FILM SYNOPSIS

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Famous
Director/Writer/Producer: Martha McGrath
Music artist Famous struggles to stay sober while his seemingly perfect brother and producer, Plain Wayne, is adored by the media for being his savior. But away from the cameras, it may be Plain Wayne who has been orchestrating each of Famous' relapses to cocaine, wanting to keep his brother under his control. As music artist Famous gets a new chance at life and love, he begins to see the truth about his brother.

Gap Weekend
Director/Writer: Todd Norwood, Producer: Art Hall
A heartbroken guy befriends an offbeat girl after posting his dating manifesto online. As the two spend a weekend together in a pretend relationship, a connection grows that may both heal and complicate aspects of their real lives.

Italian for Travelers
Director/Writer: Von Kochar, Producer: Von Kochar, Sona Stamboltsyan
A journalist used in a plot to assassinate a dissident suffers from a disorder in which she repeats words and phrases heard in the past.

Love and Support
Director: Joe Furey, Writer: Joe Furey, Howard S. Berger, Producer: Suzi Tunney
A comic story of love bordering on insanity. Martin Lewis's girlfriend just dumped him. His life is going nowhere until he joins a support group for lonely hearts and meets Russell. Martin agrees to help Russell win back his lost love and through a series of misadventures travels a winding path towards self-discovery.

The Anxiety of Laughing
Director: Robin Uriel Russin, Writer: Andrew Justvig, Producer: Jennifer Price
When Joey, a young man disabled with Cerebral Palsy, is about to marry his able-bodied fiancee Leah--against the objections of her mother--their lives take a drastic turn when Leah is in a serious car accident.

When You are Gone
Director/Writer: Rafael Altamira, Producer: Rafael Altamira, Elizabeth Diaz
After the kidnapping and murder of his wife, A now widowed man is haunted by her ghost and begins getting blackmailed by an unknown individual. He races against time to connect all the dots as he starts losing his own grip on reality in this suspense thriller.

12 Months of KAI
Director/Writer/Producer: Mutsumi Kameyama
Kyoka, who works as a web director in Tokyo, gets a personal care humanoid (PCH) Kai. Kai learns various things about the owner. Kyoka gradually invites Kai to "more emotions as a thing". The two get a new life and meet another PCH owner, Shin. And Kyoka accidentally gets "things that shouldn't be born". How will the two confront the unexpected "change in the world"?

Bone Cage
Director/Writer: Taylor Olson, Producer: Melani Wood
Jamie (Taylor Olson) works a wood processor, clear-cutting for pulp in small-town Nova Scotia. At the end of each shift, he walks through the destruction he has created looking for injured animals and rescues those he can. Adapted from a play by Nova Scotian author Catherine Banks, Bone Cage is a first feature from Halifax actor/filmmaker Taylor Olson that sensitively excavates the tragedy of how young people in rural communities, employed in the destruction of their environment, treat the people they love at the end of their shift.

Paper Dream
Director: Koichi Izuhara, Producer: Naoya Ootani
"Dreams can be a reason to live or a reason to die." The film depicts the harsh reality of part-time lecturers who are unable to find tenured posts to continue their research, tackling contemporary issues of the Japanese academic system such as the repayment of student loans, discriminatory low wages and mental exhaustion.

The Laws of the Universe - The Age of Elohim
Director: Isamu Imakake, Writer: Sayaka Okawa, Producer: Ryuho Okawa, Kaoru Ota, Hisaaki Takeuchi, Yoichi Utebi
This story takes place on Earth 150 million years ago. At that time on Earth, various aliens were living in harmony by accepting each other under the God of the Earth, Elohim. One day, a huge meteorite flies toward the earth at high speed. Before the meteorite hits the earth, a female soldier from the planet Vega, Yaizaer, narrowly protects the earth from destruction and a plan to annihilate the earth by Dahar, who is from the dark side of the universe. What will happen at the end of the battle for the survival of the Earth that involves the entire universe? 

