PALM SPRINGS FILM FESTIVAL RECAP

I attended the Palm Springs International Festival of Shorts last
weekend. My short "Interminal" was in the market. Sounds
impressive, huh? Well, that's a super cool way of saying that it
got rejected. I've never felt so accepted by a festival that
rejected me. I was treated better at that fest than another
festival (no names will be mentioned).

Anyway, PSFF was an awesome experience. I would recommend that for
any filmmaker with a short. My biggest mistake was not promoting
the hell out of it even though it was in the 'market'. The market
is basically a small library of just movies and 15-20 booths with
dvds and vcrs hooked up to TVs. There were many agents and other
industry people there. So all I had to do was give them the title
(up to 5 out at a time) and they could check it out. It started
getting crowded towards the end of the fest.

I was there for the last two days, plus the 'best of' day.

It's also the 2nd largest shorts fest in the US and 3rd largest in
the world. The weather wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to
be. Even though it was over a 100 degrees, 'it was dry heat'.

There were amazing short films. These are the writers, directors,
and producers you have to meet. There's probably a jello's chance
in hell that Lucas will put you in Star Wars VII, but you'll have a
much better chance of starting early with these directors once you
build up a rapport with them.

-Anup

more info here:
http://www.psfilmfest.org/

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DVD DISTRIBUTION DEAL
The site states that they are not accepting shorts currently, but I
spoke to one of the acquisition guys and he said that they are about
to start.

-Anup

http://filmthreatdvd.com/faq.php


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OSCAR QUALIFYING JAPANESE SHORTFILM FESTIVAL (NO FEE)

Deadline: Nov 1, 2004 (delivered, not postmarked)

http://www.shortshorts.org

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HEADSHOTS & INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS - CALL FOR ENTRIES (CFE)

A little pricey, but a good title if you get it. Also, it's another
place actors should consider sending their headshots to keep on file.

-Anup

http://www.ifp.org