Palm Springs Short Film Festival in full swing the week of August 25th

The Palm Springs Short Film festival is in full swing this week August 25th. One of our guests even saw Kirsten Dunst this weekend at the festival.

It runs until this Friday August 29th. In its 14 years it has run, it has had 58 short films receive Oscar nominations. Here is a story from our local newspaper, The Desert Sun. The click thru on this story isn't working so here it is:

"Bruce Fessier • The Desert Sun • August 21, 2008 PALM SPRINGS - It's been called the Sundance of the short film world: a star-studded kickoff to the festival season; a place where deals are made and careers are launched.

With 109 industry representatives and more than 100 members of the media from around the nation, Palm Springs International Short Film Festival and Film Market is arguably America's most important introduction to up-and-coming filmmakers. And it all kicks off tonight at Camelot Theatres.

"Palm Springs is the big fish in the short film pond," said Sharon Badal, short film programmer of the Tribeca Film Festival in New York and author of "Swimming Upstream: A Lifesaving Guide to Short Film Distribution."

"Simply by the fact that Palm Springs has the largest number of short film programs, and the huge marketplace, it is a very ‘A' list gathering for anybody interested in short films.

"ShortFest has helped launch major directors such as Rod Lurie ("The Contender") and Jason Reitman ("Juno"). At a preview of his Oscar-nominated film in Palm Springs last December, Reitman credited ShortFest with helping him secure a production deal, leading to his feature film breakthrough "Thank You For Smoking.

"ShortFest will screen 317 short films in 51 themed programs over seven days starting at 6:30 tonight with the opening program, Shortsplash, featuring six award-winning films from top international festivals.

It also will make 2,700 short films available for industry viewing in its marketplace, a room Badal likens to a cave in which festival programmers, buyers and producers sit before monitors to scout product and talent.

Festival executive director Darryl Macdonald said Palm Springs has a reputation as the Sundance of short fests, referencing the influential Utah indie event.

"The industry is beating a path to our door," he said. "We're going to have more companies represented this year than ever. Also, more festival programmers will be here. This is considered the kickoff of next year's short film festival season in much the way Sundance is the kickoff of the American indie season.

"Like the feature film and indie music festival circuits, the short film festival circuit can now keep filmmakers traveling from festival to festival all year long."It has really exploded over the course of the last half-decade," Macdonald said. "There are probably 10 short film festivals in Los Angeles alone."Palm Springs' status as "the big fish" has attracted some stars.

The Saturday night "Shooting Stars" program will feature shorts directed by Kate Hudson, Matthew Modine and Kirsten Dunst. Jessica Biel, who is producing and starring in a film in that program, is slated to appear.

Badal says the new films make this a "must attend" event. ShortFest offers 53 world premieres, 47 North American debuts and 24 U.S. premieres.Macdonald said the lineup is "jaw-droppingly good."

"The technical quality of the films took another quantum leap this year," he said. "It used to be, when I first started at ShortFest, there were a number of films you wouldn't watch all the way through because you could tell within the first two or three minutes, this is so poorly made. "This year there were only three or four films I turned off in 10 minutes. That's because the technical quality of the filmmaking is so advanced over what it was five years ago.

"For more info, tickets and show times, visit http://psfilmfest.org/ "

So if you want to come and see a little of Hollywood after relaxing nude all day long at our resort, give us The Terra Cotta Inn clothing optional resort and spa a call at 800-786-6938. Visit our site at http://sunnyfun.com/Hope to see you in sunny Palm Springs!