HollyShorts Opening Night Celebration

Online, June 14, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Freestyle Production Team Set To Open Fest with Showcase of Top Projects and Industry Super Panel at Arclight Hollywood Cinerama Dome Thursday, August 11, 2011

Showcase to Include: Kristen Kiwi Smith's "The Spleendectomy," starring Anna Faris, Jennifer Aniston and Andrea Buchanan's "Room 10;" Jennifer Aniston's "Free Burma," starring Woody Harrelson; Kate Hudson's "Cutlass," starring Dakota Fanning, Virgina Madsen, Kurt Russell, and Kirsten Stewart; and Sean Baker, Spencer Chinoy and Dan Milano's hit "Greg The Bunny"

The organizers of HollyShorts (www.hollyshorts.com) announced today that the 7th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival will kick off by honoring the award-winning production team of Kevin Chinoy and Francesca Silvestri with the inaugural HollyShorts Maverick Producer's Award for their significant contributions to indie filmmaking and their ground-breaking short film projects. The presentation will take place during the HollyShorts opening night celebration that will be held Thursday August 11 at the Arclight Hollywood Cinerama Dome.

As part of the presentation, HollyShorts will showcase a collection of acclaimed shorts from Chinoy and Silvestri's film library including:

•Kristen Kiwi Smith's "The Spleendectomy," starring Anna Faris, Ron Livingston, and Octavia Spencer.

•Jennifer Aniston and Andrea Buchanan's "Room 10," starring Robin Wright, Kris Kristofferson, Brooke D'Orsay, and Leonardo Nam.

•Jennifer Aniston's "Free Burma," starring Aniston and Woody Harrelson

•Rachel Weisz's "The Thief," starring Joel Edgerton, Rosemarie DeWitt and Mike Randleman.

•Sean Baker, Spencer Chinoy, and Dan Milano's hit IFC's original hit series "Greg The Bunny"

•Kate Hudson's "Cutlass," starring Dakota Fanning, Virginia Madsen, Kurt Russell, and Kirsten Stewart

In addition to the awards and short film showcase, Chinoy and Silvestri will headline a super panel discussing the state of the industry, which will also include Kristen "Kiwi" Smith, Dan Milano, Spencer Chinoy and Sean Baker.

In 2009 the festival awarded filmmaker Eli Roth with its Indie Maverick Award for his acclaimed work as a director. The 7th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival takes place August 11-18 in various locations throughout Hollywood. The HollyShorts opening night celebration will feature a series of additional short films, special awards, and Q&A's with the filmmakers and special VIP reception. HollyShorts will announce the full opening night lineup in July with additional short film projects.

Co-founders and co-directors Daniel Sol and Theo Dumont said in a joint statement: "It is an honor to present the first-ever Maverick Producers Award to Kevin Chinoy and Francesca Silvestri, two pioneers in the indie film landscape who continue to break the mold and create high quality and entertaining projects. We can't wait for our filmmakers and audiences to experience a tremendous opening night celebration and weeklong program of screenings, parties, panels and more!"

Kevin Chinoy and Francesca Silvestri commented: "We are flattered that Daniel and Theo are honoring us with this award. As fans of the short film form, we are supportive of the HollyShorts Film Festival and look forward to a fun night."

As principals of the LA-based production company Freestyle, Chinoy and Silvestri have been on the fast track. They are currently in production on "Project Five," a Lifetime original movie directed by Jennifer Aniston, Alicia Keys, Demi Moore, Penelope Spheeris, and Patty Jenkins, which features an anthology of five short films exploring the impact of breast cancer on people's lives, for Sony Pictures TV.

This summer they will kick off the sixth season of the Glamour Magazine Reel Moments project, in which they will give three new women a chance to direct a short film (launched in 2005, they have previously produced 17 shorts as a part of this project and given directorial debuts to actors Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Biel, Kirsten Dunst, Bryce Dallas Howard, Kate Hudson, Eva Mendes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Trudie Styler, Rachel Weisz and Rita Wilson, and to writers Jenny Bicks, Carol Leifer, and Kiwi Smith).

This Fall, as a part of Canon's "Project Imagin8ion," Kevin and Francesca will team with Ron Howard to produce the first user-generated photo contest to serve as the foundation for a Hollywood short film, to be directed by Bryce Dallas Howard and shot with Canon EOS DSLR cameras and lenses.

For the past 7 years, HollyShorts Film Festival has featured participation from the top filmmakers and artists in the world including: James Caan, Paul Haggis, David Lynch, Josh Brolin, Jessica Biel, David Arquette, Jane Lynch, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Jason Biggs, John Dahl, Darren Lew, Malcolm Barrett, Demi Moore, Kirsten Dunst, Scott Porter, Joel David Moore, Carter Smith and many more and the tradition continues with this incarnation of the most anticipated short film event of the year.

Ranked by MovieMaker Magazine as "one of the top film festivals worth the entry fee," HollyShorts 2011 will feature over 200 of the top short films, music videos, web series, spec commercials and feature films from around the globe. Tickets for the 2011 HollyShorts Film Festival opening night at the Arclight Hollywood Cinerama Dome are on sale today and can be purchased www.hollyshorts2011.eventbrite.com or www.hollyshorts.com. Tickets for the entire week of the festival go on sale July 6.

About HollyShorts

HollyShorts is an organization devoted to showcasing the best and brightest short films from around the globe, advancing the careers of filmmakers through screenings, networking events, and various panel and forums. The HollyShorts Film festival showcases the top short films produced 30- minutes or less. For more information, please visit www.hollyshorts.com.

Follow HSFF: Twitter at: @hollyshorts, Facebook at: www.facebook/hollyshorts