Palm Springs International Shortfest & Market

I'm just back from The 14^th Annual Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films & Film Market (Palm Springs ShortFest) … and a little catch up on the top short films made this year, and with fellow filmmakers, programmers and distributors …

I Heard the Mermaids Singing was in the market and available for viewing along with every short film submitted to the festival (they received over 2,700 submissions for consideration this year), so it was available to watch on DVD in private screening booths similar to the Cannes Short Film Corner. Only the environment is not the French Riviera, it’s the desert in August which for us coast-dwellers is a little bit of a challenge I must say!!! The desert certainly has its charms, and I like to go the desert in the winter to warm my bones – not usually in the height of summer. I’m still recovering from the heat as I’m finding out are all my fest going buddies. If Cannes is the United Nations of film, the Palm Springs ShortFest has to be the Burning Man of the short-film fests.

Highlights for me were two of the opening night films Life’s Hard (La Drumul Mare) from Romania, a hilarious look at the exploits of a young thief who tries to car jack a young woman and the antics that ensue and Manon on the Asphalt (Manon sur le Bitume) from France, a birds eye view of her own death from the dying Manon.

Other highlights of the fest for me included a Masterclass with actor and 2008 Palm Springs ShortFest juror Bill Pullman – or as he entertainingly described it a “Servant-Session in Cognitive Behavior”. He actually managed to give the entire audience an experience of what it’s like to be the actor in a movie … some Lost Highway moments there … I also attended a Screening/Masterclass with cinematographer William Fraker – screening was Rosemary’s Baby, which he shot and it was a treat to see this beautifully crafted film screened on the big screen … 40 years later.