Celebrating this year’s best in short films, the 29th Annual Palm Springs International ShortFest wrapped up an exciting festival on Monday, June 26, 2023. Taking place in the beautiful, scorching Palm Springs desert, I have never attended a short film screening so packed that it was standing room only, but that was the case for the “Thrills & Chills II: Back From the Dead” horror portion of programming on the Saturday night of ShortFest. Any place where you can find your tribe of people, which in my case is that of filmmakers and film lovers, you feel right at home, so ShortFest was definitely my jam.
The festival highlighted two-hundred and ninety-nine short films from all around the world, from all different kinds of genres. The historic Camelot Theatre was the screening hub for it all, offering a nice reprieve from the almost one-hundred-degree Fahrenheit dry heat. Screenings took place in blocks of short films with various themes, such as “Awkward,” Outsiders & Underdogs,” and “Nights to Remember.”
Sunless – 2023 Palm Springs Shortfest
My personal favorite film of ShortFest so far (I haven’t had time to watch all 299 films yet) is a thriller called Sunless, about two men who attempt to break the deep dive world record in a submarine. It features top-notch acting with a range of emotions in its brief runtime, directing that ratchets up the chills, and beautiful life-like cinematography, while giving us a glimpse of a dramatic event that is eerily similar to a ripped-from-the-headlines current event.
Other favorites of mine include Pruning – a horror/Twilight Zone-esque short about an angry political talk show host who faces a grotesque manifestation of her own guilt, Mushka – a classic Disney-like animation tale of a young girl and her Siberian Tiger, Heritage Day – an awkward comedy about a young girl who is obsessed with the Holocaust, much to her mother’s dismay, High Noon on the Waterfront – a TCM documentary short about the infamous Hollywood Blacklist era, told by the two very different points of view of the blacklisted screenwriter Carl Foreman, and shunned director Elia Kazan, and Nai Nai & Wài Pó (Grandma & Grandma) – a documentary about two grandmas who dance, laugh, fart, and enjoy the simple things in life together while imparting the audience with some nuggets of wisdom.
Other than the cash prizes for awards, a very cool feature of the festival is that the Best of the Festival award winners may be eligible to submit their shorts to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Oscar consideration. The Old Young Crow (Japan/USA) took home the top prize, Way Better (Lithuania) won Best Animated Short, Will You Look At Me (China) won Best Documentary Short, Sèt Lam (France) won Best Live-Action Short Over 15 Minutes, and Mystic Tiger (Spain) won Best Live-Action Short 15 Minutes and Under. These are all very artistic films, with Will You Look At Me standing out to me for their emotional resonance about a traditional mother in China being ashamed that her son is gay and the pure anguish they both displayed in the film.
2023 Presentation of the Kid’s Choice award – Palm Springs Shortfest
The awards ceremony was filled with some inspirational speeches and special moments, such as when Marc Martínez Jordán, director of Mystic Tiger, brought his dog with him to accept his award. There were also adorable children who presented the Kids’ Choice Award and one child actor who accepted an award. There was an air of thankfulness, and some filmmakers were quite moved to be honored.
I capped off both weekend nights with parties hosted by ShortFest. The free drinks, appetizers, and cool music sets from DJs were nice, but just like in life, it’s all about the people. The parties were packed with filmmakers, so I had a great time talking to some from all different walks of life, such as a veteran Disney animator of fifteen years who loved to talk film history going back to the silent era, a surfer who has made some shorts but was looking for a little advice on breaking into indie features, and a young cancer survivor who will debut her short film on the topic at an upcoming LA festival.
Everyone I met at ShortFest, from the volunteers to the staff, to the filmmakers, could not have been kinder and more welcoming. I cannot wait to attend this fest again, for both the films and the people.
