Kicking off Friday, the Indie Short Film Festival is back in full-swing for its third year in Charlottesville, cementing the Indie Short Film Festival as a Charlottesville staple. The festival will run from Friday through Sunday with showings of around 130 short films in venues along the Downtown Mall, as well as panels, a cinematography workshop and a launch party for the festival featuring live musical performances.
In the Oscar-nominated movie “One Battle After Another,” Bob, a former left-wing militant played by Leonardo DiCaprio, has retreated to an isolated cabin in the woods with his teenage daughter, Willa, played by Chase Infiniti. When Bob questions Willa about the genders of some friends she plans to attend a dance with, she storms off to her bedroom, shouting, “It’s not that hard!” Chris Cortner, a University of Virginia alumnus and set designer, helped build that bedroom. His work, along with that of production designer Florencia Martin and set decorator Anthony Carlino, is now nominated for an Academy Award for best production design.
Karen Zipor knew she would eventually end up in Hollywood, but her career has still come as something of a surprise. “If 21-year-old Karen knew what was coming, she would not believe it,” said Zipor, who graduated from the University of Virginia in 2022 with degrees in drama and computer science. Since graduating, Zipor has worked on productions for Disney, DreamWorks, and Netflix, among other studios. She’s produced the talk show “Brittany Broski’s Royal Court,” which has featured guests like singer Harry Styles, comedian and “Saturday Night Live” star Marcello Hernandez, and Oscar-winning actor Jessie Buckley. She even started her own production company and has made both live and animated short films.
