"Fennel" Finds the Words a Father and Son Can't Say
At this year's HollyShorts, Logan Fields's "Fennel" sits us down at a tense lunch between a father and son, turning the quiet distance between them into a study of the things we leave unsaid.
Alden Veyra
"Mataron a Pedro" Excavates a Buried Chapter of Puerto Rican Resistance
At this year's HollyShorts, Kristian Mercado's "Mataron a Pedro" traces the collision between Pedro Albizu Campos and U.S. police chief E. Francis Riggs, turning a suppressed history of colonial repression into an intimate portrait of resistance.
"Why Do You Hate Me?" Turns Anxious Ambition Into Dark Comedy
At this year's HollyShorts, Chelsea Collazo Garcia's "Why Do You Hate Me?" mines the manic search for validation for its funniest and most honest material, following a young woman whose reckless ambition turns every opportunity into self-inflicted catastrophe.
"If You Really Love Me, Outlive Me" Turns a Honky-Tonk Love Story into a Meditation on Freedom
At this year's HollyShorts, Alejandro Ruax and Saskia d'Altena's "If You Really Love Me, Outlive Me" traces honky-tonk hero Dale Watson and his wife Celine Lee across Texas dancehalls and Memphis landmarks, finding in their unapologetic love story a portrait of what makes life worth living.
"The Going Rate" Mistakes a Parking Lot Deal for Family Reckoning
At this year's HollyShorts, Henrique Gonçalves's "The Going Rate" compresses an estranged father and son into a four-minute parking lot exchange, where a negotiation quietly stands in for the harder work of admitting we need each other.
"Lightning Bug" Bends a Family Dinner Toward Menace
At this year's HollyShorts, Zane Pais's "Lightning Bug" turns a tense family meal into something stranger and more dangerous, probing the thin borders between admiration, performance, and manipulation.
"The Ticket" Runs a Rat Race Where Disability Isn't the Plot
At this year's HollyShorts, Jerah Milligan's "The Ticket" chases a winning lottery stub through a neighborhood full of rivals and chaos, casting actors with visible and invisible disabilities in lead and stunt roles without ever making that the point.
"It's All Fine" Turns Parental Panic Into Dark Comedy
At this year's HollyShorts, Brendan Beachman's "It's All Fine" detonates a dad's existential spiral mid parent-teacher conference, using absurd comedy to hold a mirror to the impotent rage so many of us are quietly carrying.
"A Man Who Takes Pictures of Flowers" Honors a Life Spent Chasing Wildflowers
At this year's HollyShorts, Yoo Lee's "A Man Who Takes Pictures of Flowers" traces one photographer's forty-year devotion to Korea's wildflowers, finding in his passion a quiet argument for what makes a life well lived.
"Wait" Finds a Voice for Survivors — and a Path Toward Healing
At this year's HollyShorts, Paige Morrow Kimball's "Wait" confronts the silence that follows sexual assault, asking whether accountability, hope, and healing are still possible seven years after the harm.
"America" Turns a Mother's Hope Into a Reckoning With Gun Violence
At this year's HollyShorts, Laura New's "America" traces the ordinary days before a school tragedy, following a single mother whose fight for a better life is quietly racing a clock she cannot see.
"Remedy in the Rhythm" Turns Grief Into Movement and Healing
At this year's HollyShorts, Jon Boogz's "Remedy in the Rhythm" follows a young man haunted by his best friend's suicide, using dance to reach the pain that words can't, and to argue that movement can carry a story with real depth.
"It's Complicated" Turns Distant Grief Into Shared Humanity
At this year's HollyShorts, Alana Duqum's "It's Complicated" follows a friendship between a Palestinian-American screenwriter and a poet in Gaza, tracing how diaspora, sisterhood, and sudden loss test the responsibility of bearing witness.
"Blondi" Hands the Camera to a Dog
At this year's HollyShorts, Jack Salvadori's "Blondi" watches history's darkest chapter through the eyes of the Führer's German Shepherd, asking whether ordinary devotion can survive proximity to unimaginable evil.
"Life Goes On" Finds Warmth in an End-of-Life Time Loop
At this year's HollyShorts, Kat Butterfield's "Life Goes On" reimagines the time-loop as a story about a dying man who cannot die, turning a taboo subject into a tender case for saying the important things while there's time.
Dolby Vision, HDR & Indie Filmmaking | Ricardo Martinez
An exploration of HDR storytelling, Dolby Vision workflows, and the democratization of high-end filmmaking tools.