iW NEWS | Ann Arbor Set for 46th Fest

The 46th Ann Arbor Film Festival is set to kick-off on March 25th in Michigan, opening with a selection of short films from this year's festival. On tap are Michael Langan's "Doxology," Daniel Robin's "My Olympic Summer," Osbert Parker's "Yours Truly," Luke Sieczek's "Phantom," Georg Koszulinski's "America in Pictures," Ben Peters's "Frog Jesus," Catherine Chalmers's "Safari," Vanessa Renwick's "Portrait #2: Trojan," May Lin Au Yong's "Bullet Proof Vest," Josh Raskin's "I Met the Walrus," and Jem Coen's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." For more information, please visit the festival website. [Eugene Hernandez] 
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iW NEWS | "Foul" Wins Top Prize at Palm Springs Shorts Fest

British director Simon Ellis' short about a weak father encountering a gang of teen thugs, "Soft" won the "Best of Festival Award" at the 2007 Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films. The $2,000 prize also includes eligibility for Oscar consideration. Dee Rees' "Pariah" took the festival's "Future Filmmaker Award ($2,000 and "showbiz software package"). The fest's "Panavision Grand Jury Award went to Moon Molson's "Pop Foul," which also won a Student Academy Award. The Panavision prize includes a package valued at $60,000 and two days studio time from Casablanca Studios in Palm Springs. In announced audience prizes, the award for live action short went to "I Hate Musicals" by Stewart Schill, while Cyntia Wade and Laurel Hester's "Freeheld" took best doc short. And best animation short went to Zeth Willie's "The Needful Head." PSIFSF screened 332 shorts with 73 world premieres from 40 countries during the fest in the California desert community August 23 - 29. For more information including other award winners, visit their website. [Brian Brooks] 
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iW NEWS | Palm Springs Short Fest Sets '07 Line up

Showcasing its 13th edition August 23 - 29, the 2007 Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films & Short Film Market (ShortFest) has unveiled its roster of 332 films from 35 countries. Included in the line up are 54 world premieres as well as 12 North American and 20 U.S. debuts. The selection is organized into 50 themed programs which cover a variety of topics including war, security issues, immigration, animation, crime, romance, sex, horror, musicals, Jewish-related issues and gay and lesbian life among others. Also this year is a special focus on films from the United Kingdom as well as Kenya. "This year's line-up exemplifies the exciting surge of new vitality and talent emerging in the field of short filmmaking worldwide," commented festival director Darryl Macdonald in a statement. "Both the official festival line-up and the film market are overflowing with smart, provocative and entertaining new work - a testament to the huge number of exceptional young talents flooding into the world of filmmaking." A jury of five industry professionals will screen this year's short films selected for competition in nine categories for a total of $14,000 in cash prizes including Best Animation, Documentary, Live Action, "Best of Festival" and the "Future Filmmaker Award." The Panavision Grand Jury Award winner will receive a digital or film camera package valued at $60,000 and two days studio time courtesy of Casablanca Studios. An additional $7,500 in Kodak film stock will be presented to the film winners in the student award categories. Foir more information including the full line up, visit the festival's website. [Brian Brooks] 
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iW NEWS | Finalists Named for 4th SXSWclick

Fifteen finalists in five categories have been named for the South by Southwest Film Conference & Festival's four-year-old online Summer short film event, SXSWclick. Selected in the Animate-It category are: AM Peters' "Corporate Whore," Dan Brown's "Pierre," and David Crumley's "Sloths on a Tank"; in the Old School Shorts section: Will Elliott's "Peterson's Savings and Loan," Johnny O'Hara's "Mac's First Time," and Adam Wingard's "1000 Year Sleep"; in the Really Old Shorts category: David Serota's "Ubuntu," Kent Osbourne's "Every Picture I Took Last Year," and Jenny Perlin's "Review"; in the Sounds Shots section: Jonathan Stearns' "Falling Up" by Rickie Lee Jones, Andrea Gianomini's "Always Near" by Socadia, and Aaron Castillo's "Not Until Now" by Mediums; and in the What the F*#! category: Tim Spellman's "Math Bus," Tipper Newtown's "The Timebox Twins," and Naveen Singh's "Orphans." Jurors for the competition include actor Kal Penn, comedian Bob Odenkirk, filmmakers Doug Pray, Michael Tully and AJ Schnack, and bloggers Agnes Varnum and Violet Blue. For more information, visit the SXSWclick website. [Eugene Hernandez] 
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LA Times | SHOWBIZ 7s: Why do people make short films?

