The night kicks off at 6pm in our Party Pavilion with tastes from some of the best restaurants in town, great entertainment and some special silent auction items.
At 7:30, we all head over to the theatre where the Phoenix Film Festival will present its 2015Visionary Award. Past Visionary Award recipients include Dan Harkins, Bob Oldfather from Bookmans and Dr. Sydney Shapiro.
Following the presentation of the Visionary Award, we will begin our Opening Night Film, "Danny Collins". Read on to learn more about the film....
Danny Collins
Directed by: Dan Fogelman
Run Time: 106 minutes
Cast: Al Pacino, Annette Bening, Christopher Plummer, Jennifer Garner, Bobby Cannavale
Synopsis:
Inspired by a true story, Al Pacino stars as aging 1970s rocker Danny Collins, who can't give up his hard-living ways. But when his manager (Christopher Plummer) uncovers a 40 year-old undelivered letter written to him by John Lennon, he decides to change course and embarks on a heartfelt journey to rediscover his family, find true love and begin a second act.
Animated Shorts
Run Time: 85 minutes
Sumer
Directed by Alvaro Garcia
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Synopsis: The Earth's ionosphere has weakened, perishing all plant and animal species down to one small group of humans living in an isolated city. A young boy lives alone close to the surrounding walls and while observing the desert from a rooftop, he sees something resembling a blue feather floating in the air...
My Big Brother
Directed by Jason Rayner
Synopsis: The reflections of a boy sharing a room and a childhood with his twenty-foot tall brother.
The Present
Directed by Jacob Frey
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Synopsis: Jake spends most of his time playing video games indoors until his mom decides to give him a present.
Speed Dating
Directed by Meghann Artes
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Synopsis: Desperate to find the man of her dreams, Ava attends a night of speed dating. After the cast of characters she encounters, she wonders if being single isn’t so bad after all.
Love Bugs
Directed by Teresa Hooper
Synopsis: What if a battery powered toy bee was shocked into action to try to attract the ladybug of his dreams? Would he get her?
Love in the Time of March Madness
Directed by Melissa Johnson and Robertino Zambrano
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Synopsis: Melissa Johnson hit 6'4'' tall in 8th grade. Although this made her an instant basketball star, what follows is a series of hilarious and awkward misadventures in romance as she dates shorter men.
Hold My Handle
Directed by Ethan Barrett
Synopsis: Two cups imprisoned by a cruel, sloppy owner fall in love. When one of them is discarded they have no choice but to escape, though they will not get away without making huge sacrifices.
In Capricious Hands
Directed by Stephan Larson
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Synopsis: Living in a box, life is pretty bleak and boring. And then a window opens...
Monstro!
Directed by Christopher Romano
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Synopsis: A scientific expedition travels down the dark Amazon, searching for a mythic creature.
The OceanMaker
Directed by Lucas Martell
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Synopsis: After the seas have disappeared, a courageous young female pilot fights against vicious sky pirates for control of the last remaining source of water: the clouds.
Additional Screenings:
Saturday, March 28th at 4:55pm
Adventurados
Directed by: Berton Pierce
Run Time: 86 Minutes
Cast: David Masterson
Synopsis: An Irish road movie in space. The misadventures of two out of luck shuttle pilots as they fly a last mission from the Moon to Earth before retiring. Also on board is a mysterious woman from a large corporation keeping an eye on them, and the important cargo they are transporting. Various strange people are after the valuable cargo, and do what they can to get it. Things go from bad to worse due to the shuttle pilot’s negligence, and the cargo is lost. Together, the two pilots and the woman discover who they are, and escape to an uncertain future.
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Additional Screenings:
Saturday, March 28th at 10:10 pm
Of the Land (Canada)
Run Time: 1:30
Directed by: Bryan Law
Cast: Bryan Law, Steven Davies
Synopsis: Within the last half century, our agriculture and food has changed more than it has changed before in several thousand years. New technologies and scientific ingenuity have given rise to genetically modified organisms (GMO) and other novel foods. Some people have raised concerns about the safety of GMOs in our food supply, given their incredible dominance in the majority of our diet. Traditional, organic farmers, have consistently been under attack by large corporate farming interests, who seek to dominate the food industry and run family farms out of business. This film looks at our current food system as well as a variety of smaller, organic options available to consumers who want to support sustainable farming methods.
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Additional Screenings:
Saturday March 28th at 1:30-3pm
Bread and Butter
Directed by: Liz Manashil
Run Time: 89 minutes
Cast: Bobby Moynihan, Christine Weatherup, Micah Hauptman, Lauren Lapkus, Eric Lange, Harry Groener, Dawn Didawick, Sean Wright
Synopsis: Amelia Karinsky, 30, is a late bloomer who has never had a boyfriend. She works for an eccentric life coach, Dr. Wellburn, who has a doctorate in Scandinavian Literature, but prefers that you call him "Doctor" as if he were a psychiatrist. Dr. Wellburn doesn't respect boundaries and neither do her parents, who want to control all aspects of her life. Amelia is eager to break free of their overbearing influences and to relax amidst all the chaos that surrounds her. One day Amelia buys a book at a used bookstore that has pencil scribblings throughout the margins of its pages. She becomes so entranced with whomever annotated the book that she tracks him down. Before she even meets Leonard Marsh, the annotator, Amelia is admittedly in love with him. However, as we get to know him, we learn that what Leonard is actually going through is something very un-magical: clinical depression. Concurrently, a client of her boss, Daniel Lodgen, starts to court Amelia. Daniel has the best of intentions, but, because of him, Amelia learns that the concept of a genuine romantic relationship is more frightening than she had imagined. This newfound interest in her, from Daniel and Leonard, forces Amelia to open herself up to the option of being in a relationship and contributes to a growing anxiety regarding the choice of which man to be with. Bread and Butter is an anti-romantic comedy. It is the story of a lonely person who finally makes a decision to strike out on her own after learning that romance isn't the only way to fulfill her desires.
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Additional Screenings:
Saturday, March 28th at 5:55pm
Sunday, March 29th at 1:55pm
College Shorts
Run Time: 95 minutes
Cootie Contagion
Directed by Joshua Smooha
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Synopsis: BIOHAZARD. Cootie Levels: Maximum.Patient: Matt. Infected by: Becca. Warning: Patient still expresses interest in Becca. Patient must be QUARANTINED. -Connor Nelson, Cootieologist.
OstrichLand
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Directed by David McCracken
Synopsis: A road-trip comedy about two estranged brothers driving across the country in a truck full of their late father’s UFO memorabilia.
Lambing Season
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Directed by Jeannie Donohoe
Synopsis: An American woman travels to the Irish countryside to track down her long-lost father. When things don't go according to plan, she and her father learn they have more in common than they imagined as the truth is revealed.
Drone
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Directed by Justin S. Lee
Synopsis: A rookie Air Force drone pilot finds himself increasingly attached to a target he watches from halfway around the world.
Liv
Directed by Gwyneth Christoffel
Synopsis: A video blogger inadvertently reveals too much of his life to his audience.
Miracle Maker
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Directed by Kate Marks
Synopsis: It's been a rough summer for Francisco, a 12-year-old who travels door to door with his uncle hoping to sell a vacuum while is father is deathly ill. But when he hears about a miracle maker living nearby, he puts a plan in place to turn his luck around.
Grange to Garage
Directed by William Johnston-Carter
Synopsis: A California farmer struggles to stay in business raising organically grown, free-range automobiles.
Additonal Screenings:
Saturday, March 28th at 12:45 pm
Horror Shorts A
Run Time: 85 minutes
What is a Momo
Directed by Ross Harris
Synopsis: MOMO! So good it's worth having your throat cut for.
In Extremis
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Directed by Gregory Crosbie
Synopsis: A night watchman is sent to guard the cellar of a museum by its mysterious curator. But once in the vaults he starts to hear something...In Extremis is a short in the mold of classic British horror films of the 1960s and 70s.
Hush
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Directed by Michael Kehoe
Synopsis: A college reunion turns into a night of terror when a babysitter discovers that the house she is staying in is possessed by a malevolent presence with a vengeful intention.
Dead Hearts
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Directed by Stephen W. Martin
Synopsis: A young mortician will give his heart away to find true love. A whimsical, gothic bedtime story filled with love, loss, taxidermy, Kung fu, and biker werewolves.
Boys Will Be Boys
Directed by Richard Rotter
Synopsis: Boys are never too old to play games.
Bad Guy #2
Directed by Chris McInroy
Synopsis: One bad guy discovers that moving up in a crime ring has its downsides as he will either have to set an example or become one. This 'goredy' follows the bad guy who just got promoted to the dead end job of bad guy #2.
M is for Mobile
Directed by Baris Erdogan
Synopsis: A desperate man is at the mercy of a coldblooded torturer who receives his orders via text message from an unknown sender. What will happen next? Will this nightmare ever end?
Father Mud
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Directed by Jameson Hesse
Synopsis: A film about a family's terrifying experience with a mysterious foster child's buried secrets.
Glories of Tango (Argentina)
Directed by: Hernan Findling, Oliver Kolker
Run Time: 2:00
Cast: Hector Alterio, Gaston Pauls, Luciano Caceres, Antonella Costa , Dalma Maradona, Luis Ziembrowski, Rodrigo Pedreira, Emilio Disi, Oliver Kolker, Silvina Valz, Esteban Bortnik, Carlos Copello, Mariano Frumboli, Juana Sepulveda
Synopsis: Fermin Tundera (Hector Alterio) is an 85 year-old patient at a typical "third-world" public hospital being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. It has been decades since Fermin was committed to the institution yet his condition has not improved. Ezequiel Kaufman (Gaston Pauls) is a 33 year-old psychiatrist who comes on the scene to treat the difficult patient and discovers that he is only able to communicate by using the cryptic lyrics of Tango, a peculiar characteristic indeed.
Additional Screenings:
Sunday March 29th at 4:20-6:20pm
Havana Curveball
Directed by: Ken Schneider & Marcia Jarmal
Run Time: 1:05
Cast: Mica Jarmel-Schneider, Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, Herb Schneider
Synopsis: Mica is a classic young teen. Enthusiastic. Idealistic. Dreaming baseball. At 13, he is studying for his Bar Mitzvah, the Jewish coming of age rite. And earnest kid, he took to heart his Rabbi's requirement to help “heal the world.” Imagining himself a savior of sorts, he launches a grand plan to send baseballs to Cuba, a country with a mysterious pull. He knows only that Cubans are poor and love baseball – and that Cuba saved his grandpa's life. On a hunch, his award-winning filmmaker parents pick up their camera. They know the U.S. Embargo with Cuba will throw him a curveball.
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Half Brother
Directed by: Anthony Grippa
Run Time: 75 minutes
Cast: Stephen Plunkett, Casey Biggs, Christina Haag, Dante Bruzzese, Jenny Dare Paulin, Emily Kratter, Elizabeth Masucci, Jenna Laurenzo, Blaire Brooks, Ian Bell, Brian Patrick Murphy, Bjorn Thorstad, Edward Furs
Synopsis: When his longtime girlfriend breaks up with him, 30 year-old Michael suddenly finds himself homeless. With nowhere else to go, he spends the weekend at his father and stepmothers house, only to find that they're embroiled in a bitter divorce. As he gets caught in the middle of their angry disputes, Michael struggles to come to terms with his place in his dysfunctional family.
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Additional Screenings:
Saturday, March 28th at 3:45pm
Sunday, March 29th at 2:00pm
WildLike
Directed by: Frank Hall Green
Run Time: 98 minutes
Cast: Ella Purnell, Bruce Greenwood, Brian Geraghty, Teddy Kyle Smith, Nolan Gerard Funk, Ann Dowd, Diane Farr, Joshua Leonard
Synopsis: Mackenzie, a troubled but daring teenage girl, is sent by her struggling mother to live with her uncle in Juneau, Alaska. Although her uncle seems like a supportive caretaker and friend, the relationship turns and Mackenzie is forced to run. Trying to make her way back to Seattle alone to find her absent mother, Mackenzie only winds up deeper in the Alaskan interior. Lost and with no one else to turn to, she shadows a loner backpacker, Bartlett, an unlikely father figure with scars of his own. Together, they cross the wilderness and discover sanctuary in the last frontier.
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Sci-Fi Shorts A
Run Time: 115 minutes
Death and the Iron Maiden
Directed by Kevin McGuiness
Synopsis: The story of Death visiting a small medieval town to murder a young Maiden. However, he discovers that the young woman is a cyborg and impenetrable to Death’s powers. After a violent battle resulting in the demise of Death, the Maiden rides off.
Air
Directed by Emma E. Maclennan
Synopsis: Humanity has survived, but only in the dystopian underground facility Securos, where the air supply is depleting and engineers Alex and Nick spend their days in a futile attempt to save it. Sacrifices are enforced, but a lifetime of imagining an alternative existence inspires Alex to determine her own fate.
RomantiCorp – Or How I learned to stop Worrying and Love My Computer
Directed by Kirill Kripak
Synopsis: RomantiCorp - Where Love Comes To Life. A girl employs a company that coaches her in dating via virtual reality.
2.0
Directed by Ally Burnham
Synopsis: The miracle drug promised to the world was too good to be true. Clara sets out to discover the secret of 2.0 and why it has forced her father to a life on the streets.
Witch Hunt
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Directed by Johno Faherty
Synopsis: A young witch discovers her powers after the death of her absent mother.
The Routine
Directed by Brian Groh
Synopsis: Technology fails a woman isolated in her home.
Cassandra
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Directed by Guy-Roger Duvert
Synopsis: In a medieval world, two thieves infiltrate a besieged city, in order to retrieve an artifact. But when they are saved by a priest who mistakes them for mercenaries come to help the town, choices have to be made. What you do defines who you are, but the consequences define who you will become...
When Tears Have Fallen
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Directed by Henrik Henziger
Synopsis: In a near future almost all of mankind has lost it's emotions. In this indifferent world, where function and economy governs, an exception is a young mother who faces an impossible choice when her son is submitted to life supporting medical care.
Going Bongo
Directed By: Dean Mathew Ronalds
Running Time: 90 min
Cast: Ernest Napoleon, Emanuela Galliussi, Ashley Olds
Synopsis: A newly recruited American doctor "mistakenly" volunteers to work in Africa for a month.
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Additional Screenings:
Saturday March, 28th at 11:25am
Documentary Shorts
Run Time: 70 minutes
Tomgirl
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Directed by Jeremy Asher Lynch
Synopsis: Jake, a gender non-conforming seven year-old, invites us into his world to explore the transforming power of love and support on our children.