All God’s Children
Director: Robert Lemelson, Chisako Yokoyama Adair, Producer: Ninik Supartini, Annie Tucker
Well over half a million children in Indonesia are on the autism spectrum and have varying difficulty with social interaction and communication. Idris is a nonverbal autistic boy living in rural Java who struggles to communicate and connect with others in his village. This is his story, and a story of how grassroots disability awareness movements, local cultural models of inclusion, and religious principles can unite to better support all members of a community.

Discovering Glendale’s Doctors House
Director/Producer: Russell W Harnden III, Writer: Peter Rusch
“Discovering Glendale’s Doctors House” offers an insider’s glimpse into the Victorian era in America. Museum Curator Peter Rusch hosts this entertaining historical tour, highlighting the home’s origins, recognizing the thousands of volunteer hours put into its restoration and exploring the lives of its notable early residents. Rusch also leaves no architectural stone unturned, from the character-defining exterior features to the most intricate interior details.

Love Art Revolution
Director/Producer: Felix Semper, Pablo Semper
The artist Felix Semper takes a sculpture of national hero Jose Marti to Cuba and collaborates with other artists and singers in Havana with his unique stretchable paper sculpture.

Motherland
Director/Writer: Vic Gerami, Producer: Vic Gerami, Henrick Vartanian
It took 106 years before the United States formally recognized the Armenian Genocide of 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. On April 24,2021, President Joe Biden became the first US president to officially recognize the Armenian genocide and to recommit preventing such an atrocity from occurring again. Tragically, history is repeating itself with Turkey's ongoing genocidal attack and ethnic cleansing against Armenians as we've witnessed recently in Artsakh. "Motherland" tells the story of this ongoing tragic chapter through the lens of Armenian-American journalist and LGBTQ+ activist, Vic Gerami.

Open Field
Director/Producer: Kathy Kuras
Meet quarterback Sami Grisafe, San Francisco 49ers coach Katie Sowers and other legends of women’s tackle football who played for the love of the game against all odds. With commentary from Hall of Fame running back Franco Harris, three-time Pro Bowler George Kittle, and 49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan, OPEN FIELD tells the story of the women who leave everything on the field in their drive for greatness, earning recognition and respect.

Rigged
Writer: Jim Wolfston, Producer: Jim Wolfston, Tracy Tracy MacDonald, Jill Thacker, Matt Zodrow
The recent U.S. college admissions scandal is not merely an aberration in an otherwise virtuous system. It lays bare a US higher education culture in which wealth and influence remain the predominant values. RIGGED examines how this obsolete value system favoring wealth in our higher education system grows the disparity between rich and poor and thereby undermines the future of American Democracy.

Road to Julien
Director/Writer, Producer: Kenzie Woodrow
When the pandemic stops a young filmmaker from meeting her newborn nephew, she begins documenting her months-long attempt to safely travel cross country and finally meet baby Julien.

The American Good Samaritans
Director: Ara Mnatsakanyan, Writer: Amber Karlins, Producer: Manvel Saribekyan
This is a story about survivors, about extraordinary people thanks to whom remnants of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian peoples were saved from total destruction. Their mission was to save human lives. The film is about those American humanists who provided invaluable assistance to the Christian nations during the First World War.

The Desire to Live
Director: Mariam Avetisyan, Producer: Peter Bahlawanian
Stories of the indigenous people of Artsakh, after the recent 44 day war with Azerbaijan and suffering a devastating loss of lives and land. The desire to live is really a right to live on their lands and be protected from the threat of war, genocide and crimes against their humanity.

The Race Epidemic
Director: Tony Shyu, Producer: Tony Shyu, Ronald Wong
Winner of the best documentary award of the Chinese American film festival, The Race Epidemic is about another outbreak caused by Covid-19 - An epidemic of racism against Asian Americans. With a politicized pandemic sweeping through the country and a president calling it the Chinese Virus, the rise of attacks and hate against Asian Americans is not surprising. Can naming a virus after an ethnic of people cause the outbreak of an epidemic of hate? Or is it something hidden deeper within American society? “Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.” The film takes a close examination of xenophobia and racism against Asian Americans caused by the Covid-19 outbreak.

A Biker’s Dream
Director/Writer/Producer: Ken Glaser
A Biker's Dream is Ken Glaser's whimsical homage to motorcycling, one of his lifelong passions. This 3-minute animated short film began as a poem, and evolved into a unique audio/visual journey that ventures beyond the confines of earthbound pavement.

