Sofia Meloni’s “Chop Cheese,” starring Christopher Meloni and Michael Gandolfini, and Michael Bluth’s “Killeran Bay,” starring Alan Cumming, are among the short films scheduled to be screened at Palm Springs International Shortfest. Shortfest returns to Festival Theater June 23-29.
Shorts Fest will feature a number of live-action films, including “General Admission,” directed by Kylie Morgan Smith and starring Nina Dobrev, Cedric Yarbrough and Adam Shapiro. Documentaries such as Julie Mellen’s “The Abortion Party” and Sasha Melamed’s “We All Live Downwind” will be screened, as well as animated shorts such as “Dog Alone” by Marta Reis Andrade and “The Sky Was Candy” by Anh Thu Nguyen.
“There’s a lot to see at ShortsFest, but one of the best parts of it is discovering the filmmakers we’re passionate about,” Lili Rodriguez, artistic director of the Palm Springs International Film Institute, said in a statement. “This year’s lineup is funny, weird, emotional, political, chaotic, gorgeous, and everything a short film should be. We’re thrilled to bring these filmmakers and stories to Palm Springs.”
The festival will host 50 carefully selected programs showcasing more than 300 films from more than 70 countries and territories, including 52 world premiere screenings. Over 7,000 short films were submitted. Programming directors Jesse Knight and Céline Roustan led the curation of the 2026 lineup along with the ShortFest programming team.
“The most exhilarating work in filmmaking continues to be short films,” Knight and Rousteing said in a statement. “Building a line-up from a record number of submissions was no easy feat, but ultimately we were drawn to short films for their bold, uncompromising, free and compelling storytelling and vision.”
Winners will be announced on June 28th and will receive a total of $30,000 in prizes, selected from five Oscar categories (Best Festival, Best Animated Short, Best Documentary Short, Best Live-Action Short 15 Minutes or More, Best Live-Action Short 15 Minutes or Less). On June 29th, the Best of the Fest program concludes the festival.
Tickets go on sale Thursday. The full lineup can be found on the festival’s website.
