Palm Springs International ShortFest announces lineup: What you need to know

Female-led films, stories from Ukraine and lots in between made it on the 29th annual Palm Springs International ShortFest lineup, which was announced Thursday.

The festival, which runs June 20 through 26, will screen 50 curated programs showcasing 299 films, including 53 world premieres, 10 international premieres, 33 North American premieres and 18 U.S. premieres. Overall, more than 6,000 short films from 129 countries were submitted.

Film screenings will take place at the Palm Springs Cultural Center, located at 2300 E. Baristo Road. Tickets for festival programs, which typically consist of four to nine short films, will go on sale 9 a.m. Tuesday for Film Society members and 9 a.m. Saturday for the general public.

General admission costs $15, while members can purchase program tickets for $12. The opening night screening and reception will cost $75, and the closing night awards ceremony will cost $60. Tickets can be purchased online at psfilmfest.org, by phone at 800-898-7256 or 760-778-8979 or at the Cultural Center's box office.

Repeat screenings of award-winning films will be shown closing night and on June 26. Additionally, a virtual Best of the Festival will run July 7 through 13, which will include juried award winners, will be available to stream online for $75.

This year, 125 out of 299 films ― nearly 42% ― feature women directors, and 139 films (47%) have filmmakers who identify as non-white. The shorts also feature a number of Hollywood's biggest names, such as Edward Norton and John Turturro in "High Noon on the Waterfront," Judith Light as a producer on "Aikāne," Margaret Cho in "Gianna," Tom Holland in "Last Call," Whoopi Goldberg in "Three Trees" and Ken Marino and Kate Flannery in "Help Me Understand" produced by Paul Feig, among others.

There are four documentaries and three live-action films from Ukraine. The short documentary "Liturgy of the Anti-Tank Obstacles" by author and filmmaker Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk features the story of sculptors who make religious statues using their skills to build hurdles known as "hedgehogs" to fight off Russian tanks entering the country.

"We are so thrilled to be bringing such incredible talent to Palm Springs to celebrate film and the craft of short filmmaking," Artistic Director Lili Rodriguez said in a statement. "We are honored to be sharing their work with our loyal Palm Spring audience and the world. We are looking forward to helping create the kind of experience only a film festival can provide."

“With such a large, high-quality submission pool, the programming team had to make some difficult decisions but we think these films represent the vibrancy and immense creativity in short films from around the world," ShortFest Director of Programming Sudeep Sharma said in a statement. "We can't wait to host the films and filmmakers at Palm Springs and are honored to be part of their journey."

Juried award winners will be announced on June 25 from the official selection presenting them with awards and cash prizes worth $25,000 including five Academy Award qualifying awards. The Oscar Qualifying Awards include Best of the Festival Award, Best Animated Short, Best Documentary Short, Best Live-Action Short Over 15 Minutes and Best Live-Action Short 15 Minutes and Under.

Other awards include:

• Student Short Awards: Best Student Animated Short, Best Student Documentary Short, Best StudentInternational Short, Best Student U.S. Short

• Special Jury Awards: Best International Short, Best U.S. Short, Best Comedy Short, Best LGBTQ+ Short,Best Midnight Short, Local Jury Award, Young Cineastes Award, Kids’ Choice Award, MOZAIK Bridging theBorders Award

Here are the 299 films screening at ShortFest:

Animation

“Aikāne”(USA) Director: Daniel Sousa, Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson

