Classic Couple Academy

The film Sevhap Mitzvah (A Good Deed) is based on the true story of Muslim woman Zejneba Hardaga and her family who hid from the Nazis her Jewish friend Rifka Kabiljo and her family at their home. Riisking their own lives, they helped them escape Nazi-occupied Sarajevo in the 1940s and then move to Israel. […]

CONTENT: The Lo-Fi Man starts as a documentary about a beloved cult film, then turns into a YouTube video until it escapes into a dystopian sci-fi adventure, upon which it transforms into a body horror film resulting in a kaiju battle finale. Part sci-fi, horror, comedy, satire, midnight, cult, fantasy, it’s a genre-bending short from filmmakers Brian Lonano […]

C’mon Mort Productions and Hello, Darling Pictures present in association with 88th StreetProductions made with support from Stowe Story Labs a film by Jessica Hinkson, Sara premieres at the the 19th Annual Oscar-Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival in Los Angeles on August 12, 2023. Sara is a dramatic short film about a woman who finds the strength […]

The LGBTQ+ community is represented at the 19th Annual Oscar-Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival with an exciting line-up of short films. From Omri Laron short film More Than Friends takes an unexpected turn when a quirky lesbian mom discovers a love letter written by her 11-year-old son to another boy. She decides to take matters into […]

In the Garden of Tulips follows Caroline as she takes a fateful car ride with her father through the Iranian countryside. The short film screens during the 19th Annual Oscar-Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival. Our Classic Couple exclusive interview with Emily Ruhl executive producer of In the Garden of Tulips follows. Filmmaker 5.1:  Short film, with In […]

We’re back from a Classic Couple Academy summer sabbatical. Shenanigans ensued. While much has happened in Hollywood, we’re looking forward to our upcoming August coverage. Tune in soon for missives from the 19th Annual Oscar-Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival. Meanwhile, enjoy this piece RUTH E. CARTER: AFROFUTURISM IN COSTUME DESIGN about our summer field trip to […]

Two short films, official selections programmed for screenings at the 2022 HollyShorts Film Festival August 11-20, 2022, highlight the work of authors who embrace their identities to teach others about what it’s like to be viewed as different in society. Each shares in their own words the importance of being true to one’s self and […]

Elsa Sjunneson is many things: professor and media critic, skilled fencer and hiker, published author and writer for Marvel Comics’ first Women of Marvel, Assassin’s Creed, and the Magic the Gathering universe. She’s also the first Deafblind winner of the Hugo Award and the Aurora Award. Through her disability and queer rights activist work, Elsa […]

Two short films, official selections programmed for screenings at the 2022 HollyShorts Film Festival August 11-20, 2022, center on scenarios of control, and what happens when control is lost. Vastly different stories, Celebritas Ex Machina and The Censor of Dreams are comedic fantasies demonstrating the futility of trying to exert control over our lives. Celebritas […]

The Baldwin Archives short film potently reenacts segments of a 1963 BBC interview between famed author James Baldwin and BBC journalist Peter Duval Smith. Running 8:37minutes, The Baldwin Archives historical drama centers on a critical conversation about racism between Duval Smith as journalist provoking Baldwin as interviewee. Throughout, Baldwin commands his responses and elevates the […]