The 29th annual Palm Springs International Short Film Festival, ShortFest, returns to the Camelot Theatres from June 20-26. The 2023 festival will screen 50 curated programs showcasing 299 films, 41 animated, including 53 World Premieres, 10 International Premieres, 33 North American Premieres and 18 U.S. Premieres. More than 6,000 short films from 129 countries were submitted.
Repeat screenings of the winners will be shown closing night and on June 26. Additionally, a virtual Best of the Festival will run from July 7-13, featuring a collection of ShortFest’s juried award winners available to stream at a packaged price online.
“We are so thrilled to be bringing such incredible talent to Palm Springs to celebrate film and the craft of short filmmaking” said Artistic Director Lili Rodriguez. “We are honored to be sharing their work with our loyal Palm Spring audience and the world. We are looking forward to helping create the kind of experience only a film festival can provide.”
ShortFest Director of Programming Sudeep Sharma said, “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. We can’t wait to host the films and filmmakers at Palm Springs and are honored to be part of their journey.”
The California cinema celebration is an Oscar-qualifying festival, with several awards granting entry to the initial stages of Academy Award consideration to the winners — including the Best Animated Short and Best of the Festival awards.
ShortFest Official Selection – Animation
- Aikāne (USA), Directed by Daniel Sousa, Dean Hamer & Joe Wilson
- Ashkasha (Spain/Argentina), Directed by Lara Maltz
- Boat People (Canada), Directed by Thao Lam & Kjell Boersma
- Canary (Canada), Directed by Pierre-Hugues Dallaire & Benoit Therriault
- ChaCha (China/France), Directed by Chenghua Yang & Shang Zhang
- Christopher at Sea (France/USA/United Kingdom), Directed by Tom CJ Brown
- “Delta Airline Saftey Video (USA/France), Directed by Jordan Michael Blake
- Discussion animée entre entendeurs de voix (France), directed by Tristan Thil
- Eeva (Croatia/Estonia), Directed by Lucija Mrzljak & Morten Tšinakov
- Epicenter (South Korea), Directed by HAHM Hee-yoon
- The Flying Sailor (Canada), Directed by Wendy Tilby & Amanda Forbis
- fur (USA), Directed by Zhen Li
- Ice Merchants (Portugal/France/United Kingdom), Directed by João Gonzalez
- La Pursé (Brazil), Directed by Gabriel Nóbrega & Lucas René
- Luce and the Rock (Belgium/France/Netherlands), Directed by Britt Raes
- Make or Break (Germany), Directed by Mike Plitt & Falk Schuster
- Menagerie (USA), Directed by Jack Gray
- Misaligned (Poland/Latvia), Directed by Marta Magnuska
- Movement (Switzerland), Directed by Valentine Moser
- Mushka (USA), Directed by Andreas Deja
- Pipes (Switzerland), Directed by Jessica Meier, Kilian Feusi & Sujanth Ravichandran
- Pond (Switzerland), Directed by Lena von Döhren & Eva Rust
- The Rainbow Dung Beetle (USA), Directed by Ellen Mowat & Cole Dupzyk
- Red Rabbit (Ireland), Directed by Rory Kerr
- The Sea on the Day When the Magic Returns (South Korea), Directed by Hang Luong Jiwon
- Shadow of the Butterflies (France/Portugal/Qatar), Directed by Sofia El Khyari
- Slow Light (Poland/Portugal), Directed by Katarzyna Kijek & Przemysław Adamski
- The Social Chameleon (USA/India/United Kingdom/Hungary), Directed by Alex Ross
- Spring Roll Dream (United Kingdom), Directed by Mai Vu
- Sprout (USA), Directed by Zora Kovac
- Stranding (USA), Directed by Ben Kadie
- Sub Terra (Canada), Directed by Jeffrey Zablotny
- Swing to the Moon (France), Directed by Marie Bordessoule, Adriana Bouissie, Nadine De Boer, Elisa Drique, Chloé Lauzu, Vincent Levrero & Solenne Moreau
- Teacups (Australia/Ireland), Directed by Alec Green & Finbar Watson
- Things That Disappear (South Korea), Directed by Kim Changsoo
- Think Something Nice (Switzerland), Directed by Claudius Gentinetta
- Three Trees (Canada), Directed by M.R. Horhager & Aaron Hong
- Tomato Kitchen (China/USA), Directed by Junyi Xiao
- Way Better (Lithuania), Directed by Skirmanta Jakaitė
- Well Wishes My Love, Your Love (Sweden/Malaysia), Directed by Gabriel Gabriel Garble
- Zeb’s Spider (Canada), Directed by Alicia Eisen & Sophie Jarvis
The ShortFest Forum will also take place from June 23-25, with in-person panels, roundtables, and interactive events featuring industry representatives, filmmakers and additional guests. ShortFest Jury members and Forum programs and participants will be announced on June 5.
