This year brought a good news for Poles who submitted their films to Palm Springs Shortfest as six Polish films were included in the competitive line-up. Apart from the awarded “Magma” also live action “All Souls’ day” by Aleksandra Terpińska and “The Big Leap” by Kristoffer Rus, documentary “Freestyle life” by Adam Palenta as well as two animations “Toto” by Zbigniew Czapla and “The Railway watchman” by Piotr Szczepanowicz screened at the festival.
The films were judged by the three-person jury comprising of a distributor Sydney Netter (SND), actress Missy Pyle and film critic Betsy Sharkey (Los Angeles Times), that awarded 19 prizes. Among winners was Paweł Maślona with his graduation “Magma” made at the Radio and Tv Department of Silesian University in Katowice. The jury acclaimed the film as the Best Student Life Action with the running time over 15 minutes. The short fiction by Maślona is a comedy drama that tells a story of Janusz – a salesman in a furniture shop, who tries to overpass a life crisis. “Magma” screened in Palm Springs as a World Premiere.
Palm Springs Shortfest is at present the biggest and one of the most prominent short film showcases in North America. Every year the festival hosts a concurrent Film Market that displays nearly 3000-film cathalogue for film industry professionals. Palm Springs ShortFest is designated by AMPAS as an award-qualifying festival what makes first place winners of the four main categories eligible for Academy Awards consideration. 330 films produced in 49 countries were screened at the 19th edition of the festival. 70 of them celebrated in Palm Springs their world premiere.
Festival was held between 18th and 24th June.
More can be found here