By Dennis Tavernetti
“Stars in Shorts” from The Indie Series presented by Emerging Pictures in HD at USCB Center For the Arts Friday, October 5 at 4 p.m.

Synopsis: A great collection of new short films featuring some of the world’s biggest actors, including Jay Kamener in a delightful musical; Judi Dench turns to social networking to find a date; Kenneth Branagh as a parent of a child with paranormal abilities; Lily Tomlin gets lost on her way to an L.A. funeral; a story about a man who came for tea, starring Colin Firth and Keira Knightley; a young woman (Julia Stiles) who, fed up with her relationship with a married man, decides to meet his wife for coffee; and a man and a woman who have an awkward encounter at an indoor playground, starring Sarah Paulson and Wes Bentley.

Ratings &amp; Reviews: Too early for reviews, as this has just been released and USCB Center For the Arts is one of the first theaters in the United States to exhibit it.
Previewer Comments: These seven shorts are from the new Shorts HD channel and unusually star some very major and excellent actors who normally never appear in short films. The run time is almost two hours in total.  Much like the book short stories, movie shorts provide a lot of variety in a short period of time, but are an underappreciated genre. Give it a try and see some very good actors in seven different short films.

Rated: Not rated but likely to be considered PG-13 for some of the subject matter.

Tickets for adults are $7, seniors $6, students $5. Call USCB Center for the Arts box office at 843-521-4145 or purchase day of performance. Box office opens one hour prior to show time.

<em>Dennis Tavernetti is a resident of St. Helena Island and retired to the Lowcountry having a lifelong interest in the arts.</em>