Sugar Coated
Directed by Chris Parson
Synopsis: Lolita, a fashion movement from Harajuku, Tokyo, has a thriving group of followers in Los Angeles. We follow four Lolitas and investigate their motivations for taking on the extreme style; from self-expression, to the questioning of identity and body image.
Half Sour
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Directed by Mary Anne Rothberg and Sean McGing
Synopsis: A group of young skateboarders find direction in their lives when they move to New York and start a pickle business.
Dockery & Son
Directed by Jack Truman
Synopsis: Dockery & Son is a documentary following a Mother and Son’s junk store and revealing an eye-opening slice of life at their real-life thrift store in the ghost town of Milford, Missouri: population 26.
SandorKraut
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Directed by Emily Lobsenz and Ann Husaini
Synopsis: A portrait of the acclaimed food writer and fermentation guru Sandor Katz whose renegade revival of ancient culinary rituals has transformed his relationship with life and death.
Anna
Directed by Eric Latek
Synopsis: Anna is an intimate portrait through the eyes of Anna who is a wife, mother, grandmother and Native American activist who endures the final stage of Alzheimer's. This film is only through her eyes.
Dennis Rodman’s Big Bang in PyongYang (UK)
Run Time: 1:35
Directed by: Colin Offland
Cast: Matt Cooper
Synopsis: Dennis Rodman is on a mission. After forging an unlikely friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, he wants to improve relations between North Korea and the US by staging a historic basketball game between the two countries. But the North Korean team isn't the only opposition he'll face...Condemned by the NBA and The Whitehouse, and hounded every step of the way by the press, can Dennis keep it together and make the game happen? Or will it go up in a mushroom cloud of smoke?For the first time, discover the true story of what happened when Dennis Rodman took a team of former-NBA players to North Korea and staged the most controversial game of basketball the world has never seen.
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Additional Screenings:
Saturday March 28th at 5:40-7:15PM
World Cinema Shorts
Run Time: 85 minutes
Live (En Directo) - Spain
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Directed by Wenceslao Scyzoryk
Synopsis: A poor family, on the day of their eviction, allows a reality show to document its history. But what seemed a dream to save the home becomes a horrible nightmare.
Dead Hearts - Canada
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Directed by Stephen W. Martin
Synopsis: A young mortician will give his heart away to find true love. A whimsical, gothic bedtime story filled with love, loss, taxidermy, Kung fu, and biker werewolves.
Sunflowers - Malaysia
Directed by Shio Chuan Quek
Synopsis: An orphan and grandmother live with a girl, in the metropolis as a stage show makeup artist.
HTM – Sri Lanka
Directed by Sachi Ediriweera
An urban bank worker finds his customer base threatened by the presence of a homeless musician begging for money on the street.
In The Clouds (En Las Nubes) - Argentina
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Directed by Marcelo Mitnik
Synopsis: The difference between how we think romance should work and how it actually does is at the comedic heart of EN LAS NUBES, an exploration of cultural disagreements about intimacy, love, and marriage proposals in the age of YouTube.
Live Action Shorts A
Run Time: 80 minutes
Contrapelo
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Directed by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer
Synopsis: A Mexican barber is forced to shave the leader of a drug cartel who is destroying his country. He battles with the choice to become a killer, or to let the Campo continue to kill. By the end of the shave, the Barber will realize the two of them are not so different.
Protocol
Directed by Elliot Feld
Synopsis: The true story of a SWAT operation gone wrong.
Muse
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Directed by Christopher Leps
Synopsis: A life-changing event inspires an artist to finally meet his object of affection... but the outcome is not what he expects.
Daddy’s Little Girl
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Directed by Chad McClarnon
Synopsis: A precocious little girl uses her self-taught science knowledge to finally tackle the problem of her abusive alcoholic father head on.
Lucid
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Directed by Kevin Shah
Synopsis: Karen's nightmares always pick up where they left off the night before and it's affecting her marriage. She wants to control her dreams, but she's not the one creating them.
Truckin’
Directed by Diane Newman
Synopsis: Two women reunite after their awkward adolescent years are over. In a bitter food truck war, they come to terms with their childhood differences.
Wild & Precious
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Directed by Cusi Cram
Synopsis: Sparks fly when a wayward grandmother returns for a funeral and it falls upon the shoulders of her granddaughter to ask the questions no one has ever dared to.
The Strongest Man
Directed by: Kenny Riches
Run Time: 99 minutes
Cast: Robert Lorie, Paul Chamberlain, Patrick Fugit, Ashly Burch, Lisa Banes, Davy Rothbart, David Park, Nancy Fong, Freddie Wong
Synopsis: The Strongest Man is a Miami-centric comedy about an anxiety-ridden Cuban man, who fancies himself the strongest man in the world. In a quest to recover his most beloved possession, a stolen bicycle, he finds and loses so much more.
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Additional Screenings:
Saturday, March 28th at 8:00pm
Sunday, March 29th at 12:10pm
Far From Home
Directed by: Galen Knowles
Run Time: 74 minutes
Cast: Philip Hessler
Synopsis: What do snowboarding, medical school, and Uganda have in common? The answer is Brolin Mawejje. A mere 21 years old, Brolin has endured more hardship than most individuals will in a lifetime. Far From Home is an independent documentary that retraces the journey of Brolin Mawejje, from his childhood in Uganda, to his struggles in America, while documenting his road to the Olympics and medical school. Brolin's story holds the power to change lives as it is an embodiment of what so many of us strive to find, our true potential.
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Additional Screenings:
Saturday, March 28th at 5:35pm
Sunday, March 29th at 10:00am
Blood Punch
Directed by: Madellaine Paxson
Run Time: 110 minutes
Cast: Milo Cawthorne, Olivia Tennet, Ari Boyland, Adelaide Kane, Cohen Holloway
Synopsis: A young man finds himself drawn into a dangerous love triangle gone haywire in this genre-bending neo-noir film.
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Additional Screening:
Saturday, March 28th at 10:15pm
WAX: We Are The X (Italy)
Run Time: 1:45
Directed by: Lorenzo Corvino
Cast: Gwendolyn Gourvenec, Jacopo Maria Bicocchi, Davide Paganini, Jean-Marc Barr, Rutger Hauer, Andrea Sartoretti, Andrea Renzi,Lily Bloom, Mathieu Intikalau, Muriel Gandois, Claudia Gallo, Francesca Ritrovato
Synopsis: A troupe of reporters is given a video by a mysterious someone. The video is the proof left by three thirty-something, two men and a woman, of a road trip on the French Riviera, the chronicle of a week to complete an assignment before they are involved in an accident. The three share the destiny of a doomed generation.
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Additional Screenings:
Saturday March 28th at 7:45-9:20PM
Where Hope Grows
Directed By: Chris Dowing
Running Time: 97 min
Cast: Kerr Smith, Kristoffer Polaha, Danica McKeller, Alan Powell
Synopsis: A self-destructive former pro ball player is given a serious lesson in living life with courage when he befriends a grocery store clerk with Down syndrome.
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Additional Screenings:
Sunday March, 29 at 3:40pm
Live Action Shorts B
Run Time: 85 minutes
Isolation
Directed by Kristin Skye Hoffmann
Synopsis: This film is about Nil and Nell. Nil and Nell both live in the same town and follow the same monotonous routine day in and day out but all that they need to break out of their dreary everyday existence is the spark that comes from meeting someone new...
Une Liberation
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Directed by Brian Crewe
Synopsis: On the eve of the liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation during WWII, an American resistance member descends into the underground tunnels of Paris to deliver a message. However, an encounter with a pair of German deserters threatens to destroy the very thing she has been fighting for.
The Listing Agent
Directed by Jared Hillman & Matthew Helfgott
Synopsis: A desperate, down-on-his-luck real estate agent must carry out his client's unorthodox demands before closing the sale.
The Little Violinist
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Directed by Yang Wang
Synopsis: A trash-picker in New York City Chinatown, hides a secret from his daughter for 11 years. After her heartfelt violin performance, he reveals that he found her on the streets of Chinatown as an infant and had raised her as his own.
Catching Fireflies
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Directed by Lee Whittaker
Synopsis: A Latina girl uses the power of her imagination to escape the rigors of living on Skid Row, Los Angeles while also trying to protect her relationship with her addict mother.
Birthday
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Directed by Chris King
Synopsis: When a young wife gets news that her Marine husband has been severely wounded in combat, she discovers that life ahead for the both of them is going to be a difficult and yet amazing journey.
Additional Screenings:
Bad Exorcists
Directed by: Kyle Steinbach
Run Time: 85 minutes
Cast: Sean Roney, Alex Knapp, Julian Master, Claire Berger, Suzanna Akins, Suzanne Owens-Duval
Synopsis: Charlie, Matt and Dana are about to finish high school with little fanfare. In a last-ditch effort to earn their classmates' respect, the trio aims to win the local horror film festival. Things might finally be going their way—until their attempt to film an exorcism scene results in the demonic possession of their lead actress. The boys are in for a raucous and hilarious weekend as they try to save the girl and somehow finish their film, all while navigating the treacherous world of high school.
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Additional Screenings:
Saturday, March 28th at 2:55pm
Sunday, March 29th at 9:50am
Angel of Nanjing
Directed by: Jordan Horowitz and Frank Ferendo
Run Time: 67 minutes
Synopsis: The Yangtze River Bridge in Nanjing is one of the most famous bridges in China. It is also the most popular place in the world to commit suicide. For the past 11 years, Chen Si has been patrolling this bridge, looking to provide aid for those who've gone there to end their lives. Incredibly, he has saved over 300 people since he began - nearly one every two weeks.
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Additional Screenings:
Saturday, March 28th at 9:15am
Sunday, March 29th at 11:50am
Clew
Directed by: Eric Badros
Run Time: 109 Minutes
Cast Taylor Graham, Heather Weeks, Lavinia Postolache
Synopsis: In the mid-21st century, painter Jack Hadrian is living the good life until his fiancée disappears into thin air, leaving him afraid to leave his apartment and stuck in a creative rut. Beaten down by his loneliness, he eventually purchases a "muse" named Ev, a life partner genetically-engineered specifically for him. As their relationship grows, stories from her past make him suspect that all might not be as it appears.
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In Silence (Slovakia)
Run Time: 1:30
Directed by: Zdenek Jirasky
Cast: Judit Bardos, Jan Gallovic, Jan Ctvrtnik, Kristina Svarinska, Ladislav Hrusovsky, Dana Kosicka, Valeria Staskova
Synopsis: An emotionally impressive, aesthetically satisfying meditation, the nightmare of Nazi rule in Slovakia. In Silence is stylized docudrama drawing on the lives of real Jewish musicians in Czechoslovakia and Germany who were persecuted during the Holocaust. In Silence depicts the contrast between happy, joyful life and the suffering and humiliation in the concentration camps where music was the only instrument that helped people to survive or alleviate the fear of impending death.
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Additional Screenings:
Saturday March 28th at 3:35-5:05PM
LISTENING
Directed by: Khalil Sullins
Run Time: 98 minutes
Cast: Thomas Stroppel, Artie Ahr, Amber Marie Bollinger, Christine Haeberman, Steve Hanks, Mykayla Sohn, Arn Chorn Pond, John Merry
Synopsis: David and Ryan are trying to harness the power of the human mind... and failing. They’re both broke and struggle to support their families, but spend all of their time in a garage-lab full of stolen equipment, hoping that inventing telepathy will solve all their problems. After they meet Jordan, a smart and seductive new classmate, they make a breakthrough that changes everything. But the bleeding-edge technology opens a Pandora’s box of new dangers, as the team discovers that when they open their minds, there is nowhere to hide their thoughts. Secrets and betrayals boil to the surface, and the technology falls into the wrong hands. David, Ryan, and Jordan suddenly find themselves working for an underground government agency with treacherous plans to implement their technology globally. With no one left to trust, David is forced against his friends in a life-or-death battle over not only the privacy of the human mind, but the future of free will itself.
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Additional Screenings:
Saturday March 28, 11:20am
Sunday March 29, 2:25pm
The Business of Recovery
Directed by: Adam Finberg
Run Time: 85 minutes
Synopsis: As drug and alcohol addictions skyrocket, The Business of Recovery examines the untold billions that are being made off of families in crisis. With little regulation or science, the treatment industry has become a cash cow business that continues to grow while deaths pile up. Through unique access to internationally recognized treatment facilities, as well as emotional stories of addicts and their families, the film reveals how the treatment industry in the United States preys on addicts with little more than promises of hope and a huge bill.
Be among the first in the country to see this special screening of "The Business of Recovery"
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The Surface
Directed by: Gil Jr. Cates
Run Time: 88 minutes
Cast: Sean Astin, Chris Mulkey
Synopsis: Mitch is intent on suicide when he stumbles upon the debris from a crashed, small engine float plane where the survivor, Kelly, is struggling to stay alive. Mitch is emotionally wounded and Kelly physically wounded, and it’s during the course of Mitch trying to save Kelly’s life, and a dying Kelly trying to save Mitch’s life, that both lives are changed.
Journey To The Mother (Russia, France)
Run Time: 1:35
Directed By: Mikhail Kosyrev-Nesterov
Cast: Artiom Alexeiev, Adele Exarchopoulos
Synopsis: Maxim (Artiom Alexeiev) is a young Muscovite who journeys from Russia to the south of France to visit his mother in her home amidst the lofty mountains of Montagne Sainte-Victoire. He finds her in poor health and is overwhelmed with grief when she abruptly passes away. In the throes of mourning, he reconnects with his French half-sister Marie Louise (Adele Exarchopoulos), whom he hardly saw. Despite the language barrier and accustomed estrangement, the pair grows closer through their shared sense of loss
Based on a novel by Nicolas Planchais, the film features 2013 Palme d’Or winner Adele Exarchopoulos.
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Additional Screening:
Sunday March 29th 9:40-11:15am
The Editor
Directed by: Adam Brooks and Matthew Kennedy
Run Time: 100 Minutes
Cast: Paz de la Huerta, Adam Brooks, Laurence R. Harvey, Samantha Hill, Udo Kier
Synopsis: Rey Ciso was once the greatest editor the world had ever seen. Since a horrific accident left him with four wooden fingers on his right hand, he’s had to resort to cutting pulp films and trash pictures. When the lead actors from the film he’s been editing turn up murdered at the studio, Rey is fingered as the number one suspect. The bodies continue to pile up in this absurdist giallo-thriller as Rey struggles to prove his innocence and learn the sinister truth lurking behind the scenes.
