Category: Films in Competition

Old high school friend Heather demands straight-laced Sara come over and so she can wine-rant about her shitty boyfriend. As the talk deepens with each sip, the question of who needs who in the friendship surfaces.
Directed by Kay Tuxford (USA)

Kennedy Blythe is given the opportunity to interview for her dream college. The problem is, she’s mute. Not wanting to pass up her dream, she enlists the help from the most unlikely places.
Directed by Kevin M. Turner (USA)

After her only true love left, Clara, the protagonist of this honest arthouse project, lived the most devastating experience of her life. Even though she tried to find her own ways of dealing with loneliness, nothing felt the same as it used to be when her girlfriend was around. Through powerful imagery and strong metaphors of love and life, Clara navigates the different stages of a detoxification process. What is she detoxing from? Can she detox people out of her live? 
What if the most distressing aspect of dealing with emptiness is facing that time might not heal everything and, after all, we might not completely recover from the loss of our only true love.
Directed by Katherine Cattani (USA)

A young woman believes her money troubles are turning her into something not human.
Directed by Christopher Shields (USA)

Vonnegut’s story introduces the audience to a world in which society is overpopulated and the United States’ Federal Bureau of Termination (FBT) exists to aid suicide and infanticide in order to maintain population control. The system requires that a person must voluntarily die in order to enable another human to live if born. In particular, the title references Shakespeare’s famous phrase, although it is pronounced “2 B R naught 2 B,” and simultaneously references the assisted suicide hotline dial code linked to the FBT within the context of this story. 
We are introduced to characters in a Chicago hospital waiting room and tension is high. One waiting room holds the fate of both an expectant father and the staff awaiting calls from those who have exhausted the delights of this earth and are ready to make way for the next generation. Will the phone calls come before the babies arrive?
Directed by Lucy K Moroukian (USA)

Grounded and home alone for the weekend, Bella finds herself trapped inside the house when a burglar breaks in.
Directed by Landon Coats (USA)

A tale of young child in NYC.
Directed by Craig Spencer (USA)

Music video for the song “Cloudbusting” by Snakeskin, a cover of the 1985 Kate Bush record. This narrative music video tells the story of the moon reflecting on the destruction of the earth by terrestrial and extra-terrestrial forces. Attempting to reconcile with the destruction of the planet, the moon sends a hero, played by Snake, to a mysterious version of earth to recover an “earth seed” which she hopes might reboot the cosmic forces that produce planets and allow the moon and her earth one more chance to try again.
Directed by William Bottini (USA)

Payam is writing on his second book while dealing with a depression after the end of a long term relationship. During the night he dreams of a woman in a blue dress. There is something about her that intrigues him. After going to his ex-girlfriends birthday party he decides to move to a cabin in the woods. One day, while hiking in the woods he sees somebody. It´s the woman in the blue dress. She is running. The following day he decides to try and find her, and after a while he does. He finds her sitting on a rock down by the water. She looks sad. Payam tries to comfort her, and she starts kissing him. The fall asleep by the water. When Payam wakes up she is gone, nowhere to be seen. Then, al of a sudden she arises from the water walking slowly towards him. She´s now wet and her face is covered in blood. He has seen her face like that before in his dreams. The sight scares him. He runs to his car and takes off. But she appears by the road only to disappear again. He runs in to the woods to find her again, losing his mind. When climbing a rock he falls down and hits his head and loses consciousness. Just before the last moment of consciousness leaves him he sees someone coming towards him. It´s her. She gives him a kiss. We see the trees dance and Payam is not moving. The woman in the blue dress is no longer there.
Directed by Martin Öhman (Sweden)

“Lessons Lived” is a story is about a grandmothers search for understanding from the imprisoned killer of her grandson Jamison Bertha suffers from an inner conflict between her religious beliefs of forgiveness and revenge.

The film is a dramatic portrait of loss of life as a result of gun violence. It portrays a slice of society that has lost it’s morality by senseless acts of violence. Bertha and her sister Uma look towards the past to reclaim the present in hopes of a better future. It is in this journey that the characters look into their own lives and see the wrongs they have committed against others, and themselves that present the opportunity to see that forgiveness is the only option for a peaceful and tranquil life.
Directed by Mark Vinzant (USA)