Edition 2019
Official Selection - Shortfilm
Spectrum - Igor Sadovski (Republic of Moldova)
A tragic accident, the husband died, the wife, Eva, seriously injured, remains alive. A closed chapter, but actually continuing with Eve's return home after a long hospital stay. A deserted and cold house, covered mirrors reflecting a bleak day of funeral, a fatal day, that leaves no room for a new life. The home mirrors become Eve's nightmare, the frightening sensations that convey to her, leave no doubt about something unreal that haunts the house. Winner 'Best Actrice' - Rada Ixari Winner 'Best Cinematography' - Angelo D. Stramaglia |
SIKLUS - Louis Minnaar (South Africa)
In the near future an earth couple called Daniel and Eli find themselves in the furthest reaches of our galaxy. A life threatening crisis onboard their spaceship forces them to confront difficult decisions and to re-evaualte their past and future. When an unexpected detour takes them dangerously close to a giant black hole, time starts to unravel and they start receiving strange cryptic messages on their ship’s navigation system. Eli’s deteriorating health leaves Daniel to steer their voyage alone and in an attempt to save her life, he has to make the toughest decision of his life – dare to enter the black hole in an attempt to buy time with Eli, or free them both from the endless cycle they seem to be trapped in. In deep deep space even straight lines are circles and the universe a merry-go-round. Siklus is a film art story of love and time and space... and everything in between. Winner 'Best Shortfilm' Winner 'Best Director' - Louis Minnaar Winner 'Best Actor' - Neels van Jaarsveld |
Irish Goodbye - Adetokumboh M'Cormack (USA)
The story of Nizar, a young closeted-gay, conflicted but devout Muslim refugee from Syria and his night out with a quixotic Irishman, Eric. Along the way they will confront issues of trust, abandonment, tragedy, and privilege. Eric seeks to seduce and draw Nizar out of his shell while Nizar confronts Eric for being nothing more than an emotional tourist in his life. The consequences of their adventure will haunt Nizar for long after the night is over. |
Official Selection - Student Shortfilm
'Beyond The Tide' - Dylan Geurts (The Netherlands)
Beyond the Tide is a psychological drama where Alzheimer’s is visualised through the first-person perspective. Wilko, a man of about fifty years old, searches through his entire house in an attempt to find something of which even he doesn’t know what it is. Everything seems to disappear around him instead of him finding what he’s looking for. One by one even the most important people disappear from his life, until nothing remains.. |
Sub Rosa - James McFerron (USA)
A mystery-thriller/drama following Claire (Sadie Westbrock), her boyfriend Jeremy (Baylor Barnes), and their friends Matt (Dejuan Monte) and Sarah (Ellie Maji) as they spend their last spring break at the lake. The vacation takes a dark turn when one of them is found dead, leading to Detective Price (Jonna Volz) investigating the unusual circumstances surrounding the crime, and revealing secrets that challenge the relationships between the three remaining friends. As Claire discovers more about the people she thought she knew, she realizes that sometimes you can't even trust the ones you love. |
Official Selection - Student Shortfilm - Animation
Official Selection - Music Video
Official Selection - Unproduced Screenplay
Days of Glory - Laurent Boulanger (feature film)
In 1995. Helen Harry and The Blind Kings topped the charts with their rock anthem hit "Days of Glory". Jump forward 24 years later, and Helen, 47 and broke, lives alone in a tiny studio apartment, smokes too much dope, drinks too much beer and works as a waitress to make ends meet.
Tired of playing retirement homes, ice-skating rings and school halls, she breaks off the band she's been with for 30 years. But when she re-kindles her friendship with Stuart, her old promoter, and he offers her a chance to get back on the musical charts, she is diagnosed with throat cancer and told she will never sing again.
In the midst of trying to repair the psychological damage she has done to her daughter through years of negligence, Helen must find the courage to move on and believe in herself more than ever before, even if those around her think she is nothing more than a has-been and a loser.
In 1995. Helen Harry and The Blind Kings topped the charts with their rock anthem hit "Days of Glory". Jump forward 24 years later, and Helen, 47 and broke, lives alone in a tiny studio apartment, smokes too much dope, drinks too much beer and works as a waitress to make ends meet.
Tired of playing retirement homes, ice-skating rings and school halls, she breaks off the band she's been with for 30 years. But when she re-kindles her friendship with Stuart, her old promoter, and he offers her a chance to get back on the musical charts, she is diagnosed with throat cancer and told she will never sing again.