Adventures with the Caretaker
Director/Writer/Producer: Peter Gardner
A man has a secret job taking care of creatures like Bigfoot, The Loch Ness Monster, and The Abominable Snowman.

Hey Toby Hey Owen: This is Not Sponsored by Valvoline
Director/Producer: Owen Dennis, Writer: Owen Dennis, Toby Jones, Madeline Queripel
Owen, Toby, and special guest Maddie, three out of work animation industry professionals, decide to watch a movie they've never heard of and go get an oil change at Valvoline (while making sure that you know that this cartoon is definitely NOT sponsored by Valvoline).

Reginald the Flying Llama
Director/Writer: Lauren Richmond, Writer: Lauren Richmond
A llama named Reginald has dreams that are sky high, because all he wants is to be able to fly. Will Reginald be able to take flight or is he destined to live out his life on land?

Suddenly
Director/Writer/Producer: Nic Gregory
The journey of a lightning bolt from sky to ground highlights the saying “life flashes before your eyes”.

Trojan Horace
Director: Scott Graham, Writer: Scott Graham, Ted Pratt, Producer: Allison Dean, Joel Reid, Astrid Williams
A group of Greek warriors try to pass through the walls of the great city of Troy, but meet their match in a clueless Trojan guardsman.

Billy Kills the Internet
Director: Lon Strickland, Writer: Lon Strickland, Producer: Tom Strickland, Doug Bresler, Carol Walsh
A terrible fungus (the internet) has emerged throughout the universe and it’s up to Billy and his faithful crew to stop it once and for all. This exciting short will wow audiences with a staunch rejection of the internet featuring fantastical special effects, impeccable sound design, and 1980s inspired music. Don’t miss this hilarious sci-fi fantasy epic!

Dr. Penelope
Director/Writer: Annika Hylmo, Producer: Annika Hylmo, Tom Rickman, Therese Lentz, Minna Madzunkova
Psychology student Julia reluctantly finds herself taking over her mother's practice and doing psychic readings with Dr. Penelope, the puppet her mother uses in her work. But as Julia discovers, Dr. Penelope takes over the readings. Julia finds herself in comical, yet serious situations where she questions herself and her intuition. 

Driverless
Director/Writer: Charles Pelletier, Producer: Stephen Foster
The first road movie with no drivers. When all that’s good about middle-class workers meets all that’s bad about corporate millionaires and all that’s wrong with technology, the inevitable result is a hysterical new comedy short that slashes the tires of corporate America.

El Fred
Director: Adriana Ledesma, Writer: Lianna Taylor, Producer: Sabrina Percario
A not-so-imaginary childhood friend returns as an unusual vigilante to protect a struggling single mother and her bullied son.

For Pete’s Sake
Director/Writer/Producer: Gerald B. Fillmore
Jim is going insane, he has been in the hospital forever. When the doctor finally arrives with his tests, the results are unexpected. A matter of laugh or death.

Ghosted
Director/Writer: Tracie Laymon, Producer: Tracie Laymon, Alex Lake
A woman with a lot of baggage falls in love with a man haunted by his past. Literally.

Ride Share
Director: Nate Hapke, Writer: Rosie Grace, Producer: Rosie Grace, Sophia Zach
In an effort to be more social, two friends find themselves consistently sharing rides to and from their friends' events. Along the way, their casual friendship begins to deepen into something decidedly more - complicated.

Soundman
Director: Debi Bradshaw, Writer: Elizabeth J. Musgrave, Producer: Frank Forte
A timid ornithology professor has spent years documenting a very rare bird only to experience technical difficulties during her anticipated presentation, leading to emotional unraveling but self-discovery in front of a very impatient audience. 

Fade
Director/Writer: Lin Zhou, Producer: Lin Zhou, Ran You
Shawn, an elderly man, is already familiar with everything in the world. He has his own analysis and views, and he has foreseen the results of many things. On this day, he sees his own destiny in a dream. He thought that it was the end of his fate, but the result of the event caused him to fall into the confusion of life: there is still something in this world that he will never understand, that is emotions and love of people.