“Ashkasha”(Spain/Argentina) Director: Lara Maltz

“Boat People”(Canada) Director: Thao Lam, Kjell Boersma

“Canary”(Canada) Director: Pierre-Hugues Dallaire, Benoit Therriault

“ChaCha”(China/France) Director: Chenghua Yang, Shang Zhang

“Christopher at Sea”(France/USA/United Kingdom) Director: Tom CJ Brown

‘Delta Airline Saftey Video(USA/France) Director: Jordan Michael Blake

“Discussion animée entre entendeurs de voix”(France) Director: Tristan Thil

“Eeva” (Croatia/Estonia) Director: Lucija Mrzljak, Morten Tšinakov

“Epicenter”(South Korea) Director:  HAHM Hee-yoon

“The Flying Sailor”(Canada) Director: Wendy Tilby, Amanda Forbis

“fur”(USA) Director: Zhen Li

“Ice Merchants”(Portugal/France/United Kingdom) Director: João Gonzalez

“La Pursé”(Brazil) Director: Gabriel Nóbrega, Lucas René

“Luce and the Rock”(Belgium/France/Netherlands) Director: Britt Raes

“Make or Break”(Germany) Director: Mike Plitt, Falk Schuster

“Menagerie”(USA) Director: Jack Gray

“Misaligned”(Poland/Latvia) Director: Marta Magnuska

“Movement”(Switzerland) Director: Valentine Moser

“Mushka”(USA) Director: Andreas Deja

“Pipes”(Switzerland) Director: Jessica Meier, Kilian Feusi, Sujanth Ravichandran

“Pond”(Switzerland) Director: Lena von Döhren, Eva Rust

“The Rainbow Dung Beetle”(USA) Director: Ellen Mowat, Cole Dupzyk

“Red Rabbit”(Ireland) Director: Rory Kerr

“The Sea on the Day When the Magic Returns”(South Korea) Director: Hang Luong Jiwon

“Shadow of the Butterflies”(France/Portugal/Qatar) Director: Sofia El Khyari

“Slow Light”(Poland/Portugal) Director: Katarzyna Kijek, Przemysław Adamski

“The Social Chameleon”(USA/India/United Kingdom/Hungary) Director: Alex Ross

“Spring Roll Dream”(United Kingdom) Director: Mai Vu

“Sprout”(USA) Director: Zora Kovac

“Stranding”(USA) Director: Ben Kadie

“Sub Terra”(Canada) Directed by Jeffrey Zablotny

“Swing to the Moon”(France) Director: Marie Bordessoule, Adriana Bouissie, Nadine De Boer, Elisa Drique, Chloé Lauzu, Vincent Levrero, Solenne Moreau

“Teacups”(Australia/Ireland) Director: Alec Green, Finbar Watson

“Things that Disappear”(South Korea) Director: Kim Changsoo

“Think Something Nice” (Switzerland) Director: Claudius Gentinetta

“Three Trees”(Canada) Director: M.R. Horhager, Aaron Hong

“Tomato Kitchen”(China/USA) Director: Junyi Xiao

“Way Better”(Lithuania) Director: Skirmanta Jakaitė

“Well Wishes My Love, Your Love”(Sweden/Malaysia) Director: Gabriel Gabriel Garble

“Zeb's Spider”(Canada) Director: Alicia Eisen, Sophie Jarvis

Documentary

“45th Parallel” (United Kingdom) Director: Lawrence Abu Hamdan

“Alpha Kings” (USA) Director: Enrique Pedraza Botero, Faye Tsakas

“Amara and Ry'Shauna” (USA) Director: Kate Cohen, A.D. Freese

“Away”(Hungary/Belgium/Portugal) Director: Ruslan Fedotov

“Birdsong”(United Kingdom/Laos) Director: Omi Zola Gupta, Sparsh Ahuja

“Black Strings”(USA) Director: Marquise Mays

“Border Conversations”(Germany) Director: Jonathan Brunner

“Breaking Silence”(USA) Director: Amy Bench, Annie Silverstein

“Call Me Mommy”(Ireland) Director: Tara Isidora O'Callaghan

“CANS Can’t Stand”(USA) Director: Matt Nadel, Megan Plotka

“Chicken Stories”(USA) Director: Jonathan Pickett

“Clean”(Scotland/United Kingdom) Director: Miranda Stern

“Daron, Daron Colbert”(USA) Director: Kevin Steen

“Dicks That I Like”(Germany) Director: Johanna Gustin

“Echo”(USA) Director: Benjamin Wolin, Michael Minahan

“Eco-Hack!”(USA) Director: Josh Izenberg, Brett Marty

“Fata Morgana”(Germany/Syria) Director: Daood Alabdulaa

“Heart of an Astronaut”(Sweden) Director: Jennifer Rainsford

“High Noon on the Waterfront”(USA) Director: Billy Shebar, David Roberts

“How We Get Free”(USA) Director: Geeta Gandbhir, Samantha Knowles

“I Never Had Dreams of My Son”(Ukraine/USA) Director: Jason Blevins

“Kaamoksen Valossa”(Finland) Director: Niko Väistö

“Little to Big”(Sweden) Director: Ellinor Hallin, Ellen Fiske

“Liturgy of Anti-Tank Obstacles”(USA/Ukraine) Director: Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk

“Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (Grandma & Grandma)”(USA) Director: Sean Wang

“Oasis”(Canada) Director: Justine Martin

“Parker”(USA) Director: Sharon Liese, Catherine Hoffman

“Powernapper's Paradise”(Sweden) Director: Samir Arabzadeh

“Ptitsa”(Poland/Ukraine) Director: Alina Maksimenko

“Puffling”(United Kingdom/Iceland) Director: Jessica Bishopp

“Sanctuary”(USA) Director: John Haley and Julia Szromba

“Shirampari: Legacies of the River”(Peru/Spain/USA) Director: Lucia Florez

“Still Waters”(USA) Director: Aurora Brachman

“Under G-d”(USA) Director: Paula Eiselt

“ur heinous habit”(USA) Director: Eugene Kolb

“Waking Up in Silence”(Germany/Ukraine) Director: Mila Zhluktenko, Daniel Asadi Faezi

“Will You Look At Me”(China) Director: Shuli Huang

Live Action

"100% USDA Certified Organic Homemade Tofu" (USA) Director: Gbenga Komolafe

"48 Hours" (Iran) Director: Azadeh Moussavi

"9-5" (Serbia) Director: Maša Šarović

"Aban" (Iran/France) Director: Abbas Taheri, Mahdieh Toosi

"About Me" (Netherlands) Director: Ali Asgari

"Accidentally Intentional" (Indonesia) Director: Kevin Rahardjo

"Agustina" (Mexico) Director: Luciana Herrera Caso

"AirHostess-737" (Greece) Director: Thanasis Neofotistos

"All Choked Up" (USA) Director: Allison Volk

"All I Know" (Nigeria/USA) Director: Obinna Onyeri

"All-inclusive" (Colombia/France) Director: Duván Duque Vargas

"Almost Fall" (France) Director: Margot Pouppeville

"Animal Transport" (Argentina) Director: Iván Bustinduy

"Anthony's" (USA) Director: Sabrina Greco

"Aphonia" (Poland) Director: Marta Z. Nowak

"Arava" (Israel) Director: Sarah Meital Benjamin

"Arnasa" (Spain) Director: Raúl Barreras

"The Arrival of Aliens" (China) Director: Tian Guan & Junjie Lam

"Astonishing Little Feet" (USA) Director: Maegan Houang

"At Dusk" (Canada) Director: Miryam Charles

"August Visitor" (USA) Director: Ifeyinwa Arinze

"An Avocado Pit" (Portugal) Director: Ary Zara

"À La Vie á L'amore" (Canada) Director: Emilie Mannering

"Baba" (Canada) Director: Anya Chirkova, Meran Ismailsoy

"The Beads" (Brazil) Director: Rafaela Camelo, Emanuel Lavor

"Beautiful, FL" (USA) Director: Gabriela Ortega

"A Beautiful Wildflower Meadow" (Poland) Director: Emi Buchwald

"Before Madrid" (Uruguay) Director: Nicolás Botana, Ilén Juambeltz

"Bergie" (South Africa) Director: Dian Weys

"Best Friends On A Summer Hike" (USA) Director: Mario Furloni

"Between Her" (Israel) Director: Bar Cohen

"Big Bang" (Brazil/France) Director: Carlos Segundo

"Bizarro World" (USA) Director: Jonathan Salmon, Abdi Ibrahim

