June 18, 2025
Three SMC Student Films Accepted into LA Shorts International Film Festival
Three SMC Student Films Accepted into LA Shorts International Film Festival
Festival Nominees Will be Qualified for OSCAR® & BAFTA Competition
SANTA MONICA, CA— Three Santa Monica College (SMC) student films, “Ends and Means,” “Fear and Tremble” and “No Return,” have been accepted as official selections in competition in the “Live Action” category at the prestigious LA Shorts International Film Festival. The festival runs July 16-28 at the Regal LA Live in downtown Los Angeles.
Entering its 29th year, the LA Shorts International Film Festival is the city’s longest-running shorts film festival. The festival is accredited by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences (OSCAR®), the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), and the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television (ACCT), presenters of the Canadian Screen Awards. The festival screens over 350 films and attracts 10,000 attendees each year including Hollywood industry professionals and emerging undiscovered independent filmmakers.
The selected short films were produced as part of the SMC Film Production Program’s Film 32 and Film 33 classes in which students are immersed in a professional filmmaking environment mentored by the program’s faculty, professors Salvador Carrasco, Simone Bartesaghi, and others. They feature an eclectic selection of styles and genres united in capturing important and historical American stories.
“Ends and Means,” directed by Karly Kato Bang, tells the story of Milagros (María Montenegro), a Mexican immigrant who works as a housekeeper for successful film director and ardent liberal Frank (Bobby Appelbaum). Their working relationship is tested when Frank invites for dinner an affable yet shady investor, Alfredo (Daniel Mora), who turns out to have a shocking connection to Milagros’s past.
“Fear and Tremble,” written and directed by Alci Rengifo, is based on the true story of Salvadoran poet and revolutionary Roque Dalton (Oscar Torres). The short focuses on an intense chapter in Dalton’s life when he was captured by CIA agent Harold Swenson (Wayne Hodges) for interrogation. In addition to Torres and Hodges, the short also features Damián Delgado as Joaquín, a Salvadoran commander, and Elisa Lucía as Aída Cañas, Dalton’s wife.
“No Return,” directed by Sebastian Carrasco, reimagines a scene from Spike Lee’s “25th Hour” as a sultry episode out of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961. A captured American mercenary (Bobby Appelbaum) faces the rage of a Cuban commander (Laura Urgelles). Trécey Dory also appears as Cabrera the Goon, a machete-wielding soldier ready to intimidate the captured American.
Over the years, 68 filmmakers presented at the LA Shorts International Film Festival have gone on to receive Academy Award nominations. For more information, visit www.lashortfest.com.
SMC student films have won numerous accolades—including production grants from the Golden Globe Foundation and the Russo Brothers Italian American Film Forum, co-production sponsorships from KESLOW Camera, Roundabout Entertainment, Enhanced Media, and the Next Generation Indie Film Awards Foundation; the Panavision Limelight Award at the Ojai Film Festival; Best Short at the Vienna Independent Film Festival, Palm Award at the Mexico International Film Festival, several Gold Remi Awards at WorldFest-Houston, Best Short at Port Blair International Film Festival in India, Best Short Drama at the San Diego International Film Festival; Best Short at the Prague Independent Film Festival; Prix Interculturel at the International Festival of Film Schools in Munich; and Winner at the Women's Independent Film Festival, among many other awards. In addition, SMC short films have been selected to screen in many other prestigious domestic and international film festivals.
SMC offers an Associate of Science degree and Certificate of Achievement in Film Production. To learn more, visit www.smc.edu/filmproduction or email Carrasco_Salvador@smc.edu. The film program—as well as the films that come out of it— is on YouTube as the “Santa Monica College Film Program” channel.
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