Short films aren't inherently bad, but to the American public they are inherently uninteresting. It's a conundrum that in this time of nationwide ADD we are still more likely to watch a three and a half hour movie rather than a three-minute short. The Internet is beginning to change that, but so far, grainy YouTube videos still do better than well-produced short films. But that hasn't stopped Los Angeles based comedian Chris Mancini from making more than 90 minutes of comedic shorts over the past decade--and asking famous-ish friends like Patton Oswalt and Paul F. Tompkins to star in them. Deborah Netburn reports. 
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Nine Honored at 2nd Very Short Film Festival

Nine awards were presented at the 2nd Very Short Film Festival at Hollywood's Egyptian Theatre, with Spanish film "Avatar" by Lluis Quillez winning in the drama category, while "The Happiest Day Of His Life" (USA) by Ursula Burton receiving the prize for comedy and "Africa Parting" (USA) by Robyn Yannoukos taking the nod in animation. Tiffany Shlain's "The Tribe" (USA) won for doc and "Victoria" (USA) by Marc Carlini won for music video. In the audience categories, Nancy Stein's "Joey" (USA) took the non-fiction nod and Jack Swanstrom's "A.W.O.L." received audience kudos for fiction. James Higgins' "Ephemera" won the fest's New Frontier prize. And VSFF's experimental and grand jury prize "Best of the Fest" award was given to "Vend" (Australia) by James Findlay. The international cadre of filmmakers from the United States and 11 countries included 40 of the represented filmmakers who attended in person. [Brian Brooks] 
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BERLINALE '07 | "Raak" Wins Top Berlin Short Film Prize

The Golden Bear for short film at the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival went to Hanro Smitsman's "Raak" from The Netherlands earlier this week, with the Berlinale Silver Bear prize shared by Manuel Schapira's "Decroche" from France and Arvin Chen's "Mei" from the USA, Taiwan and China. The Prix UIP went to Ralitza Petrova's "Rotten Apple" from the UK. Finally, the DAAD short film prize went to Nesimi Yetik's "Annem Sinema Ogreniyor" from Turkey.  
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SF360: "Radical Closure" at the PFA

Guts-and-glory war movies remain a perennial at the cineplex, but genuine cinematic responses to war are a different matter entirely. If the former have all the critical force of an army recruitment poster, the latter (as the broad range of approaches in the Radical Closure series make clear) open up serious possibilities for re-imagining the dehumanized landscape of violence even as physical options are closed down. This is the import of the film and video series curated by Lebanese video artist Akram Zaatari, originally presented as part of the 2006 Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, which continues through December 12 at UC Berkeley's Pacific Film Archive. Robert Avila reports. 
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Magnolia and Shorts International Set Oscar Shorts Release

Magnolia Pictures and leading short film company Shorts International will again partner to bring Academy Award nominated live action and animated short films to U.S. theatres prior to the February 25, 2007 Oscar ceremony. The films will later be available through Magnolia's Home Entertainment division and across other platforms that include ShortsTV on mobile phones. In a statement, Magnolia president Eamonnn Bowles said in a statement:

We were extremely excited with how the Academy Shorts performed for us last year. Making them available before the actual ceremony made all of the difference. If you want to get a leg up on your office pool, then we're here to help.

