Category: Films in Competition

When whip-smart June strikes up a conversation with a charming man at a bar, it doesn’t take long before she realizes he’s married. Instead of backing down, she decides a little verbal sparring might teach him the error of his ways. Unfortunately for June, the lesson to learn isn’t his.
Directed by Alexandra Antonopoulos (USA)

“The Wonder” is a reflective journey exploring the human sense of awe and wonder amidst the landscape and wildlife of Kenya.
This film follows the story of Ninian Lowis, a safari guide who has spent much of his life amongst the wilderness of Africa – surrounded by rich savannah, mountains, forests, deserts and the extraordinary creatures that reside within these very landscapes. The story revolves around his reflections of how nature helped overcome a sense of purposelessness during his youth, and how he came to realize that a sense of solitude and deep exposure to wild environments had the ability to awaken his senses.
Directed by Goh Iromoto (Canada)

In the darkest night, Maria returns to house between tears. There they wait for his husband, his daughter and a terrible secret.
Directed by Allan J. Arcal (Spain)

A man hires a company to win back his ex girlfriend.
Directed by Jack Zullo (USA)

“Beloved Stranger” narrates the story of an underground boxer that is blinded by ambition, and whose obsession ends up challenging his relationship and marking his own destiny.
Directed by Marco Gasser and Fabio Gasser (Spain)

Experience the First of One Thousand and One Nights.
Young, adventurous writer Hans Christian Andersen is out of ideas and in a hurry to catch the train home when he meets the beautiful yet dangerous Princess Scheherazade of the tales of “One Thousand and One Nights”. He is inspired to save her from being killed by the angry sultan, and thus begins the affair between Andersen and the Princess… Can stories heal souls and perhaps change the world?
Directed by Rogier van Beeck Calkoen (Spain)

A Honduran-born man in the United States campaigns to keep alive the tradition of the Wanaragua dance of the Garifuna people. The dance memorializes the Garifunas’ three-decades-long fight against the British on the island of St. Vincent in the late 18th century, where they escaped the fate of enslavement. The Garifunas are a people descended from the intermingling of Africans and native Arawak Indians. They have their own language, music and religious practices.
Directed by Walker Simon (USA)

Meet “Kim” (Michaele Nicole). Kim is a woman in her mid-30s who is insanely popular on social media. Selfies are LIFE to her, as is wearing scantily clad outfits to ensure that ALL the men love her, and ALL the women want to be her. If you clicked on her social media profile, you’d think that she has the absolute perfect life. Every single picture she posts is perfect. Every location she posts them from is perfect. Every status update gets thousands of “likes”. You get the picture. She is caught up on social media. The only problem is that most other aspects of her life are empty. She is jobless, homeless, and not as confident. The guy (“Lee” played by Demetrius Lovejoy) who she’s really interested in isn’t at all wrapped up in this online persona.
“Miss Represent” takes the ever familiar social media world and cleverly presents it to viewers in a fashion that is rarely seen on film by taking a social media platform from the internet and turning it into an actual place…a woman’s living room! Every person represents a reaction (like love, haha, angry, sad, and wow). This is a story about how being yourself is always better than “misrepresenting” yourself to the world of social media.
Directed by Ken Lewis (USA)

This film is a dark comedy based on a group of Rhode Island has-beens that never were. However, the names have been changed to protect the ignorant. “The Lolipop Gang” is comprised of a group of amateur gangsters that want to make a quick buck. Nick the Genius Sargenti played by critically acclaimed actor Joe Nemchek portrays a person who is a combination of an opinionated Archie Bunker, a smart Ralph Kramden and a less violent Tony Soprano. In the film, he is a successful Rhode Island businessman who owns several properties. His best friend Tommy Windmill played by Joe Cockers guitarist Cliff Goodwin has struck a deal with selling illegal lollipops. However what they are doing is very legal and in fact, breaks no laws. They actually lose money in the endeavor. Part of the reason they lose money is because they have to pay extra for shipping and both Tommy and Nick are not very good at basic math. Many of these individuals that are part of their gang are having a midlife crisis and feel they need to prove themselves. Nick is involved with Kim F’ing Barnes played by Jeanne Basone from the Original GLOW series. Kim in the film was one of the best strippers in the state of Rhode Island until she snapped her pelvis in a horrible mud wrestling accident. Her best friend Shelly Nunchucks Vera played by ECW pro wrestling legend Angel Orsini has a brother Tiny Very played by World Record holder and award-winning director Christopher Annino. Tiny is Nicks right-hand man and just like the rest of the members of The Lolipop GANG believes in his BS. The film focuses on how a small town can be very small minded both in growth and in thought. It is a new modern-day emperor’s new clothes.
Directed by Christopher Annino (USA)

“Sare jahan se acha” is a story of a little girl who has a little secret stored inside her little heart, a secret that breaks her heart into a million pieces when she thinks about it. The movie uses Iqbal’s famous tarana-e-hind to showcase the ground reality of a nation called great by many. The little girl’s trauma is used as a background to explain the deplorable condition our nation is in. It addresses the issue of child abuse in a subtle manner, just giving a glimpse of what it feels to be robbed of one’s honor and dignity at a tender age. Also, it focuses on the issue of mental health of children who get abused sexually and have no one to share it with. This movie is a window for the little give to show to the viewers what millions of girls and boys go through in their childhood and don’t get the help and support they need.
The story also reflects on how contradictory our teaching in school is to the actual condition of our nation. This movie is an effort to give voice to hundreds of children who suffer during their childhood but whose story remains unheard and unvalued. This story is a glimpse into a disturbed childhood and how it questions the very nature of the future of our beloved nation.
Directed by Gurprasad Singh (India)