Hollyshorts Film Festival Unveils Opening Night Lineup For 15th Year

Over six-thousand submissions later, the Oscar-Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival is thrilled to announce their star-studded opening night lineup. With last year's Best Short winner "Skin" going on to win the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short, the stakes for accepted films were more competitive than ever for the festival's landmark 15th Anniversary. HollyShorts' Opening Night festivities will be on Thursday, August 8th at the iconic TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood, CA.

Leading the way is Lena Headey's "The Trap" starring her GAME OF THRONES co-star Michelle Fairley and James Nelson-Joyce (The Rook), with Headey and Nelson-Joyce coming out to celebrate Headey's directorial piece. Janina Gavankar (True Blood) and Russo Schelling's (Mr. Robot) short film "Stucco" will premiere with stars Debra Messing, Aisha Tyler, and Michael Ealy in attendance. Dane Cook (Good Luck Chuck) will make his HollyShorts debut along with Monib Abhat (NCIS: Los Angeles) with their dramedy "American Typecast."

Newly inducted Academy members Andrew Carlberg and Guy Nattiv will be returning along with producing partner Jaime Ray Newman after winning the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short for their film "Skin." Carlberg will be presented with the HollyShorts' Indie Maverick Award by Charlie Carver (Teen Wolf). Nora Kirkpatrick (Crazy Rich Asians) will be premiering her award-winning script "Best Seller" after winning the Best Screenplay Award in 2018 and receiving the ultimate prize package to produce the script into a short from Seattle Film Summit.

Rounding out the evening will be Brittany Snow's directorial debut "Milkshake" starring her Pitch Perfect co-star Anna Camp, along with "Holy Moses" starring Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia) and Dan Bakkedahl (Veep); Bakkedahl will be present to represent the dramatic film.

HollyShorts organizers are also unveiling the HollyShorts 2019 Alumni Special Jury members who will be on hand at the festival's opening night celebration: Anthony Russo (The Avengers Series), Ann Russo (Captain America), Jennifer Morrison (Once Upon a Time), and Matthew Modine (Stranger Things). The remaining accepted films will be announced in the coming days.

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