Director/Writer/Producer: Natalia Duzhenko
Director: Olha Hdulia
Country: Ukraine
Project Type: Short
Overview: A captivating exploration into a young man’s journey to find happiness in the arms of his soul mate. An exciting collision of emotions, expressed through the dance and led by the beat of your heart-it’s accentuating the bitter lows of loneliness and the exhilarating highs of passion, romance and love.
Director/Writer: Jindřich Vosecký
Producer: Ing. Miloň Terč
Sound: Ludvík Nedvěd, Marek Fialka
Country: Czech Republic
Project Type: Short
Overview:The society had been stabilised. The majority of diseases, the poverty and the unemployment had been eliminated. Happiness had been awaiting the human kind – but happy they have been not. Out of nowhere a wave of suicides has started to spread over the land. Enriko, a promising scientist, takes the best of the situation and starts the Laugh Club. Laura, a young introvert woman, decides to sign up for the Club after her sister dies, hoping to find a lost joy of life.
Director/Writer/Producer: Rickey Bird
Producers: John R. Blythe, Leonard Mcleod II, Adam Beck, Thomas Haley, Steve Sanders, Rachel Bird
Country: United States
Project Type: Long Short
Overview: Jim gets a promotion of a lifetime the same day the world may be struck by a large asteroid. Starring Kelli Maroney (Night of the Comet) and Thomas Brill.
Director Statement: I wanted to make a short film that had a message. The message here is to hug your loved ones daily. Because in the end. They are all that really matters.
Director/Writer/Producer: Justin Timpane
Producer: Daniel Ross
"Manny: Justin Timpane
Country: United States
Project Type: Long Short
Overview: Across time and space, an unlikely romance forms between two star crossed lovers, each trapped in a quantum bubble of isolation. When Manny, a sarcastic video blogger wakes to find himself in Quantum Isolation, his only companion is Heather, a vibrant single mother who can only communicate via video chat. Through their communications, we see the joy of love in bloom, and despair as that love is tested. Can Manny and Heather make it through this isolation... or will they remain... THE DISTANCED
Director Statement: The message of this film is one I think we all need to hear right now. Whether you take this time to do the things you always meant to, or whether you are just focused on making it through: there are NO BAD CHOICES. They're all worthy.
Director/Writer/Producer: Paul Roberts
Country: United States
Project Type: Feature, Documentary
Overview: Diagnosing Healthcare offers solutions for the COVID-19 crisis. The film is an exploration of health care with human rights at the center that offers innovative solutions for all humanity.
Director Statement: The notion of creating a health care reform documentary resulted from frustration with moving health care reform through congress. For that reason, I had the idea of creating a documentary with the goal of introducing health care reform to the general public. The hope is to inspire a grassroots uprising which places pressure on congress to enact change for the better. However, the proposed solutions introduced in the film apply around the globe, not just in the U.S. My mission, therefore, is to change health care for the better around the world. The health care solutions proposed enhance care while easing the burden on world economies.
Writer: Kevin Machate
Genre: Scifi, Western, Adaptation
Country: United States
Project Type: Short Screenplay
Overview: This script is based on O. Henry's 1903 short story "A Retrieved Reformation" in which I kept the primary circumstances and plot, but changed the names, some details, and added SciFi elements. Set in 1899, successful safe cracker Harry Higgins decides to hang up his drill for good when he meets the woman of his dreams, only to be tailed by the constable that put him away once already. This script would absolutely fit into the mold of a 1960 Twilight Zone episode.
Director/Writer/Producer: Max Balter
Writer: Bogdan Solomaha
Country: Ukraine
Project Type: Short
Overview: Together is a short horror film about solitude and anxiety during self-isolation caused with COVID-19 quarantine in 2020. It tells the story about a girl who is living alone and senses that someone or something else is in her flat.
Writer: Darren Stokes, Matthew Bancroft
Genre: Drama
Country: United Kingdom
Project Type: Short Screenplay
Overview: A short about The Short Film Club's pursuit of an original short idea. Will they think out of the box? Will they ever stop arguing? We have a bad feeling about this!
Writers Statement: Finding the Character in the writing, directing and edit to show the narrative, leaving a distinct memorable experience. That's the Goal. No one ever made a difference by being the same! Do what you say you'll do and more if you can.
