A rickety scientific expedition ventures down the Amazon River to a dark lagoon, in search of a mythic Creature! ¡Monstro! is a horror story. A love story. A ribald comedy!
Longtime Hollywood Shorts alum CHRIS ROMANO first screened with us during our very first year, with his hilarious short animation DREAMBOY.
Chris has enjoyed a warm welcome back to the festival world with his 3D masterpiece MONSTRO!, a throwback story with a monster from the watery abyss somewhere along the Amazon. The short features a great vocal performance by Emmy nominated entertainment TV reporter & actress Pili Montilla.
Chris created the animation in a collaboration with Side Effects Software, using their popular Houdini software. Read this great article on the making of the short.
DIMMAK STUDIOS (formerly Cinespace) 6356 Hollywood Blvd., upstairs Hollywood, CA 90028
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You are invited to our annual Family Holiday Party. We are joining with our friends at BADWest, the Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers for some egg nog and cheer! Let’s toast all of the wonderful filmmaking we have all been a part of this year. Reconnect with cast and crews that have worked on our productions this season, and many of the filmmakers we have showcased through the year.
Bring the kids! The evening includes a special program of family friendly holiday and vintage animation to help ring in the holiday spirit.
4:00pm – 6:00pm
Holiday Party
6:00pm – 7:00pm
Holiday Animation Program Screening includes a collection of vintage family holiday classics
Dimmak Studios (formerly Cinespace) 6356 Hollywood Blvd, upstairs Hollywood, CA 90028
Saturday September 21, 2013 5:00pm – 6:30pm Filmmaker Happy Hour 6:30pm – 8:00pm Short Film Program & Filmmaker Panel
SEASON 15 CLOSING NIGHT
Join us on Saturday to celebrate the wrap of our 15th season of monthly short film screenings!! It has been an extraordinary year of filmmaking, new creative friendships and collaborations, and so many new shorts and animated films.
This month, we welcome back alumni filmmaker Kate Rees Daviesand a special music video collaboration she shot with Australian singer/songwriter VASSY for the song BEAUTIFUL. The video features some amazing young people from PLAYGROUND OF DREAMS, an innovative mentoring program teaming entertainment industry leaders with children to foster their creativity, leadership, and unique purpose in the world. The project brings together a lovely visual style with the powerful lyrics in Vassy’s empowerment anthem. Vassy and Kate will both be in attendance!
This month’s program also includes another eye-popping selection of short films and animation from near and far, including the encore screening of Talibah L. Newman‘s BUSTED ON BRIGHAM LANE. Also, a new short creepy tale entitled TENDERby LA filmmaker Elric Kane and writer/producer Lee Ross… and more…
Dimmak Studios (formerly Cinespace) 6356 Hollywood Blvd, upstairs Hollywood, CA 90028
Sunday, June 23, 2013 5:00pm – 6:30pm Filmmaker Happy Hour 6:30pm – 8:00pm Short Film Program & Q&A
Join us for another fantastic program of short films & animation, and our monthly Filmmaker Happy Hour.
Short Film Program #7 includes a special screening of the first episodes of THE NEW KIND, the new anime-flavored sci fi series from Peter Hyoguchi. We will get an exclusive work-in-progress look at Peter’s extraordinary production, which includes a very successful kickstarter campaign, a remarkable animation crew (over 200 people so far!),and an innovative, multi-state work flow.
The line up also features Kate Rees Davies’ new short film STICKS AND STONES, shot on the F65 in 4K. Kate collaborated with DP Steve Romano as she made the move from film to digital shooting. The short film is the story of Sam, an artistic 12 year old played by Cole Ewing, who is being bullied at school.
The program includes an encore screening of one of the films from the 2013 LA Film Festival. HOLLYWOOD SHORTS is proud to return as the Presenting Organization of Short Film Program 1 at LAFF this year – and we will screen one of our favorite films from this group, BUSTED ON BRIGHAM LANE by Talibah L. Newman. Talibah wrote and directed the film, which won a 2012 Director’s Guild of America Student Film Award.
learn more about the directors & animators featured in our May 21 program
This month we feature the work of lauded Australian stop-motion animation team CHRISTOPHER & CHRISTINE KEZELOS, documentary filmmaker JESS DANG, and New York filmmaker PIERRE STEFANOS.
