The largest short film festival in the world is back for its 17th year! Bringing together top creators, industry leaders, and movie-lovers alike, the HollyShorts Film Festival (HSFF) has become a launchpad for taking filmmakers to the next stages of their careers. The festival will run between September 23-30, 2021 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood, California, with the annual Awards Gala taking place on October 01, 2021. Whereas last year’s event moved entirely online in order to adhere to pandemic-related restrictions, this year, HSFF will be a hybridized festival experience: in addition to in-person screenings, viewers may also attend virtual screenings via Bitpix, the festival’s official streaming platform.
Already, the HSFF is looking to be a star-studded event. Standout films this year include: Aneil Karia’s The Long Goodbye starring recent Oscar nominee Riz Ahmed; The Sands Between, which reunites Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy, directed by Aidan Tanner; Koreatown Ghost Story starring Grammy- and Emmy-nominated comedian Margaret Cho; the Leonardo DiCaprio-produced Into Dust; Julian Joslin’s No Longer Suitable For Use executive produced by Sam Rockwell; and the recent Academy Award winner Two Distant Strangers from Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe.
Indeed, 300 out of 5000 submissions made the cut this year, hailing from over 40 different countries, including Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Denmark, France Germany, Israel, Jamaica, Kosovo, Mexico, New Zealand, Romania, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, United Kingdom, and Yemen. On top of that, the HSFF will feature a diverse collection of film blocks, ranging from LGBTQ+ films to Animation, Comedy to Drama, and Women in Film to Documentary. For more information and tickets, attendees are invited to visit the festival website. Meanwhile, Bitpix is available for download on Airplay, Amazon Fire TV, Android, Android TV, AppleTV, Chromecast, iOS, and Roku.
