The Annual Oscar-Qualifying® HollyShorts Film Festival celebrated their 20th anniversary this year with a star-studded 2024 line-up featuring shorts with Zoe Saldana, Riz Ahmed, Thomasin McKenzie, Ed Harris, Bella Thorne, Sam Raimi, Jamie Lee Curtis and Noomi Rapace. Some of the stars and filmmakers also featured this year included John Hawkes as well as Victoria Pedretti, Mia McKenna-Bruce, Takashi Miike, Jodie Foster and Joanna Lumley.
It took place from August 8-18, 2024 and this year received over 6000 entries with over 400 films forming this year’s anniversary program. And from July 12, HollyShorts will share the entire 2024 selection on YouTube, reasons to be cheerful right there!
Last year, the Academy® granted the festival their 4th OSCAR®-qualifying award for Documentary Short Film, this accolade joined their other three top awards, Best Short Film Grand Prize, Best Short Animation and Best Short Live Action. The winners of these awards will be eligible for consideration for a 2025 Academy® Award.
HollyShorts also launched an inaugural Sports category with NBA Champion, Metta World Peace as the head judge, he is also a producer of a film to be premiered on opening night called, “With Love Charlie”. The festival’s sports category is led by producer Jessica Badawi and will include work from former NBA player and champion Matt Barnes premiering his documentary “Black Mark”, an episode from the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks series “The Sound of the Seahawks”, “The Syd & TP Show”.
Some of the documentary short films selected for the 20th edition included “Alok” directed by Alex Hedison and executive produced by Jodie Foster, “The Final Copy of Ilon Specht” directed by two-time Academy® Award winner Ben Proudfoot, Benjamin Alfonsi’s “Whitney Houston in Focus”, John Beder’s “How to Sue the Klan” and “XCLD: The Story of Cancel Culture” directed by Ferne Pearlstein and produced by Trevor Noah.
The star-studded live-action short film entries include “How Can I Help You” directed by Eliza Scanlen and starring Thomasin McKenzie & Zoe Saldana, “Dammi” starring Riz Ahmed and Isabelle Adjani, Ken Cheng’s “Summons” starring Jimmy O. Yang and Alexandra Shipp and Tom Stuart’s GOOD BOY starring Ben Whishaw also join this fantastic lineup.
Among the animated short film entries are Nadia Hallgren and Jamie-James Medina’s “The Brown Dog” with voice performances by Steve Buscemi and the late Michael K. Williams and Paul Shammasian’s “An Angel on Oxford Street” narrated by Christopher Eccleston.
Notable music videos include Shania Twain’s “Giddy Up!” and Nikki Lorenzo’s “Lista, directed by Bianca Poletti and starring Academy® Award nominee John Hawkes.
Additional noteworthy selections include Bella Thorne’s “Unsettled” featuring Chris Zylka, Eli Newman’s “Concrete” starring Ed Harris and Sophia Ali, Mackenzie Davis’ directorial debut “Woaca”, “If Not Now, when?” starring Kate Dickie and Hanna Gray Organschi’s “Merci, Poppy” with Victoria Pedretti.
HollyShorts is devoted to showcasing the best and brightest short films from around the globe, advancing the careers of filmmakers through screenings, networking events, and various panels and forums. The festival showcases the top short films produced in 40 minutes or less. To view the full list of official selections visit http://www.hollyshorts.com
This year’s hybrid celebration of short films will took place in person, with screenings at the world-renowned TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and virtually through the official festival streaming platform, BITPIX.
My personal favourites were; Concrete, 4th Dementia & Meal Ticket, thank you for the invite, Hollyshorts.