INDIE SHORT FEST

Hypertrophy

When Mike stops making progress at the gym, he discovers an unconventional protein source that leads him down a sinister path.
Directed by Emily Tomasi (USA)

The Mermaid

An alluring woman with a secretive past, hopelessly longing for a relationship with her beloved fish, finds herself entangled in a bizarre twist of fate, as she unwillingly awakens as a mermaid and her fish a human. Together they are trapped in their star-crossed existence to either fight for their freedom or their love.
Directed by Natalie Paige Bentley (USA)

Bad Dreams

A boy wakes, something’s escaped the cellar. 
A deformed face looms over the boy with a harrowing scream.

The bad dream remembered by a Man as he shaves making him cut his neck. It bleeds. 
He checks the locked cellar door before work. 
In the Restroom, the Man sees bloody tissue on his neck, wonders ‘How many shaving cuts would it take to bleed to death?’

A Playing Field. Seasons pass as the man sits waiting, children play. Finally Arnold Granger, a pensioner, arrives. The Man remembers the smell of tobacco and toffee on his breath. 
Arnold and the Man leave. 
From the dark, the Man opens the cellar door, looking down at what screams below. 
He decides, his guest needs a shave.
Directed by Stuart Fryer (UK)

Caducea

Tom hides not only a deformed face behind his flamboyant Commedia dell’arte masks, but also a dark secret that won’t be divulged until decades later. 
Directed by Christophe Mavroudis (Belgium)

JKG

Patrick is so inspired to create music. He wants to be successful but his girlfriend, his luck and even cosmic forces at times, seem to be testing him. Desperate to be a part of the music world that so inspires him, he tries again and again to create. Several ridiculous setbacks force him to question it all. 
Directed by PK Simone (USA)

Volkov

When agent Matthew Shepherd looks into his brother’s mysterious disappearance, he discovers that sometimes it’s better to let sleeping dogs lie. Through a haze of dark visages, and hidden corners of the criminal underworld, he discovers that a devil walks the shadows. Only mentioned in whispers, the elusive Volkov is truly the epitome of fear and pity… and as his name suggests, a scarred and ravenous wolf, though human in form. Revered by gangsters, and worshiped by the corrupt, agent Shepherd discovers that even criminals have heroes.
Directed by George Dibble (USA)