Lineup announced for 2015 ShortFest & Film Festival
The Palm Springs International ShortFest & Short Film Market is in its 21st year, and 2015’s event will showcase 330 films including 77 World Premiers, 65 North American Premiers and 19 U.S. Premiers.
The festival will showcase Shorts directed by some pretty big names in Hollywood, including Katie Holmes, Bryce Dallas Howard, John Cusack, Matt Groening, Jimmy Kimmel, Kristin Wiig, Sandra Oh, Zachary Quinto, and Danny Trejo among others.
Organizers said the selection of films for screening and competition features star-studded casts and award-winning films from 51 countries around the world. There are 54 thematically curated programs, which will screen June 16-22, at the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs.
More than 3,000 of the festival submissions are available in the Film Market for industry attendees to view. View all the submissions at www.psfilmfest.org.
“The overall quality of the films submitted to us this year was staggering, both in terms of sophisticated filmmaking technique and the diversity of the subject matter and storytelling styles,” said Festival Director Darryl Macdonald. “The difficult part for us was narrowing the 3,500 submissions down to just 330 titles for the final Festival line-up, given the wealth of exceptional work we watched. It’s a testament to the benefits of contemporary film schools and increased access to low cost technological tools that so many emerging filmmakers with a gift for storytelling are now able to parlay those gifts into accomplished, entertaining short films. It makes for one wonderful week of film watching.”
Throughout the festival the selected short films are organized into programs covering a variety of genres – including action, comedies, documentaries, dramas, horror stories, thrillers and mysteries- and themes such as altered states, animals, animation, art, couples, crime, culture, dreams, family, games, history, jobs, kids, LGBT, romance, secrets, strangers and road stories, according to organizers.
Here’s a quick guide to give you an idea of some of the premiere films that will be screening at this year’s festival:
World Premiers: (21 of the 77 films)
2084 (USA), Taz Goldstein
The Age of Insecurity: Little Men (USA), Adriano Valentini
Amy (USA), Jacob Chase
Billy the Kid (United Kingdom), Sam Johnson
Bodies (United Kingdom/Ireland), B Welby-Delimere
Chisel (Philippines/USA), Rebecca Kahn
Copetin (Argentina/Spain), Ernesto Kullock
Death In Bloom (Australia/USA), Dael Oates
Duo (France), Claudia Bottino
Going Down (Australia), James Vinson
A Grand Ole Opry (Scotland), Michael J Welsh
The Grill Man (Brazil), Fabio Basso Montanari
Identity Theft (USA), Carlos Lopez Estrada
I Follow You (Sweden), Jonatan Etzler
I Strongly Suggest (New Zealand), Gregory Bennett
Marta Rosa (USA/Mexico), Barbara Cigarroa
Minimum Wage (USA), Joey Ally
Pool (Canada), Clayton Holmes
Skinless (Norway), Marius Myrmel
Skinless (Norway), Marius Myrmel
Zelos (USA/Iceland), Thoranna Sigurdardottir
United States Premieres: (All 19 Films)
After the End (United Kingdom), Sam Southward
August (Poland), Tomek Slesicki
Bernice (USA), Kristina Sorge
Class Trip (Sweden), Jonatan Etzler
Coach (France), Ben Adler
Crocodile (United Kingdom), Galle Denis
Dead Air (United Kingdom), Robert Bradbrook
The Future Perfect (Canada), Nick Citton
The Garage (Canada), Patrick White
Hole (Australia), Tony Radevski
In the Shadow of the North (Canada), Raphal Blanger
Maurice (Canada), Franois Jaros
Morning is Broken (United Kingdom), Simon Anderson
Outlier (Germany), Martin Wallner
Over (United Kingdom), Jrn Threlfall
Paris on the Water (Israel), Hadas Ayalon
The Pig Child (United Kingdom), Lucy Campbell
The Tour Guide (Israel/Germany), Amos Geva
Whispers Among Wolves (Australia), Kevin Lim
North American Premieres: (21 of the 65 premieres)
3 Year 3 Month Retreat (Bhutan), Dechen Roder
411 (USA), Oliver Power
90 Degrees North (Germany), Detsky Graffam
Alliance of the Depths (Israel), Aryeh Hasfari
Another Green World (United Kingdom), Christina Hardinge
Between Trees (Australia), Jayden Stevens
Bite the Bullet (Netherlands), Iman de Vries
Boy Meets a Stranger (South Korea), Da-hye LEE
Chronicles of Courage (United Kingdom), Ernest Mills
Escalator (Norway), Christopher Nielsen
Estela (Cuba), Joacenith Vargas
Execution (Hungary/Romania), Petra Sz?cs
He and She (Germany), Marco Gadge
Jachalay (Greece), Manos Gerogiannis, Yannis Zoumakis
The Jacket (Austria), Patrick Vollrath
The Morrigan (Ireland/UK), Colum Eastwood
Pebbles at Your Door (Denmark), Vibeke Bryld
Prayers at Dawn (Turkey/USA), Pinar Yorgancioglu
Rangan 99 (Iran), Tiyam Yabandeh
Three Dalmatians (Norway), Ingrid Stenersen
Zero M2 (France), Matthieu Landour
Organizers also announced the first 13 films chosen to represent the ShortFest Online Film Festival, which began on May 26.