Director/Writer: Melo Viana
Producer: Sandra Zawadzki
Country: Brazil
Project Type: Short
Overview: The story shows three children (two boys and a girl), in the mid-thirties, setting up a movie frame projection room. They build a projector with an empty shoe box with two holes with the size of a film frame. Inside the box they put a burnt-out bulb without its filament and filled with water. This bulb is used as a lens. Children had to wait until the bulb burned out. Those electrical bulbs were rare in those days... The short film proposes, as a background, to expose the history of cinema from the transition between silent and spoken cinema. This exhibition is made through the frames with references to the most representative films of the transition, covering the specific period between 1930 and 1934.
Directors/Writer/Producer: Jerry WANG
Country: Canada
Project Type: Short
Overview: A story about two Gemini brothers' journey on the earth. The Older brother wants to enjoy the trip himself, but his younger brother always follows him and makes a lot of troubles.
Director Statement: An animation student graduating from Sheridan College, I like everything fantasy, colorful, and emotional.
Director/Writer/Producer: Glen Strindberg
Country: Australia
Project Type: Short
Overview: An out of control bushfire, no escape route and you're running out of water. An inspiring story of an old gold prospector striking it lucky, in life.
Director Statement: Fighting the Flames was born from the changing environmental conditions within Australia and the never die attitude of the old mining prospectors that still remain. Vick is an 85 year old tough as nails prospector, that reflects what it takes to survive in the Australian bushland. No matter what the situation there's always a funny side, even if its life and death. Stories like Vick's are important, if we as film makers don't make an effort to share their experiences they will disappear, never to be told. This is an incredible story of survival, but to Vick and his unassuming nature, its just life.
Director: Kurisu Lee
Writers: Wall Fish, Mae Si Chan
Producers: Grace Low, Vicki Kok, Chong Boon Yee
Country: Malaysia
Project Type: Short
Overview: In an unknown universe, Adam goes through unnatural obstacles to find his way out until he meets Natalie, a fairly familiar face with a touch of warmth ; their chemistry creates a telepathic bond between their worlds.
Director Statement: TOUCH, is a short film that explores the conscious and unconscious mind of a person. In this short film, our protagonist goes through layers and dimensions of his mind. To move on, to hide or to escape, we do not put it out into the obvious. As he explores deeper, we come to understand his submissive behaviour is in line with his unconscious mind. Therefore, is he able to escape his mind or even just put out his dominance behaviour to show? Compositions of visuals, sounds, lights and space are important in this film. Therefore the aesthetic elements are taken into serious consideration and determination to create an immersive, dreamlike picture. To create a world that may look familiar, but unfamiliar simultaneously.
Director/Writer/Producer: Kate-Lois Elliott
Country: United Kingdom
Project Type: Short
Overview:Below The Hills follows two old friends, as they return to a house from their childhood. Natalie hopes that returning to this house will stir her awake, but in her nostalgia she is unable to be present. This VO led film explores the strings that tie us to places.
Writer: Kevin J. Howard
Genre: Fantasy, Drama
Country: United States
Project Type: Feature Screenplay
Overview: Michael, an archangel hiding amongst humanity while harboring a deep resentment to God, is called back into service to thwart a powerful demons plan to unleash hell on earth.
Director/Writer/Producer: Mark Rose
Producers: Isaac Rush
Country: United States
Project Type: Feature Documentary
Overview: Experience what it was like to growing up among the dangerous game, hunting the massive caribou herds and absorbing the greatness of the county.
Director Statement: Mark D. Rose is a new Director to the industry, writing from a non-fiction standpoint yet crafting a life story that's catches the attention. This his first film (he as "Assistant to the Director"), Rose found himself picking up the work from a seasoned professional as a hands-on Producer, brought his first project home - about Alaska. **Alert** Rose just signed a pre-production agreement to take his first film, Alaska Long Hunters, on to a full length feature project, coming in 2022!
Director/Writer: Ken Sagoes
Producers:Karen T. Bolt, Sylvester Warren
Country: United States
Project Type: Long Short
Overview: A young and brilliant academic phenom who not only passes the bar exam at age 14 but finds himself defending his homeless father on a murder charge when few believe he is innocent. He faces a shrewd law firm, an old school segregationist judge, and an arrogant prosecutor who is preparing to celebrate his 50th consecutive case win.
