Oscar Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival - Interview with Producers

Otakus and Geeks got to cover the Film Festival and interview two of the events producers.

Catch us discuss how to manage putting together such a large scale festival, and what producers look for when choosing films and directors to work with.

The annual Academy Awards® Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival  is back and for the 18th Annual event! Every year the festival gets bigger and better than the last, with an amazing stacked line-up of films to present over ten days of screenings. HollyShorts (HSFF) brings together top creators, industry leaders, and companies and has launched many filmmakers into the next stages of their careers.

The festival will run from August 11th to August 20th at the TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, as well as online: Bitpix. The festivities will be one of the most high profile yet!

Over 400 films on display this year, this is set to be one of the most diverse slates yet, with over 5000 entries, 161 female directors and 101 BIPOC directors among the films from this year’s program. A press release was sent out announcing the selections for the 18th annual festival and the incredible films that are leading the way.

About HollyShorts Film Festival (HSFF) #HSFF2022

www.hollyshorts.com

The annual Academy Awards® Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival will celebrate its 18th year in August 2022. HollyShorts (HSFF) brings together top creators, industry leaders, and companies and has launched many filmmakers into the next stages of their careers. HollyShorts, a regular on MovieMaker Magazine’s “Top 50 Festivals Worth the Entry Fee list”, also engages its community and spotlights short films year-round through monthly screenings, panels, and networking events. HollyShorts Film Festival will take place in-person between August 11-20th, 2021 at TCL Chinese 6 Theatres, with the annual Awards Gala set to take place on August 20th, 2022. 

About Bitpix

https://bitpixtv.com/

Born out of the Oscar® Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival, Bitpix is a new Premium AVOD platform, featuring the world's best short films. The platform is already live in alpha mode and available via Bitpixtv.com. Bitpix is streamed through the app for download on Airplay, Amazon Fire TV, Android, Android TV, AppleTV, Chromecast, IOS, Roku.

Flame Con 2022

I had the absolute pleasure of attending Flame Con over the weekend!

This is an amazing even featuring fan and creator events with a LGBTQ+ friendly environment. And when I say friendly, I mean it in the purest way. I’ve been to a ton of conventions and Flame Con remains number one in terms of of how helpful, kind, polite, and just overall a delight to deal with not only the volunteers but exhibitors, authors, artists, and singers. Yes, singers. There was an acapella performance that was just stunning.

I bought waaaaay too many books and had a couple of them signed with cute doodles.

The panel I was most interested in was censorship in libraries and they had some amazing ideas I was able to apply them to what I will likely have to deal with at work considering some of the more… Spicy offerings in my library’s collection.

I had a great time at this event and I look forward to next year!

HollyShorts 2022 Line-up!

The annual Academy Awards® Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival is back and has announced their line-up for the 18th Annual event! Every year the festival gets bigger and better than the last, with an amazing stacked line-up of films to present over ten days of screenings. HollyShorts (HSFF) brings together top creators, industry leaders, and companies and has launched many filmmakers into the next stages of their careers.

The festival will run from August 11th to August 20th at the TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, as well as online: Bitpix. The festivities will be one of the most high profile yet!

Over 400 films on display this year, this is set to be one of the most diverse slates yet, with over 5000 entries, 161 female directors and 101 BIPOC directors among the films from this year’s program. A press release was sent out announcing the selections for the 18th annual festival and the incredible films that are leading the way.

For the full list of films, be sure to check out the official selection page, on the official Hollyshorts website.

