Petits Salons Presents: Evolution Mallorca Shorts Night
On Monday, February 23rd at Petits Salons, we celebrated a night of short films from Evolution Mallorca Film Festival, as well as the festival’s incredible founder Sandra Seeling Lipski.
Doors opened at 7pm with live music from Sun Suede in the Wiggle Room. Around 8pm we moved out to the fire deck for the screenings. This powerful short film selection shines a light on stories about women — complex, resilient, and instinctively driven — navigating turning points in their lives.
Our lineup includes:
Synthesize Me – Bear Damen (SXSW Premiere)
A Place Between Us – Daniela Garza
Someday It Is – Carissa Gallo (Starring Jodi Balfour)
The Heart of Texas – Gregory Kasunich (Winner, Goldfinch Innovation Award EMIFF 2024)
Sandra Seeling Lipski founded Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival back in 2012 as a way to celebrate independent cinema coming out of the island. The festival quickly grew into the “Sundance of the Mediterranean,” honoring independent film from around the world with a distinctive focus on new talent and outstanding cinematography.
In addition to her work with Evolution Mallorca, Sandra is the founder of The Festival Key, a consulting company that empowers new filmmakers to navigate the festival circuit strategically. The company works with filmmakers at all stages of development via one-on-one consultations to form the best film festival strategy for their individual project. They also consult with burgeoning film festivals to help them strengthen their own programs and achieve their goals.
Sandra and Evolution Mallorca have been supporters of CMP since the beginning. In 2022, In Her Name was selected for the festival, and we traveled to Mallorca for the event.
Sarah was featured in the panel "Finding Your Feet in the International Film Market" alongside Kim Magnusson, an Academy-Award winning producer who CMP is now collaborating with on an upcoming project. It was one of our favorite festival experiences to date, and started an ongoing relationship with the festival.
We were invited back to Mallorca this past year when Scene House (dir. Annabella Fazio) was selected for the festival. We could not be more honored to be included in competition against such inspiring works.
Other highlights included connecting with Lee Broda at the Women in Leadership Panel, which helped inspire our move into producing for other filmmakers; speaking with cinematographer Ed Lachman following our screening of In Her Name, where he generously shared his perspective on the use of music in film; and seeing these threads continue to connect through our growing Petits Salons community — where we’ve already had the chance to celebrate emerging filmmakers like Alex Burunova, who recently screened Satisfaction with us after receiving the award for Best Emerging Director at Evolution Mallorca.
Lee Broda on the panel for producing Call Jane at Evolution Mallorca 2022.
Annabella Fazio and Alex Burunova at Evolution Mallorca 2025.
Alex Burunova winning the Best Emerging Director award at Evolution Mallorca 2025.
Sarah Carter and Kim Magnusson at Evolution Mallorca 2022.
More than anything, we have mutual respect for Sandra and Evolution Mallorca as visionaries and mothers of daughters watching us be reciprocally supported by family, friends, and growing community.
Petits Salons is an ongoing collaboration between Petit Ermitage, Cheshire Moon Productions, and Blkbrd Films. Don't miss out on these very special evenings and unique opportunities to network with fellow arthouse film lovers!
Annabella Fazio accepted to Breaking Through the Lens
Congratulations to Annabella Fazio for becoming a finalist for Breaking Through the Lens!
Breaking Through the Lens’s 2026 Finalist Cohort showcases five extraordinary feature projects seeking finance. The non-profit will be supporting all five projects through the year with 1:1 mentorship, industry introductions, fiscal sponsorship access, and the opportunity to pitch their scripts to investors during Cannes Film Festival this May!
Annabella’s project is CAMINO, a queer reimagining of the Western, where identity, desire, and rebellion meet on a fading Spanish ranch. Written and directed by Annabella Fazio Mineghino, Produced by Jade Risser, Sofia Kunz, and Theodora Dunlap.
Since meeting Annabella at Not Film Festival and collaborating with her on Scene House, it has been incredible to watch her soar. We’ll be cheering Annabella on at Cannes this year, where she’ll be pitching Camino to investors.
Breaking Through the Lens is a non-profit advocating for women and LGBTQIA+ filmmakers by offering vital support at the financing stage. We thank them for the incredible work that they do, and their support of Annabella.
The other four finalists are I Brought You Into This World, Thirstygirl, Exodus Stories, and The Fire in Us. Congratulations to all the filmmakers!
Screen Your Film at Petits Salons
Petits Salons is a collaboration between James Aaron Oliver, Darby Gaelle Hannon, and Sarah Carter in partnership with Cheshire Moon Productions, BLKBRD Films, and Petit Hermitage — a space for artists, filmmakers, investors, and friends to connect. Each evening begins with live music inspired by the film and closes with a Q&A designed to spark meaningful conversations and encourage fellow filmmakers to follow their creative instincts despite the challenges.
If you have a short film or feature you’d like to submit for consideration, or if you’re a musician interested in performing, we’d love to hear from you!
Please contact us using the link below.
Be sure to include:
A link to your film or music
A short bio
A brief description of the project
We look forward to discovering and celebrating your work!