Writer: Kevin J. Howard
Genre: Fantasy, Drama
Country: United States
Project Type: Feature Screenplay
Overview: Found adrift at sea, sold into slavery and raised without knowledge of who he truly is, a young man looks up to meet the gaze of a handmaiden, discovering a love so intense it leads to the downfall of a kingdom.
Director/Writer/Producer: Charis Dussek
Country: United Kingdom
Project Type: Short
Overview: A clumsy clown dreams of being a glamorous trapeze artist but, when the opportunity arises, chaos ensues! Then again, perhaps there's more to this clown than meets the eye.Director Statement: Directing "Trapeze" has been an incredible learning experience and one I have thoroughly enjoyed. I hope to continue my work in children's animation going forward, using the animation and directing skills I have developed throughout this project to tell more fun, playful, yet moving stories like this one.
Director/Producer: Jim Kroft
Country: United States
Project Type: Feature Documentary
Overview: A documentary exploring the rise of Populism during the US Election in 2016. Combining the the contrasting genres of road movie and political documentary, "A Conversation With America" is an artists attempt to understand modern America. With 8000 miles travelled through the US over three months, the film explores the rise of Trump from the very places so many journalists were absent.
Director Statement: I was called over to the US by a feeling that there was an untold story, a deeper narrative than the one I could find through the reportage in the press. Having filmed "The March of Hope" and witnessed first hand the abuse of the far right in Europe, I wanted to delve deeper into the root causes of Populism. I felt instinctively that it had found its avatar in Trump. However, I was more interested to find out the reasons normal people were gravitating towards his rhetoric - and to try to make sense of what desperate circumstances will lead people to accept a culture of fear in their leadership. What I could never have predicted was how much America would bear her soul to me, or the lasting impression and impact it's people would leave on me. It is the story of the untold election - and of the hospitality, kindness and openness I received. This generosity showed a face of America which did not surface in its media representation. And it is the expression of a heart which, despite the turmoil of the Trump years, has left me believing in the US more than ever.
Director/Writer: Nick von Schlippe, Zuzana von Schlippe
Producer: Zuzana von Schlippe
Country: United Kingdom
Project Type: Short
Overview: In the new Social Distanced world, how are the grand Ladies of great stately homes and their butlers coping with their garden parties?
Director Statement: We both had a clear vision to deliver a social distancing period piece comedy inspired by the 1920/1930 silent movies. It was our Caesar Pictures Ltd 48hrs challenge. Filmed on Saturday, completed and premiered on YouTube Monday 6pm.
Writer: Dean Harakas
Genres: Drama, Crime, Family
Country: United States
Project Type: Feature Screenplay
Overview:Blue Spice Queen follows three intertwined Chicago families connected to Giovanna Murphy, an enigmatic, dynamic and alluring art gallery owner.
Director: Vashmere Valentine
Writers: Vashmere Valentine, C. J. Pumpkins
Producers: Taviana Frazier, Vashmere Valentine, Anna E. Lawrence, Andrew Huckaby
Country: United States
Project Type: Short
Overview: Two bickering siblings learn the true value of friendship and the magic of believing, when they find a real wish and encounter the menacing creature who wants it back!
Director Statement: The Wish & The Wisp is a dedication to the many fantasy films of the 70s and 80s. As both the writer and director of this project, I felt a need to study not only these films but also the directing style of storytellers that help bring movies like “The Never Ending Story” and “The Princess Bride” to life. I wanted to make sure TW&TW would have a natural feel of fantasy, which is why I strayed away from the conventional use of CGI in films today. It is my hope that viewers will escape reality when they see TW&TW and allow their inner child to get lost in the world of fantasy once more.
Director/Writer/Producer: Mathieu Baillargeon
Country: France
Project Type: Short
Overview: Life in a ordinary café is disrupted by the intrusion of a weird and authoritative woman who starts manipulating the customers as if they were puppets. In spite of themselves, they become both spectators and actors in a somewhat macabre drama. In this café turned into a stage, the life of a man from his birth to his death is (being) told. The story of his fate, bound to choices that are not always choices. The story of a mysterious man, in turn surprising or frightening, maybe because deep down we are very much like him. But is it just a game? Where is the story leading us to? Are we the spectators or the actors of that life?
