The jury, composed of 18 esteemed industry professionals, will be responsible for determining all HollyShorts award-winners, including four that will qualify for the Academy Awards®. This year, the festival will screen 402 films, 180 43.3 percent are from female filmmakers and 127 30.5 percent are from BIPOC filmmakers.
Members of this year’s HollyShorts Film Festival jury include Oscar® nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave), Sam Worthington (Avatar), Zoey Deutch (Not Okay), Alexandra Shipp (Barbie), Josh Whitehouse (Daisy Jones & the Six), Christina Chong (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds), Run the Burbs showrunner, Nelu Handa and Academy® Award winner Jaime Ray Newman (Skin).
Picture credit, Alexandra Shipp
Joining the jury are Tom Berkeley and Ross White, who won a 2023 OSCAR® with their film AN IRISH GOODBYE, 2022 Academy Award® Winner Aneil Karia (The Long Goodbye), the 2023 OSCAR® nominees Pamela Ribbon (My Year of Dicks) and Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis (The Flying Sailor). Returning this year will be double OSCAR® winner and animation guru Joanna Quinn (Affairs of the Art), Academy Award® winner Alice Doyard (Colette) and 2023 OSCAR® nominee Joshua Seftel (Stranger at the Gate).
Esteemed industry professionals also serving on the jury include Variety journalist, K.J. Yossman, and Eric Kohn, Executive Editor & Chief Critic of IndieWire and Awards Daily’s Joey Moser, Short of the Week’s Céline Roustan, alongside journalists Sandro Monetti and Zorianna Kit.
Also judging this years films are Alexander Shekarchian, Ari Tan, Fanshen Cox, George Valentin Burcea, Jennifer Bertling, Jake Mitchell, Joel Walden, JT Mollner, Juliet Berman, Kalani Dreimanis, Lauren Bixby, Leah Philpott, Nelu Handa, Rakhee Morzaria, SJ Main Muñoz, Vivian Lin, Yulissa Morales-Silva and Zach Cox.
This year’s hybrid celebration of short films will take place in-person with screenings at the world-renowned TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood and virtually through the official festival streaming platform, BITPIX.
HollyShorts screenings will take place from August 10-20 at the TCL Chinese Theatres, 6801 Hollywood Blvd. 3rd Level, Hollywood, CA, 90028, followed by the annual awards gala on August 20th.
For additional information and tickets visit: www.hollyshorts.com to purchase an All Access Early Bird Badge visit: https://hollyshorts2023.eventive.org/passes/buy
About HollyShorts Film Festival (HSFF) #HSFF2023
The annual Academy Awards® Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival will celebrate its 19th year in August 2023. HollyShorts (HSFF) brings together top creators, industry leaders, and companies and has launched many filmmakers into the next stages of their careers. HollyShorts, 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 10-20th, 2023 at TCL Chinese 6 Theatres, with the annual Awards Gala set to take place on August 20th, 2023.
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.