Al Pacino will return to the Lee Strasberg Theater & Film Institute this November as chief juror of the Lee Strasberg Film Festival (LSFF).
Pacino, who studied method acting under Strasberg, will lead a jury of actors and filmmakers to evaluate independent films and performances for the 10th annual festival. Also serving as judges are Henri Esteve, Hayley Orrantia, Wade Alleyne-Marcus, Hyejin “Grace” Park, and Brittany Alexia Young.
Festival director David Lee Strasberg, whose family shares a decades-long relationship with Pacino, said, “My mother and father (Lee Strasberg and Anna Strasberg) believed in the critical importance of bringing artists together into a collaborative creative community. “This year’s jurors reflect the parents’ vision with an incredible range of voices, from icons like Al (Pacino) who have given so much support to our community, to talented current alumni actors, to bold independent filmmakers just beginning to make their mark on modern film.” Movie production. ”
The 10th annual Lee Strasberg Film Festival will be held from November 13th to 15th at the Lee Strasberg Theater & Film Institute in Los Angeles and concludes with an awards ceremony at the Marilyn Monroe Theater. LSFF awards categories such as Best Short Film and Best Screenplay, and several acting awards are also given out.
Submissions can be entered here.
Monday, July 13th
Vashon Island Film Festival announces 2026 film festival lineup
The Vashon Film Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering independent filmmaking in the Pacific Northwest, has announced the lineup for the 5th annual Vashon Island Film Festival.
VIFF 2026 will be held at the Vashon Theater from August 13th to 16th. Eight features and 17 shorts from the current festival circuit will be screened alongside three special presentations, seven local spotlights and local short story competition shortCUTZ.
This year’s feature competition will feature five narrative films and three documentary films. Featured are Rich Newey and Annika Marks’ “Adult Children,” Mickey Keating’s “The Deceiver,” Mirsini Aristidou’s “Hold on to Me,” Rodrigue Jean’s “Labrador – Anatomy of Silence,” Marie Elsa Sgard and Nadine Ramari’s “Silent Rebellion,” and Adam and Zach Kalil’s “Arnicovigan.” (ancestors/great-grandparents/great-grandchildren), “Let’s all go to Kenmure Street” by Felipe Bastos Sierra, and “The Life We Leave” by JJ Gerber.
Narrative short stories in competition include “A Shot at Art” by Ilke Padenburg, “Balloon Animals” by Anna Baumgarten, “Jazz Infernal” by Willa Niava and Christel Laroche, “The Man That I Wave At” by Ben S. Hyland, “So, Boom” by Abby Pearce and Tiny Cruise, and “We Were Here” by Pranav Bhasin.
Short documentaries in competition include “The Boys and the Bees” by Ariel Knight, “Listen” by Taliesin Black-Brown, “Luigi” by Liza Mandelup, “Panther Pat” by Ashley Brandon, and “Still Standing” by Livia Albeck-Lipka and Victor Tadashi Suarez.
Animated shorts in competition include “Busy Bodies” by Kate Renshaw-Lewis, “The Famous Last Show” by Celia Alsina Matesants, Fushuan Deng, Pontera Nimanakiat, Ane Quintana and Honglu Hsu, “Hag” by Anna Ginsberg and Miranda Latimer, and “Les” by Boris Boydron, Lucille Brunet and Lauren Felins. Stephen P. Neary’s Living with Visions, and Daniel Nyden and Edward Jordon’s Whale 52 – Suite for Men, Boys, and Whales.
VIFF will screen three special presentations, including Matt Johnson’s narrative feature Tony, Ben McKenzie’s documentary feature Everybody Lies for Money, and episode 1 of Chris Smith’s documentary series Bring Me the Beauties: Model Cult.
The festival will feature three feature films and four local spotlights of short films. Features include “Dad Genes” by Craig Downing and Matt Isaac, “Radioheart: The Drive and Times of DJ Kevin Cole” by Andrew Franks and Peter Hilgendorf, and “Theater is Dead” by Katherine Dudas, Olivia Blue, Madison Lawler and Decker Sadowski. Short stories include “36 Questions” by Chiara Motley and Rachel Knoll James, “Long Time No See” by Donald Sanderson, “The Scout’s Honor” by Isabel Pask and Sam Paley, and “Who Are You, Nanu?” by Anjini Taneja Azhar.
Local short story contest shortCUTZ has partnered with C’Mon Barber to present films shot entirely on Vashon Island or by current and former residents. Applications are being accepted until Friday, July 24th. Officially selected works will compete for the Mickey Chair Award, which will be chosen by the audience.
