29th annual Palm Springs ShortFest to get underway Tuesday

The 29th annual Palm Springs International Short Film Festival, also known as ShortFest, will get underway next week, showcasing over 200 films and several programs scheduled throughout.

The festival will take place from June 20 to June 26, with all screenings shown at the Camelot Theatres in the Palm Springs Cultural Center, 2300 East Baristo Road. In total, there will be 50 curated programs showcasing nearly 300 films — including 53 World, 10 International, 33 North American and 18 U.S. Premieres — of over 6,000 that were submitted from 129 countries.

“With such a large, high quality submission pool, the programming team had to make some difficult decisions but we think these films represent the vibrancy and immense creativity in short films from around the world.” ShortFest Director of Programming Sudeep Sharma said in a statement. “We can’t wait to host the films and filmmakers at Palm Springs and are honored to be part of their journey.”

The event will get underway with six film screenings, starting out with “Cinematic Odes,” “Beneath the Surface” and “Salt In The Air,” before organizers host an opening night event at the Camelot Theatres, according to festival officials.

ShortFest forums will take place over the weekend of June 23 to June 25, bringing together festival filmmakers, prominent industry representatives and others for a series of panels, roundtables and meetings covering a wide range of emerging trends and new practices in the global film community, festival organizers said.

Program participants include representatives from Adult Swim, Entertainment360, Entertainment Weekly, Hulu, Netflix, Paramount Pictures, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Vimeo and The Wrap, among others.

Film award winners will be announced June 26 with awards and cash prizes worth $25,000, including five Academy Award qualifying awards, according to festival organizers. Among the awards that will be bestowed are the best of the festival award, best animated short, best documentary short, best live-action short over 15 minutes, best live-action short 15 minutes and under, best international short, best U.S. short, best comedy short and best LGBTQ+ short.

“We are honored to be sharing their work with our loyal Palm Springs audience and the world,” Artistic Director Lili Rodriguez said in a statement. “We are looking forward to helping create the kind of experience only a film festival can provide.”

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