"Black the Sea" (Colombia) Director: Juan David Mejía Vásquez

"Blond Night" (Canada) Director: Gabrielle Demers

"Blue Veil" (USA) Director: Shireen Alihaji

"The Breakthrough" (USA) Director: Daniel Sinclair

"Bulldozer" (Denmark) Director: Mads Koudal

"Burial of Life as a Young Girl" (France) Director: Maïté Sonnet

"Calcutta 8:40 am" (France/India) Director: Adriano Valerio

"Call Me Mommy" (USA) Director: Haley Alea Erickson, Taylor Washington

"Chomp It!" (Singapore) Director: Mark Chua, Lam Li Shuen

"Claudio's Song" (United Kingdom/Ukraine) Director: Andreas Nilsson

"Closing Dynasty" (USA) Director: Lloyd Lee Choi

"Colors of the Jungle" (Peru/USA/Ecuador) Director: Julio César Padilla

"Confessions" (USA) Director: Stephanie Kaznocha

"Coral" (USA/Poland/France) Director: Sonia Oleniak

"Crarylake Boats and Floats" (USA) Director: Spencer Thielmann, Emily Berge

"Creamy" (Hungary) Director: Bálint Dániel Sós

"Cry It Out" (USA) Director: Musa Syeed, Kamau Bilal

"D.O.D." (USA) Director: Paul Davis

"Daughter of the Sea" (USA/Puerto Rico) Director: Alexis C. Garcia

"David Se Va" (USA/Mexico) Director: Joel Villegas Saldaña

"A Day In February" (United Kingdom) Director: Klaas Diersmann

"Dead Enders" (USA) Director: Fidel Ruiz-Healy, Tyler Walker

"A Dead Marriage" (Poland) Director: Michał Toczek

"Death & Ramen" (USA/Hong Kong) Director: Tiger Ji

"Death Snot" (USA), Directed by Charlie Schwan

"Death to the Bikini!" (Canada) Director: Justine Gauthier

"Diaspora" (Canada) Director: Tyler Mckenzie Evans

"Donkey" (USA) Director: Matt Kazman

"Drifting" (Switzerland) Director: Marion Reymond

"Dún Laoghaire" (USA/Ireland) Director: William Lancaster

"Ecstatic Thing" (France) Director: Benjamin Nuel

"Endless Sea" (USA) Director: Sam Shainberg

"Euridice, Euridice" (Switzerland/France) Director: Lora Mure-Ravaud

"The Fading" (Canada) Director: Rafaël Beauchamp

"The Family Circus" (USA) Director: Andrew Fitzgerald

"Fanatic" (USA) Director: Taran Killam

"File" (Iran) Director: Sonia K. Hadad

"First Chair" (USA) Director: Ethan Montgomery, Luke Montgomery

"Flail" (USA) Director: Ben Gauthier

"For Those Who Don't Know How" (USA) Director: Brian Chamberlayne

"Four Nights and a Fire" (USA) Director: Alex Nystrom

"Galapagos" (USA) Director: Kyle Sims

"Gertrude and Yvan Party Hard" (France) Director: Louise Groult

"Gianna" (USA) Director: Kait Schuster

"The Glasses" (USA) Director: Sarah Smith, Frances Chewning

"Gold and Mud" (USA) Director: Conor Dooley

"Good Girls Club: A Virginity Odyssey" (Greece) Director: Dimitris Tsakaleas, Lida Vartzioti

