Thursday, April 20th, 2023
ALL FILM SCREENINGS ARE HELD AT
TCL CHINESE 6 THEATRES
6925 HOLLYWOOD BLVD.
HOLLYWOOD, CA 90028
OH BOYS
Comedy (3 min) United States
Directed By: Martina Magorin
Written By: Martina Magorin
Produced By: Matthew Marquis, Geoff McLean, Nicole Taylor Franzen, Vivi Rojas
Cast: Jeremey Adam Rey, James A. Chiong, Olu Duyile, Alejandro Garza, Juan M Sierra, Oliver Fredin, Luke Lutz
Synopsis: A short and sweet film about who men could be ‚ if we let them.
SEATBELTS
(4 min) United States
Directed By: Michael Dunker
Written By: Michael Dunker
Produced By: David Lawson
Cast: Chad Fehr, Racheanee Lumayno
Synopsis: When a couple heads out on their second date, conflict arises when the guy refuses to put on his seatbelt.
KEEL
Drama (10 min) United States
Directed By: Margaret Seid
Written By: Margaret Seid, Kumarshivam Singh
Produced By: Ashley Powell, Max Stafford, Kennedy Martin, Margaret Seid
Cast: Anna Connelly, Meir Parent, Chloé Dos Santos, Michael Messiha, Mary Thompson
Synopsis: Keel is a coming-of-age drama short film set in the summer of 1977, where we follow an impressionable young woman navigating life and love in her early 20’s.
SCOTOMA
Comedy, Drama (12 min) United States
Directed By: Alexander Craven
Written By: Alexander Craven
Produced By: Alexander Craven
Cast: Kurt Quinn, Brenna Larsen, Dekontee Tucrkile, Jonathan Stoddard
Synopsis: A backwards talking optometrist has a bad day.
STALLED
Comedy (12 min) United States
Directed By: Eric Rich
Written By: Brett Osinoff, Eric Rich
Produced By: Chris Santiago, Langston Fishburne, Ramon Zubia, Liz Holland, Syd Richardson
Cast: Langston Fishburne, Asher Morrissette
Synopsis: A man is sitting on the toilet in a public restroom when he’s interrupted by a child crawling into his stall. He begins to panic when the kid won’t leave no matter how emphatically he asks. What follows is a descent into madness as he tries to devise a plan to escape, without being branded a sexual predator.
CIGARETTES AFTER DARK
Drama (15 min) United States
Directed By: Hector Santiago
Written By: Hector Santiago
Produced By: Hector Santiago, Antonio Zapien, Patrick Crespo, John Moriarty
Cast: Michael Dean, Betty Galindo
Synopsis: A surreal romance is sparked when an eighteen-year-old boy foolishly falls in love with his “idealistic” older woman.
WEAK
Drama (15 min) United States
Directed By: JS Mayank
Written By: JS Mayank
Produced By: Alex Creswick
Cast: Katherine Castro, Bridget Regan, Patrick Heusinger, Adam Kaufman, Michael Maclane, Hal Perry, Rob O’Dell, Alexius Zellner, Maryfrances Careccia
Synopsis: Weak is a dramatic thriller about an investigation involving two women: Audra who’s suffering from depression, and her friend Jen, who’s trying to help her cope with the mental health issues. They visit a shooting range to ‚Äúlet off some steam‚Äù, when an unexpected turn of events leads to a surprising and horrifying revelation.
CONEY ISLAND BABY
Drama (18 min) United States
Directed By: Jose Duran
Written By: Jose Duran
Produced By: Jose Duran
Cast: Nicole Townsend, Rand Faris, Samantha Yestrebsky, Evan Wilkins, Jose Duran
Synopsis: Three friends skip school and spend the day at Coney Island in an attempt to rekindle their childhood friendship.
