HIFILM Panel: SHORTS, SMARTER
Short films are a powerful calling card—but today’s festival landscape demands strategy. This focused panel brings together a Sundance Film Festival Shorts Programmer and two filmmakers whose short films have enjoyed strong festival runs, including official selections at previous HIFFs, to explore how shorts can drive long-term careers.
From the programming perspective, the discussion examines what programmers are truly looking for: distinctive voice, strong craft, audience fit, and an understanding of programming realities. Panelists will also address current trends in short film selection and ask a critical question: Is there a life for your short beyond festivals?
The filmmakers will discuss how their shorts served as proofs of concept for feature projects, including one entering production this spring, and break down the path to Academy Award® qualification—from eligibility to mounting an effective For Your Consideration (FYC) campaign—offering actionable insight into shorts as a strategic career launchpad.
Irene Soriano Saxon is a Los Angeles–based film curator, festival programmer, and writer. She programs short films for the Sundance Film Festival and has curated film programs for the Norwegian Short Film Festival and the Outfest Fusion QTBIPOC Film Festival. She has moderated industry conversations and filmmaker Q&As for Sundance London and DOK Leipzig, and has served on juries including QCinema Project Market, Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival Market, Kortfilmfestivalen, Outfest LA, Palm Springs International ShortFest and the Nashville Film Festival. Through Studio Iró, her work centers on community, collaboration, and inclusive cinematic representation of diasporic Filipinos across global independent film spaces.
Nick Hartanto is an Indonesian-American filmmaker based in New York. His short film, The Dishwasher, which he co-directed, was awarded a Special Jury Mention at Tribeca 2019 and was then acquired by HBO Max. His next film, Atrophy, a genre bending story about his mother’s fight to recover from a stroke, premiered at Fantasia 2021 and won Best Performance at Brooklyn Horror Film Festival. Also a skilled Cinematographer, he shot the Adult Swim series Hot Package. His commercial clients include Condé Nast Traveler, Netflix, FiveThirtyEight and Wieden+Kennedy. He was recently a guest speaker at the Asian American Arts Alliance Film & Media Town Hall and is touring festivals with his new film, Daly City, which won an Academy Award-Qualification at Salute Your Shorts Film Festival making him the first Indonesian-American to be eligible.
Alexandra Qin is a French Filipino Chinese writer-director with a background in software engineering and prison reform activism. She is the founder of Emergent Works, a nonprofit that teaches formerly incarcerated people to code to help them secure well-paying jobs after prison. Her first short film, THIRSTYGIRL, was an official selection of Sundance ‘24 among 50 other festivals worldwide. The THIRSTYGIRL feature screenplay was selected for the 2025 Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Lab, the 2024 Black List Projects Lab, the 2024 CAPE List, and received the 2024 Gotham Week Honors. She is one of Vimeo’s 10 Breakout Creators of 2024. She is represented by Atlas Artists and UTA.
MODERATED BY: Melina Kiyomi Coumas is an award-winning filmmaker from O’ahu, Hawai’i who has worked in film festivals for almost a decade now. She is currently a lead film programmer and Programming Manager at HIFF, Director of Programming at Portland Panorama and Shorts Programmer at the New York Asian Film Festival and CAAMFest.
DALY CITY directed by Nick Hartanto:
THIRSTYGIRL directed by Alexandra Qin:
https://vimeo.com/alexqin/thirstygirl
HIFILM PANELS are for HIFILM members to participate in live. Join the conversation and chime in on the HIFF YouTube channel. Sign in and RSVP and a Livestream link will be emailed to you.