"Goose Egg" (USA) Director: Madeline Leshner, Zach Stone

"Green Space" (United Kingdom) Director: Jamie Fraser

"Grown" (USA) Director: Jamila Meloche

"Guilty Pleasures" (USA) Director: George Oliver

"Halmoni's Pot" (Grandma's Pot) (USA) Director: A. Lauren Lee

"Happy Rakhi" (USA) Director: Ragini Bhasin

"Help Me Understand" (USA) Director: Aemilia Scott

"Heritage Day" (USA) Director: Lara Everly

"Hills and Mountains" (Afghanistan/Canada) Director: Salar Pashtoonyar

"Home" (India) Director: Aditi Sharma

"Honolulu" (USA) Director: Maya Tanaka

"Hot Rod" (France) Director: Juliette Gilot

"Idiot Fish" (France) Director: Hakim Mao

"I Have No Legs, and I Must Run" (China) Director: Yue Li

"I Have No Tears, and I Must Cry" (USA) Director: Luis Fernando Puente

"I'm Here" (South Korea) Director: Jeong Eun-uk

"Immaculate" (United Kingdom) Director: Villo Krisztics

"I'm On Fire" (USA/Australia) Director: Michael Spiccia

"Incognito" (India) Director: Ravi Muppa

"Infantry" (Brazil) Director: Laís Santos Araújo

"Insta Gay" (Canada) Director: Simon Paluck

"In The Garden of Tulips" (USA) Director: Julia Elihu

"Invasive Species" (USA) Director: Annie Ning

"I Probably Shouldn't Be Telling You This" (USA) Director: Emma Weinswig

"I See Them Bloom" (Germany) Director: Nikita Gibalenko

"It Happened One Night at Melody Lanes" (USA/Canada) Director: Alex Fofonoff

"It's A Date" (Ukraine/United Kingdom) Director: Nadia Parfan

"It Turns Blue" (Iran/Greece) Director: Shadi Karamroudi

"Ivalu" (Greenland/Denmark) Director: Anders Walter, Pipaluk K Jørgensen

"Jammed" (Netherlands) Director: Isis Mihrimah Cabolet

"Junglefowl" (Canada/India), Directed by Kalainithan Kalaichelvan

"The Key" (Belgium/Palestine/Qatar/France) Director: Rakan Mayasi

"The Kidnapping of the Bride" (Germany) Director: Sophia Mocorrea

"Killing Bagheera" (Germany/Syria) Director: Muschirf Shekh Zeyn

"Klette" (Belgium) Director: Michael Abay

"Last Call" (United Kingdom) Director: Harry Holland

"The Launch" (USA) Director: KK Apple

"Lay Me by the Shore" (Canada) Director: David Findlay

"Leonetty" (USA) Director: Logan Jackson

"Lot's Wife" (Israel) Director: Ori Birger

"Matapang" (France/Belgium) Director: Léa-Jade Horlier

"Meantime" (France) Director: Guillaume Scaillet

"Me & Aydarous" (Saudi Arabia/USA) Director: Sara Balghonaim

"The Melting Creatures" (Chile/France) Director: Diego Céspedes

"Merv" (USA) Director: Sam Roebling

"Mirage" (Iran) Director: Atefeh Salehi

"More Than Friends" (Israel) Director: Omri Laron

"Mouthpiece" (USA) Director: Graham Goldstein

"Mucho, Mucho Amor" (USA) Director: Mariano Dongo

"Mulika" (Democratic Republic of the Congo) Director: Maisha Maene

"Municipal Relaxation Module" (Canada) Director: Matthew Rankin

"Mysore Magic" (USA) Director: Abijeet Achar

"Mystic Tiger" (Spain) Director: Marc Martínez Jordán

"Nanitic" (Canada) Director: Carol Nguyen

"The Newt Congress" (Switzerland/Germany) Director: Matthias Sahli, Immanuel Esser

