Hollyshorts Film Festival 2014 Opening Night-Part 1
It was a night of celebration for filmmakers and celebrities as the Hollyshorts Film Festival kicked off it’s opening night.
The night started off with Rich Girl Network Host Sunny Winch interviewing actor Luke Wilson (presenting his Award-winning short film Satellite Beach, Directed and Stars in the film) and Andrew Wilson (Director) (Luke Wilson’s brother). Also on the red carpet was King of Indie Animation Bill Plympton (New animated feature film Cheatin’ released in theaters August 15),HollyShorts Indie Animation Icon Award and world premiering his short film Footprints.
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The festival continues on Wednesday August 20 with Digital Day Presented By General Assembly. At 12noon is the Romantic Comedy program, 2:30pm marks the Coming of Age Shorts, 5pm showcases a top DramaShorts program, 7:30pm is Funny Shorts with 10pm closing out the day with the popular Web Series program. The Film Conference at the Roosevelt on Digital Day will feature top digital sessions and a special cocktail at 6pm Presented by General Assembly.
Thursday August 21 is Awards night at HollyShorts. The ceremony takes place at 8pm at the Roosevelt. But prior to the Awards, audiences can check out the HollyShorts Alumni program at2:30pm, Time Machine period pieces at 5pm, and more student shorts at 7:30pm.
New this year are two additional days of screenings, Friday August 22 and Saturday August 23. Friday features: Take Me There program at 2:30pm, Indi.com winners and the 48 hour Disability Competition winners program at 5pm, Drama Shorts at 7:30pm, and Friday Night Live at 10pm. Saturday features: Next Gen Showcase at 12noon, The HollyShorts Monthly Screenings Winners showcase at 2:30pm,Short But Sweet show at 5pm and Last But Not Least at 7:30pm.
There will also be a closing alumni Feature Doc presentation at 10pm on 8/23, which will be announced by the organizers shortly. At 10pm is the final closing bash for the festival, the location for that will also be announced shortly.
This year, HollyShorts has achieved records across the board. Starting with it’s famed monthly screening series, which expanded beyond Los Angeles and into Miami, Austin and New York, the festival received well over 1600 submissions for the August mega-festival. The organizers have accepted and programed a fest record 400 short movies. Filmmakers from Canada, France, Spain, Mexico, Italy, Haiti, UK, Ireland, Israel, South Africa will transcend to Hollywood in the coming weeks all for HollyShorts. Film schools such as USC, UCLA, Chapman, Florida State, NYU, Columbia, Tisch Asia, NYFA and AFI are all represented with official selections.
After incredible feedback from last year’s panel series, the organizers have once again beefed up the lineup for the HollyShorts Film Conference, a co-located event taking place at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. Seed&Spark, the one stop shop where filmmakers can crowd-fund, distribute and interact with their audiences is joining forces with Tugg, the platform that gives audiences power to bring movies to local theaters to deliver the keynote address at the upcoming the Film Conference, which is Presented By Method Studios. Other participating companies include Warner Bros. TV, Lionsgate, CBS, General Assembly, PGA Digital, CSA, Route 1 Films, DigitalLA, Voltage, Electus, Women InFilm, Shout Factor’s Scream Factory, Fangoria, ShortsHD, UCLA Extension, IndieFlix, Tribeca FilmFestival, The Weinstein Co., AMPAS, The Hollywood Reporter, New Filmmakers LA, Evil Slave, QuickFilm Budget, Final Draft, Full Moon Entertainment, Circus Road, Three Point Capital, among others.
HollyShorts is awarding nearly $200,000 worth of production and scholarship prizes. Company 3 is awarding $45,000 in Post-Production Services including $15,000 for the Best Short, $10,000 For Best Director, $10,000 for Best Cinematographer $5,000 For Best Music Video and $5,000 in Post services for Best Commercial. Method Studios will award a $10,000 Post-Production Services Prize for Best VFX. Latino Art Beat (LAB) and HollyShorts Youth Film Competition celebrating young filmmakers’ will award the winning young filmmaker a $40,000 scholarship prize to attend The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (SMFA). Sponsors also include UCLA Extension, NYFA, ShortsHD among others.
About HollyShorts
HollyShorts Film Festival is an annual short film festival showcasing the best and brightest short filmsfrom around the globe. HollyShorts is devoted to the advancement of filmmakers through screenings, Q&A sessions and networking events. The HollyShorts Film festival showcases the top short filmsproduced 30- minutes or less. For more information please visit www.hollyshorts.com.
