The HollyShorts Opening Night celebration, which takes place on Thursday, August 6th at the DGA Theatre, marks the Hollywood Premiere of “Kidnapping Caitlynn,” a short film starring Jason Biggs (American Pie), Julie Benz (Dexter), Rhys Coiro (Entourage) and Jenny Mollen (My Best Friend’s Girl) Directed by Katherine Cunningham-Eves (Murdering Mamma’s Boy), all confirmed to attend and participate in a special Q&A session.

In addition, acclaimed cinematographer Darren Lew  will be honored with a showcase of three top short films that Lew has shot including:

*”Streak” Directed by Demi Moore (Bobby)
*”Welcome” Directed by Kirsten Dunst (Spider-Man)
*“Bugcrush” Directed by Carter Smith (The Ruins)

And HollyShorts will present director Eli Roth (Inglorious Basterds) with the inaugural HollyShorts Indie Film Visionary Award.

Tickets for the Opening Night Celebration are $20 and can be ordered at hollyshorts.com

On Saturday, Hollyshorts is proud to be sponsoring a special Webisode competition where proceeds from category submissions along with one dollar from each ticket sold for opening night will be donated to "Heroes" Actor Jimmy Jean-Louis’ charitable organization Hollywood Unites for Haiti (HUFH.org) who’s mission is to promote sports and cultural activities to the underprivileged youth of Haiti.

The event will be held on Saturday August 8th on the patio rooftop of the Kress nightclub in Hollywood and will feature screenings of web series in competition and special screenings of "Dr. Horrible’s Sing A-long Blog", "The Guild" and new web series "Floored and Lifted"

Guest Judges "Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog" creators and "Dollhouse" writers Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon will choose the winning web series and present first prize, a $500 in store certificate from Indie Rentals Hollywood.

Noted choreographer, dancer and on camera personality Chantal Robson will host the evening, which will showcase a silent auction of donated artwork from BRANDAID project, raffles for donated prizes from PUMA, Jones Hollywood, VDF Tattoo.

The evening will culminate with a special unveiling of a portrait of Jimmy Jean-Louis by Pop Artists NICOLOSI who will be on hand to autograph and sale of selected limited edition pieces, proceeds going to HUFH.

To attend, RSVP by emailing rsvp@hollyshorts.com

The 5th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival runs from August 6th thru August 13th.