals with a heavy topic, he said.

A panel of judges selects the winners in each category. In addition, the live audience at the Hemmens votes on the audience favorite. Audience members watching online are not able to vote.

“We didn’t figure out a way to do this online without it being a mess,” Vassallo said.

Following an intermission and while the votes are counted, the 1910 silent film “Willful Peggy” starring Mary Pickford will be screened with musicians from Chamber Music on the Fox providing the live score.

“They have an original piece of music that they’re going to play,” Vassallo said.

Afterward, the three winners will be announced with the recipients receiving trophies and cash prizes.

Kathy Cichon is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.