"Nian" (USA) Director: Michelle Krusiec

"No Bedroom" (Canada) Director: Ryan Leedu

"Nocturnal Burger" (USA/India) Director: Reema Maya

"Noodles Forever" (USA) Director: McKinley Carlin

"Nude" (Canada) Director: Olivier Labonté LeMoyne

"The Old Young Crow" (Japan/USA) Director: Liam LoPinto

"On My Father's Grave" (France/Morocco) Director: Jawahine Zentary

"On Purpose" (Lithuania) Director: Adas Burkšaitis

"Our Males and Females" (Jordan) Director: Ahmad Alyaseer

"Out of Water" (USA) Director: Madi Stine

"The Pass" (USA) Director: Pepi Ginsberg

"Pennies from Heaven" (USA) Director: Sandy Honig

"The Phone Booth" (Germany) Director: Lukas März, Kilian Bohnensack

"Piece by Piece" (Austria) Director: Reza Rasouli

"Please Hold the Line" (Malaysia) Director: Tan Ce Ding

"Poolside Inn" (USA) Director: Remington Butler

"Porter" (Norway) Director: Lisa Enes

"Power Signal" (USA) Director: Oscar Boyson

"Presto" (Iran) Director: Keyvan Ahmadi

"Prom Car '91" (USA) Director: Brian Otting

"Pruning" (USA) Director: Lola Blanc

"Queen of Pain" (France) Director: Cyril Carbonne

"Rabobesto - Or How I Saved a Monster" (Finland) Director: Mari Mantela

"Re-record" (Ukraine) Director: Kyrylo Zemlyanyi

"Rest Stop" (USA) Director: Crystal Kayiza

"Ricky" (USA) Director: Rashad Frett

"Romance Package For Two" (USA) Director: Carlen May-Mann

"The Roof" (USA) Director: Alexander Bocchieri

"Room For One More" (Australia) Director: Jesse Vogelaar

"Science Around Us" (Netherlands/Indonesia) Director: Arif Abdillah

"SCRED TBM" (France) Director: Kevin Le Dortz

"Sèt Lam" (France) Director: Vincent Fontano

"She Always Wins" (United Kingdom/USA) Director: Hazel McKibbin

"Shoes Off" (USA) Director: Joel Jay Blacker

"Sibling" (Belgium) Director: Laura Van Passel

"Side Hustle" (USA) Director: Abby Harri

"The Silent Whistle" (China) Director: Yingtong Li

"Simo" (Canada) Director: Aziz Zoromba

"Simone" (USA) Director: Aisha Amin

"The Singles Retreat" (USA) Director: Jo Firestone

"Sisters of the Rotation" (Lebanon) Director: Michel Zarazir, Gaby Zarazir

"Smoking Kills" (USA) Director: Dulcinee DeGuere

"Snail" (Iran) Director: Aminreza Alimohammadi

"Snow in September" (Mongolia) Director: Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir

"Snow White" (Croatia) Director: Lana Barić

"Soleil de nuit" (Canada) Director: Fernando Lopez Escriva, Maria Camila Arias

"Soon-to-Be a Zombie" (Japan) Director: Yuki Saito

"Sorry I Am Late I Was Masturbating" (Germany) Director: Alena Shevchenko

"So They Say" (Chile/USA) Director: Natalia Luque

"(spin)" (United Kingdom) Director: Precious Wura Alabi

"Split Ends" (Iran) Director: Alireza Kazemipour

"Step Into The Mattress" (USA) Director: Erin Vassilopoulos

"The Story of This Life" (China/USA) Director: Alex Jiang

"SULAM" (Ladder) (USA) Director: Noam Argov

"The Summer I Got Tough" (USA) Director: Victoria Shan Wang

"Sunless" (USA) Director: Boris Vesselinov

"Supermarket Affairs" (Vietnam/USA) Director: Hang Luong Nguyen

"Surprise" (Sweden) Director: Laerke Herthoni

"The Swimmer" (Denmark) Director: Máté Boegi

"Take Me Home" (USA) Director: Liz Sargent

"Tall Dark and Handsome" (United Kingdom) Director: Sam Baron

"Things Unheard Of" (Turkey) Director: Ramazan Kilic

"Thirstygirl" (USA) Director: Alexandra Qin

"Ticks" (USA) Director: Sam Max

"Tremor" (Germany) Director: Rudolf Fitzgerald Leonard

"Troy" (USA) Director: Mike Donahue

"Tskaltubo" (Canada/Georgia) Director: Toby Andris

"Underdog" (France) Director: David Arslanian

"Untitled Floating Mom Short" (USA) Director: Aidan Guynes

"Untitled Movie" (USA) Director: Annie Brennen

"The Vacation" (USA) Director: Jarreau Carrillo

"Vernissage" (Sweden) Director: Arvin Kananian

"VHS Tape Replaced" (Saudi Arabia) Director: Maha Al-Saati

"Vibrator Girl" (USA) Director: Kara Strait

"Wading" (USA) Director: Nada Bedair

"Walk of Shame" (USA) Director: Dane Ray

"Walk Out Nice and Smooth" (USA) Director: Kerry O'Neill

"Wank" (United Kingdom) Director: Yasmin Afifi

"Weapons and Their Names" (USA) Director: Melina Valdez

"We Were Meant To" (USA) Director: Tari Wariebi

"When You Left Me on That Boulevard" (USA) Director: Kayla Abuda Galang

"White Ant" (United Kingdom/India) Director: Shalini Adnani

"Women Visiting a City" (Spain/France) Director: Enrique Buleo

"Yellow" (United Kingdom/Afghanistan) Director: Elham Ehsas

"Yokelan, 66" (USA) Director: Tang Yi

"You Know Where To Find Me" (USA) Director: Sam Davis

Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment for the Desert Sun. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @bblueskye. Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at ema.sasic@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ema_sasic.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Springs International ShortFest lineup