LA Times

Elizabeth Snead

August 13, 2007

 

Brad and Angelina aren't the only ones who've been really busy with various family and film projects.

Jennifer Aniston's life is also taking a new direction. Literally. Her short film, "Room 10," will be part of the 13th Annual International Festival of Short Films and Short Market (ShortFest, for short) taking place from Aug 23-29.

 

Aniston's film - starring Robin Wright Penn and Kris Kristofferson - screens on August 26. Penn plays an emergency room nurse having marital problems and Kristoferson is a man holding vigil at his terminally ill wife's bedside in this film about "the true meaning of love and commitment," sez the press release. Yeah, take that, Brad! The film premiered in October 2006 at the Directors Guild of America, where Kristofferson told AP: "What I really like about (Aniston) is that she knows what she wants. And she's not afraid to tell an old guy like me what to do and how to do it."

 

Also on Aug 26, Palm Springs International Film Festival Rising Star recipient Bryce Dallas Howard will make her directorial debut with "Orchids," starring Alfred Molina and Katherine Waterson (Sam Waterson's daughter) in a moving story about a young photographer who rescues a grieving widower from self-imposed imprisonment in his mansion. Both Aniston and Howard's shorts were based on scripts that won Glamour's Reel Moments competition and were written by the magazine's readers.

 

Other star-studded short subjects at the fest will include: James Gandolfini, Louis Gossett, Jr., Joe Mantegna and Steven R. McQueen (Steve McQueen's son) in "Club Soda;" Patrick Stewart and Joanna Lumley in "The Audition;" Hugo Weaving narrating "The Girl Who Swallowed Bees;" Ron Livingston in "Life Happens;" Margaret Cho in "Love is Love;" Ron Silver and JoBeth Williams in "Call it Fiction;" Wendie Malick in "Waiting For Yvette;" Richard E. Grant in "Always Crashing in the Same Car."