Friends of the Short. Sweet. Film Fest. Inc. is a 501 c3 organization formed in 2025. The mission is raising funds for the showcasing, education, and promotion of the local filmmaking communities.
The Short. Sweet. Film Fest. is an industry festival focused on filmmakers by filmmakers. The festival has recently celebrated its 15th annual festival. Through careful curation by Michael Suglioand the selection committee, films are chosen with the intent of promoting and showcasing local filmmakers with the goal of also educating student and aspiring filmmakers.
If you would like to donate to help continue the festival in Cleveland or New York City, please donate through our Stride Events page.
Meet the Board Officers
Mike Suglio
President
Mike Suglio is a Cleveland native and filmmaker himself. After graduating from Mentor High he attended Case Western Reserve University where he studied theatre, political science, and psychology as an undergrad and then continued on to receive his M.B.A.
During his time at CWRU, Mike directed a feature length documentary, The Struggle for Existence, a film that explores how the Cleveland Natural History Museum and the Creation Museum approach science. He continued on to direct several other short films, including his most recent, A Tribute to the Fallen, which was shot on location in Negros Oriental, Philippines. Mike Suglio is now in post-production on a feature documentary on Cleveland's beer brewing history.
As a filmmaker he loves sharing his films with others and is extremely happy to provide an opportunity for other filmmakers to share their films to the Cleveland community. Mike Suglio is also a professor at the School of Film & Media Arts at Cleveland State University, Cuyahoga Community College, and Case Western Reserve University. He is also on the Board of Directors of Independent Pictures.
Mike Wendt
Vice President
Mike Wendt is an award-winning director, producer, and location manager/scout. He currently is the Production Coordinator for the Greater Cleveland Film Commission.
His credits include Captain America: Winter Soldier, Fate of the Furious, My Friend Dahmer, and White Boy Rick. His first feature-length documentary The End Of The World As We Knew It was a selection of the 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival and his short film Goodbye, Ohio played numerous film festivals. He is in post production on a second feature-length documentary Robert Banks: We'll Talk About That Later.
Judging: Documentary, Environmental
Rhys Campanella
Secretary
Transplanted from a small town in Pennsylvania to the city of Cleveland, Rhys received his BA in Film Studies, a course of study he designed himself, from Case Western Reserve University in 2016. He also completed a month long filmmaking workshop in New York City at the New York Film Academy in 2014. A life-long lover of literature, Rhys initially became interested in filmmaking with the intention of creating screen adaptations of books that better represented how he read them, though his view of the relationship between film and literature has since changed greatly. Rhys is currently a filmmaker, having worked on a number of small projects in Cleveland with friends and having created a few of his own short films including Cold Coffee which made its public debut at the Short. Sweet. Film Fest. in 2015. He also is a film blogger, focusing largely on queer representation in media, on his website rebekahcampfilms.com. Rhys has been under the tutelage of Mike Suglio since shortly after the moment he set foot in Cleveland and he is so excited to be able to work and grow with this festival and the incredible artists who take part in it.
Katie Hamilton
Treasurer
Katie Hamilton is Cleveland native who attended John Carroll University and majored in accounting. She has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, a Master of Science in Accounting, and is a Certified Public Accountant. She has experience working in public accounting, tax, and private fund administration. Outside of work, Katie enjoys hiking, reading, watching films, and being a cat mom. She is excited to be a part of the continued growth and success of Short. Sweet. Film Fest.
Additional Board Members
- Scott Hallgren