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The Shells
Directed by: Max Finneran
Run Time: 89 Minutes
Cast: Britt Lower, Sara Chase, Erik Heger, Andy Ridings, Nadia Gan, Nick Fondulis, Michael Pemberton, Anna Andresen, Carolyn McCormick, Lee Wilkof, Lea Mancarella, Avery Kristin Pohl, Gary Sundown, Christopher Randolph
Synopsis: Haunted by dreams that appear all too real, Alex reluctantly joins a team of amateur filmmakers in a former undercover DOD research facility to make a film about Dr. Marzena, a mysterious neurologist who disappeared in the 1960s while in the midst of a secret neurological experiment. As members of the crew are transformed into sleepwalkers, Alex discovers that Dr. Marzena is alive inside the building, entrapping her victims in a dream dungeon from which they cannot escape. Caught in the cross hairs of Dr. Marzena's demonic plan, Alex must embrace her innate powers to save herself and the crew, before it's too late.
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Closer to God
Directed by: Billy Senese
Run Time: 81 minutes
Cast: Jeremy Childs, Shelean Newman, Shannon Hoppe, David Alford, Isaac Disney
Synopsis: In this dark indie thriller, a genetic scientist, Dr. Victor Reed, secretly clones the first human being. The doctor intends to do extensive tests on the baby before allowing her to be examined by his peers and seen by the public. But when photographs are prematurely leaked to the press, everything he has worked for is threatened. Growing controversy in the media and fears of federal and state legal action start to close in on Victor and an increasing number of agitated protestors begin to organize outside his home. It is within this building tension that something even worse is revealed a dark secret that could destroy everything and everyone precious to him. This modern day Frankenstein narrative undertakes not only the complicated moral and social issues of human cloning but also the inevitability of evolutionary and technological change.
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Additonal Screenings:
Saturday, March 28th at 11:05 am
Horror Shorts B
Run Time: 85 minutes
Lure
Directed by Kyle Robinson
Synopsis: A determined man must get his girlfriend’s purse back from the unseen perils of downtown.
Q
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Directed by Tom Vujcic
Synopsis: A modern take on the story of Cupid, a small man named Q selling love to lonely people. One night a young man goes to Q to get his ex-girlfriend back. Q makes a mistake and shoots the wrong girl with his arrow and things get complicated.
Less of You
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Directed by Byron Camacho
Synopsis: A horror-themed drama about mom and daughter witches in a mysterious snow laden town.
Paramnesia
Directed by Michael May
Synopsis: A woman begins to experience disturbing hallucinations and can't distinguish what's reality and what's in her head.
I Owe You
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Directed by Michael McNeese
Synopsis: Cam owes his perfect life to an estranged friend Todd. But when Todd shows up with a body in his trunk and calls in the debt, Cam must choose between an awful trip into darkness or having his own secret revealed.
Viscera
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Directed by Lauren Morrison
Synopsis: By referencing the human body and the absurdity of high society manners, Viscera examines the disconnect between food and source, rich and poor, and the intentional ignorance that allows exploitation to flourish.
A Stranger Kind
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Directed by Ollie Murray
Synopsis: A Stranger Kind is an unhinged contemporary fairytale. Lily, a young girl, ekes out an existence in a threadbare cabaret club until, one day, a stranger calls to audition with a nerve-rattling new act and Lily begins, for the first time in her life, to believe in magic.
Julia
Directed by: Matthew A. Brown
Run Time: 95 Minutes
Cast: Ashley C. Williams, Tahyna Tozzi, Jack Noseworthy
Synopsis: We see a face of a girl coming up an escalator. The camera is fixed on Julia – and will remain so for the whole film. Julia is a rape survivor – but she’s struggling to cope until she meets a violent therapy group that seems to suit her needs. But is the group perhaps more of a cult – just as intent on getting her under their control as the original rapists? What follows is an unblinking study of violence, revenge, castration and empowerment.
Official Website
Sci-Fi Shorts B
Run Time: 95 minutes
Japanese Doctor Who
Directed by Joshua Kahan
Synopsis: One day a video tape fell from the sky into a young man's lap. On it was a video clip from a parallel universe wherein the Japanese had licensed Doctor Who and made it their own. This is that video clip.
The Temporal Party
Directed by Ignacio J Reveco
Synopsis: Two grad students do a theoretical time traveling experiment; they organize a party for future time travelers, by sending the invitations after the party is finish. Their belief is struck when someone shows up claiming he is from the future.
M-Theory
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Directed by TL Westgate
Synopsis: Saving the world has unintended consequences.
The Looking Planet
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Directed by Eric Law Anderson
Synopsis: In the beginning, not everything went quite entirely according to plan.
Nostalgic
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Directed by Ronald Eltanal
Synopsis: An aging scientist must decide whether to give in to early-onset dementia, or to take an experimental drug which locks him into his memories, unable to form new ones.
Super therapy!
Directed by Stig Morten Waage
Synopsis: A therapy-session for a seemingly normal couple. Every relationship has got problems, and she likes to face problems head on. Only this time, she can't.
Valiant
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Directed by Robin Phillips
Synopsis: Set in a distant nuclear war-torn future, the Valiant Three set out on dangerous quest after finding a lost child princess who may hold the ticket to their freedom. However, they soon find themselves facing a choice between sacrificing the girl or living up to their reputation.
Additional Screenings:
Saturday, March 28th at 1:05pm
The Shells
Directed by: Max Finneran
Run Time: 89 Minutes
Cast: Britt Lower, Sara Chase, Erik Heger, Andy Ridings, Nadia Gan, Nick Fondulis, Michael Pemberton, Anna Andresen, Carolyn McCormick, Lee Wilkof, Lea Mancarella, Avery Kristin Pohl, Gary Sundown, Christopher Randolph
Synopsis: Haunted by dreams that appear all too real, Alex reluctantly joins a team of amateur filmmakers in a former undercover DOD research facility to make a film about Dr. Marzena, a mysterious neurologist who disappeared in the 1960s while in the midst of a secret neurological experiment. As members of the crew are transformed into sleepwalkers, Alex discovers that Dr. Marzena is alive inside the building, entrapping her victims in a dream dungeon from which they cannot escape. Caught in the cross hairs of Dr. Marzena's demonic plan, Alex must embrace her innate powers to save herself and the crew, before it's too late.
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ARIZONA STUDENT FILM FESTIVAL
Run Time: 105 min
For the first time, the Arizona Student Film Festival is part of the Phoenix Film Festival. The Arizona Student Film Festival is an annual showcase of films from Arizona grade school and high school students. Join us for this special screening and awards presentation.
Screening Time: Saturday, March 28th at 9:00am
Herbert the Killer Kitten by Alyssa Bartlett from Wigwam Creek Middle School
Kids With Autism Can by Hans Kuyper from Bella Vista College Prep
The Candy Dealer by Isaiahs Rivera from Wigwam Creek Middle School
The Attack Of Scorpazilla by Sarah Jordan from Wigwam Creek Middle School
Lucky Pin by Holly Milosevich from Arizona Virtual Academy
Determination by Bryan Hanlon from Snowflake High School
Just Listen by Devany Dellis from Marcos de Niza High School
Split by Lucas Garvey from Corona del Sol High School
Someday In California by Shelly Ortiz from Metropolitan Arts Institute
Ruth Daemon by Daniela Mock-Zubia from Metropolitan Arts Institute
Kids With Autism Can by Sydney Dang from Bella Vista College Prep
Too Young to Drink by Sierra Vaught from Metropolitan Arts Institute
Now He is Praying by Daniela Mock-Zubia from Metropolitan Arts Institute
Late for Work by Eric Nakamoto from Hamilton High School
Paranoid by Angela Houston from Boulder Creek High School
Pining by Nina Nandin from Metropolitan Arts Institute
Final Exit Trailer by Dominic LaRovere from Chandler High School
PTSD by Chance Roberts from Verrado High School
And So You Saw by Sydney Burdick from Boulder Creek High School
Top Of The World - Jeff Michaels Music Video by Dominic LaRovere from Chandler High
Kids’ Day is a free event and a great way for children of all ages to come out and experience the festival. They can select from a series of hands-on activity stations focusing on different aspects of film production and geared to various age and ability levels.
From coloring black line reproductions of the festival poster for the youngest to acting and creating their own short films for the oldest, kids will love this action-packed morning. Everyone will get a kick out of the soundtrack station, where they create a musical soundtrack to a fun film, and the screenwriting station, where they write a script “Mad Lib” style.
Stations are age-appropriate and run the full gamut of the filmmaking process. At the conclusion of the activities, the whole family is invited to view the family-friendly film screenings that morning and afternoon.
Homegrown Shorts Showcase
Run Time: 95 minutes
Grace of a Stranger
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Directed by Troy Hollar
Synopsis: A poor man loses his last shred of hope and an unlikely stranger finds himself able to help. Based on the autobiographical short story 'Acts of Kindness' by Aaron Keel.
Stolen Afternoon
Directed by Aaron Kes
Synopsis: An inexperienced uncle is left at home with his infant niece. A thief is looking for an easy mark. For both of them, sometimes help comes in mysterious ways.
The Class Analysis
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Directed by Webb Pickersgill
Synopsis: A Vietnam vet, an Aryan Brotherhood biker, a wealthy black businessman, a peaceful Muslim, and a poor Hispanic couple are thrust into a corrosive argument. Race, class and religion violently disrupt the group bringing them to peace in an unexpected way.
Fighters Move Forward
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Directed by Jake Lee
Synopsis: Fighters Move Forward follows Pete Chavez, the founder of the Chavez Boxing Foundation, and two of his 'kids,' exploring the struggles of those affected by the non-profit, as well as the numerous obstacles faced by the foundation itself.
Duty
Directed by Vic Rincon
Synopsis: During the financial crisis of 2008-2009, a small town cop struggles to support his family. As his burdens escalate, he fears there may only be one option left. A touching story of humility, desperation and courage one man takes to carry out his duty.
Fish Hook
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Directed by Nickolas Duarte
Synopsis: A young man struggles with the cycle of abuse, internal conflict and a murky morality.
Logan Must Make Star Wars
Directed by Nathan Blackwell
Synopsis: Logan is thrown back to the year 1974 where he accidentally kills George Lucas. Now, to ensure that the greatest sci-fi trilogy is made, he must impersonate Lucas and make Star Wars himself.
Thrasherland
Directed by Joshua Provost
Synopsis: A 13 year old boy tries to be accepted by the skaters. When his kid sister falls ill and his single mom calls off the family vacation, he must decide whether to sit it out or go at it alone.
Burden of Peace (Netherlands)
Run Time: 1:20
Directed by: Joey Boink
Cast: Claudia Paz y Paz
Synopsis: Burden of Peace follows Guatemala's first female Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz in her fight against impunity. After taking office Claudia obtains spectacular results and many high level arrests are made. But her determination encounters strong resistance from powerful elites that have up to then felt above the law. Will Claudia be able to win this battle?
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Additional Screenings:
Sunday March 29th at 12-1:20pm
Angel of Nanjing
Directed by: Jordan Horowitz and Frank Ferendo
Run Time: 67 minutes
Synopsis: The Yangtze River Bridge in Nanjing is one of the most famous bridges in China. It is also the most popular place in the world to commit suicide. For the past 11 years, Chen Si has been patrolling this bridge, looking to provide aid for those who've gone there to end their lives. Incredibly, he has saved over 300 people since he began - nearly one every two weeks.
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Additional Screenings:
Friday, March 27th at 5:45pm
Sunday, March 29th at 11:50am
Live Action Shorts B
Run Time: 85 minutes
Isolation
Directed by Kristin Skye Hoffmann
Synopsis: This film is about Nil and Nell. Nil and Nell both live in the same town and follow the same monotonous routine day in and day out but all that they need to break out of their dreary everyday existence is the spark that comes from meeting someone new...
Une Liberation
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Directed by Brian Crewe
Synopsis: On the eve of the liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation during WWII, an American resistance member descends into the underground tunnels of Paris to deliver message. However, an encounter with a pair of German deserters threatens to destroy the very thing she has been fighting for.
The Listing Agent
Directed by Jared Hillman
Synopsis: A desperate, down-on-his-luck real estate agent must carry out his client's unorthodox demands before closing the sale.
The Little Violinist
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Directed by Yang Wang
Synopsis: A trash-picker in New York City Chinatown, hides a secret from his daughter for 11 years. After her heartfelt violin performance, he reveals that he found her on the streets of Chinatown as an infant and had raised her as his own.
Catching Fireflies
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Directed by Lee Whittaker
Synopsis: A Latina girl uses the power of her imagination to escape the rigors of living on Skid Row, Los Angeles while also trying to protect her relationship with her addict mother.
Birthday
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Directed by Chris King
Synopsis: When a young wife gets news that her Marine husband has been severely wounded in combat, she discovers that life ahead for the both of them is going to be a difficult and yet amazing journey.
Additional Screenings:
Friday, March 27th at 5:00pm
Documentary Shorts
Run Time: 70 minutes
Tomgirl
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Directed by Jeremy Asher Lynch
Synopsis: Jake, a gender non-conforming seven year-old, invites us into his world to explore the transforming power of love and support on our children.
Sugar Coated
Directed by Chris Parson
Synopsis: Lolita, a fashion movement from Harajuku, Tokyo, has a thriving group of followers in Los Angeles. We follow four Lolitas and investigate their motivations for taking on the extreme style; from self-expression, to the questioning of identity and body image.
Half Sour
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Directed by Mary Anne Rothberg and Sean McGing
Synopsis: A group of young skateboarders find direction in their lives when they move to New York and start a pickle business.
Dockery & Son
Directed by Jack Truman
Synopsis: Dockery & Son is a documentary following a Mother and Son’s junk store and revealing an eye-opening slice of life at their real-life thrift store in the ghost town of Milford, Missouri: population 26.
SandorKraut
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Directed by Emily Lobsenz and Ann Husaini
Synopsis: A portrait of the acclaimed food writer and fermentation guru Sandor Katz whose renegade revival of ancient culinary rituals has transformed his relationship with life and death.
Anna
Directed by Eric Latek
Synopsis: Anna is an intimate portrait through the eyes of Anna who is a wife, mother, grandmother and Native American activist who endures the final stage of Alzheimer's. This film is only through her eyes.
