submitted by
Evan Sennett
Runtime:
21 minutes
Country of Production
USA
Synopsis
High school slacker, Max Abner, is in love with an intellectual. He tells her he is throwing a huge film festival in honor of one of her favorite filmmakers, Sergei Eisenstein. The only problem is, he’s not.
Category
student 1st-12th grade
Runtime
00:08:18
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Rachael Sonnenberg
Synopsis
This is the story of 9-year-old Elian, and his stuffed bear that he loves more than anything in the world.
Category
Student 1st-12th grade
Runtime
00:15:52
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Jon Fraaza
Synopsis
Sergei, a recently naturalized American citizen, runs a polling location in a local election. Plagued by an overbearing superior and incompetent coworkers, he struggles to maintain his optimism (and patriotism) in the face of electoral disaster.
Category
student college/film school
Submitted by
Rachael Sonnenberg
Runtime:
4 minutes
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis:
8 year old Luke believes in the Toothfairy….do you?
Category:
student 1st-12th grade
Runtime
00:10:55
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Ruthie Marantz
Synopsis
An older woman from Bay Ridge Brooklyn dreams of hitting it big in Atlantic City. After her wallet is stolen she begins the search for her identity.
Category
shorts narrative
Runtime
00:03:06
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Crystal Holt
Synopsis
SuperDate is the story of young love. Two teens meet for the first time after months of dating via text only when their first date is nearly thwarted by the allegiance to competing super heroes. Will these young lovers compromise their beliefs and fall in love or stick to their guns and be alone?
Category
student 1st-12th grade
Runtime
00:13:13
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Michael Morgenstern
Synopsis
Stuck in a jobless rut, Ryan searches for meaning. When he encounters tragedy, everything in his life looks a little bit different.Bridging experimental and narrative form, this surreal film uses visual metaphor and an original string quartet score in an exploration of time and meaning. It posits the idea of a human life as a static, four-dimensional entity that exists at a specific moment in time and cannot be said to truly begin or end.The film feels like a visual projection of its string quartet score, washing over a listener. Ideally it is meant to be viewed multiple times, but even if everything doesn’t sink in at once, there is more than enough to hold onto.
Category
shorts narrative
Runtime
00:15:00
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Tracy Pitts
Synopsis
Richard and France’s shared history has begun to erode. Frances, tethered to her past as Richard’s spouse, reluctantly wades into her future as his caretaker.
Category
shorts narrative
Runtime
00:14:17
Country of Production
France
Submitted 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.
Category
shorts narrative
Submitted by
Patrick Mandeville
Runtime:
6 minutes
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
A short comedy about a ‘Star Wars’ fan in Brooklyn hearing the neighbor he’s never met, and the ways in which we are involuntarily brought into strangers’ lives.
Category
shorts narrative
Runtime
00:13:56
Country of Production
Germany
Submitted by
Cate Smierciak
Synopsis
Claire arrives from Paris to her new home in Berlin in search of adventure and a new life, only to be met with a cold flatmate and a sterile white-walled room. Left alone to unpack, she decides to go out on her own and ends up at a local dive.As Claire nervously sits by herself at the bar, a regular engages her in uncomfortable conversation, but the tension is broken when an attractive young man interrupts them, pretending to be her boyfriend to shake the old drunk.After a friendly chat, the man excuses himself and Claire heads home. But when she runs into trouble on her way, she is forced to find the strength and confidence she’s lacked all evening.
Category
shorts narrative
Runtime
00:11:14
Country of Production
Australia
Submitted by
Edward Lyons
Synopsis
When a troubled man on a cliff top is on the verge of committing suicide, he is interrupted by a young vivacious woman. Through a series of heart wrenching flashbacks he reveals to her how he killed his wife. As he tries to come to terms with his grief, the woman offers him hope in a manner he never expected.