OSCAR® Winners and Filmmaking Legends headline HollyShorts Film Festival’s 18th Film Festival Opening Night

Filmmakers and stars include double OSCAR® winner Ben Proudfoot, British legend Sir Steve McQueen, Academy Award® winner Travon Free, Jamie Lee Curtis and Gemma Arterton

HollyShorts Opening Night Line-up on August 11, 7:30pm

HollyShorts OSCAR®-qualifying film festival does it again with an impressive opening night line-up featuring Sir Steve McQueen's prostate cancer documentary EMBARRASSED which stars Idris Elba who shares “the stats are shocking”, fellow star Morgan Freeman insists “get on your duff, and go and get your exam”, and Chiwetel Ejiofor CBE adds “it’s really important to get the message out there”. Double OSCAR® winner Ben Proudfoot’s MINK! tells the story of Patsy Takemoto Mink, the first woman of color elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Rory Keenan’s BUMP stars British fan favorite Gemma Arterton, Frank Chi’s 38 AND THE GARDEN is produced by OSCAR® winner Travon Free and revisits an Asian American athlete’s story. Mike Kearby’s comedy THE PROBLEM WITH TIME TRAVEL touches on climate change, whilst Tara Westwood’s TRIGGERED stars Isiah Whitlock Jr. and Law and Order’s SVU Robert John Burke. Coral Amiga’s CROSSHAIRS shares the story of two boys whose friendship is derailed, whilst Evan Miller’s THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS all-star cast includes Adrianne Palicki and Zachary Levi.

The Epic/Dread Horror Program opens with Kelsey Bollig’s KICKSTART MY HEART, Russell Goldman’s RETURN TO SENDER starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Allison Tolman. Alexandra Magistro’s LOVE YOU, MAMA starring Madeleine Arthur (ABC’s The Family), Samantha Sloyan(Midnight Mass) and Matt Biedel (Midnight Mass). More exciting films in this strand include Alexander Thompson’s BLACK DRAGON (Rồng đen), Kantu Lentz’s COCHE BOMBA and Nuhash Humayun’s MOSHARI.

HollyShorts films will be online,

Opening Night: https://bitpixtv.news/2022/08/08/hollyshorts-2022-opening-night-august-11th-highlights-q-a-with-kelsey-bollig/

Day Two: https://bitpixtv.news/2022/08/08/hollyshorts-2022-day-2-august-12th-highlights-q-a-with-rylee-ebsen/

Day Three: https://bitpixtv.news/2022/08/08/hollyshorts-2022-day-3-august-13th-highlights-qa-with-sarah-kaskas/

Day Four: https://bitpixtv.news/2022/08/08/hollyshorts-2022-day-4-august-14th-highlights-q-a-with-grace-sloan/

Day Five: https://bitpixtv.news/2022/08/08/hollyshorts-2022-day-5-august-15th-highlights-q-a-with-tiffany-frances/

To view the full list of official selections visit:  https://hollyshorts.com/official_selections_2022

HollyShorts screenings will take place from August 11-20 at TLC Chinese Theatres, 6801 Hollywood Blvd. 3rd Level, Hollywood, CA, 90028, followed by the annual awards gala on August 20.

Paper Girls Video Review - NO SPOILERS | Season 1

Hey guys, GGG here, I can finally talk about the all- new original live action series Paper Girls! Here's my Completely spoiler free thoughts on Season 1 of the Amazon Prime Series. (For a more detailed breakdown stay tuned for my written review)

In the early morning hours after Halloween 1988, four paper girls—Erin, Mac, Tiffany, and KJ—are out on their delivery route when they become caught in the crossfire between warring time-travelers, changing the course of their lives forever. Transported into the future, these girls must figure out a way to get back home to the past, a journey that will bring them face-to-face with the grown-up versions of themselves. While reconciling that their futures are far different than their 12-year-old selves imagined, they are being hunted by a militant faction of time-travelers known as the Old Watch, who have outlawed time travel so that they can stay in power. In order to survive, the girls will need to overcome their differences and learn to trust each other, and themselves. Based on the best-selling graphic novels written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang, Paper Girls is a high-stakes personal journey depicted through the eyes of four girls, played by breakout leads Camryn Jones as Tiffany Quilkin, Riley Lai Nelet as Erin Tieng, Sofia Rosinsky as Mac Coyle, and Fina Strazza as KJ Brandman. Ali Wong also stars as the grown-up version of Erin, with Nate Corddry as Larry, and Adina Porter as Prioress.