Is It Hot Enough For You?

The Palm Springs International Short Fest lived up to its reputation as the biggest and best short film festival and market in the United States. The film were hot. The filmmakers were hot. Oh, and so were the temperatures -- 107 degrees, give or take. And Mini Movie Channel was right in the middle of it all. The MMC booth in the Marketplace was the centerpiece, attracting the more than 600 registered filmmakers who attended this year’s fest. There were over 60 national and international press in attendance, and over 100 delegates from the entertainment industry, as well as festival programmers from around the world who came to check it out. People from all levels of the industry, from Paramount Pictures to Panavision came to see what all the short film buzz was about…

Actor Bill Pullman was one of the stellar jury members and Jessica Biel appeared to check out her new film on the big screen. In addition, Kate Hudson, Mathew Modine, Tony Shaloub, David Arquette, Kirsten Dunst, Winona Ryder and Jason Clarke all participated in short films screened at this year’s fest.

Elena Muravina, president of Mini Movie Channel, hosted a party at the Hotel Zoso (excellent food, btw) where invitees heard about the filmmakers who have signed deals for exhibition on the channel. So far, MMC has made offers to over 100 of the filmmakers who participated in the competition and market. And Peter Hanson, acquisition manager, helped inform an eager workshop audience about how to market their short films. If that wasn't enough, MMC also awarded the "Mini Movie Channel Best Live Action Short under 15 minutes" prize at the awards ceremony on Tuesday evening. The first place winner of $2000 was Bogdan Mustata from Romania for “A Good Day For A Swim” and the second place winner of $500 was Jean-Julien Collete and Olivier Tollet from Belgium for “E Finita La Commedia.”

It was a great week of top-of-the-line shorts. You don’t have to buy or pack a lot of clothes for next year’s trip to the PS Short Fest (just your shorts ... to go along with your shorts), but don’t miss it.