The 6th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival came to a close in August, with Nicholas Carmen’s short film “Piano Fingers” taking home the top Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film Presented by Company 3. Carmen took home a $10,000 post production services package from Company 3. Grzegorz Jonkajtys won the Best Director Award also presented by Company 3. Jonkajtys directed the acclaimed Sci Fi short film “The Third Letter” which drew a packed house when it screened on Saturday August 7 at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 and also won a $10,000 post production prize from Company 3. The awards were announced during a special ceremony hosted by Jessica King at MyStudio in Hollywood on Thursday evening.

This year’s HollyShorts Film Festival drew thousands of attendees with 16 countries in competition and over 200 projects screened including short films, features, webisodes, and music videos. The festival kicked off with a star-studded opening night celebration at the DGA theatre hosted by Ben Lyons and Amy Paffrath, which honored acclaimed director John Dahl (“Rounders”) with the festival’s Indie Maverick Award, given out by Mike Wittlin of Inmoo.com. During the opening night celebration actor James Caan announced the six finalists for his company Openfilm.com and their 1st Get it Made competition. The finalists short films were screened during the festival and the winner will receive $50,000 in cash and $200,000 in financing to develop their short into a feature film and the company’s board consists of James Caan, Scott Caan, Robert Duvall and Mark Rydell.

During HollyShorts opening night, David Arquette who is currently shooting “Scream 4,” took time out of his schedule to premiere his 3D short film “The Butler’s In Love. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom also attended the festivities at the DGA to show his support for the project. On Friday, August 6 Jimmy Jean-Louis hosted a special evening at Bardot with the festival to bring awareness to the relief efforts in Haiti through his organization Hollywood Unites for Haiti. The festival featured an array of packed screenings, exclusive parties and panels all week long at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 theatres.

The festival came to a close this past Thursday with a special screening of the Denis Hennelly indie feature “Bold Native,” at Laemmle’s Sunset 5.

Other big HollyShorts 2010 winners: Gino Gianoli won the Martini Crew Booking Future Filmmaker Award for “The Great Destroyer,” Best Student Short Film went to Eliane Lima for “Djinn,” A.J. Carter won Best International for “Ronan’s Escape,” Brendan Murphy won Best Narrative for “Swerve,” Best Screenplay went to “The Violinist” directed by Carlo Besasie and written by Cesar Gamino.   Jack Daniel Stanley won two awards Best Music and Best Thriller for his short film “a Little Mouth to Feed,” Heather Harlow’s acclaimed documentary “Nous Deux Encore took home the prize for Best Doc. Adam Christian Clark won Best Cinematography for his short film “Goodbye Shanghai,” Best Drama went to John Wilberding for “Alberta, Detroit.” Best Comedy went to Justin Lusky for “The Action Hero’s Guide To Saving Lives,” Best Webisode went to Joel Huggins for “Fish Out Of Water”. Dick Thompson won Best Editing for his short “Porn Guide.” Best Music Video went to William Stahl for “Keep Me In My Plane.” Michael Godere won Best Actor for his role in “Time Trouble.” Best Actress went to Paulie Rojas from “Lucia Kisses No One”.  David Weinstein’s “Azureus Rising” took home the Best Animation prize while Lucas Figueroa’s “Porque Hay Cosas Que Nunca Se Olvidan” won Best Spanish Film. JT Mollner received an Honorable Mention award for his short “Henry John and the Little Bug,” Francisco Ordonez also received Honorable Mention for “Cookie.”  Special Jury Prize went to “Charlie and the Rabbit”, directed by Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck and Robert Machoian.

The 2010 HollyShorts Film Festival Jury consists of:

Ryan Black, Grindstone
Jessy Terrero, Writer, Director, Producer (Soul Plane, music videos for 50 Cent, Sean Paul, The Lox, G-Unit)
Lucas Carter, The Weinstein Co. Director, Production and Development
Peter Russell, Story Analyst (Walden (AFG) Films (The Chronicles of Narnia), and Participant Productions (An Inconvenient Truth), Imagine Films, and CBS Television Network)
Amy Draughn, Production (Josh Brolin Productions)
Jamie Linden, Writer (We Are Marshall, Dear John)
Maurissa Tanchoreon, Writer, Actress (Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog)
Arianna Jackson, Partner, Producer, Chill Entertainment (G, Confessions of a Memory Eater)
Leah Meyerhoff, Writer, Director (Twitch, Unicorns)
Eric Robles , Executive Producer, Animator/Creator Nickelodeon’s Fanboy and Chum Chum
William Olsson, Director, An American Affair
Ray McDermott, Film Radar
Darren Lew, Cinematographer
Deddy Tzur, Composer, The Golden Compass
Frank Chindamo, Fun Little Movies

2010 HollyShorts Winners List

HollyShorts Grand Jury Prize, Best Short Film Presented by Company 3
PIANO FINGERS-Nicholas Carmen

Best Director Presented by Company 3
The Third Letter-Grzegorz Jonkajtys

Martini Crew Future Filmmaker Award
The Great Destroyer- Gino Gianoli

Best Student Short Film
Djinn- Eliane Lima Djinn

Best International
Ronan’s Escape- A.J. Carter

Best Narrative
Swerve- Brendan Murphy

Honorable Mention-Henry John and the Little Bug-JT Mollner

Honorable Mention-Cookie- Francisco Ordonez

Best Music
A Little Mouth to Feed- Jack Daniel Stanley

Best Documentary
Nous Deux Encore- Heather Harlow

Best Cinematography
Goodbye Shanghai- Adam Christian Clark

Best Drama
Alberta, Detroit- John Wilberding
3 Ton Grip and Tungsten/Kino Lighting Package Rental from John Kearns Jr.

Best Comedy
The Action Hero’s Guide To Saving Lives-Justin Lusky

Best Thriller
A Little Mouth To Feed-Jack Daniel-Stanley

Best Webisode
Fish Out of Water-Joel Huggins
Cell Phone Distribution Deal with Fun Little Movies

Best Editing
Porn Guide-Dick Thompson

Best Screenplay
The Violinist – Cesar Gamino

Special Jury Prize
Charlie and The Rabbit – Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck, Robert Machoian

Best Music Video
Keep Me In My Plane-William Stahl

Best Actor
Michael Godere-Time Trouble

Best Actress
Paulie Rojas-Lucia Kisses No One

Best Animation
Azureus Rising-David Weinstein

Best Spanish Film
PORQUE HAY COSAS QUE NUNCA SE OLVIDAN- Lucas Figueroa

Audience Choice Winners

August 6, 2010
Lying Right Here – Chad Knutsen
Jimmy Jean-Louis’s Haiti Documentary
Djinn-Eliana Lima

August 7, 2010
Michael Saints-Katie Mahalic
Verreckt!-Christian Bahlo
The Response-Andrew Speiler
Hit Me-Ryan Davis

August 8, 2010
Henry John and The Little Bug-JT Mollner
Canary Suicides-Natalia Provatas
Devolution-Gavin Heffernan
Never Winter-Moe Charif

August 9, 2010
Gumbo-Veleeta Dacosta
The Way We Are – John Kenney

August 10, 2010
Career Day-Ivette Garcia Davilla
Hours Before-Joel David Moore
New Project: They Are All Not Lost-Dawn Kirk Alexander

August 11, 2010
Jr. Posse-Michele Ervin
Abracadabra-Julie Pacino

August 12, 2010
Real Girl’s Guide-Carmen Elena Mitchell
Lucia Kisses No One-Emanuel Gironi

Credit Kim Ryan photography