Grace
Director/Writer: Wrya Mahmood, Producer: Wrya Mahmood, Dana Mahmood
A disabled person takes care of his mom after she is diagnosed with Covid-19.

Sticky Pinecones
Director: Travis Holt Hamilton, Writer: Michael Coscia, Producer: Travis Holt Hamilton
While out on a morning walk, a man is offered the gift of a smile and a sticky pinecone, and it changes his life forever.

The Aspirant
Director: Adam Orton, Writer: Michael A. Levine, Producer: Michael A. Levine, Mirette Seireg
In a future world, an Elder - a therapist/priest who ages slowly due to hibernation - struggles to contain his feelings when a brilliant young woman falls in love with him. But as their age gap narrows and their society is thrown into upheaval, they must decide what they truly want.

The Burden
Director/Writer/Producer: Allan H. Johnson
A lone woman. A mysterious box. A painful journey.

The Fixer
Director/Writer: Michael Schilf, Producer: Michael Schilf, Chase Kuker, Ryan D. Wood
The Fixer is a crime, action, drama about an extorted Mafia enforcer who must partner with the femme fatale hired gun who murdered his wife in order to save his daughter and liberate himself from a sadistic Los Angeles crime boss.

The Last Light
Director/Writer/Producer: Dave Craighead
Derek seems to have it all in life and he knows it. It’s not until his death that he learns of his life’s impacts and what it truly means to be alive.

The Patisserie
Director/Writer: Annette Bedrossian, Ani Mikirdichian, Producer: Annette Bedrossian, Ani Mikirdichian, Michael Arter
Jacob, a writer from New York, searching to understand the void within himself as a first generation survivor of the Holocaust, takes a journey to retrace his parent’s past. Interactions with the local owners of the Patisserie cause his entire outlook to change.

The Reliever
Director/Writer/Producer: Dexter Hemedez, Allan Ibanez
A young Filipino-American son is forced to look after an old, grumpy, bed-ridden patient after his undocumented father gets detained in Los Angeles airport.

Bodies Will Tumble and Roll
Director/Writer: Eli Vazquez, Producer: Lauren Nichols
When a dysfunctional BIPOC cheer squad are sent to the woods to settle their differences, they must learn to become a team to save their coach from serial killers.

Echoes
Director: Garrick Foxx, Natasha Makin, Writer: Garrick Foxx, Producer: Garrick Foxx, Alex Iraheta, Lorenzo Gonzalez
A group of friends go on a hiking trip but when they return they find out quickly the worlds not the same.

Scraps
Director/Writer: Tony J Rivas, Producer: Tony J Rivas, Sharon Reza
A young woman visits her boyfriend’s home and learns the meaning of family.

The Evil is Inside

Director/Writer: Martin Sharpe, Producer: Martin Sharpe, Benjamin Rigby

A recently divorced father confides to a friend that he's been seeing demons in the family home. 

Cocoon
Director: Yavar Darehzami, Producer: Samaneh Esmaeili
The short man, under the influence of the media, makes an artificial limb for himself, grows tall, comes out of his house, we see that everyone is short.

Disoriented Guide
Director/Writer: Diego Mejia Lartilleux, Carolina Mejía Lartilleux, Producer: Andrea Reyes Retana, Carlos Isaías Perez, Ismael Capistran, Pablo Martinez
To prove he is like his family of thieves, a young asthmatic man steals some valuable boxes from a mansion but when the robbery goes wrong, he has to pretend he is a touristic guide to escape.

Djibril's Forest
Director: Thomas Ceulemans, Writer: Kristoff Leue, Producer: Kristoff Leue, Saydou Kalaga
Djibril is a young Sahelian sheperd who travels far to find the forest his grandfather told him so much about. He pays a high price. He is betrayed and abused only to realise that this forest no longer exists. But then his father comes to his aid.

Dream
Director/Writer: Armen Arutiunian, Producer: Zare Isayan
Set in the Armenian countryside during the ongoing war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the late fall of 2020, Dream follows a taxi driver named Arto, who helps a refugee family, a mother and her three children, he sheltered during the war. 

