The Palm Springs International ShortFest got off to a feel-good start on June 19 with the screening of six short films to officially open the 24th annual edition covering six days through June 25.
A full house packed the Camelot Theatre inside the Palm Springs Cultural Center, where the films will screen broken down by a variety of genres for all ages and preferences.
The more than 300 films screening during ShortFest were culled down from 5,400 submissions. Festival director Liliana Rodriguez applauded the work of her team, especially the screeners who made sure every single submission was viewed.
“To give you an idea of what that means, if you want to match the amount of time they watched movies, you have to spend 81 days watching short films without any bathroom breaks. And if that’s not love I don’t know what is,” Rodriguez said.
The opening night’s films began with Bilby, a cute animated feature that will screen again at 10:30 a.m. June 20 as part of the Animal Instincts group. The baby bird that Bilby takes care of will definitely capture your heart. Another animated short, Cat Days, from Japan follows a little boy after being diagnosed by his doctor as a cat. Pay attention to the subtitles to grasp the storyline.
Also standing out opening night was Pink Trailer, which provided funny interaction between two women over their next door neighbor, and With Thelma, about two gay men who babysit a little girl. Hair Wolf, and Wave rounded out the other films shown.
The opening night extended to a private after party at Lulu California Bistro, where guests could nosh and drink.
Palm Springs International ShortFest
June 19-25
psfilmfest.org/2018-shortfest
