The “Shooting Stars” segment of the Palm Springs International ShortFest is an evergreen favorite, featuring shorts with major film industry names either in front of or behind the camera.
The “stars” featured this year included Kristen Wiig (Miss Famous), Katie Holmes (director of Eternal Princess), Jason Patric (The Weight of Blood & Bones), Rose McGowan (The Weight of Blood & Bones), Danny Trejo (The Weight of Blood & Bones), Bryce Dallas Howard (director of Solemates), Sandra Oh (The Scarecrow) and Janeane Garofalo (The Assistant).
The festival's executive director Darryl Macdonald introduced the filmmakers, writers and producers present, who eloquently spoke about their films.
The exploration of the human condition was alive and well during the evening. The evening’s selections were all fictional, with the exception of Holmes’ documentary, Eternal Princess, about 1976 Olympic gold medal gymnast Nadia Comaneci. The shortest film was Howard’s Solemates. In one minute, the cycle of life unfolded.
The Scarecrow by Phillip Rhys and The Weight of Blood and Bones by Christopher Ekstein were the most haunting shorts. The after party at the Hard Rock Hotel Palm Springs was rollicking and rocking.
Shooting Star filmmakers discuss their films on the stage of the Camelot Theatres.
Alexander Guder (character of Toby from The Scarecrow) with his real mom, Rosalind Guder.
(From left) The Scarecrow cast and crew: Alexander Guder, Darren Pettie, Sandra Seacat, director Phillip Rhys and writer William Brock.
(From left) The Weight of Blood & Bones behind the scenes talent: Producer Kevin Ragsdale, writer Jason Tyrrell, director Christopher Ekstein and producer Stacy Eksteintion.
(From left) The Weight of Blood & Bones – Market Street Production team: Kat Rupert, Grace Douglas, Levi Vasquez, Lorraine Carvalho and Luqi Zhao.
The Very Scientific System producer Monique Keller with writer-director Assaf More at the after party at the Hard Rock Hotel Palm Springs.
Palm Springs International ShortFest staff graphic artist and theater manager, Tuyet Nguyen.
Pool producer Niki Holmes and director Clayton Holmes.
Flickerfest exec Shane Rennie, International Short Film Festival of Australia and Flickerfest exec Bronwyn Kidd, and Harvey’s Dream director Alex von Hofmann.