Saturday marks the premiere of two categories of short film programs for the South by Southwest Film Festival, highlighting filmmakers from Texas and up-and-coming high school students.

The Texas Shorts Program showcases nine short films. Claudette Godfrey, SXSW's shorts programmer, said to be selected for this category, the filmmaker must have lived in Texas at some point, although the plots do not have to be about the state.

"They don't have to be living here now. They could have been here at college, but there has to be a Texas tie in some way," she said.

Short films, which SXSW organizers qualify as those less than 40 minutes in length, make up 12 different categories. More than 3,300 short films were submitted, but only 138 will be available for screening.

The Texas Shorts premieres Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Canon Screening Room inside the Long Center, 701 W. Riverside Drive, with second-run screenings March 13 at 3:30 p.m. at Alamo South Lamar, 1120 S. Lamar Blvd., and March 16 at 5 p.m. at Alamo Slaughter, 5701 W. Slaughter Lane.

This year's festival is the first time Austin filmmaker Matt Naylor holds title of director and writer for "What It's Like," a 12-minute short about John, a magazine writer on the search for magic mushrooms. John purchases mushrooms in the most unlikely place, a retirement community.

Naylor said the film's plot is based on the real life tale as told to him by a Texas Monthly writer, whom he declines to name. Naylor decided this tale could translate successfully into a short film.

"One, it is an absurd situation immediately," he said. "... There is a point where it veers in a direction you do not expect."

The film was created entirely by Austinites and shot mainly at downtown Austin's Radisson Hotel.

Naylor is no stranger to SXSW. He produced "Building Hope," which won the audience favorite award for Best Texas Documentary at last year's festival.

The Texas High School Shorts competition saw an increase in the number of submissions from 114 in 2011 to 159 submissions for the 2012 competition. Twenty-three student-produced shorts will premiere Saturday from 6–8 p.m. at the Carver Museum, 1165 Angelina St. The event is free, open to the public and coincides with a 3-D workshop put on by the Austin School of Film for youths ages 11 through 18.

Godfrey said the purpose of the high school competition is to provide students with filmmaking experiences and opportunity. Students are allowed to submit a film shorter than 5 minutes that they produced between Jan. 1 and Dec. 16, 2011. Godfrey said these are usually school projects. Students also receive a badge to attend the festival.

"We're always surprised with the quality," Godfrey said. "[Students] are more tuned in and have more access to see things and make things than anyone before."