16th Hollyshorts Film Festival: 300 Oscar-qualifying films to compete

The official selections for the 16th annual Oscar-qualifying HOLLYSHORTS FILM FESTIVAL have been revealed. Dubbed as their “Sweet 16,” the organizers are thrilled to welcome the best shorts from across the globe to screen virtually from November 9-15, 2020 on the new streaming platform BITPIX.

One of the world’s leading short film festivals, HollyShorts received over 6,000 submissions and only 5% of the films are now one step closer to potentially being in the running for an Academy Award. Notable films include the animated short CRUEL SHOES written and narrated by Academy Honorary Award winner Steve Martin; I WISH FOR YOU featuring Jeremy Irons; the Will Ferrell, William Jackson Harper (The Good Place), and Fred Hechinger (Eighth Grade) comedy DAVID directed by Avenue 5’s Zach Woods; Deon Taylor’s 8:46 starring Tyrese Gibson and featuring CeeLo Green; THE PRICE OF CHEAP RENT featuring Wyatt Cenac (HBO’s Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas) from directors Amina Sutton and Maya Tanaka; Eli Synder’s INTERLUDE starring Empire’s Skylan Brooks; the high school drama AT LAST directed by Lorena Gordon and featuring George Lopez, as well as Hanna star Esmé Creed-Miles’ directorial debut JAMIE.

“I’m very excited to have our L.A. premiere at a festival as strong as HollyShorts,” stated director Maya Albanese, who’s short FREEZE stars Nora Zehetner (NatGeo’s The Right Stuff) and Adrian Grenier (Entourage). She continued, “I made FREEZE as entertaining catharsis for thirty-something women in our modern era of unparalleled female choice. It’s a pressure cooker period in our lives when our greatest career opportunities are expanding just as our fertility is declining.”

This year’s competition lineup will feature a variety of shorts including Live Action, Animation, Documentary as well as TV Pilots, Music Videos, Web Series, and Student shorts. Some early stand outs include: IN HOLLYWOODLAND starring Yetide Badaki (American Gods) and Karen David (Legacies); SECOND TEAM featuring Francia Raisa (Grown-Ish); the Madison Beer GOOD AND GOODBYE music video co-directed by Beer and Kyle Cogan; Morad Mostafa’s drama HENET WARD; EAGLE featuring The Daily Show’s Roy Wood Jr.; sci-fi short PROXY starring Erika Christensen (Parenthood) and Emma Booth (Glitch); Chloe Campion’s documentary THE RACE about teenage rapper Tay-K; comedic miniseries LOUEY & BRI TV starring Luis Guzmán (Shameless) and Bri Smith; Ashley Williams’ (The Jim Gaffigan Show) directorial debut MEATS; Sex Education director Alice Seabright’s comedy END-O; FURLOUGH from The Originals’ Phoebe Tonkin; and the animated short KAPAEMAHU among others.

Five of last year’s films received Academy Award nominations and two went on to win: Marshall Curry’s The Neighbor’s Window and Carol Dysinger’s Learning to Skateboard in a War Zone (If You’re a Girl) won Oscars for Best Short Film (Live Action) and Best Documentary Short Subject, respectively. 

HollyShorts Film Festival will take place November 9-15, 2020 exclusively on Bitpix. The festival will be completely virtual and feature short films, panels, exclusive fireside chats, virtual get togethers, and the 16th Annual Awards Show where three short films will become qualified for the Academy Awards. To view all of the official selections or to purchase tickets please visit www.hollyshorts.com

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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