Palm Springs fest is hot on shorts

Exec director Daryl Macdonald, who also heads the main desert event in January, says, "It really is a breeding ground for new talent, and not just directing talent but also acting talent, writing talent, composing talent, camerawork talent."

As breeding grounds go, Palm Springs has proven especially fertile. And this year, it promises to be a bit cooler as well -- the event has moved from parched August to a slightly more temperate berth from Sept. 20-26.

The largest showcase for short films in the U.S., the 11th edition received about 2,400 submissions -- up 10% from last year, though still fewer than the 3,000 received by Toronto's Worldwide Short Film Festival.

Still, the Palm Springs fest will screen a whopping 324 shorts from 29 countries -- including 86 world preems, 27 North American preems and 15 U.S. preems -- as opposed to the roughly 240 that unspooled at Toronto in June. Macdonald says he expects audience turnout in the neighborhood of 15,000-20,000.

The lineup features thesps including: Films narrated by Jake Gyllenhaal ("The Man Who Walked Between the Towers") and Rosario Dawson ("God Sleeps in Rwanda"), films starring Stephen Rea ("Fluent Dysphasia") and Selma Blair ("The Big Empty"), and even films directed by actors -- among them Tiffani Thiessen ("Just Pray"), Stephen Collins ("Next of Kin") and Melissa Joan Hart ("Mute").

The worldwide market for short films -- stronger now than it was 10 years ago, with more cable venues, the Internet and DVD box sets -- has attracted plenty of filmmakers willing to make them for their own sake.

While the Palm Springs fest provides all the usual networking opportunities and resources for those hoping to transition to Hollywood, including seminars "Selling Yourself to Hollywood" and "Next Step: Feature Film," there are also panels tailored to short filmmakers who feel they've found their niche.

In addition to the competition (with $14,000 in prizes) and a concurrent film market for all 2,400 of the fest's submissions, Macdonald says the Palm Springs event puts the emphasis on being a "communal experience."

"It was unlike any feature festival. It almost felt like a filmmakers' summer camp -- young, unjaded filmmakers rushing en masse to each other's films," he says of his first year as director, citing one filmmaker who stayed up all night on his laptop making an improved digital copy of another person's film in time for its next-day screening.

"Not everyone is chasing the holy grail of a theatrical launch or theatrical release. The short film festival is a much purer, more engaging event, because of this innocence and this sense of learning, and art for art's sake."

Macdonald hopes to make Palm Springs an attractive destination for publicists, agents and distribs from Hollywood and abroad, improve accessibility to screenings and the marketplace, and, of course, maintain the quality of the festival's lineup.

Since its inception in 1995, 46 films screened at the fest have gone on to receive Academy Award noms, including last year's live-action short winner, "Wasp," and "Ryan," winner of the prize for animated short.

"Any way we can facilitate this emerging talent getting to the next step of their careers is my main goal, but obviously, I want to have the most exciting short films showcased for the audience in North America, if not the world," he says.