ROCKLAND — They’re short and they pack a punch, and Friday, March 7, the Farnsworth Art Museum and The Strand Theatre present the first 2014 installment of their ongoing creative short film series called Rockland Shorts: An International Short Film Series.

The theme, according to program director Sally Levi, is "Sink or Swim," which is sometimes literal and sometimes metaphorical, tying the nine films together in a very thought-provoking way.

“While programming, we really looked at the underlying message of each story and created an arc that comes together with the last film of the night, being Yearbook, which was this year's best animation winner at Sundance Film Festival,” said Levi.

The 2014 selections will be shown during two events at the Strand, Friday, March 7, and Friday, Sept. 5, both nights at 8 p.m. Rockland Shorts will screen for about an hour. As always, select filmmakers will join in a discussion at the Strand in person or via Skype for a conversation with the audience.

Levi said there were three notable shorts in the series that are not to be missed. They include:

Yearbook (animation): A man is hired to compile the definitive history of human existence before the planet blows up.

Jonah (live action): Mbwana and his best friend, Juma, are two young men with big dreams. These dreams become reality when they photograph a gigantic fish leaping out of the sea and their small town blossoms into a tourist hot-spot as a result. But for Mbwana, the reality isn't what he dreamed – and when he meets the fish again, both of them forgotten, ruined and old, he decides only one of them can survive.

Kiki of Montparnasse (animation): Kiki de Montparnasse was the unwary muse of major avant-garde painters of the early 20th century. Memorable witness of a flamboyant Montparnasse, she emancipated from her status as a simple model and became a “queen of the night,” a painter, a press cartoonist, a writer and a cabaret singer.

The rest of lineup for Sink or Swim will be:

• Sink or Swim, stop-motion, U.S.
• Ouverture, animation , Bulgaria
• Wind, animation, Germany
• Virtuell, experimental, Germany
• Misterio, live action, Spain
• Chopper, live action, Netherlands

Tickets will be for sale at the theater’s box office directly prior to the screening. The fee for the series is $7.50 for members and $8.50 for nonmembers.

This series has been organized by the Farnsworth’s education department, and film selections made by visiting program director, Sally Levi, Farnsworth Director of Education Roger Dell, the Strand Theatre Executive Director Sarah Ruddy, broadcast journalist and Maine Media Workshops film faculty Mimi Edmunds, and director, cinematographer, editor and educator Daniel Quintanilla.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com