The HollyShorts Film Festival is an annual Academy Award®-qualifying independent short film festival located in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

, California.

History

Founded in 2005, the yearly festival programmes feature an eclectic mixture of short films of various genres from around the world. HollyShorts inaugural Film Festival took place at The Space Theatre in Hollywood in August 2005 and featured 23 short films from the U.S., Canada, Poland, the U.K., and Thailand. The 2nd annual 2006 HollyShorts Film Festival was held at Cinespace in Hollywood, California, and also featured 53 short films from all around the world, with over thirteen different countries being represented. The third annual 2007 HollyShorts Film Festival took place from August 10-12th in 2007, and awarded goodies. The 4th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival took place on August 7–10, 2008 in Hollywood with top honors of Best Short Film going to “Bloom” directed Lance Larson. Larson was awarded $2000 VFX package courtesy of Clifton Post for his next project. The Best Student Short honors went to David Jibladze, for his short film “Beholden.” Jibladze took home a 5-day HVX-200, HD Camera rental package courtesy of Martini Crew Booking. Over $25,000 in prizes were awarded. The 5th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival took place August 6–13 at the DGA and Laemmle's Sunset 5 Theatre in Hollywood with top honors of Best Short Film going to ''La Petite Lilia'', directed by Reda Mustafa. Mustafa took home a prize package from Clifton Production Services which included a RED ONE digital cinema package valued up to $5,000.00, while Johnny Gill took home a $10,000 cash prize for the

Haydenfilms Haydenfilms LLC is a producer and distributor of independent films. It was founded in 2001 by Hayden Craddolph, the current executive director of the Haydenfilms Institute (HFI). Haydenfilms is based in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, at the TEK Par ...

Online Film Festival contest for his short film “My Turtle’s Name is Dudley.” For more information, visit www.hollyshorts.com. The 6th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival® took place August 5–12, 2010 in Hollywood and featured a major opening night reception, week-long screenings of short films and feature films in Hollywood, high-level industry panels, keynotes, awards and receptions for the community and filmmakers. Grand prizes were awarded for Best Short and Best Director courtesy of Company 3 valued at $20,000. Openfilm also sponsored the festival and screened their top 5 finalists for their $250,000 Get It Made Competition, at the fest. James Caan attended the opening night ceremonies and named the finalists. The 7th Annual HSFF will take place on August 11-18th in Hollywood. HSFF will be unveiling many other important upcoming celebrity and sponsorship participation as the Festival approaches. HSFF Alumni include Josh Brolin, Darren Lew, David Arquette, Malcolm Barrett, Carter Smith, Jason Biggs, David Pryor, Jimmy Jean Louis, Paula Garces, Adrian Grenier, David Lynch, Bragi Schut, David Weinstein, William Olssen, Alex Ferrari, Larry Hankin, Lance Larson, John Thompson, Nick Carmen, Scott Porter, Joel David Moore,

Mary Pat Bentel Mary Pat Bentel is a Los Angeles based independent film producer known for ''Amateur Night'' starring Jason Biggs, ''The Lie'' starring Joshua Leonard and Jess Weixler, '' The Midnight Swim'' starring Lindsay Burdge, Aleksa Palladino, and Jen ...

, Denis Hennelly, Richard Riehle, and great filmmakers and actors. The festival has screened 3D short films before, opening its 6th Annual festival with ''

The Butler's in Love ''The Butler's in Love'' is a short film directed by David Arquette and starring Elizabeth Berkley and Thomas Jane. The film is based on a painting by Mark Stock which hangs in Bix, the San Francisco restaurant where Arquette and his wife Courte ...

'' (directed by David Arquette and starring Elizabeth Berkley and Thomas Jane), and Sean Isroelit's ''The Caretaker 3D,'' which starred TV icon

Dick Van Dyke Richard Wayne Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, entertainer and comedian. His award-winning career has spanned seven decades in film, television, and stage. Van Dyke began his career as an entertainer on radio and telev ...

. HollyShorts has also been recognized by '' MovieMaker'' magazine for one of th
Top 50 Film Festivals Worth The Entry Fee

Previous guests

Previous actors or celebrities who had films appear in the festival, or who made appearances at the festival, include Josh Brolin, Zachary Quinto (the short film ''Hostage: A Love Story'' which screened at the festival), Oscar-winning short film director Luke Matheny ('' God of Love'' which screened at the festival), Jessica Biel, James Caan,

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...