Additonal Screenings:
Friday, March 27th at 1:20 pm
Closer to God
Directed by: Billy Senese
Run Time: 81 minutes
Cast: Jeremy Childs, Shelean Newman, Shannon Hoppe, David Alford, and Isaac Disney
Synopsis: In this dark indie thriller, a genetic scientist, Dr. Victor Reed, secretly clones the first human being. The doctor intends to do extensive tests on the baby before allowing her to be examined by his peers and seen by the public. But when photographs are prematurely leaked to the press, everything he has worked for is threatened. Growing controversy in the media and fears of federal and state legal action start to close in on Victor and an increasing number of agitated protestors begin to organize outside his home. It is within this building tension that something even worse is revealed a dark secret that could destroy everything and everyone precious to him. This modern day Frankenstein narrative undertakes not only the complicated moral and social issues of human cloning but also the inevitability of evolutionary and technological change.
Official Site
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Addtional Screenings:
Friday, March 27th at 9:30 pm
All My Tomorrows (Czech Republic)
Run Time: 1:40
Directed by: Rudolf Havlik
Cast: Pavel Batek, Vica Kerekes, Filip Blazek, Jiri Labus, Klara Issova, Jan Preucil, Michal Kovalcik, Anna Kulovana
Synopsis: Every night, millions of people fall asleep wanting to change their lives, wanting to be doing something different tomorrow. All My Tomorrows is a film about all of us. About our dreams, our life changes we want to make but are so often afraid to. This is a film about friendship and unexpected meetings. This is a film about freedom and the desire to travel but also knowing where to go back to.
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Additional Screenings:
Sunday March 29th at 2:05-3:45PM
Arizona Shorts
Run Time: 90 minutes
The Tent
Directed by Marcus Stricklin
Synopsis: After her brother Ethan is diagnosed with a fatal disease, Stephanie and Ethan use their imagination to travel the world using the tent in their family home.
Kitty
Directed by Josh Kasselman and Stephanie Lucas
Synopsis: Tensions rise on a young couple's sightseeing tour as they discuss the cat sitter they've hired for the weekend.
Keep Running
Directed by Sean Oliver
Synopsis: While on a routine morning jog a young man comes across a mysterious stranger who changes his life.
Project Daisy
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Directed by Adolpho Navarro
Synopsis: Control what you create!
Ouroboros
Directed by Alexander Broderick
Synopsis: A quantum physicist creates an artificial wormhole, a breakthrough in teleportation. But the wormhole brings an unexpected visitor - Faye's future self - warning that the device threatens the fabric of spacetime and the very existence of the universe.
The Most Important Meal of the Day
Directed by Randy Murray
Synopsis: During the zombie apocalypse, a young girl's search for food puts her and a stranger in danger. Will she be able to escape the zombie horrors while still making it home with food to eat?
Blue Copper
Directed by Diane M. Dresback
Synopsis: A well intentioned woman hired to care for a man works to liberate her psychologically complex client, as he enacts his own contorted version of reciprocal help.
Additonal Screenings:
Sunday, March 29th at 4:45 pm
LISTENING
Directed by: Khalil Sullins
Run Time: 98 minutes
Cast: Thomas Stroppel, Artie Ahr, Amber Marie Bollinger, Christine Haeberman, Steve Hanks, Mykayla Sohn, Arn Chorn Pond, John Merry
Synopsis: David and Ryan are trying to harness the power of the human mind... and failing. They’re both broke and struggle to support their families, but spend all of their time in a garage-lab full of stolen equipment, hoping that inventing telepathy will solve all their problems. After they meet Jordan, a smart and seductive new classmate, they make a breakthrough that changes everything. But the bleeding-edge technology opens a Pandora’s box of new dangers, as the team discovers that when they open their minds, there is nowhere to hide their thoughts. Secrets and betrayals boil to the surface, and the technology falls into the wrong hands. David, Ryan, and Jordan suddenly find themselves working for an underground government agency with treacherous plans to implement their technology globally. With no one left to trust, David is forced against his friends in a life-or-death battle over not only the privacy of the human mind, but the future of free will itself.
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Additional Screenings:
Friday March, 27 at 7:15pm
Sunday March, 29 at 2:25pm
College Shorts
Run Time: 95 minutes
Cootie Contagion
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Directed by Joshua Smooha
Synopsis: BIOHAZARD. Cootie Levels: Maximum. Patient: Matt. Infected by: Becca. Warning: Patient still expresses interest in Becca. Patient must be QUARANTINED. -Connor Nelson, Cootieologist.
OstrichLand
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Directed by David McCracken
Synopsis: A road-trip comedy about two estranged brothers driving across the country in a truck full of their late father’s UFO memorabilia.
Lambing Season
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Directed by Jeannie Donohoe
Synopsis: An American woman travels to the Irish countryside to track down her long-lost father. When things don't go according to plan, she and her father learn they have more in common than they imagined as the truth is revealed.
Drone
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Directed by Justin S. Lee
Synopsis: A rookie Air Force drone pilot finds himself increasingly attached to a target he watches from halfway around the world.
Liv
Directed by Gwyneth Christoffel
Synopsis: A video blogger inadvertently reveals too much of his life to his audience.
Miracle Maker
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Directed by Kate Marks
Synopsis: It's been a rough summer for Francisco, a 12-year-old who travels door to door with his uncle hoping to sell a vacuum while is father is deathly ill. But when he hears about a miracle maker living nearby, he puts a plan in place to turn his luck around.
Grange to Garage
Directed by William Johnston-Carter
Synopsis: A California farmer struggles to stay in business raising organically grown, free-range automobiles.
Additional Screenings:
Friday, March 27th at 11:05 am
Sci-Fi Shorts B
Run Time: 95 minutes
Japanese Doctor Who
Directed by Joshua Kahan
Synopsis: One day a video tape fell from the sky into a young man's lap. On it was a video clip from a parallel universe wherein the Japanese had licensed Doctor Who and made it their own. This is that video clip.
The Temporal Party
Directed by Ignacio J Reveco
Synopsis: Two grad students do a theoretical time traveling experiment; they organize a party for future time travelers, by sending the invitations after the party is finish. Their belief is struck when someone shows up claiming he is from the future.
M-Theory
Watch the Trailer
Directed by TL Westgate
Synopsis: Saving the world has unintended consequences.
The Looking Planet
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Directed by Eric Law Anderson
Synopsis: In the beginning, not everything went quite entirely according to plan.
Nostalgic
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Directed by Ronald Eltanal
Synopsis: An aging scientist must decide whether to give in to early-onset dementia, or to take an experimental drug which locks him into his memories, unable to form new ones.
Super therapy!
Directed by Stig Morten Waage
Synopsis: A therapy-session for a seemingly normal couple. Every relationship has got problems, and she likes to face problems head on. Only this time, she can't.
Valiant
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Directed by Robin Phillips
Synopsis: Set in a distant nuclear war-torn future, the Valiant Three set out on dangerous quest after finding a lost child princess who may hold the ticket to their freedom. However, they soon find themselves facing a choice between sacrificing the girl or living up to their reputation.
Additional Screenings:
Friday, March 27th at 10:10pm
1/10 of a Second
Directed by: Kurt Kubicek
Run Time: 80 minutes
Synopsis: The rise, fall, and redemption of the oldest professional motorcycle racer in the U.S., Johnny Rock Page.
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Additional Screening:
Tuesday, March 31st at 9:20pm
Of the Land (Canada)
Run Time: 1:30
Directed by: Bryan Law
Cast: Bryan Law, Steven Davies
Synopsis: Within the last half century, our agriculture and food has changed more than it has changed before in several thousand years. New technologies and scientific ingenuity have given rise to genetically modified organisms (GMO) and other novel foods. Some people have raised concerns about the safety of GMOs in our food supply, given their incredible dominance in the majority of our diet. Traditional, organic farmers, have consistently been under attack by large corporate farming interests, who seek to dominate the food industry and run family farms out of business. This film looks at our current food system as well as a variety of smaller, organic options available to consumers who want to support sustainable farming methods.
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Additional Screenings:
Saturday March 28th at 1:30-3pm
The Surface
Directed by: Gil Jr. Cates
Run Time: 88 minutes
Cast: Sean Astin, Chris Mulkey
Synopsis: Mitch is intent on suicide when he stumbles upon the debris from a crashed, small engine float plane where the survivor, Kelly, is struggling to stay alive. Mitch is emotionally wounded and Kelly physically wounded, and it’s during the course of Mitch trying to save Kelly’s life, and a dying Kelly trying to save Mitch’s life, that both lives are changed.
Monkey Kingdom
Directed by: Mark Linfield, Alastair Fothergill
Running time: 78min
Synopsis:
Life is an adventure for Maya, the clever and resourceful blonde-bobbed monkey in “Monkey Kingdom,” Disneynature’s new film set among ancient ruins in the storied jungles of South Asia. Maya’s world is forever changed when she welcomes son Kip into her complicated extended family. Like all families, Maya’s has more than its share of colorful personalities—and she’s determined to give her son a leg up in the world. When their longtime home at Castle Rock is taken over by powerful neighboring monkeys, Maya's family relocates, and she uses her street smarts and ingenuity to lead them to untapped resources amidst strange new creatures and unsettling surroundings. Ultimately, they will have to work together to reclaim Castle Rock, where Maya can hopefully realize her dreams for her son’s future. Directed by Mark Linfield (“Chimpanzee,” “Earth”) and co-directed by Alastair Fothergill (“Chimpanzee,” “Bears”) with music from award-winning composer Harry Gregson-Williams, “Monkey Kingdom” swings into theaters April 17, 2015.
Bad Exorcists
Directed by: Kyle Steinbach
Run Time: 85 minutes
Cast: Sean Roney, Alex Knapp, Julian Master, Claire Berger, Suzanna Akins, Suzanne Owens-Duval
Synopsis: Charlie, Matt and Dana are about to finish high school with little fanfare. In a last-ditch effort to earn their classmates' respect, the trio aims to win the local horror film festival. Things might finally be going their way—until their attempt to film an exorcism scene results in the demonic possession of their lead actress. The boys are in for a raucous and hilarious weekend as they try to save the girl and somehow finish their film, all while navigating the treacherous world of high school.
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Additional Screenings:
Friday, March 27th at 5:30pm
Sunday, March 29th at 9:50am
Unsound
Directed by: Darious Britt
Run Time: 93 minutes
Cast: Toreenee Wolf, Darious Britt, Kevin Black, RD Mower, Damon Mosier, Christina Marafin, Kirsten Long, Justin Kreinbrink
Synopsis: An ambitious, young filmmaker sets out to create the ultimate career launching, classic Volkswagen documentary when his mother succumbs to yet another episode of psychosis. Due to her actions he's given 24 hours to remove his mother from their apartment complex or face eviction from management. He must resort to extreme measures to save her from herself and reclaim his life.Based on true events, Unsound chronicles a mother's battle with Schizophrenia and a son's struggle to get her the help she needs.
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Additional Screening:
Monday, March 30th at 9:20pm
The House on Pine Street
Directed by: Aaron Keeling and Austin Keeling
Run Time: 113 minutes
Cast: Emily Goss,Taylor Bottles,Cathy Barnett,Jim Korinke,Natalie Pellegrini,Tisha Swarte-Entwistle
Synopsis: Seven months pregnant, Jennifer Branagan (Emily Goss) reluctantly returns to her hometown in Kansas after an unexpected mental breakdown. Coping with her fears of motherhood, a strained relationship with her husband, Luke (Taylor Bottles), and the overbearing presence of her own mother, Meredith (Cathy Barnett), Jennifer struggles to regain control of her life. But when strange things start happening in their new rental home, Jennifer begins to fear that it may be haunted. Alone in her convictions, Jennifer is forced to question her sanity as she attempts to find out what, if anything, is plaguing the house.
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Additional Screening:
Sunday, March 29th at 9:35am
In Silence (Slovakia)
Run Time: 1:30
Directed by: Zdenek Jirasky
Cast: Judit Bardos, Jan Gallovic, Jan Ctvrtnik, Kristina Svarinska, Ladislav Hrusovsky, Dana Kosicka, Valeria Staskova
Synopsis: An emotionally impressive, aesthetically satisfying meditation, the nightmare of Nazi rule in Slovakia. In Silence is stylized docudrama drawing on the lives of real Jewish musicians in Czechoslovakia and Germany who were persecuted during the Holocaust. In Silence depicts the contrast between happy, joyful life and the suffering and humiliation in the concentration camps where music was the only instrument that helped people to survive or alleviate the fear of impending death.
Half Brother
Directed by: Anthony Grippa
Run Time: 75 minutes
Cast: Stephen Plunkett, Casey Biggs, Christina Haag, Dante Bruzzese, Jenny Dare Paulin, Emily Kratter, Elizabeth Masucci, Jenna Laurenzo, Blaire Brooks, Ian Bell, Brian Patrick Murphy, Bjorn Thorstad, Edward Furs
Synopsis: When his longtime girlfriend breaks up with him, 30 year-old Michael suddenly finds himself homeless. With nowhere else to go, he spends the weekend at his father and stepmothers house, only to find that they're embroiled in a bitter divorce. As he gets caught in the middle of their angry disputes, Michael struggles to come to terms with his place in his dysfunctional family.
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Additional Screenings:
Friday, March 27th at 11:25pm
Sunday, March 29th at 2:00pm
Animated Shorts
Run Time:
Sumer
Directed by Alvaro Garcia
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Synopsis: The Earth's ionosphere has weakened, perishing all plant and animal species down to one small group of humans living in an isolated city. A young boy lives alone close to the surrounding walls and while observing the desert from a rooftop, he sees something resembling a blue feather floating in the air...
My Big Brother
Directed by Jason Rayner
Synopsis: The reflections of a boy sharing a room and a childhood with his twenty-foot tall brother.
The Present
Directed by Jacob Frey
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Synopsis: Jake spends most of his time playing video games indoors until his mom decides to give him a present.
Speed Dating
Directed by Meghann Artes
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Synopsis: Desperate to find the man of her dreams, Ava attends a night of speed dating. After the cast of characters she encounters, she wonders if being single isn’t so bad after all.
Love Bugs
Directed by Teresa Hooper
Synopsis: What if a battery powered toy bee was shocked into action to try to attract the ladybug of his dreams? Would he get her?
Love in the Time of March Madness
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Directed by Melissa Johnson and Robertino Zambrano
Synopsis: Melissa Johnson hit 6'4'' tall in 8th grade. Although this made her an instant basketball star, what follows is a series of hilarious and awkward misadventures in romance as she dates shorter men.
