The HollyShorts Film Festival will be moving its 16th annual edition online and has rescheduled its run to take place between November 9-15, 2020.
The Hollywood-based short film festival announced that it will be screening selections on its streaming platform, Bitpix. “Our filmmakers are the most important part of this festival. To be able to stream our sweet 16th anniversary on Bitpix assures that they can stay healthy and actively participate in the HollyShorts community that unites over 80 countries,” said HollyShorts organizers Daniel Sol, Theo Dumont, and Nicole Castro in a joint statement.
HollyShorts began with few resources in 2005 and has since established itself as an Oscar-qualifying hotspot for shorts filmmakers vying for awards consideration. Five of last year’s attending filmmakers received Academy Award nominations for their work and two went on to take home the gold: Marshall Curry’s The Neighbor’s Window and Carol Dysinger's Learning to Skateboard in a War Zone (If You’re a Girl) won Oscars for Best Short Film (Live Action) and Best Documentary Short Subject, respectively.
"Desmond's Not Here Anymore" screenwriter Lindiwe Suttle receives the award for Best Screenplay at HollyShorts 2019's closing night awards show. This year's ceremony will be free to stream via Bitpix on November 15.Credit: HollyShorts Film Festival
Typically, HollyShorts enjoys the TCL Chinese Theatre as its stomping grounds, but Bitpix did stream at least some of the festival’s programming in years past. Now that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced film festivals to work around new restrictions, HollyShorts is prepared to expand the scope of Bitpix's support for this year’s 7-day showcase. Bitpix will make all of HollyShorts’ films, panels, and special events accessible on some 1,000-plus devices including Apple TV, Chromecast, and Roku, as well as iOS, Android, Mac, and PC.
HollyShorts offers some of its award-winners camera packages in partnership with Panavision. Last year saw the launch of its Industry Content Creators First Look Development Lab, which, with the support of Stampede Ventures, helped award-winners expand their shorts to feature films and TV series. The festival's upcoming edition received over 6,000 submissions from 110 countries, and those selected for competition from that pool will vie for prizes across 20-plus categories. HollyShorts' partner, ShortsTV, also maintains an active presence at the festival, scouting out shorts that come to market in search of a distribution deal.
HollyShorts’ official selections will be announced on September 15th. Its annual awards show will also be streamed free on Bitpix on November 15th, and shorts that qualify for the 2021 Academy Awards will be announced at that ceremony. In the meantime, All-Access Early Bird Passes are available here from now until September 14th.
