FEATURE FILM

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BOUND (1hr 43min) New York, NY (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens: Fri, Blk 5, 7:30pm

Director: Isaac Hirotsu Woofter

Synopsis:  In order to escape her overprotective drug-dealing stepfather, a young introvert flees to NYC with her pet pocket squirrel. After successfully reinventing herself, she realizes she must confront her dark past, to truly be free.

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ONE MUST WASH EYES  (1hr 29min) Vancouver, British Columbia

(CANADA) (SC Premiere)   

Screens: Thu, Blk 5, 7:30pm

Director: Sepideh Yadegar 

Synopsis:  One Must Wash Eyes is a drama about SAHAR. An aspiring international student from Iran who is naturally suited to academics. Her ambitions take her away from her home, culture, and most importantly, from her MAMAN. Although she has been studying in Vancouver for three and a half years, she has difficulty connecting with her peers after studying and working at her uncle's grocery store. She finds joy in relating to TNT, an eight-year-old kid whose expertise lies in spray-painting poorly drawn smiley faces around the neighborhood. 

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SEANCE (1hr 25min) Los Angeles, CA (USA) (East Coast Premiere)

Screens: Sat, Blk 5, 7:30pm

Director: Vivian Kerr

Synopsis: In 1892 California, a Victorian woman contemplating adultery is forced to take refuge from a storm at the home of her first husband and his unstable wife, who claims to be haunted by their dead child.

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SILENT LIFE: THE STORY OF THE LADY IN BLACK  (1hr 47min) Los Angeles, CA (USA)  (SC Premiere)

Screens: Wed, Blk 5, 7:30pm

Director: Vladislav Alex Kozlov

Synopsis:  A woman in her 90s, dressed up in a black dress, her face covered with a veil, comes to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery to visit silent movie star Rudolph Valentino's tomb during the Memorial Service commemorated to the first Hollywood Sex symbol.
She is the mysterious “Lady in Black” who has been coming with a single red rose to Valentino’s grave for over 70 years. A feature film about grief, ​adultery, and ghosts.

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WHERE WERE YOU (1hr 40min) Altadena, CA (USA) (World Premiere) 

Screens: Fri, Blk 3, 1:10pm

Director: Phillip Abraham

Synopsis: When two small-town artists cross paths in a cemetery, their mutual hunger for meaning inspires them to leave their broken hearts behind and move to Los Angeles, unbeknownst to each other.

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DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

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ECHOES OF LOSS: EIGHT DAYS IN ISRAEL (1hr 13min) Los Angeles, CA (USA)

(SC Premiere)

Screens:  Sat, Blk 2, 11am

Director:  Rob Mor

Synopsis: Journey alongside Mor as he travels from his home-base in Los Angeles to his homeland of Israel. Set against a backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war and rising global antisemitism, Mor explores his own healing journey after losing his wife, Noel, to ovarian cancer in 2019.  

 

MARCELLA (1hr 38min) New York, NY  (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens:  Wed, Blk 3, 1pm

Director:  Peter Miller

Synopsis: Marcella Hazan changed how we cook and experience Italian food. A disabled woman trained as a scientist; Marcella never cooked until she immigrated to America. But through her cookbooks and teaching -- and an uncompromising commitment to Italian tradition -- her impact was felt in millions of American home kitchens.

 

SEGAL (1hr 53min) Calabasas, CA (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens:  Thu, Blk 3, 1pm

Director:  Vernon Alfredo Davidson and Ryan Krayser

Synopsis: A legendary entertainer shares his life story, from a shy kid from Great Neck, Long Island to a sought-after leading man during Hollywood's most prolific decades.

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DOCUMENTARY SHORTS

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1001 CUTS   (25min) Washington, DC  (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens:  Thu, Blk 1, 9am

Director: Sarah M. Temkin

Synopsis: 1001 Cuts explores the careers of the daughters of Title IX through the experiences of surgeons. Social and cultural change in the 1970's allowed for the opportunity to train and be included into this high stakes professional environment. This film documents the pervasive stereotypes and gender-based discrimination that persist within workplaces designed for, and still controlled by men. Within medicine and surgery, the failure to apply culture change has had wide ranging impacts on the careers of women, the healthcare system, and the patient care experience.

