Sugar23 And Short Of the Week Launch ‘Shelter Shorts’ To Support World Central Kitchen’s COVID-19 Relief Efforts

EXCLUSIVE: Sugar23 and Short of The Week have teamed up to launch the online charitable film series “Shelter Shorts” which will support World Central Kitchen’s COVID-19 relief efforts.

The initiative, which starts today, features short films by filmmakers shot inside their homes. Because of this, they tested their creativity and were limited to crew, cast, and materials available to them at their homes. Created by Some Kind of Heaven director Lance Oppenheim and filmmaker Max McGillivray, the initiative hopes that the series draws attention to COVID-19 relief efforts. Creatives from around the world are invited to participate by sharing their own work to the platform of their choice by using the hashtag #sheltershorts, and encourage donating to World Central Kitchen’s #ChefsforAmerica COVID-19 response.

“Shelter Shorts emerged from the fact that we were stuck at home and our productions were halted. We were itching to make things and find ways to help those in need,” said Gillivray and Oppenheim. “What began as an idea shared between two friends has snowballed into an exciting partnership with Sugar23 and Short of the Week. We hope this initiative will inspire anyone at home to make use of their pent-up creative energy and create art that can make a difference.”

Founder and CEO of Sugar23, Michael Sugar adds, “I’ve always believed that creativity flourishes from constraint, and being safe at home with little to no production resources poses an outstanding challenge to creatives right now who are desperate to get those juices flowing. We are thrilled to be supporting World Central Kitchen to bring some good to the world in this time of intense need and couldn’t think of better partners than Max, Lance and Short of the Week to make this happen”

“We’re proud to bring Shelter Shorts to filmmakers around the world during these difficult times,” said Jason Sondhi and Andrew Allen, Founders of Short of the Week. “Creativity is about rising to meet a challenge. In that spirit, we’re challenging our favorite film directors and the larger film community to come together and celebrate short filmmaking (while staying safe) to raise funds for those working on the front lines. We’re excited to see what you create from your shelter!”

World Central Kitchen was a non-profit founded by Chef José Andrés. The organization uses the power of food to strengthen communities through times of crisis and beyond. Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer along with Imagine Documentaries recently announced that they were working with National Geographic Documentary Films for a feature docu spotlighting Andrés and his humanitarian efforts through World Central Kitchen, which has transformed the field of disaster response to help devastated communities recover and establish resilient food systems.

World Central Kitchen’s COVID-19 Relief Efforts consists of a team of food first responders, mobilizing with the urgency of now to get meals to those who need them most. We’re activating restaurants and kitchens to feed marginalized and vulnerable communities and our brave medical professionals on the front lines, in order to make a meaningful impact in the fight to keep everyone fed, and to support the distressed restaurant industry.