In the midst of trying to repair the psychological damage she has done to her daughter through years of negligence, Helen must find the courage to move on and believe in herself more than ever before, even if those around her think she is nothing more than a has-been and a loser.
God is not purple - Matt Pancini (feature film)
In 1983, five kids, ages 10 - 16 run away from home, take a raft down the Mississippi to New Orleans, and learn more about themselves than they'd ever thought possible.
In 1983, five kids, ages 10 - 16 run away from home, take a raft down the Mississippi to New Orleans, and learn more about themselves than they'd ever thought possible.
Freeman's Men - Gloria J. Browne-Marshall (feature film)
In Freeman's Men, the ambitious army sergeant Stella Freeman's rebellious daughter Keisha goes missing on the day Freeman becomes the first woman to train the Army’s new Urban Terrorism platoon. Freeman is fighting to find her daughter, save her marriage and prove herself while the Army is mysteriously silent. Freeman can't do it alone. This mission, finding Keisha, will require all of Freeman's military skills as well as the help of her platoon of angry urban misfits and her estranged husband. She discovers that their fight is against White supremacists hiding in Pennsylvania who are bartering Keisha for the army's guns and a conservative U.S. Senator's silence. Sgt. Freeman's men have her back.
In Freeman's Men, the ambitious army sergeant Stella Freeman's rebellious daughter Keisha goes missing on the day Freeman becomes the first woman to train the Army’s new Urban Terrorism platoon. Freeman is fighting to find her daughter, save her marriage and prove herself while the Army is mysteriously silent. Freeman can't do it alone. This mission, finding Keisha, will require all of Freeman's military skills as well as the help of her platoon of angry urban misfits and her estranged husband. She discovers that their fight is against White supremacists hiding in Pennsylvania who are bartering Keisha for the army's guns and a conservative U.S. Senator's silence. Sgt. Freeman's men have her back.
Ghosts don't sleep - Rute Amieiro (feature film)
Wanda is unhappy with her life and everything in general, until her life gets upside down when her friend Sam comes back to her life, but Sam died 10 years ago.
Winner 'Best Unproduced Screenplay'
Wanda is unhappy with her life and everything in general, until her life gets upside down when her friend Sam comes back to her life, but Sam died 10 years ago.
Winner 'Best Unproduced Screenplay'
Saving Simon - Joanne Bellew (feature film)
New Jersey, 2000. Crime boss, DIMITRI FATTOULI, kills girlfriend Rachel (18), her body to be used in an insurance job involving A RING. However, Rachel’s best friend, Rob, intervenes, stealing the ring from the funeral. He then steals Rachel’s daughter (Rhiannon - 17 months), AND toys stuffed with mob cash. Rob’s defining feature; a LARGE TATTOO.
Rob flees to TOMMY CONCANNON’S club, leaving baby Rhiannon with him. He then buries the cash in Tommy’s yard, and escapes to rehab before sexchanging into ‘Coco’.
Harlem, N.Y. 2017. Rhiannon (18), permanently hung-over, sleeps in her opulent bedroom wearing the only thing she has of her mother's; THE RING. She is woken each day by her hyper-intelligent, OCD, ‘half-brother’, Simon (11), over Skype. Simon is 'a counter', a vegan and he faints at the sight of blood. Rhiannon works as a kitchen-hand at Tommy and ex-wife, Candice's club. Coco, now the club’s exotic dancer, is Rhiannon's surrogate mother.
Rhiannon's lavish life is at risk. The nightclub is headed for foreclosure. Dimitri, Tommy's 'friend', advises Tommy to put his palatial home into Rhiannon’s name, then enters into a fixed money-laundering scheme. While watching Coco dance, Dimitri's son , Jimmy, notices the familiar tattoo on Coco’s neck. Is Coco, ‘Rob’?
The mob frame Tommy for the money laundering job. He and Simon's mother, Candice, are imprisoned.
Interrogated, Coco admits to corrupt Det. Leech that she was once 'Rob', but denies knowing the whereabouts of any cash, ring or Rhiannon.
For protection, Rhiannon and Simon move into Coco’s dirty, vampish apartment. Rhiannon must prove to Social Services that she is fit to be Simon’s guardian, but she exists in a drunken bubble of dysfunction. Social Services surprise them with an interview which fails MISERABLY. They want to take Simon.
