INDIE SHORT FEST

Trial By Fire

During the devastating Thomas Wildfire, inmate firefighters relish the opportunity to emerge from their restraints, finding serenity and a sense of purpose through the work that they devote their lives to.
Directed by Alex Astrella (USA)

The Web Opera

With “The Web Opera”, composer Michael Roth has assembled a team of progressive artists to create something completely new – an episodic through-sung web series based on true events, a groundbreaking and unique experiment in music, film, and new opera. “The Web Opera” tells of a group of college freshmen and the invasion of privacy that forever changes a young man’s life. “The Web Opera” also encourages and supports via its website suicide prevention and the fight against cyber abuse.
Directed by Kate Jopson (USA)

Tiana: Beginning

Logline: “Tiana” is a dystopian love story about the cutthroat world of future gamers.

“Tiana” is a cellphone-focused futuristic music video/love story shot 9×16 exclusively for mobile to be released in one-minute segments for a seven-segment arc. Set in a world dominated by primarily female AI celebrities created by a closed male-only club of creators who will go to any length to stay in the limelight. These are the gamers of the future.
Directed by Rachel Tucker (USA)

The Almighty Card

A psycho who holds a mental illness card to be able to do anything and everything he wants: making a scene and not paying at a restaurant, taking someone else’s taxi, barging into a university, killing, and so on without any form of punishment. Yet, is he really ill, or is he just abusing the card? No one knows…
Directed by Angela Wang (China)

Restart

An elderly man named Sandy, is given the opportunity of a life time, a chance to start over, to be young again. However, this procedure comes at a great cost, his memory. Now Sandy must choose between himself and losing his estranged daughter Claire, the only family he has left.
Directed by Ryan Williamson (USA)

Sweetheart

Simona gets out of a DUI by accepting a ride home from the cop, who turns out to be a security guard on a power trip. The more she learns about Richard Bland, the more she questions his true intentions.
Directed by Diliana Deltcheva (USA)

She Who Hears

Simone, a college undergrad, discovers her true identity as she unexpectedly falls for Andrea, a graduate piano major. As the two dive deeper into romance, Simone is torn by her harbored feelings for her ex-boyfriend. Ultimately, she must choose between her familiar past or embrace her true identity and embark on a new chapter.
Directed by Alexi Papalexopoulos (USA)