Category
shorts narrative
Runtime
00:21:06
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Sean Mitchell
Synopsis
Washington D.C., 1947: The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC,) stands in session. Film director Herbert Biberman sits in the witness chair. When asked, “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?” Biberman refuses to answer. Chairman Thomas responds with a verbal lashing and has Biberman arrested. In an outer room, Bertolt Brecht, wife Hellie, and 4-year-old daughter Barbara sit and wait. Brecht wears a Chairman Mao style jacket while Hellie tries to get him to change into a suit. “You should wear the costume of your interrogator,” she says. “This is not a performance, Hellie,” Brecht responds. Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, the second to last witness, approaches Brecht to talk some sense into him. Trumbo is concerned that Brecht, a well-known Marxist, will revoke his past and spit on his work in order to stay out of jail. Brecht, obviously torn about what to do, provokes Trumbo by responding “Survival first, morals later.” As Brecht enters the hearing room, Chairman Thomas cites the other ten witnesses’ later to become know as the Hollywood Ten for contempt of Congress. The committee’s grandstanding, the audiences’ thirst for blood, and the photographer’s bulbs flashing in a surreal light display make an impression on Brecht. He turns to his translator and muses, “This isn’t interrogation; it’s theater!” As he approaches the witness chair, Brecht must choose between betraying himself and his friends, and jail. Or will he find a third option?
Category
shorts narrative
Runtime
00:15:00
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Alexander Kohnstamm
Synopsis
An overworked lawyer, Kent, is given a tragic case that involves a grieving father, Greg. Kent connects with Greg, and because of Kent’s new understanding of fatherhood, he reexamines his life.
Category
shorts narrative
Runtime
00:08:55
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Jack Livingston
Synopsis
A guy sits on a bench. He has brought a cardboard box along. A girl sits and references the box. Amazing that, after all they have been through, she can fit into one little cardboard box. Meet Me By The Lake is an exercise in the mind’s power of recollection and transportation. Memories, whether fond or putrid, exist as those moments themselves. In an instant, you can taste what it might have tasted like, feel what it might have felt like and live as you might have lived. And all of this is just one thought away. The characters of Meet Me By The Lake dive head-first into the recollection and experience journey–with you along as their passenger. What will you choose to remember?
Category
shorts narrative
Runtime
00:25:00
Country of Production
Sweden
Submitted by
Andrej Landin
Synopsis
Alexander, a lone cosmonaut, is adrift in orbit around Earth, he has lost communications and life-support systems are dwindling fast. At the same time in Italy, a radio engineer is working the night shift. He discovers a voice amidst the empty static. Under desperate circumstances, and across vast distances, an intense connection is made.
Category
student college/film school
Runtime
00:35:05
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Travis Shields
Synopsis
Forced to leave his mother’s house and get a job, 35 year old Labyrinth Jenkins, along with his best friend Eric, embark on a quest to find Bigfoot and claim a million dollar prize.
Category
shorts narrative
Runtime
00:09:32
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Alex Italics
Synopsis
In blissful 1950s suburbia, a love struck bobbysoxer and her no-good-nik boyfriend seek refuge from her overprotective and hot-headed father.
Category
student college/film school
Runtime
00:22:40
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Nicholas J. DeMicco
Synopsis
A car-jacker at a crossroads.We follow Kurt, an expert car-thief, whose life is suddenly complicated by offbeat romance and professional competition.Kurt works for Larry, a father figure who runs a chop shop disguised as a garage, but Kurt’s career is threatened by Joe, a lowly mechanic and aspiring car thief.Meanwhile, romance buds for Kurt with Emilie, a young mother with complications of her own. Kurt’s personal and professional life are speeding towards a dangerous intersection.
Runtime
00:09:27
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Robert Thomas
Synopsis
Jake has found inspiration while visiting his family cabin. As he recounts his spiritual journey, Jake makes sure to include all details, real and completely made up.
Category
student college/film school
Runtime
00:06:31
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Hadley Hillel
Synopsis
A cook working at a small mountain inn must deal with unexpected consequences when his plan to poison one of the guests for money goes awry.
