EXCLUSIVE: The lineup for the 2026 edition of HollyShorts features a host of big names in front of and behind the camera including Renée Zellweger, whose directorial debut They is in the lineup, alongside projects featuring Judi Dench, Michael Keaton, Martin Freeman, Alexandra Shipp, Vincent Cassel, Jordan Peele and Michael Caine.
High-profile exec producers on this year’s films at HollyShorts include Zoe Saldaña, Margot Robbie, Barry Keoghan, Idris and Sabrina Elba and Serena Williams.
There are 430 short films in all in this year’s program. As well as Zellweger’s 2D animated short They, there is Martin Freeman-starrer Little Bug, the story of Laika, the first dog to orbit Earth aboard a Soviet space mission. Also screening is Sean Douglas-penned Sweetwater, directed by and starring Michael Keaton opposite Kyra Sedgwick and exploring the intersection of grief, nostalgia and tech.
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Jordan Peele-produced horror Spilled Milk, directed by Jared Leaf and starring J. Alphonse Nicholson and Kid Cudi, is in the lineup. Elsewhere, Vincent Cassel leads sports drama The Colosseum, and Michael Caine lends his voice to the wartime drama Bobby.
There are several notable British entries including Joke, directed by Bob Cryer, son of late English comedian Barry Cryer, and starring Judi Dench, Stephen Fry and Alison Steadman. There is also Pippa Lore Feldberg Collins’ Gobstopper, starring Mia McKenna-Bruce and Annabel Scholey, which is executive produced by Barry Keoghan, and BRUVVAS, directed by Katie McGuinness, who also stars alongside Ben Whishaw.
It’s Complicated, executive produced by Zoe Saldaña and written by and starring Iman Karram, is also in the HollyShorts lineup. Margot Robbie is among the exec producers on Get Her Back!, starring Lana Condor, Owen Teague and Kaia Gerber and written by playwright Leah Nanako Winkler.
Other notable selections include Selah, Lara Everly’s comedy-drama starring Milana Vayntrub and Sophia Meloni’s Chop Cheese, starring Michael Gandolfini and Christopher Meloni. We had an exclusive firstlook at this one earlier this year.
HollyShorts runs August 13–23. The 22nd edition of the Oscar-qualifying festival takes place at the TCL Chinese Theatre and at the Ovation Hollywood entertainment complex in L.A.