Marie-Luise
Director: Hervine De Boodt, Writer/Producer: Marion H von Loewenstern

Three people and their fate mirrored in their chance encounters with each other. Hektor, the wayward dreamer, Marie-Luise, who is trapped in her childhood trauma, and Eva, the successful but unhappy actress who wants to escape the shallowness of her professional life. 

Troubadours Celestes
Director: Hervine De Boodt, Writer/Producer: Marion H von Loewenstern
The tale of our human existence and its various conditions, as well as the possibilites which are often beyond our imagination and expectations. The world around and within us is changing, and our full potential lies in acceptance, along with the flexibility to adapt to these changes. 

9 Minutes
Director/Writer/Producer: Gabrielle Archambault
A Scientist and a Video Chat Call Girl make a last ditch attempt for human connection as an asteroid hurtles toward the earth.

Addictions
Director/Writer/Producer: Sergei Stern
One has a human meat addiction but hates ketchup, another has a ketchup addiction but hates human meat. Who will compromise first? Is this surreal plot just a metaphor for..? You decide.

EP
Director/Writer/Producer: Pat Campo
An AI robot and his owner make a living by hacking into computers and stealing important electronic files. During their usual escapade, they stumble upon a hard drive containing EP. But what is EP?

Glory & Injustice
Director: Jamieson Tabb, Writer: Melissa Jean Martinez-Areffi, Bella Zoe Martinez, AJ Areffi, Sean E Crouch, Producer: Melissa Jean Martinez-Areffi, Bella Zoe Martinez, Max Wong
When a custody petition arrives, 13-year-old girl "Glory" must break her dad "Lord Injustice" out of a depression or they will lose each other forever.

Hold For Applause
Director/Writer/Producer: Gerald B. Fillmore
During the lockdown, everyone in Spain shows their gratitude to the health care workers by applauding from their windows at 8pm. Greg would like to join them but he?s too busy solving an international online relationship crisis.

My Sunshine
Director: John F Uranday, Producer: John F Uranday, Bobby Cloud
The passing of his wife and child, has Charles stuck in limbo trying to get himself back. Pain has a stronghold on him.

Nomad
Director/Producer: Jose Infante, Writer: Jamie Paolinetti
Rayne arrives into the town of Narnia, California by train on a high noon Monday, mid August 1877. A local rancher, Sam, has noticed Rayne stirring up trouble in his small quiet town and decides to confront Rayne on his intentions.

Tomboy
Director/Writer: Meagan Noel Fulps, Producer: Katie Sponseller
A young basketball player is conflicted when she's mistaken as a boy during a pick-up game at the park.

Good Vibes
Director/Producer: Xiang "Shawn" Cao, Writer: Dede Harlan
Good Vibes is a song about breaking free from pressure and living a life for real. In the music video, a spaceman escapes from his crushing spaceship and becomes a life-gamer which happens in a game world. When the collide happens in the space and shooting star appears in the game world, time and space have mixed and his life becomes real in the game world.

I Wish I Could Dance
Director/Writer: Tigran Sargsyan

Meet Me at the Barre
Director: Vera Wagman, Dawn Cobalt, Jill Remez, Karen Bankhead, Writer/Producer: Cynthia Gravinese
When her college sweetheart leaves her for a millenial, a disenchanted recently divorced woman finds solace with a motley group of co-ordinated and not so co-ordinated “dancers” at the local YMCA where they work out at the barre with a former Broadway dancer and drown their sorrows at The Happy Place, the other bar.

The Little Man
Director: Richard Kuller, Writer: Richard Kuller, William Hughes Mearns, Bernard Hanighen, Harold Adamson, Producer: Richard Kuller, Gregory Gast, Suzanne Collins
A college instructor, arriving at campus to practice by himself in the dance studio, encounters what seem to be other versions of himself.

A Life Within
Director/Writer: Claire Imler, Mady Dever, Producer: Kylia LaMure
After starting a new job as a home care nurse, a young woman determined to do her best forms a unique bond with her patient.

Chasing Phantoms
Director/Writer/Producer: Greg Berg
Nicole, pushed to her breaking point by a recurring nightmare of her mother's death, returns to her estranged step-father's house hoping he will use his invention to delete her haunting memory, but using the machine leads to more than she bargained for when it reveals what happened to her biological father.