Director Statement: I have carried this idea for years, secretly expecting for the world to change... but the more I worked on the project, the more it made sense... So I finally decided to tell that story about differences, being a curse or an asset...
Director/Writer: Mikel Arraiz
Producers: Valle del Cielo Films, Miguel Goñi, Itziar Lacunza, Laura Mtz. Salinas
Country: Spain
Project Type: Short
Overview: Martha feels lonely, her heart is empty, so she looks for love in a dating app. One day, checking the app, she finds Michael, a very handsome man. She falls in love with him and sends him a message to have a date that same night. Michael checks her profile and falls in love too, so he accepts the date. They meet for dinner. How will things work out?
Director/Writer/Producer: Debra Markowitz
Director/Writer/Producer: John Marean
Key Cast “Marion”: Eve Austin
Key Cast “Tommy”: Eddie McGee
Country: United States
Project Type: Short
Overview: A mother confronts her son, a down-on-his-luck stunt man with a broken marriage, to help him move forward with his life.
Director Statement: Confidant was inspired by a friend's grief over the loss of his mother whom he had shared an apartment with in her later years. I had wanted to work with Eve Austin and Eddie McGee, and put this tale together to tell the story of Momma Ragu with friends that I love. I hope it touches people.
Director/Producer: Kamaran Karym
Writer: Shaho Osman
Country: United Kingdom
Project Type: Short
Overview: This is a short documentary film produced in the North of Iraq/ Kurdistan Regional Government. this film is talking about peshmerga struggle fighting against ISIS with limited artillery. in this documentary we focus on British Kurdish voluntaries who have returned from the United Kingdom to defend their homeland in the battle against ISIS. They have left behind a comfy life in the U.K. to stop barbarism of ISIS in their tracks. They fight for an idea and belief. The volunteers we focus on are not the only people who have joined peshmarga, in fact there are hundreds of them fighting in the front line and some have given their life to humanity and freedom.
Director/Writer/Producer: Dan Rizzuto
Writer: Joshua Mazerolle
Producer: Scott Bailey
Country: Canada
Project Type: Feature
Overview: A raw and unapologetic look into a police shooting, racism, and the connections they share.
Director Statement: As a child, I was raised and adopted by a Black Family in the US before I moved to Canada. As the only white child in a group of predominantly minority friends and family, I witnessed but was never the focus of direct racism. I saw, as a white person, how my African American friends were treated differently by the Police than I was. I co-wrote Torn Dark Bullets as a story to try to explain not only the experiences and feelings of my friends and family but those of the policeman. I wanted to let my audience come to their conclusions about not only the black family in the story but also the policeman, it was important to me everyone had their say right or wrong. I like the idea of letting the audience agree or disagree on what is being said by all the characters in the story without trying to force a certain narrative.
Director/Writer/Producer: Mehmet Demirli
Writer/Producer: Melike Ceviz Demirli
Country: Turkey
Project Type: Short
Overview: Gizem is a young woman who lives by the rules society (inflicted upon) her. She works at office by day and at home by night. Upon seeing parts of her life in a dream, she questions her life and (tries to find an answer/searches a way out).
Director/Writer/Producer: Uldouz Wallace
Writer: Braxten Smith
Country: United States
Project Type: Short
Overview: In 2014 a hack of over 100 women was spread across the worldwide web by a sadistic digital rapist, Tyler Fuller. These women in the public eye, were violated of their basic human rights and privacy and Mr. Fuller was given a mere slap on the wrist, serving only 18 months in a federal prison for ruining over a hundred women's lives forever. We've all seen the headlines and the images of the graphic theft of the innocence and purity of these women, but until now, nobody has seen the extreme damage that it has truly caused.
Writer: Nikki Smallwood
Genres: Drama, Suspense, Revenge
Country: United States
Project Type: Feature Screenplay
Overview: As a child growing up, we always expect our family to be there. Bianca never thought she'd lose her father to a drunk driver, her mother to mental illness or her little sister to human trafficking. The sad reality of human trafficking is that most cases are never solved, those that do have already wreaked havoc to its victims and their families. For black and brown victims, there is always suspicion of being a runaway or a drug user, so these cases are not given much effort. Bianca’s sister’s case was pacified under the same considerations. Bianca knows her sister, an "A" student, on her way to college and never a troublemaker, didn’t just runaway. She decides to find closure in her own way, for the promise she made to her mother and for justice for her little sister.
