Wholphin

YouTube launched their new high-quality, short content channel, The Screening Room, last week with four films, including Wholphin No. 1′s “Are You The Favorite Person of Anybody?”

The launch party kicked off with an in-theatre screening of the first four films and a casual Q & A with the filmmakers, and then moved upstairs for a rooftop party where mash-up DJ Synchronize Live featured a sneak peak at the next four films playing in the Screening Room starting in July, including Wholphin No. 1′s “The Big Empty,” as well as our very talented animator friend, Josh Raskin’s, John Lennon-starring short film, “I Met the Walrus.”

Check back for new films in the Screening Room every two weeks.

YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, filmmaker Rick Castaneda (The Golden Egg) and Wholphin’s Brent Hoff at the Screening Room launch.

In between the stellar shorts programs at this year’s Cinevegas Film Festival, we joined the former and new SXSW festival heads, Matt Dentler and Janet Pierson, respectively, at the blackjack table. Janet bet her husband that she wouldn’t gamble, but like a pro went on to rake in $200 in twenty minutes.

Cinevegas easily took home this year’s top festival schwag bag award with Nalgenes to keep us hydrated, hangover pills to keep us wide-eyed, and Grey Goose vodka which, unable to carry it on the airplane, we gave away to a nice cab driver on our way out of town.  

Thanks to festival programmers, Trevor Groth and Mike Plante who, as always, put on a fine show.

Wholphin’s Brent Hoff, SXSW’s Janet Pierson and Cinetic’s Matt Dentler at the blackjack table at the Palms.

Miguel Arteta and Miranda July’s short film “Are You the Favorite Person of Anybody?” and J. Lisa Chang and Newton Thomas Sigel’s short adaptation “The Big Empty,” both from Wholphin No. 1, have been selected as two of the first eight films appearing at the launch of YouTube’s premiere Screening Room — the new curated section of high-quality short content on YouTube. Another dozen Wholphin films have been selected to appear in the Screening Room throughout the year. We’ll keep you posted.