HollyShorts

Get ready for free food and free drinks at the official HollyShorts mixer at Murano Restaurant (http://murano9010.com/)in West Hollywood, CA on Wednesday, May 28, 2008. Join the festival organizers Theo Dumont, Daniel Sol and Erica Sardarian for a night of networking and celebrating as we look forward to the 4th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival! Below is more information on Murano. To RSVP, email staff@hollyshorts.com with May 28 EVENT RSVP in your subject line.
Murano was recently featured in The Hollywood Reporter. The restaurant is located at 9010 Melrose Ave West Hollywood, CA 90069.

LA Times Guide Review
Murano balances stunning décor with delicious food. The interior is an all-white vision accented with beautiful red Murano glass chandeliers; the concept can potentially scream cold or sterile, but the friendly service and warm evening lights give it a welcoming glow. The menu skews Italian with some French touches. Pastas include hand rolled cannelloni filled with duck confit and butternut squash agnolotti with pancetta; recommended entrees include the grilled pork chop and the flat iron steak. Nestled in the western end of Melrose, Murano is fit for both chic evenings out and a quiet, sophisticated Sunday brunch. It’s a classy respite from the celeb circus at nearby Foxtail and Dan Tana’s (as well as Makeup Mandy, the “eyelash bar to the stars” across the street), and it’s a stone’s throw from some great music: Napster headquarters is next door; the Troubadour is a block away.
TIPS: $12 Tuesdays features a rotating selection of pizzas, pastas, and panini.

Filmmakers who are submitting to the 4th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival now have the opportunity to win $2,000 worth of VFX work on their next project courtesy of renowned post-house Clifton Post, HollyShorts’ new sponsor. Clifton Post (www.cliftonpost.com) will sponsor the Best Editing category at HollyShorts (August 7-10, 2008) and the selected winner will win this amazing prize package. See details on the prize and Clifton Post below and submit your short today!

About Clifton Post
Clifton Production Services is a leading state of the art facility that provides post-production and visual FX services to the entertainment industry. The company was founded by brothers Raphael and Sam Kryszek. Before starting CPS Raphael worked as a producer, director and post-supervisor for many companies including E! Entertainment and New Line Cinema. As an experienced modeler, animator and compositor, Sam recently contributed his talents to the TV Shows “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”, “Bionic Woman”, and “CSI” among others.
Clifton Production Services specializes in complex digital design, FX, 3D animation, editorial and a vast array of other post production services for film and video.

Clifton Post HollyShorts Best Editing Prize Package
The winner will receive $2000.00 worth of effects work on your next project. Whether your next project calls for something as simple as elementary sign replacement or as complex as 3D character animation, Clifton Post will take the complexity out of Digital Design and FX and bring
your vision to life, giving you blockbuster visual effects through any one or several professional applications, including NewTek Lightwave, Shake, and After Effects. Digital Design
services include:

* 3D animation
* Digital Matte Painting and Set Extensions
* Character Animation
* Compositing
* Visual Effect Supervision and Consulting

HollyShorts has signed Dry Soda (www.drysoda.com) as it’s new festival pouring partner. Dry Soda will have a major presence at the 4th annual HollyShorts Film Festival (August 7-10, 2008) and the HollyShorts monthly screening series. The next installment of the monthly screening series will take place on May 30 at the Echo Park Film Center. Stay tuned for details. Below is some more information on Dry Soda!

Seattle-based DRY Soda Co. offers today’s consumer a modern alternative in refreshment — a line of all-natural, lightly sweet sodas, flavored with fruit or herb extracts, and sweetened with a small amount of pure cane sugar. Combining the subtle essence of nature and the kitchen in four cuisine-inspired flavors — kumquat, lavender, lemongrass and rhubarb — DRY’s unique design and clean finish make it an ideal soda to pair with a great meal or a refreshing beverage on its own. For those who enjoy cocktails, DRY Soda also makes a distinct and sophisticated mixer.

Drink DRY and celebrate your everyday. Serve DRY and elevate your every occasion.

check out the video below and at the official hollyshorts youtube channel www.youtube.com/hollyshorts
thanks d camp!