Rhiannon concocts a plan to use the eccentric nightclub staff and a homeless man to pose as the perfect family at her old home. It's WORKS until, mid interview, she is told Jimmy is coming. Tommy's done a deal to protect Rhiannon and Simon - sell their home to the mob, then hand back the cash. But during the deal Rhiannon and Simon flee with the cash. Jimmy catches Rhiannon and notices THE RING. He takes it. Dimitri confirms; it is THE RING. Now, where is their cash?
Coco tells Rhiannon the truth. Her life is at risk. She isn't Tommy’s daughter, nor Simon’s sister. Rhiannon's sense of family is destroyed. She must save Simon by beating the mob to their cash and negotiating Tommy and Candice's release with the mob's crook cops -- but the cash is buried at her old home; now owned by the mob.
Rhiannon sets up a 'meeting' with Jimmy at the home to discuss 'a business deal', but Dimitri turns up -- then Simon! Dimitri threatens to kill Simon if Rhiannon doesn’t reveal where the cash is hidden. She manipulates the men near a hidden gun of Tommy’s and shoots, making Simon count the shots. Simon faces his OCD to help Rhiannon. She kills Dimitri and Jimmy then makes a deal with Det. Leech to release their parents, negotiating a split of the cash. When Tommy is adopting Rhiannon we discover that COCO is her actual father!
New Jersey, 2000. Crime boss, DIMITRI FATTOULI, kills girlfriend Rachel (18), her body to be used in an insurance job involving A RING. However, Rachel’s best friend, Rob, intervenes, stealing the ring from the funeral. He then steals Rachel’s daughter (Rhiannon - 17 months), AND toys stuffed with mob cash. Rob’s defining feature; a LARGE TATTOO.
Rob flees to TOMMY CONCANNON’S club, leaving baby Rhiannon with him. He then buries the cash in Tommy’s yard, and escapes to rehab before sexchanging into ‘Coco’.
Harlem, N.Y. 2017. Rhiannon (18), permanently hung-over, sleeps in her opulent bedroom wearing the only thing she has of her mother's; THE RING. She is woken each day by her hyper-intelligent, OCD, ‘half-brother’, Simon (11), over Skype. Simon is 'a counter', a vegan and he faints at the sight of blood. Rhiannon works as a kitchen-hand at Tommy and ex-wife, Candice's club. Coco, now the club’s exotic dancer, is Rhiannon's surrogate mother.
Rhiannon's lavish life is at risk. The nightclub is headed for foreclosure. Dimitri, Tommy's 'friend', advises Tommy to put his palatial home into Rhiannon’s name, then enters into a fixed money-laundering scheme. While watching Coco dance, Dimitri's son , Jimmy, notices the familiar tattoo on Coco’s neck. Is Coco, ‘Rob’?
The mob frame Tommy for the money laundering job. He and Simon's mother, Candice, are imprisoned.
Interrogated, Coco admits to corrupt Det. Leech that she was once 'Rob', but denies knowing the whereabouts of any cash, ring or Rhiannon.
For protection, Rhiannon and Simon move into Coco’s dirty, vampish apartment. Rhiannon must prove to Social Services that she is fit to be Simon’s guardian, but she exists in a drunken bubble of dysfunction. Social Services surprise them with an interview which fails MISERABLY. They want to take Simon.
Rhiannon concocts a plan to use the eccentric nightclub staff and a homeless man to pose as the perfect family at her old home. It's WORKS until, mid interview, she is told Jimmy is coming. Tommy's done a deal to protect Rhiannon and Simon - sell their home to the mob, then hand back the cash. But during the deal Rhiannon and Simon flee with the cash. Jimmy catches Rhiannon and notices THE RING. He takes it. Dimitri confirms; it is THE RING. Now, where is their cash?
Coco tells Rhiannon the truth. Her life is at risk. She isn't Tommy’s daughter, nor Simon’s sister. Rhiannon's sense of family is destroyed. She must save Simon by beating the mob to their cash and negotiating Tommy and Candice's release with the mob's crook cops -- but the cash is buried at her old home; now owned by the mob.
Rhiannon sets up a 'meeting' with Jimmy at the home to discuss 'a business deal', but Dimitri turns up -- then Simon! Dimitri threatens to kill Simon if Rhiannon doesn’t reveal where the cash is hidden. She manipulates the men near a hidden gun of Tommy’s and shoots, making Simon count the shots. Simon faces his OCD to help Rhiannon. She kills Dimitri and Jimmy then makes a deal with Det. Leech to release their parents, negotiating a split of the cash. When Tommy is adopting Rhiannon we discover that COCO is her actual father!
