German shorts at NY, LA and Palm Springs festivals

Short films from Germany will be presented at the New York Film Festival, LA Short Film Festival and the Palm Springs Festival of Short Films.

The 43rd New York Film Festival will be presenting the shorts "Lâl" by Dirk Schäfer and "Cigarette Break (ZIGARETTENPAUSE)" by Ralf Stadler in the main programme from September 23 to October 9. The sidebar of Views from the Avant-Garde will be screening "Kosmos" by Thorsten Fleisch and "D'Annunzio's Cave" (D'ANNUNZIOS HÖHLE), "The Basis of Make-Up III" and "Miscellanea III" by Heinz Emigholz. The feature length programme will be showing the German co-prods "Caché" by Michael Haneke (FR/AT/DE/IT), "Gabrielle" by Patrice Chereau (FR/IT/DE), "Manderlay" by Lars von Trier (DK/SE/FR/GB/DE/NL), "Paradise Now" by Hany Abu-Assad (NL/IL/ DE/FR) and "Something Like Happiness" by Bohdan Slama (CZ/DE).

The 9th LA Shorts Fest, which is being held from September 6-13, has invited ten German films: "Aanna and the Soldier" (ANNA UND DER SOLDAT) by Sören Hüper, "The Old Pro" (DER BESTE) by Arne Jysch and Rasmus Borowski, "I Spy with my Little Eye" (ICH SEHE WAS, WAS DU NICHT SIEHST) by Matthias Emcke, "Troublegum" (DER KAUBOY) by Carsten Seller, "Dying of Love" (MORIR DE AMOR) by Gil Alkabetz, "Just a Smile" (NUR EIN LÄCHELN) by Eva Demmler, "Projections" (PROJEKTIONEN) by Boris Schaarschmidt, "Dormouse" (SIEBENSCHLÄFER) by Frederik Hamm, "Before I Go" (VORLETZTER ABSCHIED) by Heiko Hahn, and "White Wedding" by RP Kahl.

The 11th Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films will see 8 German shorts competing from September 20-26 for prizes with a total value of over US$ 30,000: "Alright Love" by Samuli Valkama, "Anemone Heart"(ANEMONENHERZ) by Janina Dahse, "Detail" by Kanwal Sethi, "I Spy with my Little Eye"(ICH SEHE WAS, WAS DU NICHT SIEHST) by Matthias Emcke, "Dying of Love"(MORIR DE AMOR) by Gil Alkabetz, "Just A Smile" (NUR EIN LÄCHELN) by Eva Demmler, "Projections" (PROJEKTIONEN) by Boris Schaarschmidt and "Vincent" by Giulio Ricciarelli.

The winners of the main prizes at the festivals in Los Angeles and Palm Springs automatically qualify for an entry to the Short Film Oscars (live Action and animation). "Before I Go" (VORLETZTER ABSCHIED) by Heiko Hahn has already qualified for an entry to the 2006 Short Film Oscar as the winner of the main prize at the Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto.