The Palm Springs International ShortFest is the largest short film festival in North America. Its 32nd edition ran June 23–29, 2026, at the Festival Theaters in Palm Springs. According to information on their site, the festival screened “329 short films from 71 countries across 50 themed programs, including 52 world premiered. More than 7,000 films were submitted from 145 countries. Of the films selected, 41% were directed by women.” What the numbers alone cannot capture is the feeling of the place. From the moment I arrived, there was a wonderful energy in the air — so many friendly people gathering…
Author: Mehrnoosh Mazarei
Mehrnoosh Mazarei
Mehrnoosh Mazarei was born and raised in Iran. She moved to Southern California in November 1979. She co-founded and co-edited Forough, a Persian magazine dedicated to women's literature, between 1989 and 1991. Ms. Mazarei has published four short story collections in Persian and a novel in English. Her stories have been reviewed as outstanding Modernist stories in the textbook “Short Story in Iran” and one of them was selected and anthologized as one of the ten best short stories published in 2004 in Iran. Mazarei’s stories have been published in the Narrative Magazine (USA), The Literary Review (USA), Eighty years Iranian Short Story (Iran), West Cost Line (Canada), Alef today (Syria), Roadside Curiosities: Stories About American Pop Culture (Leipzig University), The Short Stories of the Word (Turkey), and Gallimard (France) Persian Loves (Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Short Stories) She lives in Carlsbad, California with her husband.