The Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival is, once again, proving animation is the future when it comes to entertainment. The 18th edition, happening from August 11-20 at TCL Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood, Calif., unveiled its diverse selection of animated short films, including Emmy nominee Colman Domingo’s New Moon.
New Moon, written by and starring Domingo, follows an imaginative surrealist journey of a young boy and his mother chasing their inner city dreams. Adapted from his one-man play, A Boy and His Soul, this short also gives insight into Domingo’s upbringing, serving as a “love letter to West Philly and Black mothers and sons.”
Other stellar standouts include Aaron Hughes’s Five Cents, starring Emmy Award-winner Brian Cox (Succession); the world premiere of Ninety-five Senses, directed by Jerusha Hess (Austenland, Napoleon Dynamite, Don Verdean) and Jared Hess (Minecraft, Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre), written by Chris Bowman and Hubbel Palmer (Minecraft, Masterminds, Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life), featuring Tim Blake Nelson (Nightmare Alley, Watchmen, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs); Joseph Pierce’s Scale (Cannes Selection 2022); The Castro Sisters, Domenica and Constanza Castro’s We Are Here (Sundance Selection 2022); as well as Lukas von Berg’s Saint Android (Cannes Cinéfondation 2021), among others.
The full list and schedule of animated shorts include:
Friday, August 12 , 12 p.m. PST – Adult Animation
- A Guitar in the Bucket – Boyoung Kim
- Angulos de la Hora – Kyle Jason Novak
- Chilly and Milly – William David Caballero
- FALL OF THE IBIS KING – Mikai Geronimo, Josh O’Caoimh
- Freedom Swimmer – Olivia Martin-McGuire
- Holy Holocaust – Osi Wald, Noa Berman-Herzberg
- Invisible Eyes – Jung Seung-hee
- Love, Dad – Diana Cam Van Nguyen
- More Than I Remember – Amy Bench
- New Moon – Jeff Le Bars, Jérémie Balais
- Night – Ahmad Saleh
- Ninety-five Senses – Jerusha Hess, Jared Hess
- Other Half – Lina Kalcheva
- Saint Android – Lukas von Berg
- SCALE – Joseph Pierce
- She Dreams at Sunrise – Camrus Johnson
- Slouch – Michael Bohnenstingl
- Sprite Fright – Matthew Luhn
- Tehura – Wei Li
- The Awakening of the Insects – Stephanie Lansaque, Francois Leroy
- The Chemical Factory Drew Leung
- THE CLEARING – Daniel Hope
- The Fall – Desirae Witte
- The Island of Us – Yu Yu
- The Law of the Jungle Gym – Yoon Hei Cho
- The Originals – Cristina Maria Costantini, Alfie Kim Koetter
- The Record – Jonathan Laskar
- The Seine’s Tears – Yanis Belaid, Eliott Benard, Nicolas Mayeur, Etienne Moulin, Hadrien Pinot, Lisa Vicente, Philippine Singer, Alice Letailleur
- What I Had to Leave Behind -Sean David Christensen
- Zoon – Jonatan Schwenk
Sunday, August 14, 5 p.m. PST – Kids Animation/Family Films
- A Cartoon of a Cat Sleeping – Randall Christopher
- Cool For You – Sherene Strausberg
- Depths Of Night – Step C.
- Nounours – Lou Rigoudy
- The most boring Granny in the whole world – Damaris Zielke
- The Ocean Duck -Huda Razzak
- The Social Chameleon – Alex Ross
The annual Academy Awards-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival (HSFF) brings together top creators, industry leaders and companies and has launched many filmmakers into the next stages of their careers. HollyShorts, regular on MovieMaker Magazine’s “Top 50 Festivals Worth the Entry Fee list”, also engages its community and spotlights short films year-round through monthly screenings, panels, and networking events.
Early Bird ticketing for HollyShorts 2022 is available now. Visit hollyshorts.com to learn more.
