Malia Aniston and Danielle Patton, two female directors, have only been working together for 9
months as directors at Dwarf Star Films a filming company. They created a beautiful film together called The Sleepover. The Sleepover was released at the 49-Hour Film Festival put on by Los Burros Media. This film has been received with the accolades throughout the festival! Featuring an almost full female cast, The Sleepover follows high school friends having a sleepover. Starring actresses Mikaela Brown-Cestero, Faith Lancaster, and Victoria Kelemen, The Sleepover focuses on the girls’ conversations about make-up, social media and boys until the cast make shocking revelations.
In a shocking study through Women and Hollywood, out of 837 films released by 8 studio and mini-major companies 2015-2021, a large portion, 86.3% of those films were directed by men. “It’s a wonderful experience to go to these film festivals and to actually receive an award at one is surreal. Being a female director, I’m always faced with not being taken seriously enough in my role. After getting these awards I feel like people judge me on the skill/craft compared to my gender. I wouldn’t be the director I am today without my amazing cast and crew.” Patton says. The duo is a fresh breath of air for the industry. Las Vegas is booming with fresh film opportunities, and the pair are ready to take them on. “I have some big plans” says Aniston. “I have some other films in the works that I’m really excited about.”
The Sleepover took home second place overall in best picture as well as best musical score.
The 49-Hour Film Festival, based out of Downtown Las Vegas, featured several film teams who
competed to win a $1000 cash prize for first place. The teams were given their topic with just 49
hours to complete their 4-7 minute films from start to finish. The screenings took place in
Downtown Las Vegas at Art Houz Theater on December 1st. This was the festival’s first year.
When All Ages of Geek asked Malia Aniston about their favorite geek culture topics they said “ Love to play video games and stream on twitch every so often. Love dead by daylight, little nightmares, RDR2, GTA, Last of us. As a director and game lover, I’m extremely excited for the new HBO series for Last of Us.”
About The Directors
Patton started filmmaking in 2016 and joined Dwarf Star Films in 2021. Patton is known for her
color correcting and directing skills for several Dwarf Star short films. Aniston started making
personal film projects in middle school, then graduated to commercials, music videos, and short
films in 2020 through another local film studio, Simple Equations Media. Malia joined Dwarf Star
Films in the spring of 2022. Malia Aniston is a 27-year-old film director located out of Las Vegas,
NV. Danielle Patton is a 24-year-old film director out of Las Vegas, NV.
Follow the Directors on Instagram
Malia Aniston: www.Instagram.com/Maliaaniston
Danielle Patton: https://www.instagram.com/danielle_m_patton_/
About Dwarf Star Films
Follow Dwarf Star Films
https://www.instagram.com/dwarfstar_films/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVS2FmzztEU1JhtElXr3NJA
To learn more about the 49-Hour Film Festival in Las Vegas, visit
https://www.losburrosmedia.com/the-49-hour-film-festival
Source: Women and Hollywood
https://womenandhollywood.com/resources/statistics/2021-statistics/#:~:text=This%20is%20a%
20gender%20ratio%206.3%20male%20directors%20to%20every,held%20into%202020%20and
%202021.