Director/Producer: Yuehua "Bryce" Wang
Producers: Yuehua "Bryce" Wang, Logan McDonald
Sound Designer: Gabriel Freeman
Genres: Drama, Action, Crime
Country: United States
Project Type: Feature
Director/Writer: Mat Braddy
Producers: Louis Savy, Marta Calderon
Country: United Kingdom
Project Type: Short
Overview: In an iron-age society, Bryana, a pregnant hunter, loses her husband to pestilence. Exiled from home, she hunts for a hermit believed to have magic and demands to know why he does nothing to help. Unfortunately this god has been far from idle...
Director Statement: We have become so addicted to technological consumption that we have doomed our only habitable planet to a climate crisis. Like an alcoholic sat in front of a barrel of wine, we can not resist taking one more sip. Some hope AI will provide answers to out various crisis. But the solutions are obvious - especially post-pandemic. Stop living unsustainably. If we create a ‘god’ AI, the apex intelligence on our planet, what do we think it will do to end our addictions?
Director/Producer: Thein Dan
Writer: Sahoko Yamazaki
Producers: Tomoyuki Enami, Yuki Kitazumi
Country: Japan
Project Type: Long Short
Overview: On the morning of the all-important interview day, Megumi has the usual nightmare of a group bullying incident that takes place in her sister's classroom after school.The dream is of a group bullying of Nao's younger sister in the classroom after school.Then Nao went to the station platform...Having overslept, Megumi runs to the train station, where she runs into a man in a suit on the way to the train.On the way, I run into a train that is about to depart, bumping into a man in a suit.The time was "9:23".The slightest delay caused by this rush to get on the train would later derail the fortunes of many people.A middle-aged man (Keiichi) hears that his mother is in critical condition and rushes to the hospital.His son, Meguru, is a self-defeating college dropout.A mysterious high school girl (Yuki).And the man in the unlucky suit. Megumi's behavior spins around someone's life.Someone else's life that has nothing to do with you.But by thinking about that someone, by listening to their voice, something may change greatly. Megumi began to think about this.
Director/Writer/Producer: Mark A.J. Nazal
Writers/Producers: Dana De La Garza, Khadijah Maulana, Erica Juliet, Danilo Hernandez, Joe A. Arciaga
Country: United States
Project Type: Short
Overview: Set during the 2020 Quarantine in Los Angeles, Wishful Thinking is fantasy comedy about a selfish woman who discovers magic in her life when she realizes that not everything is all about her.
Director/Writer/Producer: Nicolas Vasseur
Country: France
Project Type: Short
Overview: Nania is a thirtheen year old muslim female thaiboxer trained by her father in Bangkok. We experience her reality and the lead-up to a big fight.
Executive Producer, Director, Composer & Orchestrator: Donny Walker
Producer, Audio Supervisor, Dialogue Editor & Re Recording Mixer: Kelly Askam
Country: United States
Project Type: Short
Overview: This female empowering focus is a collaboration between director & film maker Layne Marie Williams & The Award Winning team Mind Exchange Music LLC. This short film documentary about a collaboration and what it takes to step outside of the norm. Process/Purpose/Examination of Principles & A Live Orchestral Music Film Score Performance at the end, overarching themes are feminism in media and it's relation to creativity.
Director/Writer/Producer: Luca Machnich
Country: United States, Italy
Project Type: Short
Overview: The director is a grandnephew of Anton Machnich, one of the movie pioneers in Italy, who opened the first movie theaters in Italy, in Romania and in Ireland (the latter in partnership with the famous writer James Joyce) in the early 19th century. He studied film direction at the Los Angeles Film School after working as a production assistant in several screen and TV movies (also with Ettore Scola). He authored "Spaghetti Nightmares", one of the best books on Italian fantasy and thriller movies which was published in Italy (M&P edizioni) and in the United States (Fantasma books). The extended Italian version was very much appreciated by the fans of the genre and the film critics.