 

 

BREAKFAST IN BEAUFORT: JOURNEYS THROUGH TIME (29min) Blythewood, SC (USA) (World Premiere)

Screens: Sat, Blk 1, 9am

Director: Ray Smith

Synopsis: This film introduces us to a group of older men who meet every Wednesday at Blackstone's cafe in Beaufort SC. They range in age from between 100 and to the high 80s. They have 980 years of experience between them. They have seen and experienced a lot during their long lives, they have lived through war (WW2, Korea and Vietnam) and huge social change. 

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I’M STILL HERE  (26min) Birmingham, AL  (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens: Wed, Blk 2, 11am

Director: Stephen Stinson and Sam Miller

Synopsis:  Between 1947 and 1967, black owned homes in Birmingham, Alabama were bombed over 50 times. Homes on Center Street were targeted so often, the neighborhood became known as ‘Dynamite Hill.’ The street became an inflection point for the Civil Rights movement.

I'm Still Here is a short film about three people who lived this history as children and elected to stay in Birmingham to try and turn the city's struggles with Civil Rights into a symbol for hope.

 

THE GREATEST GUY YOU NEVER MET (9min) Fairfield, CT (USA)  (SC Premiere)

Screens:  Thu, Blk 1, 9am

Telephone:  203-521-8611

Synopsis:  Thirty five years of found footage create a portrait of one man in his own words.

 

 

TIDES OF CHANGE (3min) Aiken, SC (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens: Wed, Blk 2, 11am

Director: Justin Wheelon

Synopsis:  In “Tides of Change”, a brief 2 minute short documentary, viewers are taken on a breathtaking journey beneath the waves, guided by an experienced underwater photographer who is deeply passionate about marine conservation. Through stunning visuals and intimate encounters with marine life, the film showcases the hidden beauty of the ocean and the devastating impact of human pollution. 

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WAKANYEJA KIN WANA KU PI ( THE CHILDREN ARE COMING HOME)  (11min) Beaufort SC (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens:  Thu, Blk 2, 11am

Director: Andy Wakeman

Synopsis:  One of the Lakota Nation's most sacred places is Mato Paha, now part of Bear Butte State Park. The people’s access to Bear Butte was severed in the late 19th century, when the U.S. government seized the Black Hills and broke up the Great Sioux Reservation. In 2024, the nonprofit Cheyenne River Youth Project took a major step toward restoring that access when it purchased a nearly 40-acre tract of land adjacent to Bear Butte, which it calls Wakanyeja Kin Wana Ku Pi (The Children Are Coming Home).

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ANIMATION

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112 STEPS  (5min) Beaufort, SC (USA) (SC Premiere)

(Univ. of South Carolina Beaufort)

Screens: Wed, Blk 1, 9am

Director: James Sidletsky and Bryanna C. Cantrell

Synopsis: A South Carolina low country ghost story of a lighthouse keeper and his daughter.

 

INDEFINITELY (6min) Los Angeles, CA (USA) (SC Premiere)

(Univ. of Southern California )

Screens: Thu, Blk 1, 9am

Director: Aloha Lee

Synopsis: The night of a legendary comet coincides with a disastrous tsunami. An astronomer has been waiting for this comet all her life. Meanwhile, the lighthouse keeper rushes everyone off the island before the big wave swallows the town--and his lover.

 

GLEAM  (5min) Cary, NC  (USA) (SC Premiere) (Pratt Institute)

Screens: Thu, Blk 1, 9am

Director:  Anna Palmtag

Synopsis: A creature made of light escapes the house where it had been imprisoned for decades, only to be met with a world very different from the one it remembers..