FULL TIME
Comedy, Drama (19 min) United States
Directed By: Jon Ryan Sugimoto
Written By: Jon Ryan Sugimoto
Produced By: Ellen Burke, Jon Ryan Sugimoto
Cast: Andrew Lutheran, Iddo Goldberg, Belle Aykroyd, Tucker Elkins, Fidel Gonzalez, Neal Unger
Synopsis: A skateboarder gets offered a full time job by a mysterious man to stand in a square all day. He is making more money the longer he stands there but his life is passing him by.
CROSS
Thriller (6 min) United States
Directed By: Micah Williams Kelly
Written By: Micah Williams Kelly
Produced By: Adam Leeman, Micah Williams Kelly
Cast: David Baracskai, Buddy Clements
Synopsis: The parallel routines of a restless boxer and weary janitor cross paths with unexpected results.
CAFE RACER
Drama (15 min) Canada
Directed By: Harrison Houde
Written By: Harrison Houde, Dakota Daulby
Produced By: Harrison Houde, Dakota Daulby, Ali Ghahary, Cassie Gill,
Cast: Aya Furukawa, Yuki Morita, Peter Shinkoda, Harrison Houde, Ian Tracey, Keenan Tracey, Mana Nakamura
Synopsis: A Japanese-Canadian teenager wishes to stay connected to her father by pushing the limits of street racing, despite her mother begging her to quit.
VULNERABLE
Drama (15 min) Belgium
Directed By: Zerrad Noureddine
Written By: Zerrad Noureddine, David Bourgie, Mathieu Reynaert
Produced By: Stephane Lhoest
Cast: Leila Robinet, Sofiane Chilah
Synopsis: “Anissa, a young girl age 25, is passionate about one thing: MMA.
Struggling in a world of men and with her family, determined, she will have to fight, both on the ring and in life, in order to defend her freedom of choice.”
THE SHADOWS
Drama (20 min) United States
Directed By: Jennifer E. Montgomery
Written By: Andrew M. Davis, Jennifer E. Montgomery
Produced By: William Day Frank, Nikolas Smith, Andrew M. Davis, Jennifer E. Montgomery
Cast: Zak Henri, Justin Prentice, Alexis Raich, Todd Giebenhain, Schoen Hodges, Luke Massy
Synopsis: Spokane, WA – 1995: Two brothers lead a white supremacist gang in the Pacific Northwest. Their conflict as brothers will determine the fate of the largest domestic terror attack in U.S. history. This terrifying snapshot into the fringes, is based on real people and events.
THE SONS OF GOD
Drama (22 min) Mexico
Directed By: Sebastian Torres Greene
Written By: Sebastian Torres Greene, Edgar Cortes Campoy
Produced By: Sebastian Torres Greene, Santiago Vazquez Gaytan, Edgar Cortes Campoy, Manuel Del Valle
Cast: Rafael Rojas, Yare Gonzalez, Oscar Villalobos, Albert Riera, Gerardo Oñate
Synopsis: 1525. In the midst of the Hispanic conquest of America, an idealistic friar plans, along with other soldiers of the crown, an escape from a devastating expedition that only seeks riches.
BURBUJILLO
Animation (3 min) Guatemala
Directed By: Ursula Echeverria
Written By: Ursula Echeverria
Produced By: Gregory JM Kasunich
Cast: Mia Echeverria, Mahya Ursula Echeverria, Erik Espinoza
Synopsis: The journey of young boy as he is about to be born into a family of older sisters.
SHAKESPEARE FOR ALL AGES
Animation (3 min) Germany
Directed By: Hannes Rall
Written By: Hannes Rall
Produced By: Hannes Rall
Cast:
Synopsis: How can you give the target and age group “smartphone” an overview of the work of this unique literary genius without getting bogged down in long-winded lectures on verse and drama theory?
SAFELY FEEL THE REAL WORLD
Animation (3 min) China
Directed By: Jody Xiong
Written By: Amber Liu, Jody Xiong
Produced By: Zhu Siqi
Cast:
Synopsis: “001 Island” In the visual narrative between the two brands, safety is a sexy and apparent benefit. One that allows us to approach intimacy and embrace reality.