, Kirsten Dunst, David Arquette (a 3D short film directed by Arquette entitled ''The Butler's in Love'' opened the 6th annual HollyShorts Film Festival and starred Thomas Jane and Elizabeth Berkley), Harry Lennix, Adrian Grenier, former SF Mayor and

Lieutenant Governor of California The lieutenant governor of California is the second highest executive officer of the government of the U.S. state of California. The lieutenant governor is elected to serve a four-year term and can serve a maximum of two terms. In addition to l ...

Gavin Newsom,

Zoe Saldana Zoe (also ZOE, Zoë, Zoé, etc.) can refer to: *ζωή (''zōḗ''), the Ancient Greek word for "life" People * Zoe (name), including list of persons and fictional characters with the name Film and television * ''Zoe'' (film) * ZOE Broadcast ...

, Kate Bosworth (both Saldana and Bosworth starred in a short film called ''Idiots'' that screened at the festival), Chadwick Boseman, Diane Lane, Eli Roth, Jane Lynch,

Steve Nguyen Steve Nguyen (born December 30, 1985) is a Vietnamese-American director, writer, artist and film producer. Nguyen and fellow director Choz Belen formed Studio APA, a multimedia collective that specializes in the production of animated films, chi ...

, Grace Huang (who won Best Actress for her role in

Jennifer Thym Jennifer Thym is an American writer, film director and producer currently based in Hong Kong. Thym's award winning films include "Bloodtraffic" and "Jasmine". Early life Thym was born in New York City, New York. Thym is of Cantonese and Taiwan ...

's short film, ''Bloodtraffick'' which screened at the festival),

Matthew Modine Matthew Avery Modine (born March 22, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker, who rose to prominence through his role as U.S. Marine Private/Sergeant J.T. "Joker" Davis in ''Full Metal Jacket''. His other film roles include the title character ...

Matthew Libatique Matthew Libatique (born July 19, 1968) is an American cinematographer. He is best known for his work with director Darren Aronofsky on the films '' Pi'' (1998), ''Requiem for a Dream'' (2000), ''The Fountain'' (2006), ''Black Swan'' (2010), ''No ...

, Malcolm Barrett, Jason Biggs, Tracy Middendorf,

Ele Keats Ele Keats (born Elemy Georgescu; August 24, 1973) is an American television, film and stage actress, model, and jewelry designer. Keats's most notable roles were in the Disney musical drama film '' Newsies'', Garry Marshall's '' Frankie and Joh ...

, John Dahl, David Rodriguez, Larry Hankin,

Scott Porter Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Saska ...

, Feodor Chin, Joel David Moore,

Ben Lyons Ben Lyons (born October 8, 1981) is an American entertainment reporter and sportscaster. He is the co-host of Bonjour Sports Talk on Amazon Prime Video Sports Talk. Early life Lyons is the son of entertainment reporter Jeffrey Lyons and the g ...

Timothy Tau Timothy Tau (born Timothy Tau Hsieh ( ); Chinese: 謝韜; pinyin: Xiè Tāo) is a Taiwanese-American writer, engineer, attorney, law professor and filmmaker. Tau won the 2011 ''Hyphen magazine, Hyphen'' Asian American Writers' Workshop Short St ...

Carter Smith Carter Smith (born September 6, 1971) is an American filmmaker and fashion photographer. He is best known for directing the films '' The Ruins'' (2008) and ''Jamie Marks Is Dead'' (2014). Life and career A native of Bowdoinham, Maine, Smith moved ...

, Jamie Linden, David Dastmalchian, Nicholas McCarthy, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Joe Carnahan, Ray Abruzzo, Neil LaBute,

, and more.

Organization

Currently, the festival is run by co-founder and Co-director Theo Dumont and Festival co-founder and Co-director Daniel Sol. The festival also holds a number of Monthly Screenings.HollyShorts Monthly Screenings, http://hollyshorts.com/screenings

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hollyshorts Film Festival Film festivals in Los Angeles Short film festivals in the United States