IT WAS OH SO SWEET........Opening night, LA International Short Film Festival, Sept 6, 2005 HOLLYWOOD Arc Light Cinema, Sunset Blvd....so much fun...mingling in the crowd with the next generation of filmmakers at the opening night of the LA SHORTS FEST. 
Maverick Award winner, cinematographer/producer, Jan DeBont, LA SHORTS FEST photo by Mark Valinsky
MAVERICK AWARD WINNER:The festival selected Jan de Bont for its Maverick Film Achievement Award. De Bont is best-known for his big-budget actioners Twister and Speed but he talked about the importance of not letting the FX overpower the human-ness in filmmaking -- more in another upcoming on his brilliant insights. Blogger Joyce Schwarz, Hollywood2020 and head of JCOM emerging entertainment & marketing, www.joycecom.com is pictured here with DeBont at the LA SHORTS opening night reception: 
Click on thumbnail to see Hollywood2020 blogger Joyce Schwarz at opening night of the LA International Short Film Festival in Hollywood congratulating the reknown Jan De Bont for receiving his Maverick award. PHOTO CREDIT: Mark Valinsky
NO TUX REQUIRED......The Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, which runs Sept. 6–13 at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood screens 600 shorts from 28 countries. Good news,the LA Shorts Fest, since it started nine years ago has had more than 20 of the participants go on to win Academy Awards and for the past 6 years in a row, the films screened at the festival have won the best short film Oscar(TM). More than 10,000 film lovers and patrons from across the industry attended last year, making it an increasingly popular place to see and be seen. Plus, it's still a filmmakers festival-- not a lot of airs nor do you have to rent a Tux or buy out Bergdorf's to feel comfortable attending.
Here's who Hollywood2020 blog spotted at the festival opening night:
Wow there's Dave Hutchinson,(LEFT) an exec at Program Partners who took advantage of the camera to promote the launch of Da Vinci's Inquest the Canadian TV series launching in the USA the weekend of September 17 & 18 in more than 190 cities. And my long-time pal Gary Shusett (right)who is a guru on filmmaking and the founder of the famous Sherwood Oaks Film School in Los Angeles -- blogger Joyce Schwarz attended when she first came to Los Angeles-- more about Gary and his contribution to the independent film community in another blog. His brother as many of you know is famous Ron Shusett who was an exec producer on MINORITY REPORT -- one of our favorites and of course best known by this blogger for TOTAL RECALL....totally awesome....PHOTO CREDIT Mark Valinsky
OTHER VIP's Involved With the LA SHORT FILM FESTIVAL:
The LA Shorts Fest hands out seven awards --2 of those are terrific packages:The Best of the Fest winner will take home a Panavision camera package valued at $30,000 and a development deal with Bigel Entertainment. The winner of Best Foreign Film will receive a Kodak certificate for $5,000, Final Draft screenwriting software, and other prizes. Winners will be determined by a panel of jurors, including Ice Age co-director Carlos Saldanha, whose Gone Nutty won the fest's 2003 Best Animation Short and was nominated for an Academy Award; agent Ben Smith of ICM; the senior vp of development for Working Title Films, Chris Clark; and a trio of development executives from HBO. Watch this blog for a more indepth recap on the LA SHORTS FESTIVAL presentations/reviews etc. ........what a sweet night it was -- Hollywood, Sunset Blvd and film after film after film........
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