The time has come to say goodbye to HollyShorts for another year, with the final night of screenings taking place. And while there are still a ton of great films to check out with today’s programming, it’s a bittersweet moment to have to sign off for another year after all the incredible things we’ve seen over the past several days. But let’s not dwell on the negative and instead focus on the positive, as we have several blocks of fantastic entries in store for today. With Midnight Madness, Matinee, Thriller, Locals Only: Made in LA, Saturday Spotlight and Body Horror on deck, it’s a wonderful day to enjoy short film. With this being the last day, ticket information will not be available to see it in person, but that doesn’t mean you’ll miss out, with these and many, many other films available to stream through BitPix. Not only that, we have our final highlighted filmmaker of the festival, with Matt Heder taking the time out to talk to us about their work. So before we say goodbye, let’s get out some recaps of today’s films, round it out with our highlighted filmmaker, and be proud of everything we’ve seen throughout the festival.
MIDNIGHT MADNESS
Baby Tooth – Written and directed by Olivia Accardo, this strange and wild film stars Dakota Bouher as Marina, a young woman with two things for the taking: a vintage speedboat, which she really hypes up when a potential customer comes looking, and one of her teeth, which, while still in her mouth, has a string wrapped around it and is ready to be pulled. With a flippant attitude and an unabashed confidence, Marina is calm, collected and infuriating to some, especially when the idea of buying a boat is supplemented by the ask to pull her tooth when the potential buyer, an older gentleman (Keith Roy Chrisman), gets a bit creepy. Backed by house music being played while sitting in an open field, this is a film that is about as unique as it gets, and is very entertaining to boot.
MATINEE
Best Before – Inspired by the real life story of Heather Brown and her wife Lorna Nelson, Brown pens this script about the IVF journey she and Lorna take together to being their family. Direct by Lisa Service and starring Tara Lynne O’Neill and Claire Rafferty, it’s a touching story of a couple doing all they can to get the life they want, even through the struggles that come with it.
THRILLER
Wanna Die Wanna Kill – Written and directed by Jeong Jaehee, this film focuses on two people who met online. The girl, played by Jua Kim, has been long bullied and intends to go to any length to end her own life. She meets what she believes to be a kindred spirit in a young man (Jo Kyung-Chang) she meets online, and the two get together in person to end their lives together. But when the time comes to figure out how to do it, plans seem to change, setting their lives on a different path as a journey to die becomes something much different. It’s a fascinating Korean film that doesn’t pull any punches, and when the turn comes, it’s not only unexpected but unsettling.
LOCALS ONLY: MADE IN LA
Main Man – Haley Joel Osment plays double duty as a German man in the seventies and an American musician in this film directed by John De Menil and written by Anna Greenfield. Playing both Abe and Erwin, a one-hit wonder musician who’s subbing as a boom operator on a set and a German man who set out for San Francisco only to get off during a refuel in Maine and become a local celebrity, Osment’s performance bridges the gap between two people who seemingly peaked after one success, only to fade into obscurity afterwards. It’s a very engrossing and interesting film that also sees Finn Wittrock joining Osment in the short piece. The theme of trying to remain relevant despite the stigma one only doing the one thing is prevalent here, and delivered in such an amazing way. And Osment, as he usually does, delivers a fantastic performance in his dual roles.
SATURDAY SPOTLIGHT
AstroVan – Andrew Lindh and Steve Agee star in this bizarre but brilliant film that sees the crossing of social media influencing, rustic outdoor living and strange, unexplainable happenings in a creation that could only be made when talking about the Pacific Northwest. These confluences begin when we meet Max and Roger (Lindh and Agee respectively), two people who live nearby one another in the woods, with Max living out of his van and regularly posting to his social media channel and Roger his RV mostly talking about strange happenings and conspiracy he saw online. When Max’s TV goes on the fritz as he attempts to watch a Portland TrailBlazers game (a tradition done in honor of his dog who passed away and seemingly loved basketball) and show off his cooking. Strange things begin to happen around and to them, leaving this film with a darkly funny and wild sense of humor that will not be seen often in film. Director Matt Heder, who is joined by Bryson Kearl and Will Hunter Thomas in writing duties, deliver on a wild and wonderful short that is sure to be as beloved as it is off-kilter.
That’ll do it for this year’s festival! A big congrats and thank you too all the filmmakers who submitted and screened their films this year. Please be sure to check them all out on BitPix when available, and keep checking back in with us for awards and further news. And keep reading for our interview with our highlighted filmmaker, Matt Heder! See you all throughout the year with monthly screenings, news and more, and of course, we’ll be back next year with another installment of the HollyShorts Film Festival!
1. What inspired you to make films?
Honestly, it all started in my childhood basement. My brothers and I devoured way too many movies down there; Christmas Eve nights with Blade Runner, racing home to watch my brother’s bootleg VHS of Terminator 2: Special Edition, or laughing at Raising Arizona even though half the jokes went over my head. Being the youngest of six meant I saw a lot of films way above my age, and I just fell in love with it all. Movies were the thing I worshipped, and making them was all I ever wanted to do.2. What message were you trying to communicate with this film?
I wouldn’t say AstroVan has one neat “message.” I like telling stories that weave in themes without hammering you over the head with them. For this one, I was inspired by two things happening at the same time: the cozy, outdoorsy, van-life, nostalgic influencers, and the 2023 release of government documents about aliens/UFOs. It cracked me up because even with huge news like that, people were so overwhelmed by everything else going on that most would just shrug. We’re all just trying to get through the day. Mixing that kind of apathy with the comfort influencer content felt like a fun space to play in. Then, two weeks before we shot, my dog became very sick. I rewrote parts of the story to include her, and that ended up giving the whole thing a more personal heartbeat
3. What kind of challenges did you face when making this film?
Oh man… where do I start? We wrangled ducks. We had to sneak in some public nudity. We fought bad weather. Our van broke down multiple times. And the RV? We got it stuck in the mud so badly that it sat sideways for the entire shoot. Roger’s introduction scene was supposed to be inside, but we were afraid that if a few of us went in, it would tip over completely. Eventually, we had to excavate the RV out of the location, something our little indie budget definitely wasn’t ready for.
4. How does it feel to be a part of this year’s HollyShorts?
It’s amazing. I screened my short Cub Scout here in 2022, so it’s special to be back with something totally different. And the best part? Our screening was the first one to sell out. That kind of turnout can be tough for short films, so to have that support means a lot.
5. What’s next for you?
I’m developing two feature projects right now—one is based on Cub Scout, and the other is an expanded version of AstroVan. So hopefully in a few years you’ll be seeing some of my stories on the big screen.
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