TELEPORTATION
Animation (4 min) Singapore
Directed By: Susan May Lee Lim
Written By: Samudra Kajal Saikia, Christina Teenz Tan
Produced By: Susan May Lee Lim, Mau Martin, Deepak Sharma
Cast:
Synopsis: This is the story of a plush Inanimate toy named ALAN, who craves for its soul to be teleported, and quantum entangled with that of its human partner, so that they may be together in an inanimate-human partnership for eternity. Science and the performing arts come together in this animated short. The lyrics and storytelling in the film “..the science has been done, two objects merged in an instant, share the same existence..” , preceded the Nobel Prize 2022 (Physics) award, for breakthrough research in quantum entanglement, a phenomenon at the very core of this fictional film.
OUR AMERICA
Animation (4 min) United States
Directed By: Dean Winkler and Donald Butler
Written By: Dean Winkler, Donald Butler
Produced By: Dean Winkler
Cast:
Synopsis: Our America is a short-form, non-narrative meditation on American 20th century industrial promises gone awry. The film explores the dreams of World War II America through imagery based on 1943 propaganda posters called Our America which were distributed to schools throughout the U.S. From the vantage point of nearly a century later, the film examines how the innocent, celebratory intent of American ingenuity has led us on a path of unintended consequences.
GAYLE FMK (WITH BLACKBEAR)
Animation (4 min) United Kingdom
Directed By: Chris Ullens
Written By: Chris Ullens
Produced By: Jade Bogue
Cast:
Synopsis: This bright and colorful dark comedy sees miniature Gayle and blackbear failing at being good neighbors in the most extravagant ways. Think Celebrity Deathmatch meets Groundhog Day, a playful stop motion tale of human behavior gone wrong.
THE MOON FOLLOWED ME TO FALMOUTH
Animation (4 min) United States
Directed By: Joël Gibbs
Written By: Kurt Rosenberg
Produced By: Kurt Rosenberg, Brent Rogers, Zach Stevens
Cast: Will Keating
Synopsis: A seafarer sings the story of how he, as a young man, left Falmouth looking for a new life on the High Seas. During his voyage, he recounts how the moon began to follow him, watching his every move. After months at sea, the ship arrived at a topical island where the moon lead him to his first true love awaiting on the beach. But the moon became envious of their love, drove them apart, and forced the young man, heartbroken and alone, back to Falmouth.
MOIRAI, THREAD OF LIFE
Animation (6 min) Singapore
Directed By: Ina Conradi, Mark Chavez
Written By: Ina Conradi, Mark Chavez
Produced By: Ina Conradi, Mark Chavez
Cast:
Synopsis: In the distant future, an astronaut searching for untouched lands approaches a mysterious force in a strange cave. The viewer follows her through a journey of discovery and understanding as she gets pulled into another dimension, her ‘self’ entwined and connected with the larger fabric of the universe. The Moirai, white-robed incarnations of destiny, control the metaphorical thread of life of every mortal from birth to death. In this film, we reinterpret this metaphor to describe quantum phenomena. We each have a role in the greater whole, and our fates are woven together with countless others.
MORNING JOY
Animation (8 min) United States
Directed By: John Henry Hinkel
Written By: Ethan Pakchar
Produced By: John Henry Hinkel, Ethan Pakchar, Nemanja Gavrilovic
Cast:
Synopsis: A recently widowed pianist has an unexpected encounter.
REGULAR RABBIT
Animation (8 min) Ireland
Directed By: Eoin Duffy
Written By: Eoin Duffy
Produced By: Jamie Hogan
Cast: Rory McCann
Synopsis: With story and visuals purposefully separated, a Regular Rabbit battles a comically absurd onslaught of disinformation. He is not the nightmare being told. He is as shown, a regular ol’ stupid rabbit doing his usual rabbit stuff! The narrator is full of s#!t!! How is this so hard to believe?! Fake news!! Where’s the evidence?! Agh!!! He is nothing more than a Regular Rabbit!
