For eight days (April 25 to May 2), film fans in Orange County have occasion to enjoy a special treat as the 14th Annual Newport Beach Film Festival brings more than 350 films from more than 50 countries to the city. On April 29, six short films by CalArts students and alumni will be screened as part of the festival’s Collegiate Showcase.

The films selected are no strangers to festivals, having also screened at Slamdance, the Telluride Film Festival, the Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival and the San Francisco Indie Film Festival, among others.

Screening in the festival’s CalArts Showcase in Newport Beach are the following shorts:

* Pearl Was Here – Kate Marks (Film/Video MFA 12)

* A “little sh–” finds solace in a sea of stuffed animals.

* Andy – Andrew Ahn (Film/Video MFA 11)

* After church, Charles and Joyce take their 6-year old son Andy to a shopping mall for a relaxing afternoon. Bored and hungry, Andy can’t sit still and roams about the mall.

* Hey – Anantha Perumal (Film/Video MFA 14)

* Two students meet in a lonely stairwell.

* A Time in a Dark Cloud – Rebecca Sgan-Cohen (Film/Video MFA 11)

* Emily returns home to spend the weekend with her mother. In her first night back, she goes out to the local bar, meets a good-looking stranger and goes home with him. The encounter prompts her to reflect on her choices.

* Caterwaul – Ian Samuels (Film/Video MFA 11)

* Bernie, an aging fisherman struggling to find closure with his lost wife, develops an unusual relationship with a lobster.

* Miguel Alvarez Lleva Peluca (Miguel Alvarez Wears a Wig) – Araceli Lemos (Film/Video MFA 12)

* Miguel Alvarez, a man in his 50s, has to face the fact that he has cancer. When his doctor suggests he wear a wig, he is drawn into the adventurous world of wig aficionados.

Screenshot from “Pearl Was Here” by Kate Marks, Film/Video MFA 2012.