Check out these images from the March and April installments of the HollyShorts Monthly Screening Series at the Echo Park Film Center. The next monthly screening takes place in May, stay tuned for details.

MARCH

APRIL

Checkout HollyShorts Film Festival Award Winning Films “Sarah & Dee”and “Small Jeans” at UCLA’s May Flowers With Women Filmmakers event on Saturday, May 10. Filmmakers/Actresses Karen Dee Carpenter and Jennifer Watko will attend. The event will also feature shorts from Kate Hudson and Kirsten Dunst. Thanks to Cheryl Quintana Leader for making this event happen!

Check out HollyShorts reporter Hara Finnegan’s latest entertainment features on the Holly blog.

Thanks to all of the filmmakers and fans who attend last night’s HollyShorts monthly screening series at the Echo Park Film Center. The house was packed and the shorts were great! Stay tuned for the May installment which will once again be held in Echo Park.

Breaking News! HollyShorts Film Festival (HSFF) has been selected as one of MovieMaker Magazine’s “Top 25 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” in the publication’s Film Festival Spring 2008 special issue. Pick up your copy today and go HollyShorts!

Festival’s Acclaimed Short Film Showcase Returns This Week
The April installment of the HollyShorts monthly screening series returns on Friday, April 25 at the Echo Park Film Center in Los Angeles. The organizers of HollyShorts will highlight 5 new acclaimed short films with the filmmakers in attendance for Q&A with the audience. Tickets are $10 and available at the door. Doors open at 7:30 pm. Refreshments provided. The Echo Park Film Center is located at 1200 N. Alvarado Street (@ Sunset Blvd) Los Angeles, CA 90026. RSVP by emailing staff@hollyshorts.com
Friday’s lineup includes the following shorts:

Grand Wheel by Gavin Heffernan (sunchaserpictures@gmail.com) (6 minutes, Experimental)
As one of the most dramatic Presidential campaigns in U.S History reaches a boiling point, Gavin Heffernan’s experimental documentary about the Peace Movement in the United States takes a passionate, often disturbing look at a divided nation. Created in the vein of KOYANNISQATSI, GRAND WHEEL features exclusive footage from an eclectic list of settings - including a Surfside Veteran’s Memorial, a California Carnival, and an Iraq War Protest in downtown Los Angeles.

“Love Conquers Al” by Kamali Minter (kamali@lucentrain.com) (13 minutes, Comedy)
Al dreams about having one thing… Bridgette, his clutzy but cute co-worker.
Before he can make his dream come true, he must convince all the personalities
in his head that this is what’s best. In the Central Post Between Thought and
Reality, Al battles all parts of himself, to determine if love really can conquer all.

“Sacrament” by Craig Ouellette (Thriller, 3:52) (craigofilm@gmail.com)
In a desperate attempt to rescue their son, distraught parents interrogate the cult member who kidnapped him.

“Sleeper” by Philippe Casseus (casseus@gmail.com) (12 minutes, Drama)
(World Premiere)
Simeon wakes up in a coma with no idea how long he’s been sleeping. The sound of Noelle’s voice reaches him, urging him to wake. But Simeon’s ego has other plans for his id.

Sound Machine Vera Freitag (freitagvera@yahoo.com) (15 minutes Drama/Sci Fi)
Sound Machine is a modern psychological drama that takes place in a world parallel to ours. Professor Henry Kleeblatt, a former biophysicist, trapped in a mental institution, believes that plants can talk. In order to prove that his theory is correct, he builds the Sound Machine, an instrument which can capture high pitched sound waves such as those of plants and converts them into sounds that the human ear can hear.

The last HollyShorts monthly screening series took place in March at the Echo Park Film Center and featured a standing room crowd.

About Echo Park Film Center
Echo Park Film Center is a volunteer-run, non-profit media arts organization located in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. We provide equal and affordable access to film/video education and resources via:
• a community microcinema and meeting space
• free and nominal cost media arts education programs
• a comprehensive small format film equipment and service department
• a touring film festival showcasing local established and student filmmakers
For more information, visit: www.echoparkfilmcenter.org

HollyShorts Film Festival late deadline is May 16, 2008. Submit today online by using Withoutabox. Below is the link:

You can also submit via our online form here:Call For Entries 08.pdf.