Hold My Handle
Directed by Ethan Barrett
Synopsis: Two cups imprisoned by a cruel, sloppy owner fall in love. When one of them is discarded they have no choice but to escape, though they will not get away without making huge sacrifices.
In Capricious Hands
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Directed by Stephan Larson
Synopsis: Living in a box, life is pretty bleak and boring. And then a window opens...
Monstro!
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Directed by Christopher Romano
Synopsis: A scientific expedition travels down the dark Amazon, searching for a mythic creature.
The OceanMaker
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Directed by Lucas Martell
Synopsis:After the seas have disappeared, a courageous young female pilot fights against vicious sky pirates for control of the last remaining source of water: the clouds.
Addtional Screenings:
Friday, March 27th at 9:00 am
Seven Hours in Heaven
Directed by: Kyle Gerkin
Run Time: 91 minutes
Cast: Colleen Hartnett, John Crosthwaite, Aaron Ginn-Forsberg, Aria Song, Honda King, Mark Grossman
Synopsis: Six friends meet up at a cabin for their annual getaway, but none of them can guess what the weekend has in store. After a night of heavy drinking, they choose to play an adult variation of the game 'Seven Minutes in Heaven'. The fallout from this decision tests their bonds of friendship, and causes them to question their relationships. Ultimately, they each must look beyond the face they present to the world and decide who they really want to be.
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Far From Home
Directed by: Galen Knowles
Run Time: 74 minutes
Cast: Philip Hessler
Synopsis: What do snowboarding, medical school, and Uganda have in common? The answer is Brolin Mawejje. A mere 21 years old, Brolin has endured more hardship than most individuals will in a lifetime. Far From Home is an independent documentary that retraces the journey of Brolin Mawejje, from his childhood in Uganda, to his struggles in America, while documenting his road to the Olympics and medical school. Brolin's story holds the power to change lives as it is an embodiment of what so many of us strive to find, our true potential.
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Additional Screenings:
Friday, March 27th at 3:25pm
Sunday, March 29th at 10:00am
Dennis Rodman’s Big Bang in PyongYang (UK)
Run Time: 1:35
Directed by: Colin Offland
Cast: Matt Cooper
Synopsis: Dennis Rodman is on a mission. After forging an unlikely friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, he wants to improve relations between North Korea and the US by staging a historic basketball game between the two countries. But the North Korean team isn't the only opposition he'll face...Condemned by the NBA and The Whitehouse, and hounded every step of the way by the press, can Dennis keep it together and make the game happen? Or will it go up in a mushroom cloud of smoke?For the first time, discover the true story of what happened when Dennis Rodman took a team of former-NBA players to North Korea and staged the most controversial game of basketball the world has never seen.
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Additional Screenings:
Friday March 27th at 1:35pm
The Sighting
Directed by: Doug Dezzani
Run Time: 81 Minutes
Cast: Megan Reinking, Doug Dezzani, Kirk Bovill, James Wellington, Elena Varela, Potsch Boyd
Synopsis: On Feb 11th 2013, Mia Hollingworth and her boyfriend went searching for the truth behind her mother's alien abduction. After three days of searching, they were never heard from again. This is the document of their journey.
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Additional Screenings:
Sunday, March 29th at 4:30pm
Bread and Butter
Directed by: Liz Manashil
Run Time: 89 minutes
Cast: Bobby Moynihan, Christine Weatherup, Micah Hauptman, Lauren Lapkus, Eric Lange, Harry Groener, Dawn Didawick, Sean Wright
Synopsis: Amelia Karinsky, 30, is a late bloomer who has never had a boyfriend. She works for an eccentric life coach, Dr. Wellburn, who has a doctorate in Scandinavian Literature, but prefers that you call him "Doctor" as if he were a psychiatrist. Dr. Wellburn doesn't respect boundaries and neither do her parents, who want to control all aspects of her life. Amelia is eager to break free of their overbearing influences and to relax amidst all the chaos that surrounds her. One day Amelia buys a book at a used bookstore that has pencil scribblings throughout the margins of its pages. She becomes so entranced with whomever annotated the book that she tracks him down. Before she even meets Leonard Marsh, the annotator, Amelia is admittedly in love with him. However, as we get to know him, we learn that what Leonard is actually going through is something very un-magical: clinical depression. Concurrently, a client of her boss, Daniel Lodgen, starts to court Amelia. Daniel has the best of intentions, but, because of him, Amelia learns that the concept of a genuine romantic relationship is more frightening than she had imagined. This newfound interest in her, from Daniel and Leonard, forces Amelia to open herself up to the option of being in a relationship and contributes to a growing anxiety regarding the choice of which man to be with. Bread and Butter is an anti-romantic comedy. It is the story of a lonely person who finally makes a decision to strike out on her own after learning that romance isn't the only way to fulfill her desires.
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Additional Screenings:
Friday March, 27 at 9:20am
Sunday March, 29 at 1:55pm
WildLike
Directed by: Frank Hall Green
Run Time: 98 minutes
Cast: Ella Purnell, Bruce Greenwood, Brian Geraghty, Teddy Kyle Smith, Nolan Gerard Funk, Ann Dowd, Diane Farr, Joshua Leonard
Synopsis: Mackenzie, a troubled but daring teenage girl, is sent by her struggling mother to live with her uncle in Juneau, Alaska. Although her uncle seems like a supportive caretaker and friend, the relationship turns and Mackenzie is forced to run. Trying to make her way back to Seattle alone to find her absent mother, Mackenzie only winds up deeper in the Alaskan interior. Lost and with no one else to turn to, she shadows a loner backpacker, Bartlett, an unlikely father figure with scars of his own. Together, they cross the wilderness and discover sanctuary in the last frontier.
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Additional Screenings:
Friday, March 27th at 1:05pm
Sunday, March 29th at 9:55am
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Directed by: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Run Time: 105 Minutes
Cast: Connie Britton, Nick Offerman, Jon Bernthal, Thomas Mann and Olivia Cooke
Synopsis: Winner of the 2015 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award, ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL is the story of Greg Gaines played by Thomas Mann, an awkward high school senior whose mom forces him to spend time with Rachel - a girl in his class (Olivia Cooke) whom he hasn't spoken to since kindergarten - who was just diagnosed with cancer.
Tangerines
Directed by Zaza Urushadze
Runtime: 90 Minutes
Cast: Lembit Ulfsak, Elmo Nuganen, Mikhail Meskhi, Giorgi Nakashidze, Raivo Trass, and Zurab Bealishvili
Synopsis: “Tangerines” is a story of awakening humanity in the midst of violence, told with intimacy and elegance by writer/director Zaza Urushadze. Nominated for an Academy Award® as well as a Golden Globe Award® for Best Foreign Language Film in 2015, “Tangerines” is the spare, yet haunting tale of an older Estonian man who cares for two wounded soldiers from opposite sides of the 1990s-era war in Georgia. The film reveals compassion to be the ultimate response to centuries of political, cultural and ethnic conflict, a compelling and relevant message for contemporary audiences
Kill Me Three Times
Directed by: Kriv Stenders
Run Time: 1:30:00
Cast: Teresa Palmer, Simon Pegg, Sullivan Stapleton
Synopsis: A darkly comedic thriller from rising star director Kriv Stenders (Red Dog). Simon Pegg plays the mercurial assassin, Charlie Wolfe, who discovers he isn’t the only person trying to kill the siren of a sun-drenched surfing town. Charlie quickly finds himself at the center of three tales of murder mayhem, blackmail, and revenge.
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Additional Screenings:
Wednesday April 1st at 9:10-10:40PM
WAX: We Are The X (Italy)
Run Time: 1:45
Directed by: Lorenzo Corvino
Cast: Gwendolyn Gourvenec, Jacopo Maria Bicocchi, Davide Paganini, Jean-Marc Barr, Rutger Hauer, Andrea Sartoretti, Andrea Renzi,Lily Bloom, Mathieu Intikalau, Muriel Gandois, Claudia Gallo, Francesca Ritrovato
Synopsis: A troupe of reporters is given a video by a mysterious someone. The video is the proof left by three thirty-something, two men and a woman, of a road trip on the French Riviera, the chronicle of a week to complete an assignment before they are involved in an accident. The three share the destiny of a doomed generation.
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Exeter
Directed by: Marcus Nispel
Run Time: 95 Minutes
Cast: Stephen Lang, Brett Dier, Brittany Curran
Synopsis: After an all-night, drug-fueled party at an abandoned asylum known as Exeter, a group of hapless teens decide to tinker with the occult, leading one of them to become possessed. The rest of the group try to escape, suddenly finding themselves locked inside with no one to call for help. The amateurs then decide to attempt a DIY exorcism using the power of the Internet, but instead unleash an even more powerful and vengeful spirit – one that wants them dead. As they begin to uncover Exeter’s dark past, they learn that the asylum harbors terrible secrets within its walls, and what starts as a paranormal mystery turns into a bloody nightmare.
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The Strongest Man
Directed by: Kenny Riches
Run Time: 99 minutes
Cast: Robert Lorie, Paul Chamberlain, Patrick Fugit, Ashly Burch, Lisa Banes, Davy Rothbart, David Park, Nancy Fong, Freddie Wong
Synopsis: The Strongest Man is a Miami-centric comedy about an anxiety-ridden Cuban man, who fancies himself the strongest man in the world. In a quest to recover his most beloved possession, a stolen bicycle, he finds and loses so much more.
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Additional Screenings:
Friday, March 27th at 3:20pm
Sunday, March 29th at 12:10pm
Deathgasm
Directed by: Jason Lei Howden
Run Time: 90 Minutes
Cast: Milo Cawthorne, James Blake, Kimberley Crossman
Synopsis: High School is Hell! Metal-thrashing Brodie is an outcast in a sea of jocks and cheerleaders until he meets a kindred spirit in fellow metalhead Zakk. After starting their own band, Brodie and Zakk’s resentment of the suburban wasteland leads them to a mysterious piece of sheet music said to grant Ultimate Power to whoever plays it. But the music also summons an ancient evil entity known as Aeloth The Blind One, who threatens to tear apart existence itself. Their classmates and family become inhabited by demonic forces, tearing out their own eyes and turning into psychotic murderers… and this is only the beginning! It’s up to Brodie, Zakk and their group of friends to stop a force of pure evil from devouring all of mankind.
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Please, Please tell me now!
Is There Something I Should Know?
YES.
This may be Planet Earth (ba ba ba bu ba ba ba ba), but Saturday night March 28 at the 2015 Phoenix Film Festival will be no Ordinary World with the addition of Rio, the Duran Duran tribute band!
Festival pros know the place to be (when you're not at a film, of course) is the Notorious Party Pavilion, but we're going bigger than ever this year with the addition of The Wild Boys of Rio.
So when you're not watching Girls on Film, you need to be at Phoenix's Big Thing: Rio at the 2015 Phoenix Film Festival.
Union of the Snake. (pretty much impossible to fit in to a sentence, but a totally necessary reference for this post)
Sci-Fi Shorts A
Run Time: 115 minutes
Death and the Iron Maiden
Directed by Kevin McGuiness
Synopsis: The story of Death visiting a small medieval town to murder a young Maiden, however, he discovers that the young woman is a cyborg and impenetrable to Death’s powers. After a violent battle resulting in the demise of Death, the Maiden rides off.
Air
Directed by Emma E. Maclennan
Synopsis: Humanity has survived, but only in the dystopian underground facility Securos, where the air supply is depleting and engineers Alex and Nick spend their days in a futile attempt to save it. Sacrifices are enforced, but a lifetime of imagining an alternative existence inspires Alex to determine her own fate.
RomantiCorp – Or How I learned to stop Worrying and Love My Computer
Directed by Kirill Kripak
Synopsis: RomantiCorp - Where Love Comes To Life. A girl employs a company that coaches her in dating via virtual reality.
2.0
Directed by Ally Burnham
Synopsis: The miracle drug promised to the world was too good to be true. Clara sets out to discover the secret of 2.0 and why it has forced her father to a life on the streets.
Witch Hunt
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Directed by Johno Faherty
Synopsis: A young witch discovers her powers after the death of her absent mother.
The Routine
Directed by Brian Groh
Synopsis: Technology fails a woman isolated in her home.
Cassandra
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Directed by Guy-Roger Duvert
Synopsis: In a medieval world, two thieves infiltrate a besieged city, in order to retrieve an artifact. But when they are saved by a priest who mistakes them for mercenaries come to help the town, choices have to be made. What you do defines who you are, but the consequences define who you will become...
When Tears Have Fallen
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Directed by Henrik Henziger
Synopsis: In a near future almost all of mankind has lost it's emotions. In this indifferent world, where function and economy governs, an exception is a young mother who faces an impossible choice when her son is submitted life supporting medical care.
Horror Shorts B
Run Time: 85 minutes
Lure
Directed by Kyle Robinson
Synopsis: A determined man must get his girlfriend’s purse back from the unseen perils of downtown.
Q
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Directed by Tom Vujcic
Synopsis: A modern take on the story of Cupid, a small man named Q selling love to lonely people. One night a young man goes to Q to get his ex-girlfriend back. Q makes a mistake and shoots the wrong girl with his arrow and things get complicated.
Less of You
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Directed by Byron Camacho
Synopsis: A horror-themed drama about mom and daughter witches in a mysterious snow laden town.
Paramnesia
Directed by Michael May
Synopsis: A woman begins to experience disturbing hallucinations and can't distinguish what's reality and what's in her head.
I Owe You
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Directed by Michael McNeese
Synopsis: Cam owes his perfect life to an estranged friend Todd. But when Todd shows up with a body in his trunk and calls in the debt, Cam must choose between an awful trip into darkness or having his own secret revealed.
Viscera
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Directed by Lauren Morrison
Synopsis: By referencing the human body and the absurdity of high society manners, Viscera examines the disconnect between food and source, rich and poor, and the intentional ignorance that allows exploitation to flourish.
A Stranger Kind
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Directed by Ollie Murray
Synopsis: A Stranger Kind is an unhinged contemporary fairytale. Lily, a young girl, ekes out an existence in a threadbare cabaret club until, one day, a stranger calls to audition with a nerve-rattling new act and Lily begins, for the first time in her life, to believe in magic.
