indieWIRE Shorts

Rooftop Films in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Texas is many things... and it's also bigger than France. This Friday, September 2, Rooftop films in Williamsburg, Brooklyn presents "Bigger than France," a collection of Texas-based and/or themed short films. At 8:30 p.m. there will be live music by PG 6, and at 9 p.m. the screenings will begin. There will also be a BBQ in celebration of Labor Day. Make sure you dress warmly-- it gets chilly on the roof.

Amazon/Tribeca Film Fest Short Film Competition

Amazon.com, the Tribeca Film Festival and its founding partner Amercian Express present the opening of the Tribeca Screening Room. Until September 23, Amazon.com customers will be able to view and rate short film submissions from novice and established filmmakers. Then, on October 3, the five top-rated films will begin to debut on the Amazon.com home page. The grand prize winner as selected by Amazon.com customers will be announced in November and will receive a $50,000 award from American Express towards his or her next film project.

Aisle 5 Short Film Festival in Arlington, MA

The 2005 Aisle 5 Short Film Festival will be held on Saturday, August 27th, 2005 at the Regent Theatre, 7 Medford Street, Arlington, MA. A total of 10 short films will play at the festival. Tickets are only $3.50 per person.

Shorts on the Vineyard

New York's short film festival, the Manhattan Short Film Festival has joined forces with the Martha's Vineyard Film Society in bringing a selection of short films to Martha's Vineyard on September 17 and 18 at the Katharine Cornell Theatre, Spring Street, Vineyard Haven.

Best of Inside Out in Toronto

Inside Out Toronto Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival presents an evening of audience favorite shorts from the 2005 festival on August 24 at 8 p.m. The screenings will take place at the Al Green Theatre, 750 Spadina, Toronto. Featured shorts include "Who's the Top?" by Jennie Livingston (director of "Paris Is Burning") and "Irene Williams: Queen of Lincoln Road," among others.

Brooklyn Premiere of "Bullets in the Hood-- A Bed-Stuy Story"

The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) will host the Brooklyn premiere of the short film, "Bullets in the Hood: A Bed-Stuy Story," an award-winning, teen-produced documentary on Tuesday, Sept. 6, at 7:30 p.m. Produced at New York City�s Downtown Community Television Center, the film focuses on the tragic consequences of gun violence in Brooklyn�s Bedford-Stuyvesant community. Sponsored by City Council Members David Yassky and Letitia James, the free screening will be followed by a panel discussion and spoken word performances, as well as a reception at BAMcaf�. The film�s creators, Terrence Fisher and Daniel Howard will be in attendance along with friends, family and community leaders from Bed-Stuy. RSVP Required: dcbutler@yahoo.com (646) 335-5548

New Golden Star Shorts Fest Announced by VSM

Very Short Movies (VSM) recently announced that they will be launching a company with plans to present a shorts festival in Hollywood, to be named the "Golden Star Shorts Fest." VSM plans to set itself apart from other festivals by focusing on movies in the under 10-minute category. The festival will take place in the winter of 2006.

]]> A panel of industry professionals will review all submissions. Winners in six primary categories (drama, comedy, animation, documentary, experimental and music) will receive Golden Star Awards, which will include cash and production service prizes. Winners will also compete for a variety of promotional opportunities and selected entries will have the option to consider distribution platforms and revenue opportunities. The deadline for the first cycle entries is September 15, 2005 with a late deadline of September 30.

HollyShorts, Short Film Festival Comes to an End

The inaugural HollyShorts Short Film Festival came to a close on August 14 at the Space Theatre in Hollywood with top honors going to "Dick (The Short)," directed and written by Rufus Dorsey. Audience Choice Awards went to Kelly Rigg and Natashia McGough's "Bluff Point," and Aaron Caine's "The King of K-Town." The festival, which took place August 13-14, showcased 23 short films, which were 30 minutes and under.

"Shortsplay" and "Shortsplay Extreme" to be released in October

Genius Products, Inc. announced yesterday that they've set an October 18, 2005 release date for Shorts International�s "Shortsplay" and "Shortsplay Extreme" on UMD. The two film collections include live action and animated shorts. Many of the films have screened at festivals around the world. "Shortsplay" will include the following films: "In the Bathroom," "Sixth Scent," "Covert," "Home Road Movies," "Sleight of Hand," "Perfect Gooseys" and "The Last Post." "Shortsplay Extreme" will include the shorts "Limbo-X-treme," "Chickendales," "One Small Leap," "Mercy," "Gone Underground," "Killing Time at Home," "Robots" and "F8." Both collections are approximately 60 minutes long.

Japanese 'Cop Festival' Shorts Hit NYC

Cop Festival and Cop Festival Reloaded--a pair of sets from Japan's wildly popular short film series--arrived in New York City this week, and Saturday marks the final opportunity for Gotham filmgoers to check the movies out at Lincoln Center's New York Video Festival.

Started by Japanese filmmaker Makoto Shinazaki, Cop Festival films are ten-minute genre pieces shot quick, cheap and dirty--in some cases, over the course of a few hours. The selection of films at Lincoln Center includes videos by internationally renowned directors such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Ryuichi Honda.

