LA Short Film Festival, Hanhai Studio go to school

The Los Angeles International Short Film Festival will collaborate with Hanhai Studio, the first Chinese creative production and technology incubator in the US, by creating a film academy at the studio's facility in Burbank, California.

"We reached out to them (Hanhai Studio) a month ago, and things moved quickly," said Robert Arentz, founder of the LA Shorts Fest. "We signed the agreement and moved to the space about a week ago. And now we are meeting teachers and instructors."

The first course, titled Parlaying Your Short Into a Feature, will be offered in October.

Founded by Arentz in 1997, LA Shorts Fest is one of the most prestigious international short film festivals in the world and the only with seven award categories recognized by the Academy Awards.

It started with a series of short films projected onto a wall on a quiet weekday night in a club, where people had to stand up and watch the films. Now it boasts a 265-film lineup at the Regal Cinemas at L.A. Live, adjacent to the Staples Center.

The purpose of the festival is to encourage young filmmakers, many of whom are students, to improve their craft.

"You can't look at the great filmmakers of today and look at their first two films and say, 'Wow! This filmmaker is destined for greatness. This filmmaker is going to be the next Steven Spielberg,' " said Arentz. "Filmmaking is a craft. It's developed over time. It's learned by doing it again and again."