Zealous Creative is the production company run by husband and wife team, director Christopher Kezelos and producer Christine Kezelos, which relocated from their native home in Sydney to Los Angeles this month. They have been creating award-winning ads, films and viral campaigns & websites for over a decade.
Many of their short films have been highly successful on the festival circuit including DentaMate which screened at the 2006 Rhode Island International Film Festival. Their multi-award winning short film No Butts About It was selected to screen in Sydney Metropolitan Public Schools to raise awareeness of local environmental issues.
In 2009, their 1st stop motion animated short Zero launched on the festival world and has reached massive critical and audience acclaim. The film has won 11 awards including Best Animation at the 2010 Los Angeles Shortsfest and received two Gold Awards from the Australian Cinematographers Society. It was nominated for the AFI Award in Best Short Animation (Australia’s Oscar).
Zealous Creative is just weeks away from finishing their newest short animated film The Maker, and is in development on a feature length stop motion animated film. They are currently seeking to collaborate with an LA based 3D VFX shop and a sound house to finish The Maker.
Jess Dang is a graduate student at the USC School of Cinematic Arts film production program. She received her BFA in Communication Design from Parsons NYC. She moved quickly into art department, working extensively as an art director and designer specializing in brand identity and advertising. As art director at McCann Erickson, she worked on campaigns for Target, Verizon, Intel, Mobile One, MTV & more.
Jess is focusing on documentary filmmaking in her final year at ‘SC and building her career as a director on doc based film and television. She also continues to work as an art director and is working to expand her commercial success into production designing for film & television.
Pierre Stefanos is a native New Yorker, and a graduate of Columbia University. He has been a writer for more than half his life, first as a music critic and opinions columnist for the Columbia Daily Spectator and the vaunted independent music review site InkblotMagazine.com
After several years working with Fortune 100 clients for companies like AT&T and PriceWaterhouse Coopers, Pierre refocused his attention to filmmaking, working as an AD and UPM on many award-winning independent films. He also worked as a script reader for Open City Films/Blow Up Pictures.
Pierre is also an accomplished editor, winning a 2006 Business Emmy nomination as part of the post team for “Crude Awakening” episode on PBS investigative news series “Now”, and he was the editor of the 2008 Emmy-winning epidode of Bravo’s “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List”. He assisted editor Nancy Baker on Karen Goodman’s Oscar nominated doc “Rehearsing A Dream” about the YoungARTS kids. He was also the AE on the 2011 Oscar nominated doc short “Killing In The Name”.
It’s our 2010 List of HO-HO-HOLIDAY Short Films! Grab your eggnog and enjoy our picks of awesome yuletide shorts that REALLY bring the Holiday Spirit! Season’s Greetings!!
A mischievous Christmas tree decoration has a hunger for some some milk and cookies!
We delve into the HOLLYWOOD SHORTS vault to include this classic Christmas animation. Just out of school, Aaron Rogers (then he was Aaron James Erimez) screened ORNAMENTS at the HOLLYWOOD SHORTS December 2000 fest. He has gone on to do amazing work on huge features and network TV, including “Monster House” and “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe”.
CAST: Severyn Brodziak, Sam Goodstein, Elizabeth Bove, Selena Gonzalez, Christian Anderson
A foster child must find the strength to become the hero of his own story… and maybe save the girl.
Our special Holiday 2010 screening of DASH CUNNING has now concluded. Please email William Saunders to request a password to see his wonderful short film on Vimeo.
One Christmas Eve, a young man is accused by a family of dangerous maniacs of being the descendant of a hunter who apparently killed and stuffed Santa Claus nearly a century ago.
CAST: Jonathan Torrens, Sarah Dunsworth, Lex Gigeroff
For trees, Christmas isn’t the exciting “peace on earth” that is experienced by most. But this Christmas will be different – the trees have had enough!
We know this short was the belle of the ball last Christmas, but we just had to include it in this year’s list. It is just so bloody good!! We love the YerDead team, and we can’t wait to what they do next!
A schizophrenic pickpocket scours the underground trains at the command of his inner demons. But when an accidental score reconnects him with his past, he must test his strength and defy the voices in his head. In the end, the quest for love proves to be the most meaningful of all.