Affected - Aurigia Ifill (feature film)
An almost 30 year old finds himself failing to be what he sees in his peers. Dealing with loneliness and social ineptitude, it’s only when his cancer stricken father tries to reconnect that he begins to be more honest with the people around him.
An almost 30 year old finds himself failing to be what he sees in his peers. Dealing with loneliness and social ineptitude, it’s only when his cancer stricken father tries to reconnect that he begins to be more honest with the people around him.
Just divorced, or how to rob the Robber - Benn Flore (feature film)
After 40 years of troublesome marriages, two 60-year-old men are happily divorced but broke. Their future may only last five years. They start dating new ladies—surprisingly each others’ exes—they lie about their ages and wealth and decide to rob the Maffia to live happy ever after.
After 40 years of troublesome marriages, two 60-year-old men are happily divorced but broke. Their future may only last five years. They start dating new ladies—surprisingly each others’ exes—they lie about their ages and wealth and decide to rob the Maffia to live happy ever after.
Perry - RJ Watson (feature film)
A mother and daughter of privilege from Connecticut and a victim of sex trafficking from Haiti are drawn into a dangerous web of exploitation on the streets of San Francisco. Echoing the Persephone-Demeter myth, it is the tragic story of love and innocence destroyed by dark societal forces.
Perry (15) and her mother Julia are estranged and, in an effort to repair their relationship, Julia sets up a vacation in San Francisco. Her plans are quickly overturned, however, when her plane is delayed and Perry is left on her own in the city. There she meets Bea, an exploited youth from Haiti.
Perry and Bea set out on a series of adventures and quickly develop strong feelings for each other. When Bea reveals she is the victim of sex trafficking, they try to extricate her from the ever-tightening web of danger which threatens to engulf them. Bound by this threat, they are in many ways mirror images, thrown together by chance and unseen forces, their fates gradually merging as the protections of class, race and gendered privilege slowly fade away.
Julia travels her own journey as her daughter pulls her out of her ordered life and into this volatile one. Initially focused, she mobilizes an effort to locate Perry, working with private detective Peter Wilson. Over time, her despair grows as she haunts the city’s dangerous streets, searching ever more desperately, often seeing Perry in the faces of passing teen girls. She is eventually brought to the depths of her grief as her search takes her to the backroom of a massage parlor. Throughout, a strong bond of love and resentment tie mother and daughter together even as they are threatened with permanent separation.
Peter’s search reveals a complicated system of sex-trafficking, but just as he is about to solve the puzzle, Perry and Bea are abducted with dire consequences. Eventually released, the girls are separated and Perry is reunited with Julia. Together, they return to Connecticut to a life forever altered by the events of the story.
A mother and daughter of privilege from Connecticut and a victim of sex trafficking from Haiti are drawn into a dangerous web of exploitation on the streets of San Francisco. Echoing the Persephone-Demeter myth, it is the tragic story of love and innocence destroyed by dark societal forces.
Perry (15) and her mother Julia are estranged and, in an effort to repair their relationship, Julia sets up a vacation in San Francisco. Her plans are quickly overturned, however, when her plane is delayed and Perry is left on her own in the city. There she meets Bea, an exploited youth from Haiti.
Perry and Bea set out on a series of adventures and quickly develop strong feelings for each other. When Bea reveals she is the victim of sex trafficking, they try to extricate her from the ever-tightening web of danger which threatens to engulf them. Bound by this threat, they are in many ways mirror images, thrown together by chance and unseen forces, their fates gradually merging as the protections of class, race and gendered privilege slowly fade away.
Julia travels her own journey as her daughter pulls her out of her ordered life and into this volatile one. Initially focused, she mobilizes an effort to locate Perry, working with private detective Peter Wilson. Over time, her despair grows as she haunts the city’s dangerous streets, searching ever more desperately, often seeing Perry in the faces of passing teen girls. She is eventually brought to the depths of her grief as her search takes her to the backroom of a massage parlor. Throughout, a strong bond of love and resentment tie mother and daughter together even as they are threatened with permanent separation.
Peter’s search reveals a complicated system of sex-trafficking, but just as he is about to solve the puzzle, Perry and Bea are abducted with dire consequences. Eventually released, the girls are separated and Perry is reunited with Julia. Together, they return to Connecticut to a life forever altered by the events of the story.
Petrichor - Cameron Moon (Shortfilm)
A short, hypnotic silent script about a woman encountering an upset stranger.
A short, hypnotic silent script about a woman encountering an upset stranger.