Palm Springs Shortfest to screen work by Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mark Strong

“This 20th anniversary edition of Palm Springs ShortFest is the year of ‘more’,” said festival director Kathleen McInnis. “This year we’ve had more films submitted from more countries than ever before.

“We saw stronger work from all our submissions, as well as a shift in storytelling away from the angst-ridden drama of the past few years, and more towards hopefulness and sheer fun.

“There are more high profile actors lending their weight to the short films in our programme, which speaks directly to both the quality of filmmaker and filmmaking.

“And we have more premieres, especially world and North American, than in years past – a direct result, I think, of the active, year-round outreach we do on the festival circuit. All in all, it’s an extraordinary year in which to celebrate our 20th birthday.”

The line-up includes Chiwetel Ejiofor (pictured) directing Columbite Tantalie (UK), his 12 Years A Slave co-star Sarah Paulson in #twitterkills (US), Mark Strong in the North American premiere of Nosferatu In Love (UK), Natalie Dormer and Rufus Sewell in The Brunchers (UK) and Rose McGowan’s directorial debut Dawn (US).

The festival will hand out more than $115,000 in prizes in 21 categories. Winners in four categories will be unveiled on June 22 and automatically become eligible for consideration by the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences.

Twelve films will screen in the ShortFest Online Film Festival, now in its fourth year. The selections will play on a special section of the festival website and online voting will run from June 10-21.

The complete festival line-up will appear on June 8 on the official website.