Now in its fifth year, the select films will play on a special section of the festival’s website at psfilmfest.org starting on May 26. Organizers said online voting for the films will open on June 9 and run through June 20, with the ‘ShortFest Online Audience Award’ announced at the Festival Award Ceremony on closing night.
“The online world has become an increasingly important avenue for short filmmakers in terms of exposing their work to a wider audience. While the best way to appreciate a film – whether short or feature length – remains seeing it on a large screen with a rapt audience, our commitment to providing a launching pad for emerging filmmakers is not limited to theatrical screenings,” said Festival Director Darryl Macdonald. “That’s why we created ShortFest Online five years ago, and the films included in this year’s online edition show the same spirit of inventiveness and unbridled talent exemplified by the 300+ films selected for theatrical screenings at the 2015 Palm Springs International ShortFest.”
Here are the online films selected for 2015:
Animator vs. Animation IV (USA) – A stick figure goes to war with his maker. Inventive and compulsively watchable, this is the continuation of a series that first went viral on the web in 2006. Director: Alan Becker
The Deadman (Peru) – A young man who everyone believes is dead returns to his parent’s house after seven years, followed shortly by two “detectives”… Director: Franco Finocchiaro. Cast: Miguel Iza, Hernan Romero, Ana Cecilia Natteri, Nicolas Galindo and Renato Rueda
Elgin Park (USA) – The story of the ban behind Elgin Park, a fictional 50s any town USA created entirely through miniatures and still photography. Director: Danny Yourd. Cast: Michael Paul Smith (as himself)
Evil Mexican Child (Mexico) – The drawings of a seemingly sweet 4 year old Mexican boy wreak havoc on those depicted. When his mother realizes his father has a mistress, she suddenly is more supportive of his burgeoning talent Director: Michael Noonan. Cast: Xochitl Hernndez, Nyno Bernal, Anahi Davila and Max De La Rosa
The Evolution of an Artist // Thom Jones (USA) – Thom Jones doesn’t describe himself as a “designer” (except once in a while when he’s drunk), but he’s most certainly an artist – with spray paint, with wood and with motorcycle parts. Director: Craig Brooks. Cast: Thom Jones
Milk! (UK) – Two lactose-craving brothers will stop at nothing to get their daily dose of milk… Director: Ben Mallaby. Cast: Toby Williams and Paul F Taylor
NYC Life: Narrated by Dorvid Attenborough (USA) – Special measures are called for when trying to find a mate in NYC… Director: Michael Slavens. Cast: David Friedlander, Marie Smith, Mike Rosengarten, Anna Elizabeth, Geoffrey Countryman, Shaun Ahuja, Tyler Jakes, Tiffany Marie Sparks, Kristen Dausch, Christina Toth, Alexandre F. Charlebois, Bianca Boragi, Timothy Hull and Jack and Milo Uhrmacher
Russian Roulette (UK) – Lucy, lonely and lovelorn, meets a cosmonaut on Chat Roulette that may be the answer to her dreams… Director: Ben Aston. Cast: Bec Hill and Stewart Lockwood
SAMUEL-613 (UK) – An angry young Hasidic man forgoes his controlling father in pursuit of a more seductive life in Eastern London. But the grass is not always greener on the other side of the cultural divide… Director: Billy Lumby. Cast: Theo Barklem-Biggs
solemates (USA) – The story of love and family…as seen from a shoe’s perspective. Director: Bryce Dallas Howard. Cast: Seth Gabel, Theo Howard Gabel, Beatrice Howard, Bryce Dallas Howard, Judy Howard, Rance Howard
Somewhere in Palm Springs (USA) – Shag-style animated tale about three gay men and their girl friend hanging out at a hotel pool, talking s**t in Palm Springs. Director: Nate Clark. Cast: Nate Clark, Allen Loeb, Jennie Pierson, Drew Tarver and Jimmy Fowlie
This Dynamic Opportunity (USA) – A not very good salesman meets an equally odd client from the internet to sell his new toothpaste brand. Director: Matt Mays. Cast: Tony Lewellen and Mike Betette
We Are Fire (India) – Stunning documentary about a group of women (the ‘Gulabi Gang’) in red saris who join forces to help other women who have been oppressed or suffered wrongdoing in India. Director: Orlando Von Einsiedel. Cast: Champa Pal and Sampat Pal
Orgainzers said the ShortFest Online Film Festival will continue to play online through August 31 after the end of the festival.
For more information and tickets, call (760) 778-8979 or (800) 898-7526. You can also visit psfilmfest.org.