ABOVE GROUND
Animation (10 min) United States
Directed By: Kevin Sharpley
Written By: Kevin Sharpley, Vince Vargas
Produced By: Vince Vargas, Mike Isom, Kevin Sharpley
Cast:
Synopsis: A woman is met with tragedy and her relief leads her down a path of depression, isolation, and grief as she deals with the pressure by falling into the trap of self-medication. Based on a true story Above Ground deals with issues that so many struggle with daily, mental health, the cycle of abuse and the opioid crisis that has affected a multitude.
ONCE I PASSED
Animation (10 min) Germany
Directed By: Martin Gerigk
Written By: Martin Gerigk
Produced By: Martin Gerigk
Cast:
Synopsis: “In 1925, the original handwritten copy of the poem, Once I passed‚ as was discovered, in which Whitman writes about an affair with a man in an anonymous city, which may have been his first physical experience of love. Whitman did not dare to publish the original version of his poem, because of the social prejudices of his time. To this day, only the altered version is printed in most anthologies. Once I passed‚ is dedicated, on the one hand, to the obviously autobiographical context with all its personal drama, and on the other hand to the content of the poem itself, the profoundly quiet, yet powerful story of two lovers.”
CREATURE COMFORT
Animation (12 min) United States
Directed By: Ryan Oligmueller
Written By: Ryan Oligmueller
Produced By: Ryan Oligmueller
Cast: Ryan Oligmueller
Synopsis: A creature wanders the woods looking for clues about their past life, only to find the answers in the shadows of its mind.
INGOLSTADT
Animation (12 min) United States
Directed By: Mike Harris
Written By: Mike Harris
Produced By: Mike Harris
Cast: Mike Harris
Synopsis: A detective hunting a homicidal maniac and a writer researching a new book share a peculiar connection in a mysterious city of night.
PROMISES
Drama (113 min) United States
Directed By: Amanda Sthers
Written By: Amanda Sthers
Produced By: Marco Cohen, Benedetto Habib, Fabrizio Donvito, Daniel Campos Pavoncelli, Fabio Conversi, Amanda Sthers
Cast: Pierfrancesco Favino, Kelly Reilly, Jean Reno, Cara Theobold, Kris Marshall, Deepak Verma, Leon Hesby, Ginnie Watson
Synopsis: Alexander is happily maried with a young daughter. Laura is the owner of an art gallery and about to get married. But when their eyes meet at a party, they both know there is no turning back. Life, though, seems to have other plans.
I CAN’T CUT IT OUT!
Drama, Thriller (7 min) United States
Directed By: Christian Chapman and Paul Jason Hoffman
Written By: Christian Chapman, Paul Jason Hoffman
Produced By: Christian Chapman, Paul Jason Hoffman
Cast: Eric Etebari, Faye Tamasa, Jovie Leigh
Synopsis: After a psychotic meltdown in the operating room, a high-profile surgeon must convince a psychiatrist of his sanity to save his career.
CHOWDER
Comedy (10 min) United States
Directed By: Paul Emerson
Written By: Carrie Barrett & Katy Fullan
Produced By: Zack Freedman
Cast: Katy Fullan, Carrie Barrett, James William O’Halloran
Synopsis: JoAnn & Bonnie’s wealth and glamour can’t save them from themselves. Their Los Angeles is filled with disaster, horror, and paranoia.
NERVOUS BREAKDOWN IN A FLORAL DRESS
(12 min) United States
Directed By: Caydon LiRocchi
Written By: Caydon LiRocchi
Produced By: Jahziel Chu, Olivia Layhee, Kurt Kubicek
Cast: Chelsea Lopez, Rico Turrubiarte, Lux LiRocchi
Synopsis: After moving in with a single dad and his toddler, a woman questions her relationship, and who she was before it.
APART
Drama (14 min) United States
Directed By: Ziling “Joylyn” Mei
Written By: Ziling “Joylyn” Mei, Menghan Cheng
Produced By: Jiarui Guo
Cast: Joseph Lopez; Luke McClure
Synopsis: After his stubborn father suffers a stroke, a sensitive son becomes his caretaker, and the tensions of their estranged relationship come to the surface.