Category
student 1st-12th grade
Runtime
00:07:50
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Greg Emetaz
Synopsis
When a nervous wife has her suspicions of infidelity confirmed, she makes her husband a killer omelette.
Category
shorts narrative
Runtime
00:04:22
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Tony Gioconda
Synopsis
Two friends are taking a break from the day’s wedding festivities. What begins as a simple discovery quickly escalates into a battle for enlightenment.
Category
short narrative
Runtime
01:55:00
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Nathan Nazario
Synopsis
A romantic-drama, “Old Fashioned” centers on Clay Walsh, a former frat boy who gives up his reckless carousing and now runs an antique shop in a small Midwestern college town. There, he has become notorious for his lofty and outdated theories on love and romance. When Amber Hewson, a free-spirited young woman with a restless soul, drifts into the area and rents the apartment above his shop, she finds herself surprisingly drawn to his noble ideas, which are new and intriguing to her. And Clay, though he tries to fight and deny it, simply cannot resist being attracted to her spontaneous and passionate embrace of life. Ultimately, Clay must step out from behind his relational theories and Amber must overcome her own fears and deep wounds as the two of them, together, attempt the impossible: an “old-fashioned” courtship in contemporary America.
Category
feature narrative
Runtime
00:23:52
Country of Production
Brazil
Submitted by
Jin Park
Synopsis
The notice received that an old friend that is just about to die brings Amar back to India 40 years after he left in order to deliver a mysterious box.
Category
shorts narrative
Runtime:
9 minutes
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis:
Experiencing adventure is an important part of life for all people. The filmmakers explore what adventure means by talking to guides, adventurers, and those that have obstacles to getting outside. This documentary short explores what adventure means to Ed, a paraplegic, as he has the chance to kayak and cross-country ski after years of feeling limited by his disability. Ed and his wife, Patricia, shares how important getting outside together has been to their relationship.
Category:
documentary short
Runtime
00:33:57
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Robert Holmes
Synopsis
Fred Noble lived life full of life-threatening adventure. He skied in the films of Warren Miller, established the Columbia River Gorge as a windsurfing mecca, para-glided throughout the world and along the way had many near death experiences. In 2011 he received the devastating news he had ALS, Lou Gehrigs disease. Prognosis was he had only a few years to live. The usual life expectancy is in the range of 3 to 5 years. Fred skipped the denial stage and went straight to acceptance vowing to make every minute he had left count. There was no time for self pity. He embraced life as he always had with a positive can do attitude during his final years made the first ever sit-ski descent in the Bugaboo Mountains of Canada and paragliided above the Oregon coast after he had already lost use of his legs, Fred retained his infectious sense of humor. This documentary is about living and making the most of life. It is a positive message that we can all make the most of what we have and live life to the full even if facing a terminal illness. This is not a documentary glorifying an adventurer, it is a heartfelt story of a man raised in an orphanage who become an inspiration to everyone he met. We hope this inspiration continues through this documentary.
Category
documentary short
Runtime
00:24:00
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Anuradha Rana
Synopsis
Variations, is a documentary about three artists with disabilities. The film seeks to convey varied human experiences and promote the belief that disability is a natural part of human diversity and can take pride in its heritage and culture.
Category
documentary short
Submitted by:
Eli Brown
Runtime:
15 minutes
Country of Production:
Netherlands & USA
Synopsis
Stories in the Streets shows the educational work that storyteller Karel Baracs performs with children from different backgrounds and cultures in a school in a neighborhood in Amsterdam. Taking the children on his special bicycle-wagon, Karel introduces the children to people in the street and elicits interesting personal narratives from everyone he meets. By interacting with the people in their neighborhood and being introduced to Dutch vocabulary, Karel makes a lasting impression on the importance of storytelling with his unique program.