Director Statement: THE EVE is a story that echoes the style of the great American thriller writer Robert Bloch (whose novel "Psycho" was filmed by Hitchcock) in its macabre irony, of Dino Buzzati, the most important Italian fantasy writer in its longing for the transcendent and the desperate waiting for an opportunity of redemption from a tragic life, and of the great American fantasy fiction writer Henry James in its interior monologues and in the psychological narration of the leading characters. Instead, it distances itself from a certain Italian film genre that was exploited until the end of the 19th century and whose formulas now appear repetitive. The film gives the opportunity to explore in an international film language the purity and fantasy of a child's world violated by the cynicism of the world of adults, and to narrate it through the dilated times of dream and imagination in the setting of a Christmas that has nothing joyful and mystical and where the waiting for another future, symbolized by the bell tower, is the leading character of the story.
Director/Writer: Andre Llewellyn
Producer: Paul Howard
Country: United Kingdom
Project Type: Short
Overview: To sum up, this six-minute film is a tense and gripping look at an obsessive fan-girl choosing black magic as a way of punishing those who took her imaginary love away. The film cleverly plays upon the expected cliches and is an unrelenting ride from start to finish.
Director: Carla Begg
Writer/Producer: John Stuart
Country: United Kingdom
Project Type: Short
Overview: A depiction of the stark reality of drug deaths in Scotland. This short film shows a glimpse of how drug related death affects the relationship of the family left behind. With drug deaths totalling over a thousand each year in Scotland, Left Behind is a hard-hitting short film that explores the social issues of drug abuse and how those who are directly affected cope with the aftermath. The film depicts the conflicting emotions between a mother and father as they struggle to deal with the loss of their son and how grief can either tear their relationship apart or bring them closer together. Left Behind seeks to provide an insight into a serious issue faced by many families in Scotland.
Director Statement: My move into directing has been sparked by wanting to make films that are powerful and meaningful from the script to the screen, through storyboards and careful shot selection. I have a background in animation and that has given me a skill set that helped transition into film making. I'm extremely excited to begin submissions of Left Behind to film festivals around the world. Our film was created on a budget that barely cover the cost of catering but I believe we exhibit strong production values and a really compelling film which gives the audience a glimpse into the world of a broken family after a tragedy. This story is told with zero dialogue.
Director/Writer: Adrian Dean
Producer: Paul Howard
Country: United Kingdom
Project Type: Short
Overview: A recently fired homicidal employee is trapped in a moral quandary by two comically gossipy co-workers. Who can he kill first whilst maintaining political correctness?
Director Statement: From script to screen, Off-His Job was a journey. We worked hard as a team to pull off this cheeky comedy that is relevant and honest.
Director/Writer/Producer: Arthur Joseph
Writers: Joshua Wade, Melida Skeete Smith
Country: United States
Project Type: Short
Overview: Two Friends trapped in a Time Loop, slowly realizing their predicament, have to resort to unexpected methods to break free.
Director Statement: Originally from Trinidad in the Caribbean so naturally Love to have fun... so I make Fun Fun movies all the time.
Director/Writer/Producer: Chris Ohtaras
Producers: Luke Bovino, Daniel Barrie
Country: Australia
Project Type: Feature
Overview: When life gives you lemons - kill yourself. Ollie is terminal and plans to do just that. With the support of those closest to him, he has set a date for his own euthanasia. Sal, his oldest friend, documents Ollie’s final days while adding a surprise gift; Fabrizio Canale, an Italian musician and professional busker. With his instruments in hand, Fabrizio is a real life soundtrack for an eccentric bucket list adventure; an attempt to bring joy and meaning to Ollie’s life and death.
Director Statement: At the time of this writing, there are only seven countries that allow voluntary euthanasia (one of those countries is the US, which only allows it in six states). The rest of us have only one legal choice in death, and that’s to wait for it. However much pain or suffering, however undignifying. I have been there, holding the hand of someone I love while we hopelessly wait. This person did not want to die that way but so it goes in a society with no alternative. Happy Bag is set in that same society. It begins with a sick man who’s already made his decision not to sit and wait, but to take life and death, into his own hands. All he seeks is the support of those closest to him. I imagine that the arc of Happy Bag may be confronting for some. Euthanasia has always been a divisive issue, one with vehement supporters on both sides. Not everyone will agree with the decisions made by the characters and that’s okay. Hopefully they can understand why they were made because that’s where the heart of the Happy Bag lies; acceptance. It’s a story about the people who have your back, even when it may be overwhelming for them to do so.