A 20 city release is set for February 16, 2007. The pact was negotiated by Magnolia's head of acquisitions Tom Quinn, head of business affairs and Bowles with Carter Pilcher, Susan Petersen, Simon Young, and Linda Olszewski from Shorts International. [Eugene Hernandez] 
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2nd Independent Lens Online Shorts Festival seeks submissions

ITVS and PBS is again hosting their second annual Independent Lens Online Shorts Festivalin which independent filmmakers are invited to submit short-form films, 10 minutes or less in length and in all genres. All submitted shorts to the festival will be screened and reviewed by a jury of notavle independent filmmakers, interactive producers and industry executives. The grand prize-winning short film will be awarded $2,500 and a national television premiere on the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens. Ten additional winners will be showcased on the Independent Lens Web site at PBS.org. Winners will be announced in Fall 2007. For more information, visit their website. [Brian Brooks] 
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MTV Gets Atom for $200 Million

Viacom's MTV Networks has announced a deal to acquire Atom Entertainment for $200 million. The company, comprised of four online destination sites for short films, as well as online games and video, follows last year's MTV acquisition of IFILM, the rival short film site online that ushered in an era of online entertainment back in early 1999. In a statement today, Atom founder and CEO Mika Salmi said in a statement, "MTV Networks is a global leader in entertainment, and we are thrilled to join their family of brands. Leveraging MTVN's platform will accelerate our growth and create new opportunities for both consumers and advertisers. We are proud of the business we've built and look forward to working together with MTVN to lead the way in the casual gaming and short-form video content business." [Eugene Hernandez] 
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Kenan Ready for His Close-Up

In the Los Angeles Times, Patrick Goldstein offers a profile of the 29 year old debut feature filmmaker Gil Kenan, whose "Monster House" is coming this week to theaters. The animated studio movie, described as a "comic horror film," was shepherded by exec producers Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg and marks Kenan's follow-up to his 2002 UCLA thesis film, "The Lark," which was a Slamdance hit. 
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Worldwide Short Film Fest Unveils 12th Annual Line up

The Canadian Film Centre's Worldwide Short Film Festival announced its 12th annual event line up, with 29 programmes slated for this year's program taken from over 3,000 submissions. This year's event includes 250 shorts from 30 countries with 135 premieres and 19 world premieres. Opening the festival this year on June 13 in Toronto will be a program of award-winning shorts from around the world. Continuing through June 18, festival spotlights will include Canadian and international competitions, a spotlight on Germany as well as focuses on sci-fi, celbrity shorts, "Midnight Mania," animation and "Film School Mania." Top WSFF winners are eligible for both Academy Award and Canada's Genie Award considerations in their shorts categories. The event is also one of the largest short film marketplaces in North America. For more information, visit the event's website. [Brian Brooks] 
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IFP and Current TV Launch Partnership

The first aspect in a strategic partnership between IFP and Current TV will be a online and on-air competition that is seeking submissions of short, nonfiction viewer-created content through the end of June. Then in August, 10 entries will be named winners of the Current/IFP VC2 Showcase, with at least three chosen to air on the Current TV cable network, with all 10 available online via the Current TV and IFP websites, as well as at the 28th Annual IFP Market. For more information, visit the IFP section of the Current TV site. 
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POWER UP Gets First Look Deal

The non profit, volunteer run gay studio Power Up has entered into a one year first look deal with the LOGO network for the acquisition of short films. Maureen Guthman, Vice-president of Acquisitions and Co-Productions at LOGO said they were "extremely impressed with the quality and talent of the POWER UP filmmakers." Guthman has already acquired many of the shorts from POWER UP that will play over the next month on The Click List: Best in Short Films which airs every Thursday at 10pm est. [Helen Silfven] 
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Foreign Finalists Selected for Student Academy Award

Five finalists from 29 entries representing 22 foreign countries have been selected to compete for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 2006 Honorary Foreign Film Award in the Student Academy Awards competition. The winning student filmmaker will be brought to Los Angeles in June to participate, along with U.S.-based winners of the 33rd Student Academy Awards, in a week of industry-related activities and social events, culminating in the awards presentation ceremony on June 10 in Beverly Hills. The finalists are: "Being Holger," Kasper Gardsoe, The National Film School of Denmark. "Elalini," Tristan Holmes, The South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance (AFDA). "The Measure of Things," Sven Bohse, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. "Melodrama," Filip Marczewski, The Polish National Film School. "La Ruta Natural," Alex Pastor, The Superior Graduate School of Cinema and Audiovisuals of Catalonia, Spain. Several past winners in the Foreign Student Film competition have gone on to achieve further recognition by the Academy. Tickets for the 33rd Student Academy Awards presentation ceremony, at which the winning foreign student film will be screened in its entirety along with the other Gold Medal-winning films from the U.S., are free and available beginning May 1. To request a maximum of four tickets, call the Academy at (310) 247-3000, ext. 130, or print an order form from the Academy's website. [Brian Brooks] 
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Finalists Announced for SA Short Screen Awards

