A Los Angeles-based short film festival Salute Your Shorts Film Festival has announced its first wave of film titles for its 2024 edition. This first round of titles includes the Sundance's Special Jury Prize for Directing PISKO THE CRAB CHILD IS IN LOVE by Makoto Nagahisa, a compelling stop-motion TENNIS, ORANGES by Sean Pecknold, and a new horror work, TIGHT, from Jessica Barr.
The festival will take place exclusively in person from August 16-18 at the Assistance League Theatre in Los Angeles. Tickets and passes will be available soon.
Here is the first wave lineup for the 2024 Salute Your Shorts Film Festival — more titles to be announced.
A Lien
DIR. Sam Cutler-Kreutz, David Cutler-Kreutz
On the day of their green card interview, a young couple confronts a dangerous immigration process
BITE
DIR. Jorey Worb
After being sexually assaulted by her dentist, a formerly confident young woman endeavors to find the power within herself to stand up to her attacker. Based on the writer/director's personal experience.
Fairplay
DIR. Zoel Aeschbacher
A teenager in search of recognition, a worker ready to do anything to hit the jackpot, a senior executive at the end of his career who wants to prove to himself that he is still alive. Three characters who are losing speed on the competition highway...
Female Captive
DIR. Brit Crawshaw, Josh Hayward
A dive inside the mind of a female captive as all the different parts of her fight over what is true and what to do.
Flail
DIR. Ben Gauthier
An addled farce for the attention economy, Flail follows a distracted personal assistant as she frantically prepares for her boss’s birthday party. With her sullen brother David in tow, Allie careens through a blur of gridlocked parking garages and fast-casual salad chains, all part of her desperate quest to achieve a single thing that she initially set out to do.
Good Condition
DIR. Frank Mosley
Barry's starting over.
Loser
DIR. Colleen McGuinness
LOSER follows 22 year-old ALICE, who works at a frozen yogurt shop, on what turns out to be an unforgettable day of her life.
Martyr’s Guidebook
DIR. Maksymilian Rzontkowski
In "Martyr's Guidebook" Tony is the ultimate good guy—sometimes to a fault. From nabbing the smallest slice of cake in grade school to guiding lost strangers in the city, his kindness knows no bounds. He also shares a flat with a giant Angel.
My Tomato Heart
DIR. Benoît Le Rouzès Ménard
Madeleine is forced to quit her position at the neighborhood grocery store. Except that her job is her whole life; her colleagues, her only family. The quinquagenarian spends her last days of work fighting to save what is near and dear to her heart…
Nepotism, Baby!
DIR. Tij D'oyen
After her nepotism fails her, a fame obsessed young woman fabricates a conspiracy to jumpstart her career.
Paper
DIR. Charles Wahl
PAPER follows three interweaving stories about the vicious cycle of debt and desperation. A recent widow who has fallen behind on life’s necessary expenses, a professional debt collector with his own expensive habits, and a loanshark’s enforcer trapped within his own wheel of obligations.
Paris 70
DIR. Dani Feixas Roka
An emotional short film featuring Luisa Gavasa, Alain Hernandez, and Neus Asensi that has been nominated for the Goya Awards 2024 and has received an Honorable Mention at the Cleveland Film Festival in the USA.
Pisko the Crab Child is in Love
DIR. Makoto Nagahisa
Pisko's father is a crab while her mother is human. Pisko falls in love with her teacher, but gets her heart broken when he leaves her because she is a crab child. Her friend Kubokayo encourages Pisko to go on a trip, where she then confesses her feelings. This is a love story about Pisko.
Sangre Violenta / Sangre Violeta
DIR. Edna Diaz, Arturo R. Jiménez
Why does the Mexican government consider the feminist movement a bigger threat than most drug cartels? The compelling short documentary 'SANGRE VIOLENTA / SANGRE VIOLETA' interweaves three powerful narratives, shedding light on the motivations behind their activism in Mexico. These stories include a radical feminist collective, an inspiring survivor of an acid attack, and a grieving father who tragically lost his seven-year-old daughter to femicide.
Tennis, Oranges
DIR. Sean Pecknold
A robotic vacuum suffering from burnout quits its job at a hospital and sets out to find community and a greater purpose on a quiet street where two lonely rabbits are stuck in perpetual loops.
Terminally Ill
DIR. Chris Cole
When a rapper is summoned to his grandmother's deathbed, he engages in a madcap freestyle in a desperate attempt to prevent her from dying.
This Is Where I Learned Not To Sleep
DIR. Anne de Mare, Kirsten Kelly
Part quest for justice. Part journey towards healing. Decorated Nashville cop Mark Wynn wrestles with his own violent childhood while working to reform decades of domestic violence mishandling, cover-ups, and abuse from deep within law enforcement.
Tight
DIR. Jessica Barr
A woman grappling with difficulty finding sexual pleasure after childbirth falls back on an old coping habit.
TR(ol)L
DIR. Yourgo Artsitas
In 1999, a chain letter began to matriculate around online message boards. The goal? Get New Kids On The Block’s 1989 music video “Hangin’ Tough” on Total Request Live. Why? Cuz it wud b funny lmao.