 

LOVE PHOTOSYNTHESIS (4min) Kiev (UKRAINE) (SC Premiere) 

Screens: Sat, Blk 1, 9am

Director:  Alisa Zolonz

Synopsis: Within the microscopic realm of a leaf, Water embarks on an improbable love story with Chloroplast with the duo struggle to overcome their differences. Battling to unify it triggers a transformative journey for the pair, and others around them

 

THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE  (3min) Palo Alto, CA (USA) (SC Premiere) 

(Univ. of Southern California)

Screens:  Fri, Blk 1, 9am

Director: Britney Fan

Synopsis: Upon entrance of her boyfriend’s apartment for the first time, Kat is encountered with her biggest, most unexpected rival; his cat. There can only be one to win his love and affection….So, who will it be?

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STUDENT FILM

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BELLY OF THE BEAST (18min) Winston-Salem, NC (USA) (SC Premiere) (UNCSA)

Screens:  Thu, Blk 1, 9am

Director: Mary Louise Renegar 

Synopsis: On a small, isolated ship, a researcher and his apprentice attempt to prove the existence of mermaids, but before they manage to lure the creatures to the surface, the apprentice unravels the dark truth of the experiment she has devoted herself to.

 

JUPITER (8min) New York, NY (USA) (World Premiere) (NYU Tisch)

Screens:  Fri, Blk 2, 11am

Director:  Amanda Mickwee

Synopsis: When Callie, 23, faces the possibility of motherhood,
she returns to memories of her estranged, alcoholic
mother, forcing her to confront the pain of their
unresolved relationship.

 

LIVING ON THE EDGE (16min) London (UK) (SC Premiere) 

(Goldsmiths, University of London)

Screens: Wed, Blk 1, 9am

Director: Jishnu Nandanan

Synopsis: A chance cliffside meeting between two very different men turns second thoughts into second chances.  A traffic warden travels to a high cliff with the conviction to jump. There, he encounters a young British man with a similar intention - and an ice cream van. Through an unexpected moment of connection and shared sense of purpose, they decide it might be worth living another day.

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LOLLIE (18min) Los Angeles, CA (USA) (SC Premiere) (NY Film Academy)

Screens: Wed, Blk 1, 9am

Director: Agnes Shinozaki

Synopsis:  A young lunch lady in Brazil needs to fight the world to protect her unique friendship with Lola, a helpless 71-year-old woman with a mental disability.

 

TWO BREATHS (19min) West Hollywood, CA (USA) (SC Premiere)

 (Univ. of Southern California)

Screens: Thu, Blk 2, 11am

Director: Kateryna Kurganska

Synopsis: After a man-made disaster decimates an evergreen island, a stranded 11-year-old girl must find the tenacity to leave behind her home with the help of an unlikely friend.

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DUTY & HONOR

 

A FINAL LANDING ON IWO JIMA (55min) South Kingstown, RI (USA) (SC Premiere)  

Screens: Fri, Blk 4, 3:20pm

Director: Tim Gray

Synopsis:  The focus of this one-hour documentary is the return to Iwo Jima of a Marine veteran wounded there in the savage fight beginning in February of 1945. We also follow the son of another Marine, who is trying to put his father’s World War II puzzle together. His dad never spoke about the combat he saw on Iwo Jima. Narrated by CBS sports commentator Jim Nantz. 

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BRCC PRESENTS: THE SIEGE AT KHE SANH  (37min) West Jordan, UT (USA)

(SC Premiere)  

Screens:Thu, Blk 4, 3:20pm

Director: David Kniess

Synopsis:  The story of Marine, Dennis Mannion, who fought on Hill 861 in 1968 during the Siege of Khe Sanh.

 

RUNNING TOWARDS THE FIRE: A WAR CORRESPONDENT’S STORY (57min)

Lincoln, NE (USA) (SC Premiere)  

Screens: Sat, Blk 4, 3:20pm

Director: Bernard McCoy

Synopsis:  "Running Towards the Fire - A War Correspondent's Story" captures the pivotal roles war correspondents played during the Allied forces’ 1944 D-Day invasion of Europe and the subsequent defeat of Nazi Germany and the Axis powers in 1945. 
The war correspondents were unsung heroes who risked their lives informing the world with firsthand accounts of the bravery and sacrifice of American and Allied forces.