Category:
documentary short
Submitted by
Studio Swine
Runtime
3:51 minutes
Country of Production
USA
Synopsis
Since the discovery of the Pacific Garbage Patch in 1997, which is predicted to measure twice the size of Texas, five more have been found across the world’s oceans with the Atlantic gyre predicted to be even larger. This plastic takes thousands of years to degrade, remaining in the environment to be broken up into ever smaller fragments by ocean currents.
More of a ‘plastic soup’ than a tangible mass, the gyre stretches from the coastlines of California to the shores of Japan. Recent studies have estimated 46,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometer of the world’s oceans. The number of plastic pieces in the Pacific Ocean has tripled in the last ten years and the size of the accumulation is set to double in the next ten.
Sea Chair is made entirely from plastic recovered from our oceans. Together with local fishermen, Studio Swine collects and processes the marine plastic into a stool at sea.
Category
short documentary
Submitted by
Studio Swine
Runtime
4:28 minutes
Country of Production
China
Synopsis
Hair Highway is a contemporary take on the ancient Silk Road which transported not only silk but also technologies, aesthetics and ideas between East and West. Investigating the global hair industry in the Shandong province of China, Studio Swine followed the journey of the material from the people who sell their hair through to the hair merchants, markets and factories. The project documents this journey in a film and a collection of highly decorative objects. China is both the largest importer of tropical hardwood and the biggest exporter of human hair. By combining hair with a natural resin, Studio Swine has created a composite material that provides a sustainable alternative to the planet’s diminishing natural resources with an aesthetic that evokes the palettes of tortoiseshell and a grain resembling that of polished horn or exotic hardwoods. The result is a unique collection of exquisite objects inspired by the 1930’s Shanghai-deco style. As the world’s population rises, human hair is one natural resource that is increasing. Asian hair regenerates the fastest, growing 16 times more rapidly than tropical hardwoods; it is also incredibly strong – a single strand can take up to 100 grams. Hair Highway reflects on China’s relationship with the rest of the world, while exploring the idea that trade has the ability to not only transport products but also values and perceptions.
Category
Short Documentary
Submitted by
Christoph von Toggenburg
Runtime:
28 minutes
Country of Production:
Switzerland
Synopsis:
Alegria – A Humanitarian Expedition tells the story of an epic solo expedition across the Himalaya that changed the lves of hundreds of people in need. Supporting leprosy patients and mentally destitute women, Christoph von Toggenburg cycled 3200km on the world’s highest tracks pulling a 40kg trailer packed with survival gear.
Facing temperatures between minus 15C to plus 45C he crossed mountain passes higher than 5500m mastering a total of 50000m, Christoph fell altitude sick and was hit by rock fall.
Crossing Nepal during the Maoist unrests, conflict stricken Kashmir, he encountered wonderful hospitality, found new friends, and saw some of the worlds’ most spectacular landscapes.
He became film maker, actor, fundraiser and awareness raiser in one person capturing this epic adventure entirely by himself.
Category:
Adventure
Submitted by
Paula Ascher
Runtime
5 minutes
Country of Production
USA
Synopsis
See British Empiricalist philosophers John Locke, David Hume, and George Berkeley debate on the game show ‘How do you know what you know?’ for the title of Who is Right.
Category
shorts narrative
Runtime
00:18:21
Country of Production
USA
Submitted by
Melanie Star Scot
Synopsis
Addictions, we all have them. Whether it be food, cigarettes, the internet, alcohol, drugs, sex, shopping and more. Quitter is the story of one young mans journey…. and the insanity that accompanies him.
Category
shorts narrative
Submitted by
Shane Burley
Runtime:
36 minutes
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
Expect Resistance looks at the Take Back the Land and Occupy Wall Street movements as they began to respond to the foreclosure crisis. The film follows Leonard Spears, a man fighting to keep his home after a foreclosure has passed and an eviction notice has been filed. We meet activists who are willing to put themselves on the line and take direct action to keep people like Leonard in their homes. They also even move homeless families into bank-owned homes that are sitting empty from previous foreclosures.
Category:
student college/film school
