LA Shorts International Film Festival to screen 500 films from 55 countries 

The 25th edition of the LA Shorts International Film Festival will take place virtually from 1 to 31 July on The Shorts Network YouTube channel.  The event is among the largest short film festivals in the world and is accredited by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

Focusing heavily on international films this year, the festival will screen 500 films from 55 countries, which will feature in a total of 18 curated programmes. Some highlights include Save Ralph, a stop-motion animation produced by Humane Society International with voices by Taika Waititi and Ricky Gervais; the Academy Award-nominated documentary A Concerto Is a Conversation by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers; Go Fish by Ilia Wayans, the web-series Hudson Falls by writer-director Elias Plagianos with Richard Kind (Curb Your Enthusiasm). Paul McCartney’s animated film When Winter Comes and cellist Yo-Yo Ma's See Me: A Global Concert will feature in the Music/Dance programme. 

The Asia Programme includes films from China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Bangladesh and four films from India.