Coma
Director/Writer: Aaron Adrian, Producer: Rania Sulfa
Amidst an important business day, Isabelle unexpectedly finds herself in a hospital when she received news about her father, who was absent for most of her life, in a coma. There, she meets her brother, Scott, with whom she has lost contact with since the passing of their mother. The siblings reunite but continue to argue about their father; Isabelle shows apathy while Scott tries to forgive.

Dreams of Ambivalence
Director/Writer/Producer: Ren Collantes
A single, irresponsible father with a knack for music supports and works hard for his young son after realizing that he has the potential to become successful in music with his natural talent. While doing this, the boy’s father realizes that he might be trying to live vicariously through his son.

Eternal
Director/Producer: Ivan Shalaev, Writer: Ivan Shalaev, Greta Vislockyte
A boy living with his father and grandfather tries to comprehend what is happening in the rooms hidden behind the iron doors. He seeks to change the lives of the flat's inhabitants.

Magician: Game of Detective
Director/Writer: Tanxuan Shi, Producer: Peipei Duan, Zeron Zhao
Zhang Cheng, a Chinese magician who wants to prove himself, is discovered by FBI agent Storm while he's studying in the United States. He will use his talent of face changing and traditional Chinese tricks to help the FBI catch the Japanese female burglar Octopus, who is proficient in face changing and cross dressing. A "face changing vs. face changing" game begins...

Pure Modern Love
Director/Writer/Producer: Katherine J. Espin
A Silent Film inspired by the the wonderful work of George Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue', we follow the post-corona love story of a young couple who find each other for the first time, despite them living in the same apartment building, and how they manage miscommunicating obstacles that prevent them from having a simple date. Their black and white normal lives, may or may not end up in blooming color.

Saving the Caretakers
Director/Producer: Mariana Gomez
The family Gómez Ruíz was already struggling with a son with autism and a toxic relationship with a daughter who has just been diagnosed with a mental disease, now they face a new challenge where they all must work together and stay stronger than ever: COVID.

The Normal Girl
Director: Lasley Lui, Writer: Lasley Lui, Producer: Kevin Li
Yuet is a university student who was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in high school. She is not able to have regular periods without taking birth control pills. Yuet lives in a single-parent family with her bossy mother. In her mother's mind, a woman who cannot be pregnant is not a woman. Under the pressure, Yuet desires for a rebirth.

To Be Traumatized
Director/Writer: Shelby Stewart, Producer: Emily McTyre
"To Be Traumatized" is an autobiographical journey of a young woman navigating hurt and healing after a doctor's moment of negligence. In a therapy session, she unpacks her most traumatic memory, shown through a series of dream-like vignettes.

An Qing
Director/Writer: Riri He, Producer: Jia Shi
On the day of her college graduation, Anqing, a girl who lives in Dallas, Texas, received a letter from her mother who had passed away a few years earlier. Through this letter, she finds out about the truth about her adoption. Anqing decided to go back to China and look for her biological parents. However, before she leaves, she must face the strong opposition of her adopted father.

Preservation
Director: Harlow Schuman, Writer/Producer: Laura Schuman
A short film about young love, saving the ocean, and the effort it takes to preserve things we care about.

Shutter
Director: Lua Maria, Writer: Kat Szabo, Producer: Jonathan Tirado
When new photography student Alex checks out a camera from school, they learn the camera has more than just film inside.

The Twin
Director/Writer: Aline Lino
A skeptical couple decides to try a supernatural game up secluded mountains. Surprisingly, their questions are about to be answered.

The White Rose
Director: Ian Kim
The story of the German students who resisted the Nazis by distributing incendiary leaflets told in stop-motion animation though the account of former member, George J. Wittenstein.

Thoughts and Prayers
Director: Lisa Gold, Writer: Terry Rossio, Producer: Meghan Anne Smith, Mike Colon, Phil Fischer
To do today: Eat breakfast, go to work/school, get shot. Yawn.

Viktoriya
Director/Writer: Harmony Smith, Producer: Tony Peña, Owen Beste
A young woman, who has been separated from her family, must find a safe passage out of her war-torn country.