British Short Film White Lily To Play At HollyShorts Film Festival

Tristan Ofield’s science-fiction short film White Lily has been officially selected to screen at the prestigious HollyShorts Film Festival in Los Angeles in August. The annual event is now in its 13th year and was named by Indiewire as “LA’s biggest short film festival.” It is held at the iconic TCL Chinese Theatre and is part of the Official Academy Awards® Qualifying Festival.

Following its award success at the 2016 Summer Focus International Film Festival, in which it won five awards including Best Short Film, and official selection at the Sci-Fi London Film Festival, it caps off what has been an impressive year for the Kickstarter-funded short film.

The film explores the tense relationship between a spaceship captain and his co-pilot as they investigate a comet, when a technical fault cuts to the core of their relationship problem. Award-winning Director Tristan Ofield said, “To have White Lily screen at the TCL Chinese Theatre, the same venue where Star Wars premiered in 1977, is an indescribable feeling, and tops off what has been a phenomenal twelve months for me. Whilst I’ve enjoyed festival success before, this is a different level entirely, and is something I’m extremely proud of.”

White Lily’s festival run began at Mayhem Film Festival in October 2016, in its hometown of Nottingham, after which it achieved success at the 2016 Summer Focus International Film Festival. Nominated for ten awards in total, the Science Fiction short was also successful in the Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Sound Design and Best Visual Effects categories. Producer Sophia Ramcharan added, “I have produced short films of all kinds of genres from comedy to crime thriller, but for me White Lily stands out because of the ambition that we had for the film. Tristan’s attention to detail is incredible, and I believe that he’s sensitively explored the concept of love within a very technically challenging production. This film is a real team effort, and I’m very proud of what this collaboration has achieved.“

White Lily was filmed in Nottingham, UK in 2014 for a budget of £4,000, and a dedicated team worked on the special effects for over two years, work that has been rewarded with both Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Design awards in previous festivals. Previous years have drawn over 15,000 people to the HollyShorts Film Festival, and at last year’s event over $80,000 of prize money was awarded across the nine-day event. The 2017 HollyShorts Film Festival will run from 10th August until 19th August 2017.