SHELTERED
Comedy (15 min) United States
Directed By: Daniel Jamal Judson
Written By: Daniel Jamal Judson
Produced By: Lara Lustig, Nick Iway, Cyrus Shahmir, Mitch Rumfelt
Cast: Tim Johnson, Olivia Hawthorne, Zach Ball, Andrew Nicolas Starr
Synopsis: A radicalized homeschool senior becomes obsessed with a girl at a homeless shelter. Convinced that she’s in danger of being trafficked to liberal elites for a satanic ritual, he mounts a dangerous campaign to save her with tragic results.
THE OBSCURE CHARM OF LOSS
Drama (16 min) United States
Directed By: Justin Urban
Written By: Justin Urban, Jacob Cleveland
Produced By: Justin Urban, Jacob Cleveland, Michael Benson
Cast: Bill Winkler, Annie Hamilton, Chase Anderson, Amanda Tavarez
Synopsis: By the time Frank realizes his wife has died, a series of events are already in motion and only await the main players: Frank’s grown children, Liz and Pete. Triggered by the absurd nature of each other’s emotional response to loss, the fractured family sets out for the one thing they think they can do together — dinner.
THE UNRELIABLES
Drama (18 min) United States
Directed By: Adam Linkenhelt
Written By: Jennifer Jacobs, Adam Linkenhelt
Produced By: Katie Barrie, Jennifer Jacobs,, Adam Linkenhelt
Cast: Jennifer Jacobs, Tom Fugedi, Kennedy Barrie, Tripp Barrie, Jaylin Eaves, Tim Mercer, Billy Vera
Synopsis: A troubled babysitter and an absent father must decide how to deal with his wife’s death, his children, and their own responsibilities. A night of irresponsible grieving could change everything.
EMBER
Drama (20 min) Mexico
Directed By: Manuel Del Valle
Written By: Alexandra Segel, Manuel Del Valle
Produced By: Sebastian Torres Greene, Edgar Cortes Campoy, Manuel Del Valle
Cast: Chloe Grace, Julia Farino, Daniel Edgan, Kevin Michael Moran
Synopsis: A grieving family is at odds when a traumatized young woman comes into their lives claiming to be the daughter that was taken from them a decade earlier.
THE BLOOM
Documentary (3 min) China
Directed By: Zhang Yimou, Jody Xiong
Written By: Jody Xiong
Produced By: Li Zhiwei
Cast:
Synopsis: For the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Paralympic held at the bird’s nest in Beijing on march 4th, Chinese artist Jody Xiong was invited by Chief Director Zhang Yimou to create a technologically-powered art installation called ‘The Bloom’. The project brought together 12 disabled people around an 8-meter wide, circular canvas to create a colorful smiley face by detonating paint-filled balloons using the power of their minds.
LIONESS
Documentary (5 min) United States
Directed By: Arrad Rahgoshay
Written By: Arrad Rahgoshay
Produced By: Arrad Rahgoshay, Connor Gould, Candy Samareta
Cast: Yasmine Aker, Dellara, Mahsa Ahmadi, Ava Lalezarzadeh, Negar Tafreshi, Delara A, Sonia Kiani, Auriana Ehsani, Shante B, Melissa Fathi
Synopsis: A short film seeking to open the eyes of the world to the humanitarian crisis currently unfolding in Iran, and to empower Iranian women & men to continue their quest for greater freedoms.
PERSONA NON GRATA
Documentary (15 min) United States
Directed By: Robinson Vil
Written By: Robinson Vil
Produced By: Robinson Vil, Wade Ballance, Miko DeFoor, Tina DeFoor
Cast: Jerry Tardieu, Robinson Vil
Synopsis: Haitians living abroad (Haiti’s Diaspora) have been Persona Non Grata from any and all political involvement in the motherland. This film explores the main reasons behind this exclusion in an in-depth conversation with forward-thinking, Harvard graduate, author, Haitian Congressman Jerry Tardieu. What can be done to restore the Haitian Diaspora rights, such as: Dual Citizenship, the Right To Vote.
