ShortFest 2024: Filmmakers share inspirations behind films at Opening Night

What's thirty, flirty and thriving? The Palm Springs International ShortFest, which kicked off its 30th celebration Tuesday night with a wide array of films showcasing an epic quest to buy a new lamp, a deep meaning behind a pair of shoes and a meta examination of a filmmaker's breast cancer journey.

The festival received more than 6,300 short film submissions from 130 countries and territories. A total of 310 films from 63 countries and territories will be screened at Regal Palm Springs through June 24.

"It's been so wonderful to be here every year and watch ShortFest grow and touch new people every year," Lili Rodriguez, artistic director of the Palm Springs International Film Society, said to a full crowd inside a theater.

To kick off the annual celebration, the opening night program included the short films "Can," "Favours," "Fishbowl," "Lumen," "Paumo D'amour" and "Viaje De Negocios." Filmmakers from three shorts were in attendance and participated in a Q&A following the screening, where they shared the inspiration behind their films and how they made movie magic happen with short run times.

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'Fishbowl' by Isabel Perry and Adam Yates

In the short comedy "Fishbowl," two 20-something-year-olds and former high school classmates house-sit in the Hamptons as they try to avoid their exes, who they can't seem to stop talking about them, and attempt to keep a goldfish alive for the weekend, which proves to be an impossible task.

Isabel Perry, co-director and producer of the film, shared that the short is a coming-of-age story for people in their 20s, a confusing time in life when young people are still trying to figure out who they are and what they want to be doing in life.

The story was inspired by her, co-director Adam Yates and screenwriter Madison Fiedler's personal experiences. Perry shared that they all come from a theater background, and as they were trying to make it in the arts, they each spent time house-sitting, babysitting and "putting on these more lavish lifestyles" to make ends meet.

Instead of making it strictly autobiographical, they portray the glamorous lifestyle via the character Jamie, who is mending his broken heart and trying to survive the weekend while his ex gets married. His relaxation is ruined when the daughter of the people he's house-sitting for crashes the party and shares she was also recently dumped.

Perry said she and her collaborators were heavily inspired by the self-deprecating humor and self-awareness found in the television show "Search Party."

'Can' by Kailee McGee

It's a tough task to bring any story to the big screen, especially one that is so personal and vulnerable. Director Kailee McGee does just that with her meta film, "Can." As she grapples with her late-stage breast cancer diagnosis and reevaluates reality, love and identity, she realizes the only way she can heal from her difficult journey is by figuring out how to watch a version of her journey on screen.

"When I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of 2022, I was like, 'Oh my god, this is turning life upside down.' I didn't really know what to do to get to the other side except to make art about it," McGee said. "Making this film with some of my best friends, the way that we make all our films together, really got me through the other side."

The film's producer, JP Bolles, is also McGee's partner, and he was by her side every step of the journey, both as she went through her cancer treatment, and when she decided she wanted to make a film about it.

"I'm not usually a film producer ... but I was just like, 'I'm right there with you. We're going to make this however we can,'" he said.

'Viaje De Negocios' by Gerardo Coello Escalante

Shoes can say a lot about a person, and they can also expose a dark secret like in "Viaje De Negocios." In the film, 10-year-old Daniel is eager to show off his new light-up sneakers that his father bought for him during a weekend business trip to San Antonio. However, he later notices another boy with the same shoes, who said his mother and her new boyfriend brought them back after a weekend away in San Antonio. That earth-shattering news leads Daniel to do an unforgiveable act.

Director Gerardo Coello Escalante grew up in Mexico and producer Amandine Thomas grew up in the United States. On their second date, they discussed the differences between their upbringings and how certain cultural trends impacted Escalante and his friends in Mexico.

"Certain cultural trends arrived in Mexico and became the status of power and the status of cultural and economic dominance, and we talked about American soft power and how that really affected my upbringing and all my friends in Mexico," he said. "We then came up with this fable."

They looked to a number of films that depict childhood when working on their film, including the Iranian film "Children of Heaven," the French film "The 400 Blows" and the Italian coming-of-age film "Il Posto."

During the Q&A, they shared that they shot the film at Escalante's former school and cast students from the school, most of them first-time actors.

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The Palm Springs International ShortFest continues through June 24 at Regal Palm Springs. The schedule of daily screenings and ticket information can be found at www.psfilmfest.org/shortfest-2024.

Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @ema_sasic.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Springs International ShortFest kicks off with Opening Night