4th Annual Event to Take Place August 24th and 25th Starting at 7:30 PM
                    DGA Theater 110 -114 West 57th Street

    NEW YORK, Aug. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The Summer Shorts Film Festival,
formerly of East Hampton, N.Y., has packed its bags and moved to New York
City.  This year, Playboy.com plays host to the Fourth Annual Summer Shorts
Film Festival on August 24 and 25, featuring an array of comedy, drama,
animation and documentary entries, at the DGA Theater.  Summer Shorts'
highlights include the screening of five world premieres, and the film A Whole
New Day starring James Gandolfini (The Sopranos).  A special evening of
digital video production will be presented on August 25 supplied by Digital
Projection, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of IMAX Corporation, manufacturers
of high performance digital cinema projectors based on DLP Technology(TM) by
Texas Instruments.
    A Grand Prize of $4500 will be awarded for Best Short Film as determined
by the panel of judges, and a special $2000 Audience Award will be voted by
all filmgoers in attendance.  An industry panel of judges has been named for
this year's festival, and includes: Tom Fontana (producer, Homicide and Oz);
Megan O'Neal (Atom Films); Shawn Cailla Folz (Reelshort.com); Rob Walton
(senior editor, Arts & Entertainment, Playboy.com); and Sofie Sondervan
(POP.com).  Award winners will be announced in mid-September on Playboy.com,
and winning shorts invited to be streamed in their entirety on the web site.
    Tickets are $15 each evening and $25 for both evenings.  All tickets will
be honored for entrance into a special Playboy.com after-party on August 25 at
Exit (West 56th between 11th and 12th Avenues).  The DGA Theater box office
will open at 6 p.m. the day of show.  For more information, or to order
tickets, go to: http://www.playboy.com/promo/summershorts/ .
    The festival is produced by John Starace's Dragonfighter Productions.  For
the past 14 years, John has been a New York City firefighter, working at
Engine Co. 9 in Manhattan's Chinatown.  He attended Queens College around his
work schedule, ultimately earning a degree from the Film Studies Program.  A
member of the Screen Actors Guild, John's recent acting credits include The
Bone Collector (starring Angelina Jolie and Denzel Washington) and Bringing
out The Dead (directed by Martin Scorcese).  John and Dragonfighter
Productions are currently producing an Internet show called Filmzine, which
features in-depth interviews with the directors, producers and prominent
figures in the Independent Film scene.  Dragonfighter also produced Suite, a
short film directed by Russian film director Stanislav Libin, in which John
also starred.  The Summer Shorts Film Festival, now in its fourth year, boasts
a high-profile board of advisors: Steve Buscemi, Spalding Gray, Richard
Vetere, Israel Horowitz and Jeremy Wiesen.
    For more information on the films being screened, media passes to the
festival, or requests for interviews with John Starace, please contact Laura
Sigman of Playboy.com (212-261-5019).

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