Palm Springs ShortFest films announced
The Palm Springs International ShortFest & ShortFilm Market announced its lineup of 330 films today.
The 19th annual festival, which is June 18-24 at Camelot Theatres inPalm Springs, will include shorts from 49 countries and 70 world premieres, 55North American premieres and 14 U.S. premieres. All 3,000 festival submissionswill be available at the ShortFest Market, according to organizers.
“We are so delighted to present new works at ShortFest from so manyunique new countries this year, especially the African countries of Burundi,Mali and Burkina Fasso,” Kathleen McInnis of ShortFest said. “It means agreat deal to us to be supportive of emerging filmmakers from across the globeand to bring their dynamic stories to our ShortFest audience.”
Additionally, 11 films have been chosen for the ShortFest Online FilmFestival and are available on a special section of the festival’s website. Online voting will continue through the end of the festival.
The Online Audience Award will be announced on closing night.
Some of the online films will be shown during the festival. All 11 filmswill play online for two months after the festival, according to organizers.
Some notable appearances include the voice of Cate Blanchett in theNorth American premiere of “A Cautionary Tale” (Australia);
— Christopher Lloyd in the world premiere of “The Coin” (U.S.);
— Alan Rickman in “Dust” (U.K.);
— Ian McKellen in the world premiere of “The Egg Trick” (U.K.);
— the voice of Bill Nighy in the North American premiere of “TheHungry Corpse” (U.K.);
— Hugo Weaving in “No Budget” (Australia);
— Shohreh Aghdashloo in “Silk” (U.S.);
— Emma Thompson in “Walking the Dogs” (U.K.);
— and Brooke Shields and Mireille Enos in the world premiere of “WildHorses” (U.S.)
SND Films founder Sydney Netter, actress Missi Pyle and Los AngelesTimes film critic Betsy Sharkey will serve on the festival jury.
A total of $110,000 in prizes will be given in 19 categories. First-place winners in four categories will automatically become eligible forconsideration by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for a possibleAcademy Award nomination. Winners will be announced June 23 at a screening andreception.
For information, tickets, to see the full lineup and watch the onlinefilms, go to www.psfilmfest.org. Call (800) 898-7256.