HOLY COWBOYS
Documentary (24 min) India
Directed By: Varun Chopra
Written By: Varun Chopra
Produced By: Anna Hashmi
Cast:
Synopsis: A Hindu teen and his friends tread the bizarre world of a ‘cow protection’ vigilante group to end consumption of beef, exploring
what it means to be a savior of the holy cow in modern day India.
The film takes a hybrid approach to shed light on the growing Hindu
nationalist influence on youth, and their brand of retributive justice in
the name of cow. All while the stray cattle forage the garbage dumps, on the streets of the same country that considers it sacred.
IFINE
Documentary (30 min) United States
Directed By: Adisa Septuri, Ebony Gilbert
Written By:
Produced By: Adisa Septuri, Ebony Gilbert, Alex Ivany
Cast: Musu Senessie, Bondu Kaingbanja, Fatmata Binta Jalloh, Abass Conteh, Fatmata Marrah, Jeneba Marrah, Masiray Mansaray
Synopsis: Women bleach themselves and their children despite great health risks. Set in the Kono district of Sierra Leone, this docu-choreopoem captures the beauty of Blackness through the lens of the youth coming of age amid a skin bleaching epidemic.
BEIRUT ’22
Documentary (33 min) Lebanon
Directed By: Patrick Hasso Kohl
Written By: Patrick Hasso Kohl
Produced By: Patrick Hasso Kohl
Cast: Hani Alagbar, Rabiee Al-Sharif, Youssrah-Ghinaim, Mahmoud Abu Hijazi, Alvera Tohi, Father Youssef Sakat, Ivan Munzer, Jamil Al-Laqab, Fadil Zaya Zyad
Synopsis: On the 4th of August 2020, a large amount of unstable stored ammonium nitrate exploded in the port of Beirut. More than 200 people died. 6,000 were injured and 300,000 left displaced. Among them, many refugees residing in Beirut. Beirut ’22 sheds light on the lives of Syrian and Iraqi refugees affected by the explosion. At a time when Lebanon is struggling with a deepening political, economic and humanitarian crisis, the documentary traces the hopes and perspectives of a community in transition, telling their own, intimate stories of adversity, trauma, hope and despair.
KNOW YOUR PLACE
Drama (124 min) United States
Directed By: Zia Mohajerjasbi
Written By: Zia Mohajerjasbi
Produced By: Ty Walker, Zia Mohajerjasbi
Cast: Joseph Smith, Natnael Mebrahtu, Selamawit Gebresus
Synopsis: Robel Haile, an Eritrean-American boy of 15, embarks on an errand to deliver a huge and heavy suitcase across town destined for a sick family member in his parents’ homeland. He enlists the help of his best friend Fahmi Tadesse, when an unexpected turn transmutes his simple task into an odyssey across the rapidly gentrifying city of Seattle; navigating directions to make his delivery on time, along with the challenges of familial responsibility, self-identification, and dislocation amid the ongoing redevelopment and economic displacement of the only community he’s ever known as home.
YES REPEAT NO
Drama (98 min) United States
Directed By: Michael Moshe Dahan
Written By: Michael Moshe Dahan
Produced By: N. Braxton Pope, Sarah Szalavitz, Michael Moshe Dahan
Cast: Salome Azizi, Mousa Hussein Kraish, Adam Meir, Karim Saleh
Synopsis: Three actors audition to play the Palestinian-Jewish actor and activist, Juliano Mer-Khamis, a former IDF paratrooper who defiantly identified as “100% Palestinian and 100% Jewish.” During a tense rehearsal meant to determine which of them is most suited to authentically portray Juliano Mer-Khamis, the three Juliano’s find their sense of self fractured and disrupted. Assassinated on the steps of the theatre he founded in Jenin, Mer-Khamis considered himself a living embodiment of the Palestine-Israel conflict. YES REPEAT NO asks whether it is remembering our past — or instead forgetting it– that allows us to break cycles of identity and conflict.