Shinazaki curated the rarely seen shorts in these "best-of" assortments especially for the NYVF. Cop Festival screens Sunday, July 31 at 9 p.m., while Cop Festival Reloaded screens Saturday, July 30 at 10:30 p.m.

Japan's Short Shorts Fest Presents $60K to Winners

The Short Shorts Film Festival kicked off its 7th annual competition and tour of Japan earlier this month with screenings in the trendy Harajuku neighborhood of Tokyo. $60,000 in prizes was awarded to filmmakers in three categories: National (Japan), International (non-Asian), and Asian. �Rien de Grave� (dir. Renaud Philipps, France) took home the Grand Prix, and �Shirotaku� (dir. Toshiro Sonoda, Japan) was honored with the Asahi Super Dry Award, which includes a $30,000 grant to fund the filmmaker�s next project. The official programs of 78 competition films were selected from over 2,000 submissions received from over 80 countries. For more information about the festival and winners, visit their website.

]]> In addition to the 7th annual festival, Short Shorts organizers are producing another festival in Japan this summer. The Short Shorts Film Festival EXPO, a special competition of short films with the theme Nature�s Wisdom, is screening at the EXPO in Aichi, Japan through September 25, 2005. Thirty-minute programs screen nightly on an outdoor screen on the EXPO grounds for the 15 million expected visitors.

Short Shorts is recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a qualifying festival in the short film categories. Submissions for the 8th edition of the Short Shorts Film Festival will open August 1, 2005. There is no submission fee, and deadline for entry is November 1, 2005.

Hooray for HollyShorts

Short film fans in Hollywood should mark their calendars for Aug. 13-14, when the inaugural HollyShorts Film Festival is set to launch at Tinseltown's Space Theater.

Organizers have programmed an international selection of 22 films, including Justin Liberman's Tribeca favorite Y Nada Mas and Brett Simmons' Sundance-screened thriller Husk. The twenty other shorts in competition represent an international array of filmmakers from as far away as Poland, India and Thailand.

"We are thrilled to present the brightest work from up and coming directors and writers," said festival co-founder Dan Sol. "Art is coming back to Hollywood, and we are looking forward to making HollyShorts an annual gathering, where the filmmakers can have their masterpieces showcased in front of their industry peers."

American entries include Kelly Rigg's reality-game-show parody Bluff Point, Alex Alba's documentary Runway Job and Frederick Taylor's self-explanatory Dolls with Issues.

Palm Springs Shorts Fest Names New Film Director

The 11th Annual Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films & Short Film Market, held from September 20-26, 2005 at the Camelot Theatres, announces that Kathleen McInnis will join the Festival as the Director of Short Film Programming this year. The largest short film festival and market in North America screens approximately 350 films from over 40 countries annually. Over the past 10 years, 46 of the short films nominated for Academy Awards have played at the Festival, with six of the nominated films screened at last year�s Festival. For more information about the festival, visit their website.

]]> The Palm Springs International Festival Of Short Films and Film Market will present over 350 short films on three screens with concurrent Film Market facilities featuring over 2,400 shorts, making it the largest short film festival and market in North America. The Festival offers 20 awards in ten different categories, featuring cash prizes and/or film stock. All submitted films are eligible for film market participation for no additional submission fee. Winning films in Live Action and Animation categories are automatically qualified for nomination consideration by AMPAS in the short film categories. There is also a special student film section with awards and reduced entry fees.

San Francisco Artists Profiled in Short Films

San Francisco's Film Arts Foundation will host the latest installment of its True Stories series Aug. 17, featuring a pair of shorts about the work and legacies of two Bay Area artists.

Jane Levy Reed's �My Eyes were Fresh: The Life and Photographs of John Gutmann� profiles of an artist raised in the German-Jewish culture of Breslau and Berlin before religious persecution provoked him to start a new life in the United States. The event's organizers recognize Gutmann (right) as someone "whose art and life forged a link between the European modernism of the early twentieth century and the burgeoning artistic culture of SF Bay Area in the second half of the century."

Karina Epperlein's �Phoenix Dance� takes a closer look at Homer Avila, a professional dancer who lost a leg to cancer, yet recovered and returned triumphantly to the stage. Epperlein will be in attendance to discuss her film following the screening.

Each film runs 30 minutes, and the program starts at 7:30 at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Advance ticket purchase is recommended.

Short Call: Wireless Provider Offers Movie Dowloads

In case downloading ringtones and games to your cell phone just seems so passe, mobile TV pioneer Shorts International has announced that it will partner with British wireless provider Orange to provide downloadable short films.

According to a release, the Shorts TV service is available immediately to Orange's 14.3 million customers around Great Britain. For their part, Shorts International has accumulated the world's largest dedicated short film library since its inception in 2000.

Shorts TV adds to the comprehensive film guide Orange already makes available to it subscribers, including movie news, trailers, interviews and listings. For interested Orange customers, the collection of short films and animations is available through the TV and video section on Orange World.