The Media Resource Centre of South Australia announced today the finalists for the 2006 SA Short Screen Awards. The five finalists for best film of are: "Azadi" directed by Anthony Maras, "Train Runner" directed by Trevor Wright, "Orange Lane" directed by Jessica Asz, "Carnivore Reflux" directed by Eddie White & James Calvert, and "Belzhik" directed by Nima Nabili Rad. The Best Of the SA Short Screen Awards will be held at the Mercury Cinema over 3 nights on 7, 14, 15 April at 7.30pm. For more information visit their Web Site. [Helen Silfven] 
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Anita Monga to Serve as Director of Shorts Programming at Palm Springs ShortFest

Anita Monga has been appointed director of shorts programming this year for the 12th annual Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films & Short Film Market, taking place August 24th - 30th, the event announced Thursday. Monga has been involved in film exhibition in the San Francisco Bay area for the last 25 years. As director of programming at San Francisco's Castro Theatre she established an internationally-recognized film arts program within the landmark theater. Among her other activities, she directs the Noir City Festival and serves as a shorts programmer for the Mill Valley Film Festival. Most recently she directed the Film Arts Festival of Independent Cinema, and served as the programming manager for the 2006 Palm Springs International Film Festival. The entry deadline for PSIFSF is April 15th. For more information, visit their website. [Brian Brooks] 
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Magnolia and Shorts International Bring Oscar Shorts To iTunes

Magnolia Pictures and Shorts International announced that the five nominees for Best Live Action Short film at the 78th Academy Awards are now available for purchase and download on Apple's iTunes Music Store. The five nominated live action films now on iTunes are: "Ausreisser (The Runaway) by Ulricke Grote; "Cashback" Sean Ellis; "The Last Farm" by Runar Runarsson; "Our Time Is Up" by Rob Pearlstein; and "Six Shooter" by Martin McDonagh. Shorts International recently teamed with Magnolia Pictures to launch screenings of all 10 Oscar nominated shorts from the live action and animated categories in select theaters around the U.S. The films opened in select markets on February 24 and will continue for the next few weeks. "Distribution initiatives like these are exciting to be involved with and we are glad to have the opportunity to showcase these fantastic films," said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles in a release. More information can be found at their Web site. [Tamara Schweitzer] 
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Sundance.org Video Audience Reaches One Million Downloads

The Sundance Institute announced that worldwide audiences have downloaded over one million videos, breaking previous records according to the organization. Online visitors have downloaded a range of free programs from the 2006 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, including video highlights of festival happenings, filmmaker interviews and 50 short films that were screened in festival competition. The 2006 Sundance Film Festival, which took place this year from January 19 to 29, is the only major film fest to premiere short films on the web within hours of their premieres in theatres in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah. The number of video hits in 2006 surpassed the 700,000 downloads from the site in 2005 over the six month period during which the video remain on the web. The 2006 site reached the million download milestone 35 days after debuting short films and original content when the festival opened on January 19. According to Sundance, the top ten downloads so far are: "Gopher Broke" by Jeff Flowler and Tim Miller; "Fumi and the Badluck Left Foot" by David Chai; "Hahaha America" by Jon Daniel Ligon; "Fourteen" by Nicole Barnette; "A Half Man" by Firas Momani; Sundance '06 shorts competition winner "Bug Crush" by Carter Smith; "Divorce Lemonade" by Justin Hayward; "The Tribe" by Tiffany Shlain; "You Turned Back and Held My Hand" by Gabriela Tollman; and "Before Dawn" by Balint Kenyeres. For more information, visit their website. [Brian Brooks] 
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