Colin Costello’s ‘Dreamwisher’ among films at Hollyshorts

Dreamwisher, an award-winning 8-minute film from writer/director Colin Costello, will screen at the Oscar-Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival. The internationally-acclaimed short was produced by Eric Handler for his Positively Positive Productions and will screen at the TCL Chinese Theater on August 10 at noon.

The family film is truly a family effort in every sense as it stars Handler’s daughters Jolie Handler, who has been featured in advertising campaigns for Forever 21, Honda and Wells Fargo, and her sister, Jemma Handler. Eric’s wife Julie, also a model/actress, is also featured.

Costello, who also wrote and directed the award-winning short film The After Party and is the writer of the 2013 family feature The Stream and the short film Blood Stains was thrilled by the news. “One of my favorite film festivals in Los Angeles, and the United States, is Hollyshorts. They receive thousands of entries and can only pick a small percentage. For Dreamwisher to have made the cut is an honor.”

In Dreamwisher, eight-year-old Bella (Jolie Handler) has not been able to come to terms with the death of her father. If she had her wish, she would have one last chance to say good-bye to him. Bella begins to believe that her dream may come true when she encounters two mysterious girls Ada and Krista (Jemma Handler and Antonia Cytrynowicz). Her hurdle – trying to convince a skeptical adult, played by Julie Handler, that her plan could work.

Dreamwisher Teaser from Handler on Vimeo.

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“We are extremely excited about Dreamwisher’s acceptance into Hollyshorts, which is a festival that provides a true home and culture for them. To screen at the historic Chinese Theater is unbelievably exciting,” said producer Handler.

The Dreamwisher team includes Cinematographers Gus Bendinelli and Kenzo K. Le who was also Production Designer, Editor George Artope; and Composer Asaf Sagiv.

According to Hollyshorts, more than 6,000 films were submitted from around the world. The festival chose a little over 400 films, from 30 different countries, to screen during its 10-day festival.

Last year, four HollyShorts finalists were nominated for an Academy Award® with three bringing home the gold, including the Best Live Action Short Skin from filmmakers Andrew Carlberg, Guy Nattiv, and Jaime Ray Newman.

This year’s competition lineup is packed and will feature Live Action, Animation and Documentary Shorts as well as Web Series, Student, Music Videos, TV pilots, and VR.

The 2019 HollyShorts Oscar Qualifying categories include: Best Short Film, Best Live Action, and Best Animation.

HollyShorts also features a screenplay competition where the winning short gets greenlit, shot and shown at next year’s festival courtesy of the Seattle Film Summit.

Last year’s screenplay winner Best Seller from Nora Kirkpatrick (The Office) will make its world premiere at the festival’s Opening Night celebration on August 8th.

Stand out films include::

•Ouroboros starring Rosario Dawson (Luke Cage),
•Robu with Emmy-nominated actor Jharrel Jerome (When They See Us),
•About The People written by Coffey (Fighting) and featuring Michael Kenneth Williams (The Wire) Hisham Tawfiq (The Blacklist), and Sterling Brim (Ridiculousness)
•The Stew starring Supergirl’s Melissa Benoist and Carlos Valdes (The Flash)
•How to Be Alone starring Maika Monroe (It Follows) and Joe Keery (Stranger Things)
•I Lost My Mother’s Ashes featuring Mandy Moore (This is Us)
•Food Place directed by Crashing’s Lauren Lapkus,
•It’s a Mess with Vincent D’Onofrio (Daredevil),
•Consent starring GLOW’s Kimmy Gatewood and Rebekka Johnson
•Little River Run which is Ed Skrein’s directorial debut
•The Toll Road with Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex), Martin Starr (Silicon Valley), Anthony Carrigen (Barry), and Billy Gardell (Mike & Molly)
•Mi Madre, My Father starring Arrow’s Stephen Amell,
•Bewildered with Keith David (Armageddon)
•SophiaWorld starring Westworld’s Evan Rachel Wood and HollyShorts’ first robot, Sophia the Robot.

Other notable filmmakers and talent include: Milla Jovovich (The Fifth Element), Mike Luciano (Animals), Common, Helen Hunt (As Good As It Gets), Kenan Thompson (SNL), Kevin Nealon (Weeds), Patton Oswalt (A.P. Bio), Eric Wareheim (Tim and Eric Saga), Michael Madsen (The Hateful Eight), Childish Gambino, Flea, Malcolm Barrett (Timeless), Steve Zahn (War for the Planet of the Apes), Scoot McNary (Argo), Amy Smart (Just Friends), and Madonna.

This year’s Sponsor’s include: Becine, Bitpix, Boxed Water, Buffalo8, Capstone, City of Agusta, Colorspace Finishing, Coverfly,Coverfly, Danny Manus, Delmay and Partners, Dream Hotel, Dust, E-Tech,Easterseals of Southern California,Eventive, Final Draft, Four Points, Gold Image Printing,Harmony Gold,Hint,Impossible Dream, inDspotlight Productions™, ISA, Kabaki,Kodak, Law Offices of Cliff Lo, Loews Hotel, Monster, Pabst Blue Ribbon, PaperChase Films, Revry, Rita House,Roosevelt Hotel, SAGIndie,Seattle Film Summit, Shacksbury, Simple DCP, Stage 32, Stampede Ventures, Storyblaster, Studio 21,Talking Rain, TCL Chinese 6 Theatres, The Camera Division, The Venue @ Hollywood: SWEET!, Wildfly Absinthe, Zoe Kazan Law

Purchase tickets here.

Stay tuned to Reel 360 as we cover this year’s exciting event.

SOURCE: HOLLYSHORTS

 
Send your film and TV updates to Reel Chicago Editor Dan Patton, dan@reelchicago.com.