Additional Screenings:
Friday, March 27th at 9:40am
Adventurados
Directed by: Berton Pierce
Run Time: 86 Minutes
Cast: David Masterson
Synopsis: An Irish road movie in space. The misadventures of two out of luck shuttle pilots as they fly a last mission from the Moon to Earth before retiring. Also on board is a mysterious woman from a large corporation keeping an eye on them, and the important cargo they are transporting. Various strange people are after the valuable cargo, and do what they can to get it. Things go from bad to worse due to the shuttle pilot’s negligence, and the cargo is lost. Together, the two pilots and the woman discover who they are, and escape to an uncertain future.
Additional Screenings:
Friday, March 27th at 9:05 am
Blood Punch
Directed by: Madellaine Paxson
Run Time: 110 minutes
Cast: Milo Cawthorne, Olivia Tennet, Ari Boyland, Adelaide Kane, Cohen Holloway
Synopsis: A cocktail of mishaps, meth, and murder. It was a simple plan gone awry. Milton, a brilliant college dropout, was only supposed to cook meth for one day. Broken out of rehab by a brash young woman and her trigger-happy “ex”-boyfriend and driven to a remote cabin in the woods, Milton finds himself drawn into a dangerous love triangle gone haywire in this genre-bending, neo-noir, mind bending of a movie. The couple’s deadpan half-truths spin around Milton like a song on repeat. They seem to read him like an open book, until a mysterious message opens his eyes to his cursed existence. With unlimited ammunition, any hunting tool they could desire, and an ever-growing body count, for what did Milton really sign up?
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Additional Screening:
Friday, March 27th at 3:40pm
The House on Pine Street
Directed by: Aaron Keeling and Austin Keeling
Run Time: 113 minutes
Cast: Emily Goss,Taylor Bottles,Cathy Barnett,Jim Korinke,Natalie Pellegrini,Tisha Swarte-Entwistle
Synopsis: Seven months pregnant, Jennifer Branagan reluctantly returns to her hometown in Kansas after an unexpected mental breakdown. Coping with her fears of motherhood, a strained relationship with her husband, Luke, and the overbearing presence of her own mother, Meredith, Jennifer struggles to regain control of her life. But when strange things start happening in their new rental home, Jennifer begins to fear that it may be haunted. Alone in her convictions, Jennifer is forced to question her sanity as she attempts to find out what, if anything, is plaguing the house.
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Additional Screening:
Saturday, March 28th at 3:20pm
Journey To The Mother (Russia, France)
Run Time: 1:35
Directed By: Mikhail Kosyrev-Nesterov
Cast: Artiom Alexeiev, Adele Exarchopoulos
Synopsis: Maxim (Artiom Alexeiev) is a young Muscovite who journeys from Russia to the south of France to visit his mother in her home amidst the lofty mountains of Montagne Sainte-Victoire. He finds her in poor health and is overwhelmed with grief when she abruptly passes away. In the throes of mourning, he reconnects with his French half-sister Marie Louise (Adele Exarchopoulos), whom he hardly saw. Despite the language barrier and accustomed estrangement, the pair grows closer through their shared sense of loss
Based on a novel by Nicolas Planchais, the film features 2013 Palme d’Or winner Adele Exarchopoulos.
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Live Action Shorts A
Run Time: 80 minutes
Contrapelo
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Directed by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer
Synopsis: A Mexican barber is forced to shave the leader of a drug cartel who is destroying his country. He battles with the choice to become a killer, or to let the Campo continue to kill. By the end of the shave, the Barber will realize the two of them are not so different.
Protocol
Directed by Elliot Feld
Synopsis: The true story of a SWAT operation gone wrong.
Muse
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Directed by Christopher Leps
Synopsis: A life-changing event inspires an artist to finally meet his object of affection... but the outcome is not what he expects.
Daddy’s Little Girl
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Directed by Chad McClarnon
Synopsis: A precocious little girl uses her self-taught science knowledge to finally tackle the problem of her abusive alcoholic father head on.
Lucid
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Directed by Kevin Shah
Synopsis: Karen's nightmares always pick up where they left off the night before and it's affecting her marriage. She wants to control her dreams, but she's not the one creating them.
Truckin’
Directed by Diane Newman
Synopsis: Two women reunite after their awkward adolescent years are over. In a bitter food truck war, they come to terms with their childhood differences.
Wild & Precious
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Directed by Cusi Cram
Synopsis: Sparks fly when a wayward grandmother returns for a funeral and it falls upon the shoulders of her granddaughter to ask the questions no one has ever dared to.
Bad Exorcists
Directed by: Kyle Steinbach
Run Time: 85 minutes
Cast: Sean Roney, Alex Knapp, Julian Master, Claire Berger, Suzanna Akins, Suzanne Owens-Duval
Synopsis: Charlie, Matt and Dana are about to finish high school with little fanfare. In a last-ditch effort to earn their classmates' respect, the trio aims to win the local horror film festival. Things might finally be going their way—until their attempt to film an exorcism scene results in the demonic possession of their lead actress. The boys are in for a raucous and hilarious weekend as they try to save the girl and somehow finish their film, all while navigating the treacherous world of high school.
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Additional Screenings:
Friday, March 27th at 5:30pm
Saturday, March 28th at 2:55pm
WildLike
Directed by: Frank Hall Green
Run Time: 98 minutes
Cast: Ella Purnell, Bruce Greenwood, Brian Geraghty, Teddy Kyle Smith, Nolan Gerard Funk, Ann Dowd, Diane Farr, Joshua Leonard
Synopsis: Mackenzie, a troubled but daring teenage girl, is sent by her struggling mother to live with her uncle in Juneau, Alaska. Although her uncle seems like a supportive caretaker and friend, the relationship turns and Mackenzie is forced to run. Trying to make her way back to Seattle alone to find her absent mother, Mackenzie only winds up deeper in the Alaskan interior. Lost and with no one else to turn to, she shadows a loner backpacker, Bartlett, an unlikely father figure with scars of his own. Together, they cross the wilderness and discover sanctuary in the last frontier.
Official Site
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Additional Screenings:
Friday, March 27th at 1:05pm
Saturday, March 28th at 6:55pm
Far From Home
Directed by: Galen Knowles
Run Time: 74 minutes
Cast: Philip Hessler
Synopsis: What do snowboarding, medical school, and Uganda have in common? The answer is Brolin Mawejje. A mere 21 years old, Brolin has endured more hardship than most individuals will in a lifetime. Far From Home is an independent documentary that retraces the journey of Brolin Mawejje, from his childhood in Uganda, to his struggles in America, while documenting his road to the Olympics and medical school. Brolin's story holds the power to change lives as it is an embodiment of what so many of us strive to find, our true potential.
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Additional Screenings:
Friday, March 27th at 3:25pm
Saturday, March 28th at 5:35pm
Sunshine Superman
Directed by: Marah Strauch
Run Time: 1:40
Cast: Cecilie Bull, Marah Strauch, John Long
Synopsis: A heart-racing documentary portrait of Carl Boenish, the father of the BASE jumping movement, whose early passion for skydiving led him to ever more spectacular -and dangerous- feats of foot-launched human flight.
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Additional Screening:
Monday, March 30 at 5:10pm
Angel of Nanjing
Directed by: Jordan Horowitz and Frank Ferendo
Run Time: 67 minutes
Synopsis: The Yangtze River Bridge in Nanjing is one of the most famous bridges in China. It is also the most popular place in the world to commit suicide. For the past 11 years, Chen Si has been patrolling this bridge, looking to provide aid for those who've gone there to end their lives. Incredibly, he has saved over 300 people since he began - nearly one every two weeks.
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Additional Screenings:
Friday, March 27th at 5:45pm
Saturday, March 28th at 9:15am
The Surface
Directed by: Gil Jr. Cates
Run Time: 88 minutes
Cast: Sean Astin, Chris Mulkey
Synopsis: Mitch is intent on suicide when he stumbles upon the debris from a crashed, small engine float plane where the survivor, Kelly, is struggling to stay alive. Mitch is emotionally wounded and Kelly physically wounded, and it’s during the course of Mitch trying to save Kelly’s life, and a dying Kelly trying to save Mitch’s life, that both lives are changed.
Burden of Peace (Netherlands)
Run Time: 1:20
Directed by: Joey Boink
Cast: Claudia Paz y Paz
Synopsis: Burden of Peace follows Guatemala's first female Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz in her fight against impunity. After taking office Claudia obtains spectacular results and many high level arrests are made. But her determination encounters strong resistance from powerful elites that have up to then felt above the law. Will Claudia be able to win this battle?
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Clew
Directed by: Eric Badros
Run Time: 109 Minutes
Cast: Taylor Graham, Heather Weeks, Lavinia Postolache
Synopsis: In the mid-21st century, painter Jack Hadrian is living the good life until his fiancée disappears into thin air, leaving him afraid to leave his apartment and stuck in a creative rut. Beaten down by his loneliness, he eventually purchases a "muse" named Ev, a life partner genetically-engineered specifically for him. As their relationship grows, stories from her past make him suspect that all might not be as it appears.
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The Strongest Man
Directed by: Kenny Riches
Run Time: 99 minutes
Cast: Robert Lorie, Paul Chamberlain, Patrick Fugit, Ashly Burch, Lisa Banes, Davy Rothbart, David Park, Nancy Fong, Freddie Wong
Synopsis:
The Strongest Man follows Beef, an anxiety-ridden Cuban construction worker, and his Korean friend Conan, as their lives get bumped off track the moment they agree to attend a spiritual meditation class. Not fully understanding the metaphor, Beef and Conan embark on a journey to find their respective power animals on the streets of Miami, where both wild dogs and chickens run rampant. Conan’s relationship with his family crumbles, as Beef’s relationship with his neighbor, a young woman named Illi, begins to flourish, but even with this excitement he can never seem to escape his looming anxiety.
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Additional Screenings:
Friday, March 27th at 3:20pm
Saturday, March 28th at 8:00pm
Bread and Butter
Directed by: Liz Manashil
Run Time: 89 minutes
Cast: Bobby Moynihan, Christine Weatherup, Micah Hauptman, Lauren Lapkus, Eric Lange, Harry Groener, Dawn Didawick, Sean Wright
Synopsis: Amelia Karinsky, 30, is a late bloomer who has never had a boyfriend. She works for an eccentric life coach, Dr. Wellburn, who has a doctorate in Scandinavian Literature, but prefers that you call him "Doctor" as if he were a psychiatrist. Dr. Wellburn doesn't respect boundaries and neither do her parents, who want to control all aspects of her life. Amelia is eager to break free of their overbearing influences and to relax amidst all the chaos that surrounds her. One day Amelia buys a book at a used bookstore that has pencil scribblings throughout the margins of its pages. She becomes so entranced with whomever annotated the book that she tracks him down. Before she even meets Leonard Marsh, the annotator, Amelia is admittedly in love with him. However, as we get to know him, we learn that what Leonard is actually going through is something very un-magical: clinical depression. Concurrently, a client of her boss, Daniel Lodgen, starts to court Amelia. Daniel has the best of intentions, but, because of him, Amelia learns that the concept of a genuine romantic relationship is more frightening than she had imagined. This newfound interest in her, from Daniel and Leonard, forces Amelia to open herself up to the option of being in a relationship and contributes to a growing anxiety regarding the choice of which man to be with. Bread and Butter is an anti-romantic comedy. It is the story of a lonely person who finally makes a decision to strike out on her own after learning that romance isn't the only way to fulfill her desires.
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Additional Screenings:
Friday March, 27 at 9:20am
Saturday March, 28 at 5:55pm
Half Brother
Directed by: Anthony Grippa
Run Time: 75 minutes
Cast: Stephen Plunkett, Casey Biggs, Christina Haag, Dante Bruzzese, Jenny Dare Paulin, Emily Kratter, Elizabeth Masucci, Jenna Laurenzo, Blaire Brooks, Ian Bell, Brian Patrick Murphy, Bjorn Thorstad, Edward Furs
Synopsis: When his longtime girlfriend breaks up with him, 30 year-old Michael suddenly finds himself homeless. With nowhere else to go, he spends the weekend at his father and stepmothers house, only to find that they're embroiled in a bitter divorce. As he gets caught in the middle of their angry disputes, Michael struggles to come to terms with his place in his dysfunctional family.
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Additional Screenings:
Friday March, 27 at 11:25am
Saturday March, 28 at 3:45pm
All My Tomorrows (Czech Republic)
Run Time: 1:40
Directed by: Rudolf Havlik
Cast: Pavel Batek, Vica Kerekes, Filip Blazek, Jiri Labus, Klara Issova, Jan Preucil, Michal Kovalcik, Anna Kulovana
Synopsis: Every night, millions of people fall asleep wanting to change their lives, wanting to be doing something different tomorrow. All My Tomorrows is a film about all of us. About our dreams, our life changes we want to make but are so often afraid to. This is a film about friendship and unexpected meetings. This is a film about freedom and the desire to travel but also knowing where to go back to.
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LISTENING
Directed by: Khalil Sullins
Run Time: 98 minutes
Cast: Thomas Stroppel, Artie Ahr, Amber Marie Bollinger, Christine Haeberman, Steve Hanks, Mykayla Sohn, Arn Chorn Pond, John Merry
Synopsis: David and Ryan are trying to harness the power of the human mind... and failing. They’re both broke and struggle to support their families, but spend all of their time in a garage-lab full of stolen equipment, hoping that inventing telepathy will solve all their problems. After they meet Jordan, a smart and seductive new classmate, they make a breakthrough that changes everything. But the bleeding-edge technology opens a Pandora’s box of new dangers, as the team discovers that when they open their minds, there is nowhere to hide their thoughts. David, Ryan, and Jordan suddenly find themselves working for an underground government agency with treacherous plans to implement their technology globally. With no one left to trust, David is forced against his friends in a life-or-death battle over not only the privacy of the human mind, but the future of free will itself.
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Additional Screenings:
Friday March, 27 at 7:15pm
Saturday March 28 at 11:20am
Horror Shorts A
Run Time: 85 minutes
What is a Momo
Directed by Ross Harris
Synopsis: MOMO! So good it's worth having your throat cut for.
In Extremis
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Directed by Gregory Crosbie
Synopsis: A night watchman is sent to guard the cellar of a museum by its mysterious curator. But once in the vaults he starts to hear something...In Extremis is a short in the mold of classic British horror films of the 1960s and 70s.
Hush
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Directed by Michael Kehoe
Synopsis: A college reunion turns into a night of terror when a babysitter discovers that the house she is staying in is possessed by a malevolent presence with a vengeful intention.