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SHORT FILMS

 

4TH DEMENTIA (17min) Brooklyn, NY (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens:  Wed, Blk 4, 3:20pm

Director: Ian Wexler

Synopsis: Nellie's dementia has an unlikely side effect. Despite her
determination to locate her husband and love of her life, Lou,
she keeps involuntarily dimension-hopping. Forced to deal
with eccentric families she's convinced she doesn’t know,
Nellie takes on personalities to cope; from a Jewish mob boss
to the Rambo-esque star of her grandson’s student film.

 

BASTARD (18min) New York, NY (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens: Wed, Blk 2, 11am

Director: Monica Arsenault and Isabella Jane Schiller

Synopsis: Upon discovering a box of decades-old letters, Julia's naive understanding of her never-married parents, and her sense of self, is flipped on its head. 

A love letter to the moment we finally see our parents as fallible, fellow adults.

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BURNING THE OLD MAN (18min) Denver, CO (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens: Thu, Blk 4, 3:20pm

Director: Robert Kelly McAllister and Timothy McCracken

Synopsis: A pair of brothers take their father's ashes to Burning Man per his dying request.

 

DONOR (11min) Los Angeles, CA (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens:  Thu, Blk 2, 11am

Director: Erin Doyle Cooper

Synopsis: How far will a desperate sister go to get her wife pregnant when she needs her brother's sperm to get the job done?

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FAMILIAR (18min) Elizabeth City, NC  (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens: Wed, Blk 1, 9am

Director: Rebecca Mlinek

Synopsis: A groundskeeper vies against her accomplished brother for control of her house, until a mysterious cat appears to tip the balance.

 

FIVE THOUSAND STARS (16min) Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire (UK)

 (SC Premiere)

Screens: Sat, Blk 1, 9am

Director: Paul Holbrook

Synopsis: Once renowned food critic, now homeless and battling alcoholism, campaigns to save her local soup kitchen, despite her complaint shutting it down.

 

GAME NIGHT (17min) Montclair, NJ (USA) (World Premiere)

Screens: Fri, Blk 5, 7:30pm

Director:  Rob Figueroa

Synopsis: When a group of long-time friends gathers for a night of fun and games, it takes an unexpected turn.

 

HEARTLESS (14min) Denver, CO (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens: Wed, Blk 2, 11am

Director:  Ann Allsopp

Synopsis: When a doctor declares her legally dead, a sensible relationship therapist must evade a coroner, crash her own funeral, and open up to her wife to find her missing heart.

 

HIGHER LOWS (20min) Richmond, VA  (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens: Wed, Blk 4, 3:20pm

Director:  Kent Belle

Synopsis: An estate mover with a compulsive gambling problem discovers one of his seedy investments has ties to a corporation and a missing artist.

 

INHALE (12min) Brooklyn, NY  (USA) (World Premiere)

Screens: Sat, Blk 1, 9am

Director:  Shannon Marie Sullivan

Synopsis: Alone and newly pregnant, Jess grapples with the realities of the present and the pull of the past as she readies herself to return to work in the aftershock of her husband's sudden death. INHALE is a poignant exploration of the weight of even the most mundane tasks in the face of loss, the fragility of human resilience, and the profound task of putting one foot in front of another in the wake of tragedy.

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INVOLUNTARY (13min) Willoughby Hills, OH (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens: Wed, Blk 5, 7:30pm

Director: Dana E. White and Christopher Knoblock

Synopsis: Carlton, a man in his 70s suffering from Dementia, is moved from a nursing home in the middle of the night.

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KNEAD (12min) Los Angeles CA (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens:  Fri, Blk 1, 9am

Director: Timothy Michael Cooper

Synopsis:  When an alien landing mysteriously drives people around the world to achieve their deepest dreams, an aspiring baker in an unhappy marriage wonders why she hasn't been affected at all—forcing her to take matters into her own hands.

 

LOVE LESS LIKELY (17min) Centennial, CO (USA) (World Premiere)

Screens: Fri, Blk 2, 11am

Director: David Liban

Synopsis: Miranda suffers from a devastating curse: every man she's loved has met a tragic end. Haunted by her latest loss, she considers her next move when she meets Bruno, a lonely boy coping with an abusive home. Miranda is determined to help him.

