Tag Archives: DWF

'All the Marbles' is in the running to be nominated in the Academy Awards short film category. This film that has so much going for it, it’s a shame there are not a full slate of Academy Awards for short films. It would be in contention for all of them. The writing is perfect and delivers a surprise twist at the end. The acting is charming and just over-the-top enough for the fantasy genre. The technical work is superb on many levels.

The Dances With Films (DWF) indie film festival, June 1-11, kicked off its twentieth season with films from two “DWF alumni.”

'Creedmoria', a film by first-time writer/director Alicia Slimmer, made its SoCal premier at the Dances With Films Festival. It chronicles the efforts of sweet-sixteen Candy Cahill, played by Stef Dawson, to come of age in one of the most dysfunctional families in movie history. As I watched the film, I hoped, for Slimmer’s sake, that this movie wasn’t too autobiographical. It turns out that it was.

'Before the shooting, people were asking me all the time in which studio I would be filming, assuming that most of the film would be shot in front of green screens. The reality is very different. Out of the 30 days of shooting, we shot only one day in a green screen studio.'

Why do filmmakers create short films? Sometimes they are truly motivated to tell a story which only fits in a short format. Other times, it is to show off their skills in order to establish their credentials. Once in a while, they may make a short version of a film that they ultimately want to turn into a feature length production. At this year’s Dances With Films (DWF) festival, held in Hollywood in June, the selection of short films was impressive and contained examples which both fit into and transcended the above reasons. Three films I found impressive all dealt with our perception of what is real: 'Funny Love,' 'Waste Paper,' and 'Waiting for You.'

Want to be successful in Hollywood? The Dances with Films Festival featured a terrific "powerhouse" panel. Here's what the panelists had to say.

One of the amazingly enjoyable aspects of the Dances with Films Festival is the opportunity to see short films you might never otherwise never screen.

Wildlike, a film by writer/director Frank Hall Green, was shown during the eighteenth Dances With Films (DWF) indie-film festival in Hollywood. Dances With Films promotes itself as relying on “innovation, talent, creativity and sweat equity” rather than celebrity. All those good qualities are evident in Wildlike. The film has an intriguing story, great characters and an interesting production history.