Dead Hearts
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Directed by Stephen W. Martin
Synopsis: A young mortician will give his heart away to find true love. A whimsical, gothic bedtime story filled with love, loss, taxidermy, Kung fu, and biker werewolves.
Boys Will Be Boys
Directed by Richard Rotter
Synopsis: Boys are never too old to play games.
Bad Guy #2
Directed by Chris McInroy
Synopsis: One bad guy discovers that moving up in a crime ring has its downsides as he will either have to set an example or become one. This 'goredy' follows the bad guy who just got promoted to the dead end job of bad guy #2.
M is for Mobile
Directed by Baris Erdogan
Synopsis: A desperate man is at the mercy of a coldblooded torturer who receives his orders via text message from an unknown sender. What will happen next? Will this nightmare ever end?
Father Mud
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Directed by Jameson Hesse
Synopsis: A film about a family's terrifying experience with a mysterious foster child's buried secrets.
Where Hope Grows
Directed By: Chris Dowing
Running Time: 97 min
Cast: Kerr Smith, Kristoffer Polaha, Danica McKeller, Alan Powell
Synopsis: A self-destructive former pro ball player is given a serious lesson in living life with courage when he befriends a grocery store clerk with Down syndrome.
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Additional Screenings:
Friday March, 27 at 4:45pm
Miss India America
Directed by: Ravi Kapoor
Run Time: 95 Minutes
Cast: Tiya Sircar, Hannah Simone, Kosha Patel, Meera Simhan, Bernard White, Kunal Sharma
Synopsis: Lily is graduating from her Orange County high school at the top of her class. And she has a plan, "The Lily Plan”. She will become a brain surgeon like her father. Her boyfriend Karim will become a petroleum engineer. They’ll get married. Have kids. Live happily ever after. But the plan is thrown into confusion when Karim becomes smitten by and runs off with the reigning Miss India National beauty queen. Not happy about losing at anything, Lily decides that she herself must become the new Miss India National! But Lily will discover you’re not always a winner when you win, and there may be more to learn when you lose.
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World Cinema Shorts
Run Time: 85 minutes
Live (En Directo) - Spain
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Directed by Wenceslao Scyzoryk
Synopsis: A poor family, on the day of their eviction, allows a reality show to document its history. But what seemed a dream to save the home becomes a horrible nightmare.
Dead Hearts - Canada
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Directed by Stephen W. Martin
Synopsis: A young mortician will give his heart away to find true love. A whimsical, gothic bedtime story filled with love, loss, taxidermy, Kung fu, and biker werewolves.
Sunflowers - Malaysia
Directed by Shio Chuan Quek
Synopsis: An orphan and grandmother live with a girl, in the metropolis as a stage show makeup artist.
HTM – Sri Lanka
Directed by Sachi Ediriweera
Synopsis: An urban bank worker finds his customer base threatened by the presence of a homeless musician begging for money on the street.
In The Clouds (En Las Nubes) - Argentina
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Directed by Marcelo Mitnik
Synopsis: The difference between how we think romance should work and how it actually does is at the comedic heart of EN LAS NUBES, an exploration of cultural disagreements about intimacy, love, and marriage proposals in the age of YouTube.
Glories of Tango (Argentina)
Directed by: Hernan Findling, Oliver Kolker
Run Time: 2:00
Cast: Hector Alterio, Gaston Pauls, Luciano Caceres, Antonella Costa , Dalma Maradona, Luis Ziembrowski, Rodrigo Pedreira, Emilio Disi, Oliver Kolker, Silvina Valz, Esteban Bortnik, Carlos Copello, Mariano Frumboli, Juana Sepulveda
Synopsis: Fermin Tundera (Hector Alterio) is an 85 year-old patient at a typical "third-world" public hospital being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. It has been decades since Fermin was committed to the institution yet his condition has not improved. Ezequiel Kaufman (Gaston Pauls) is a 33 year-old psychiatrist who comes on the scene to treat the difficult patient and discovers that he is only able to communicate by using the cryptic lyrics of Tango, a peculiar characteristic indeed.
The Sighting
Directed by: Doug Dezzani
Run Time: 81 Minutes
Cast: Megan Reinking, Doug Dezzani, Kirk Bovill, James Wellington, Elena Varela, Potsch Boyd
Synopsis: On Feb 11th 2013, Mia Hollingworth and her boyfriend went searching for the truth behind her mother's alien abduction. After three days of searching, they were never heard from again. This is the document of their journey.
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Arizona Shorts
Run Time: 90 minutes
The Tent
Directed by Marcus Stricklin
Synopsis: After her brother Ethan is diagnosed with a fatal disease, Stephanie and Ethan use their imagination to travel the world using the tent in their family home.
Kitty
Directed by Josh Kasselman and Stephanie Lucas
Synopsis: Tensions rise on a young couple's sightseeing tour as they discuss the cat sitter they've hired for the weekend.
Keep Running
Directed by Sean Oliver
Synopsis: While on a routine morning jog a young man comes across a mysterious stranger who changes his life.
Project Daisy
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Directed by Adolpho Navarro
Synopsis: Control what you create!
Ouroboros
Directed by Alexander Broderick
Synopsis: A quantum physicist creates an artificial wormhole, a breakthrough in teleportation. But the wormhole brings an unexpected visitor - Faye's future self - warning that the device threatens the fabric of spacetime and the very existence of the universe.
The Most Important Meal of the Day
Directed by Randy Murray
Synopsis: During the zombie apocalypse, a young girl's search for food puts her and a stranger in danger. Will she be able to escape the zombie horrors while still making it home with food to eat?
Blue Copper
Directed by Diane M. Dresback
Synopsis: A well intentioned woman hired to care for a man works to liberate her psychologically complex client, as he enacts his own contorted version of reciprocal help.
Marisa Ronstadt hails from a talented family based in Arizona whose name was made famous by her cousin, the multiplatinum recording artist, Linda Ronstadt. A performer at the age of seven, Marisa’s musical tastes are rooted in mariachi, R&B/soul, and rock, but like many Mexican-American’s raised in the U.S., her influences range from Lola Beltran and Pedro Infante, to The Beatles and Marvin Gaye. As early as the age of eight, Marisa was already performing big band, rock & roll, country, and top 40 music with a musical revue in Phoenix called the Amigos. She was a member of Amigos for ten years.
Now Marisa calls Los Angeles her home, where she has developed ties with major local talent such as GRAMMY® award winners Quetzal Flores and Martha Gonzalez of the band Quetzal, Los Lobos, David Gomez and Jeremy Keller of the band Monte Carlo 76, R&B/Soul sensation Aloe Blacc (“Wake Me Up” and “I Need a Dollar”), and the singer-songwriter/rapper Maya Jupiter. In 2009, Marisa recorded and released an album as the lead vocalist for the band Monte Carlo 76 titled Marisela, produced by Quetzal Flores and Martha Gonzalez. After touring with Monte Carlo 76, she began songwriting with band member Jeremy Keller, and before she knew it, they had given birth to a new band, MARISA RONSTADT AND THE KNOW-IT-ALLS.
Sleeping With Other People
Directed by: Leslye Headland
Run Time: 95 Minutes
Cast: Allison Bree, Adam Scott, Amanda Peet, Jason Sudeikis
Synopsis: Years after impulsively losing their virginity to each other in college, Lainey (Alison Brie) and Jake (Jason Sudeikis) meet at a support group in New York (“What’s a nice girl like you doing at a sex addicts meeting?”). A spark resurfaces, but they’ve walked this road before. Abject failures in romance who lead lives of serial infidelity and self-sabotage, they agree to a platonic friendship to mutually support their recovery—and what’s more supportive than teaching your friend proper self-stimulation? Can love bloom while you’re sleeping with other people?
X+Y
Directed by: Morgan Matthews
Run Time: 1:40
Cast: Asa Butterfield, Rafe Spall, Sally Hawkins
Synopsis: Preferring to hide in the safety of his own private world, Nathan struggles to connect with people, often pushing away those who want to be closest to him, including his mother, Julie. Without the ability to understand love or affection, Nathan finds the comfort and security he needs in numbers and mathematics.
Mentored by his unconventional and anarchic teacher, Mr Humphreys, it becomes clear that Nathan's talents are enough to win him a place on the British team competing at the highly revered International Mathematics Olympiad. Being part of a team and one which has a real chance of winning seems like it could change Nathan's life forever.
But when the team go to train in Taiwan, Nathan is faced with a multitude of unexpected challenges, not least the new and unfamiliar feelings he begins to experience for one of the Taiwanese competitors, the beautiful Zhang Mei.
From England to Taipei and back again, this inspiring and life-affirming story follows the unconventional and hilarious relationship between student and teacher, whose roles are often reversed, and the unfathomable experience of first love - when you don't even understand what love is.
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Additional Screening:
Wednesday, April 1st at 5:00pm
Sunshine Superman
Directed by: Marah Strauch
Run Time: 1:40
Cast: Cecilie Bull, Marah Strauch, John Long
Synopsis: A heart-racing documentary portrait of Carl Boenish, the father of the BASE jumping movement, whose early passion for skydiving led him to ever more spectacular -and dangerous- feats of foot-launched human flight.
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Additional Screening:
Sunday March 29 at 11:40am
The Squid and the Whale
Directed by: Noah Baumbach
Run Time: 1:25
Cast: Owen Kline, Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney
Synopsis: Based on the true childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach and his brother, The Squid and the Whale tells the touching story of two young boys dealing with their parents' divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s.
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Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau
Directed by: David Gregory
Run Time: 1:40
Cast: Fairuza Balk, Hugh Dickson, Oli Dickson
Synopsis: Behind the scenes chronicle of how clash of vision, bad creative decisions, lack of interest and really bad weather plagued the disastrous production of the infamous 1996 remake of The Island of Dr. Moreau.
F(l)ag Football
Run time: 99min
Directed by: Seth Greenleaf
F(l)ag Football follows 3 teams from New York, Los Angeles, and Phoenix as they join 27 other teams from around the country descending on Arizona for the National Gay Flag Football Championship. The Gay Bowl. They train hard, play harder, break stereotypes, and redefine masculinity in their own unique way. Only one team can win, but everyone can be fabulous.
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Directed by: Andrew Bujalski
Running Time: 1:05
Recently divorced, newly rich, and utterly miserable, Danny (Kevin Corrigan) would seem to be the perfect test subject for a definitive look at the relationship between money and happiness. Danny’s well-funded ennui is interrupted by a momentous trip to the local gym, where he meets self-styled guru/owner Trevor (Guy Pearce) and irresistibly acerbic trainer Kat (Cobie Smulders). Soon, their three lives are inextricably knotted, both professionally and personally.
Unsound
Directed by: Darious Britt
Run Time: 93 minutes
Cast: Toreenee Wolf, Darious Britt, Kevin Black, RD Mower, Damon Mosier, Christina Marafin, Kirsten Long, Justin Kreinbrink
Synopsis: An ambitious, young filmmaker sets out to create the ultimate career launching, classic Volkswagen documentary when his mother succumbs to yet another episode of psychosis. Due to her actions he's given 24 hours to remove his mother from their apartment complex or face eviction from management. He must resort to extreme measures to save her from herself and reclaim his life.Based on true events, Unsound chronicles a mother's battle with Schizophrenia and a son's struggle to get her the help she needs.
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Additional Screening:
Saturday, March 28th at 3:15pm
Betamax
Directed by: Mike Etoll, Bobby Hacker, Jim Kunz, Scooter McCrae, Damon Packard, Vanessa Scully
Run Time: 2:00
Cast: Virginia Brown, Mike Etoll, Bobby Hacker
Synopsis: This wild anthology film features numerous underground directors, including Bobby Hacker, Jim Kunz, Scooter McCrae, Mike Etoll and Damon Packard.
Makin’ Wookiee
Directed by: Heidi Burkey, Tim Larson
Run Time: 1:20
Synopsis: It’s tough being a kid. Especially when you’re a wookiee with two left feet and a changing voice. But not so long ago, in a city not too far away, kids from all walks of life struggled to audition, rehearse and perform their own live musical parody of STAR WARS, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.
MAKIN' WOOKIEE is a comedic, slice of life documentary filmed in Orange County, California. In the film we follow a group of aspiring adolescent actors as they perform a musical parody of STAR WARS. Our story is really about that moment in every tween's life when you have no idea who you are, what you're doing and everything is awkward. Now add a dash of singing, unrequited crushes and repeat. The film is shot in a traditional, nonfiction follow style, with interviews from the characters and ends with a live stage performance.
White God
Directed by: Kornél Mundruczó
Run Time: 120 minutes
Cast: Zsófia Psotta, Sándor Zsótér, Lili Horváth
Synopsis: Thirteen-year-old Lili fights to protect her dog Hagen. She is devastated when her father eventually sets Hagen free on the streets. Still innocently believing love can conquer any difficulty, Lili sets out to find her dog and save him.
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Additional Screenings
Wednesday, April 1st 9:00 PM
Directed by: Khalil Sullins
Run Time: 98 minutes
Cast: Thomas Stroppel, Artie Ahr, Amber Marie Bollinger, Christine Haeberman, Steve Hanks, Mykayla Sohn, Arn Chorn Pond, John Merry
Synopsis: David and Ryan are trying to harness the power of the human mind... and failing. They’re both broke and struggle to support their families, but spend all of their time in a garage-lab full of stolen equipment, hoping that inventing telepathy will solve all their problems. After they meet Jordan, a smart and seductive new classmate, they make a breakthrough that changes everything. But the bleeding-edge technology opens a Pandora’s box of new dangers, as the team discovers that when they open their minds, there is nowhere to hide their thoughts. Secrets and betrayals boil to the surface, and the technology falls into the wrong hands. David, Ryan, and Jordan suddenly find themselves working for an underground government agency with treacherous plans to implement their technology globally. With no one left to trust, David is forced against his friends in a life-or-death battle over not only the privacy of the human mind, but the future of free will itself.
Kicking and Screaming
Directed by: Noah Baumbach
Run Time: 1:20
Cast: Josh Hamilton, Eric Stoltz, Samuel Gould
Synopsis: After college graduation, Grover's girlfriend Jane tells him she's moving to Prague to study writing. Grover declines to accompany her, deciding instead to move in with several friends, all of whom can't quite work up the inertia to escape their university's pull. Nobody wants to make any big decisions that would radically alter his life, yet none of them wants to end up like Chet, the professional student who tends bar and is in his tenth year of university studies.
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Car Dogs
Directed by: Adam Collis
Running time: 105 min
Cast: Patrick J.Adams, Nia Vardalos, Octavia Spencer, Cory Hardrict, George Lopez
Synopsis: Produced and directed by ASU film professor, Adam Collis and written by Scottsdale native and ASU alum, Mark King, Car Dogs tells the story of auto dealership manager, Mark Chamberlain, who has to sell 35 cars to get his own dealership - and finally out from underneath the thumb of his sadistic father. The question is if Mark is willing to cheat his customers, betray his sales team, and neglect his family all for the blind pursuit of profits. A tough as nails film about the challenges of working in a dog eat dog environment, Car Dogs is also a fun look behind the curtain into the world of car salesmen and their shady tricks.
Car Dogs was made as a part of Arizona State University's Film*Spark Feature Film Internship Program, which gave 85 ASU student interns and 15 recent alums the chance to learn filmmaking by working side by side on a feature film set with a professional Hollywood cast and crew, including Oscar winners Octavia Spencer and David Stump (Cinematographer), Oscar nominee Nia Vardalos and superstar comedian George Lopez.
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Slow West
Directed by: John Maclean
Run Time: 85 Minutes
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Ben Mendelsohn
Synopsis: At the end of the nineteenth century, 16-year-old Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) journeys across the American frontier in search of the woman he loves. He is joined by Silas (Michael Fassbender), a mysterious traveler, and hotly pursued by an outlaw along the way.
Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
Directed by: David Zellner
Run Time: 105 Minutes
Cast: Rinko Kikuchi
Synopsis: In this darkly comedic odyssey, Academy Award nominee Rinko Kikuchi (Babel, Pacific Rim) stars as Kumiko, a frustrated Office Lady whose imagination transcends the confines of her mundane life. Kumiko becomes obsessed with a mysterious, battered VHS tape of a popular film she’s mistaken for a documentary, fixating on a scene where a suitcase of stolen cash is buried in the desolate, frozen landscape of North Dakota. Believing this treasure to be real, she leaves behind Tokyo and her beloved rabbit Bunzo to recover it – and finds herself on a dangerous adventure unlike anything she’s seen in the movies.
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Best of Enemies
Directed by: Robert Gordon & Morgan Neville
Run Time: 1:30
Cast: John Lithgow, Kelsey Grammar, Dick Cavett
Synopsis: 'Best of Enemies' is a documentary about the legendary series of nationally televised debates in 1968 between two great public intellectuals, the liberal Gore Vidal and the conservative William F. Buckley Jr. Intended as commentary on the issues of their day, these vitriolic and explosive encounters came to define the modern era of public discourse in the media, marking the big bang moment of our contemporary media landscape when spectacle trumped content and argument replaced substance. Best of Enemies delves into the entangled biographies of these two great thinkers and luxuriates in the language and the theater of their debates, begging the question, 'What has television done to the way we discuss politics in our democracy today?'
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Aditional Screenings
Thursday, April 2nd 5:00 PM
1/10 of a Second
Directed by: Kurt Kubicek
Run Time: 80 minutes
Synopsis: The rise, fall, and redemption of the oldest professional motorcycle racer in the U.S., Johnny Rock Page.
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Saturday, March 28th at 1:20pm
When Animals Dream
Directed by: Jonas Alexander Arnby
Run Time: 85 Minutes
Cast: Sonia Suhl, Lars Mikkelsen, Sonja Richter
Synopsis: In an isolated Danish fishing town, 16-year-old Marie hides a terrifying secret and deadly consequences for the unwary in this unique coming-of-age story from director Jonas Alexander Arnby.
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Glories of Tango (Argentina)
Directed by: Hernan Findling, Oliver Kolker
Run Time: 2:00
Cast: Hector Alterio, Gaston Pauls, Luciano Caceres, Antonella Costa , Dalma Maradona, Luis Ziembrowski, Rodrigo Pedreira, Emilio Disi, Oliver Kolker, Silvina Valz, Esteban Bortnik, Carlos Copello, Mariano Frumboli, Juana Sepulveda
Synopsis: Fermin Tundera (Hector Alterio) is an 85 year-old patient at a typical "third-world" public hospital being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. It has been decades since Fermin was committed to the institution yet his condition has not improved. Ezequiel Kaufman (Gaston Pauls) is a 33 year-old psychiatrist who comes on the scene to treat the difficult patient and discovers that he is only able to communicate by using the cryptic lyrics of Tango, a peculiar characteristic indeed.X+Y
Directed by: Morgan Matthews
Run Time: 1:40
Cast: Asa Butterfield, Rafe Spall, Sally Hawkins
Synopsis: Preferring to hide in the safety of his own private world, Nathan struggles to connect with people, often pushing away those who want to be closest to him, including his mother, Julie. Without the ability to understand love or affection, Nathan finds the comfort and security he needs in numbers and mathematics.
Mentored by his unconventional and anarchic teacher, Mr Humphreys, it becomes clear that Nathan's talents are enough to win him a place on the British team competing at the highly revered International Mathematics Olympiad. Being part of a team and one which has a real chance of winning seems like it could change Nathan's life forever.
But when the team go to train in Taiwan, Nathan is faced with a multitude of unexpected challenges, not least the new and unfamiliar feelings he begins to experience for one of the Taiwanese competitors, the beautiful Zhang Mei.
From England to Taipei and back again, this inspiring and life-affirming story follows the unconventional and hilarious relationship between student and teacher, whose roles are often reversed, and the unfathomable experience of first love - when you don't even understand what love is.
Additional Screening:Havana Curveball
Directed by: Ken Schneider & Marcia Jarmal
Run Time: 1:05
Cast: Mica Jarmel-Schneider, Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, Herb Schneider
Synopsis: Mica is a classic young teen. Enthusiastic. Idealistic. Dreaming baseball. At 13, he is studying for his Bar Mitzvah, the Jewish coming of age rite. And earnest kid, he took to heart his Rabbi's requirement to help “heal the world.” Imagining himself a savior of sorts, he launches a grand plan to send baseballs to Cuba, a country with a mysterious pull. He knows only that Cubans are poor and love baseball – and that Cuba saved his grandpa's life. On a hunch, his award-winning filmmaker parents pick up their camera. They know the U.S. Embargo with Cuba will throw him a curveball.
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Far From Home
Directed by: Galen Knowles
Run Time: 74 minutes
Cast: Philip Hessler
Synopsis: What do snowboarding, medical school, and Uganda have in common? The answer is Brolin Mawejje. A mere 21 years old, Brolin has endured more hardship than most individuals will in a lifetime. Far From Home is an independent documentary that retraces the journey of Brolin Mawejje, from his childhood in Uganda, to his struggles in America, while documenting his road to the Olympics and medical school. Brolin's story holds the power to change lives as it is an embodiment of what so many of us strive to find, our true potential.
Outlander presented by Starz
Run time: 60min
Directed by: Richard Clark
Cast: Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan, Tobias Menzies, Gary Lewis, Graham McTavish, Duncan Lacroix and Lotte Verbeek.
Synopsis: Based on the international best-selling novels by Diana Gabaldon, Outlander follows Claire Randall, a married WWII combat nurse who falls back in time to 1743. As the season continues, Claire and Jamie’s relationship is tested. Ruthless redcoats, volatile clan politics and a merciless witch trial force the couple to escape to a new home, only to be drawn back into Captain Randall’s darkness. Ultimately, Claire will struggle to save Jamie’s heart, as well as his soul.
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Frances Ha
Directed by: Noah Baumbach
Run Time: 1:30
Cast: Greta Gerwig Mickey Sumner, Adam Driver
Synopsis: Frances lives in New York, but she doesn't really have an apartment. Frances is an apprentice for a dance company, but she's not really a dancer. Frances has a best friend named Sophie, but they aren't really speaking anymore. Frances throws herself headlong into her dreams, even as their possible reality dwindles. Frances wants so much more than she has but lives her life with unaccountable joy and lightness.
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Desert Dancer
Run time: 105 Minutes
Directed by: Richard Raymond;
Cast: Freida Pinto, Reece Ritchie, Tom Cullen, Nazanin Boniadi, Makram J. Khoury.
Synopsis: “Desert Dancer” follows the true, inspiring story of a brave Iranian dancer, Afshin Ghaffarian. Set in Tehran during the volatile climate of the 2009 presidential election and the start of the “Green Movement,” Afshin and a group of dancers risk their lives and form an underground dance company. With what little access to the Internet they had, the group discovers music and dance videos that were banned from viewing in their country. The group learns various forms, techniques and styles of dance from timeless legends like Michael Jackson, Gene Kelly and Rudolf Nureyev. Inspired by these newfound heroes, they stage their own performances and uncover a passion for dance and one another.
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Monsters: Dark Continent
Directed by: Tom Green
Run Time: 120 Minutes
Cast: Johnny Harris, Sam Keeley, Joe Dempsie
Synopsis: An American platoon stationed in the Middle East is thrust into battle with a new breed of Aliens in this epic sequel to Gareth Edwards’ (GODZILLA) cult sci-fi hit, “Monsters”.
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Kill Me Three Times
Directed by: Kriv Stenders
Run Time: 1:30
Cast: Teresa Palmer, Simon Pegg, Sullivan Stapleton
Synopsis: A darkly comedic thriller from rising star director Kriv Stenders (Red Dog). Simon Pegg plays the mercurial assassin, Charlie Wolfe, who discovers he isn’t the only person trying to kill the siren of a sun-drenched surfing town. Charlie quickly finds himself at the center of three tales of murder mayhem, blackmail, and revenge.
White God
Directed by: Kornél Mundruczó
Run Time: 2:00:00
Cast: Zsófia Psotta, Sándor Zsótér, Lili Horváth
Synopsis: Thirteen-year-old Lili fights to protect her dog Hagen. She is devastated when her father eventually sets Hagen free on the streets. Still innocently believing love can conquer any difficulty, Lili sets out to find her dog and save him.
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Aditional Screenings
Tuesday, March 31st 5:00 PM
Seven Hours in Heaven
Directed by: Kyle Gerkin
Run Time: 91 minutes
Cast: Colleen Hartnett, John Crosthwaite, Aaron Ginn-Forsberg, Aria Song, Honda King, Mark Grossman
Synopsis: Six friends meet up at a cabin for their annual getaway, but none of them can guess what the weekend has in store. After a night of heavy drinking, they choose to play an adult variation of the game 'Seven Minutes in Heaven'. The fallout from this decision tests their bonds of friendship, and causes them to question their relationships. Ultimately, they each must look beyond the face they present to the world and decide who they really want to be.
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Julia
Directed by: Matthew A. Brown
Run Time: 95 Minutes
Cast: Ashley C. Williams, Tahyna Tozzi, Jack Noseworthy
Synopsis: We see a face of a girl coming up an escalator. The camera is fixed on Julia – and will remain so for the whole film. Julia is a rape survivor – but she’s struggling to cope until she meets a violent therapy group that seems to suit her needs. But is the group perhaps more of a cult – just as intent on getting her under their control as the original rapists? What follows is an unblinking study of violence, revenge, castration and empowerment.
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In Silence (Slovakia)
Run Time: 1:30
Directed by: Zdenek Jirasky
Cast: Judit Bardos, Jan Gallovic, Jan Ctvrtnik, Kristina Svarinska, Ladislav Hrusovsky, Dana Kosicka, Valeria Staskova
Synopsis: An emotionally impressive, aesthetically satisfying meditation, the nightmare of Nazi rule in Slovakia. In Silence is stylized docudrama drawing on the lives of real Jewish musicians in Czechoslovakia and Germany who were persecuted during the Holocaust. In Silence depicts the contrast between happy, joyful life and the suffering and humiliation in the concentration camps where music was the only instrument that helped people to survive or alleviate the fear of impending death.Best of Enemies
Directed by: Robert Gordon & Morgan Neville
Run Time: 90 minutes
Cast: John Lithgow, Kelsey Grammar, Dick Cavett
Synopsis: 'Best of Enemies' is a documentary about the legendary series of nationally televised debates in 1968 between two great public intellectuals, the liberal Gore Vidal and the conservative William F. Buckley Jr. Intended as commentary on the issues of their day, these vitriolic and explosive encounters came to define the modern era of public discourse in the media, marking the big bang moment of our contemporary media landscape when spectacle trumped content and argument replaced substance. Best of Enemies delves into the entangled biographies of these two great thinkers and luxuriates in the language and the theater of their debates, begging the question, 'What has television done to the way we discuss politics in our democracy today?'
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Aditional Screenings
Tuesday, March 31st 9:10 PM
Bad Exorcists
Directed by: Kyle Steinbach
Run Time: 85 minutes
Cast: Sean Roney, Alex Knapp, Julian Master, Claire Berger, Suzanna Akins, Suzanne Owens-Duval
Synopsis: Charlie, Matt and Dana are about to finish high school with little fanfare. In a last-ditch effort to earn their classmates' respect, the trio aims to win the local horror film festival. Things might finally be going their way—until their attempt to film an exorcism scene results in the demonic possession of their lead actress. The boys are in for a raucous and hilarious weekend as they try to save the girl and somehow finish their film, all while navigating the treacherous world of high school.
While We’re Young
Directed by: Noah Baumbach
Run Time: 1:35:00
Cast: Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts, Adam Driver, and Amanda Seyfried
Synopsis: Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts are Josh and Cornelia Srebnick, happily married middle-aged members of New York's creative class. They tried to start a family and were unable to — and have decided they’re okay with that. But as Josh labors over the umpteenth edit of his cerebral new film, it’s plain that he has hit a dry patch and that something is still missing.
Enter Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried), a free-spirited young couple, who are spontaneous and untethered, ready to drop everything in pursuit of their next passion — retro board games one day, acquiring a pet chicken the next. For Josh, it’s as if a door has opened back to his youth — or a youth he wishes he once had. It’s not long before the restless forty-somethings, Josh and Cornelia, throw aside friends their own age — including Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz in a sly supporting role — to trail after these young hipsters who seem so plugged in, so uninhibited, so Brooklyn cool. “Before we met,” Josh admits to Jamie, “the only two feelings I had left were wistful and disdainful.” But is this new inspiration enough to sustain collaboration and friendship with a couple twenty years their junior?
While We’re Young is an openly funny cross-generational comedy of manners about aging, ambition and success, as well as a moving portrait of a marriage tested by the invading forces of youth. No film has better captured the weird, upended logic of urban sophisticates: the older ones embracing their iPads and Netflix, the young ones craving vinyl records and vintage VHS tapes.