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LOVESICK (20min) Charlottenlund  (DENMARK) (SC Premiere)

Screens:  Wed, Blk 4, 3:20pm

Director: Alexander Saul

Synopsis: At a psychiatric ward, on the last day of the year, Elias finds himself racing against time. Haunted by hallucinations and fueled by emotions, he needs to declare his love for his nurse before time runs out.

 

MS ROSSI 3: MS ROSSI MEETS THE (20min) MOB  Santa Clarita,CA  (USA)

(SC Premiere)

Screens:  Sat, Blk 2, 11am

Director: Pat Battistini

Synopsis: While traveling for work, Ms. Rossi gets picked up by the wrong driver at the airport.

 

MY FRIEND DOUBT (17min) Ambler, PA (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens: Thu, Blk 2, 11am

Director: Mark Riccadonna

Synopsis: With a debut bestseller under her belt, author Betty Ray Robinson is laboring to scribe a stellar follow-up when her old friend Doubt shows up at the door. When this negative Nancy tries to cast a shadow over the writer’s confidence, Betty’s on the hook to shine a positive light on her life’s work.

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NEITHER DONKEY NOR HORSE (29min) Los Angeles, CA (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens: Fri, Blk 1, 9am

Director: Robin Wang

Synopsis: Amidst the outbreak of the 1910 Manchurian Plague, a young Chinese doctor must defy prejudices of both the East and the West to champion his groundbreaking theory of the disease and seek the truth that will heal it.

 

ON PAPER (16min) Valley Village, CA (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens: Fri, Blk 1, 9am

Director: Arthur Helterbran Jr. 

Synopsis: When Barbara, a recent retiree, receives an unexpected gift from a past lover, it not only threatens her marriage, but could change her life forever.

 

SILVER SIZZLE  (14min) Fairfield, CT (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens: Thu, Blk 5, 7:30pm

Director:  Brian Russell 

Synopsis: A cemetery caretaker embarks on a quest to help two recent widowers find new love among widows visiting their departed spouses.

 

SMALL HOURS (22min) Santa Barbara, CA (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens: Fri, Blk 2, 11am

Director: Stacie Hirsch and Jack Hirsch

Synopsis: Life, love, and anxiety in late-night NYC. An affable bartender runs a downtown lounge with the help of his not-so-silent partner ex and his irresponsible brother. They serve eclectic after-hours patrons including a conservative attorney with no game, and the unavailable free-spirit he's hopelessly in love with.

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SIXTEEN (14min) Los Angeles, CA (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens:  Wed, Blk 4, 3:20pm

Director: Naomi Iwamoto

Synopsis: When a Japanese American teenage girl is faced with the reality of being sent to conversion therapy, she has to choose herself or the community she was born into.

 

 

THE LONG WALK HOME (15min) New York, NY (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens:  Fri, Blk 2, 11am

Director: Jeremy Folmer

Synopsis: An art teacher meets her favorite student after school lets out for a hike in the mountains and a day that they both will never forget.

 

 

THE RUG (11min) Ontario (CANADA) (SC Premiere)

Screens: Sat, Blk 5, 7:30pm

Director: Sean Cisterna

Synopsis: Made with a crew of creative senior citizens, this short comedy horror film centers around Edna, a senior aged woman who discovers that a discarded throw rug she has found will, for lack of a better word, digest anything left under it. 

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WABI-SABI (20min) Los Angeles, CA  (USA) (SC Premiere)

Screens: Sat, Blk 4, 3:20pm

Director: Josephine Green Zhang

Synopsis: When an insecure, half Japanese woman's invited on a date to a traditional tea ceremony, her best friend's advice on how to avoid white-guys-with-Asian-fetishes threatens to ruin her love life and sanity.

 

WHAT I AM (26min) Wheathampstead, Hertsfordshire (UK) (SC Premiere)

Screens: Sat, Blk 4, 3:20pm

Director: Jackie Oudney

Synopsis: A woman suffers amnesia after an accident at home, embarking on a journey of self-discovery that leads to the reclamation of her agency.

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SCREENPLAYS

 

CROSSED, Wesley Chapel, FL (USA)

Writer: Peter Herlan

Synopsis: Inspired from a true story about Jordan, a well-liked finance professional, orphaned as child is now dedicated to helping orphans in Tijuana. Jordan is approached by James, an FBI agent to help the FBI identify the entourage of a Cartel Leader, named Oscar. Jordan hides this from his fiancé, Kate a restaurateur.

 

HEROES FROM HEAVEN: BATTLE GROUND EARTH, Philadelphia, PA (USA)           

Writer: Dr. Scott Glenn

Synopsis:  An embittered leader in a dystopian future joins forces with ancient biblical heroes to end the reign of the oppressive Seven Continental Alliance. In the Garden of Eden mankind falls from grace. Warriors of a time long past walk amongst us and wait to aid man's ascension back into grace once more.

 

POSTER GIRLS, Charlotte, NC  (USA) 

Writer: Christina Capra

Synopsis: A military wife teams up with a diverse group of women working in an environment fraught with sexism and racism at a 1940s Southern wartime munitions factory.

 

PRETTY UGLY, Columbia, SC, (USA)

Writer: Robbie Robertson

Synopsis: A homely woman undergoes a television plastic surgery makeover to change her life. But after this ugly duckling becomes a swan and returns to her everyday life, she finds that being beautiful can get quite ugly.

 

THE LOST TREASURE OF THE MAYANS, Los Angeles, CA (USA) 

Writer: Julius Galacki

Synopsis: A comic-action-adventure film in the vein of Indiana Jones, the treasure hunting game had gotten very sour (and black & blue) for Mick, but nonetheless, he’s back in Mexico, helping an idealistic yet very feisty woman return a sacred object to the indigenous Mayans.

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BEST COMEDY NOMINATIONS

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4th Dementia  ( Short)

 

Donor (Short)

 

Heartless (Short)

 

Knead (Short)

 

Ms. Rossi 3; Ms. Rossi Meets the Mob (Short)

 

My Friend Doubt (Short)

 

Small Hours

 

Silver Sizzle (Short)

 

Wabi-Sabi (Short) 

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BEST ACTOR NOMINATIONS

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Boyd Gaines, Silver Sizzle (Short)

 

Jack McGee, Involuntary  (Short)

 

Chris Pang, Neither Donkey Nor Horse (Short)

 

Jim Lau, Neither Donkey Nor Horse (Short)

 

Clint Ruben, Lovesick (Short)

 

Jilon VanOver, Seance(Feature)

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BEST ACTRESS NOMINATIONS

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Christine Bottomley, What I Am (Short)

 

Pegah Ghafoori, One Must Wash Eyes (Feature)

 

Alexandra Faye  Sadeghian, Bound (Feature)

 

Jeanna Schweppe,  My Friend Doubt (Short)

 

Shannon Marie Sullivan, Inhale (Short) 

 

Scottie Thompson, Séance (Feature)

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BEST DIRECTOR NOMINATIONS

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Vivian Kerr,  Séance  (Feature)

 

Kateryna Kurganska,  Two Breaths (Student)

 

Robin Wang,  Neither Donkey Nor Horse  (Short)

 

Isaac Hirotsu Woofter,  Bound   (Feature)

 

Sepedah Yadegar, One Must Wash Eyes (Feature)

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BEST ENSEMBLE NOMINATIONS

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Bound   (Feature)

 

Game Night  (Short)

 

Ms. Rossi 3: Ms. Rossi Meets the Mob  (Short)

 

Neither Donkey Nor Horse, (Short)

 

Séance (Feature)

 

Silver Sizzle (Short)

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BEST SCORE/SOUNDTRACK NOMINATIONS

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Belly of the Beast, Lucia Moreno & Flint Steppenrock   (Student)

 

Bound, Ethan James Startzman  (Feature)

 

Game Night, Louis Robert King (Short)

 

Neither Donkey Nor Horse, Brandon Jung, Nathan Wang (Short)

 

Séance, Eric Elterman, Alon Peretz, and Arturo Rodriguez (Feature)

 

Silent Life: The Story of the Lady in Black, Greg Dombrowski (Feature)