Film Fest 2018

LIGHT’S MEMORY

8:22 mins (2017)
Director: Julian Olariu (France)

EXPERIMENTAL – A light bar is floating in space. Were the recorded images and fragments of life playing inside sent from Earth or are they just the product of the energy particles all around? Is this Earth’s memory card?
New York Premiere

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YELLOW

6:12 mins (2017)
Director: Jennifer Atalla (US)

EXPERIMENTAL (Student) – Made with found footage, sound, and collaged text, this film essay posits the alternative coping mechanisms society develops in the search for the good life.

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MOONCHILD

5:23 mins (2017)
Writer/Director: Bruno Mazzochi (France)

NARRATIVE – The melancholic space odyssey of a daydreamer.
NYC Premiere

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MAKE AMERICA BLACK AGAIN

13:00 mins (2018)
Writer/Director: Leon Robinson & Joel Kipnis (US)

COMEDY – Candidate Lamar Johnson, played by Leon Robinson (Cool Runnings, Ali, Cliffhanger), is running for President on the campaign slogan: Make America Black Again with an all white campaign staff!
NYC Premiere

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FREEZER

16:15 mins (2017)
Writer/Director: Dimitris Nakos (Greece)

NARRATIVE – A man working in corporate marketing has been unemployed for 3 years. Just over 50, he’s too old for a new beginning, but too young to resign. Relationships tested, mental state marginal, his goal is one: to get out of the freezer.
NYC Premiere

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GRAY 

29:52 mins (2018)
Writer/Director: Preet Sinh (India)

NARRATIVE –  Gray is a film about a woman married to a gay man. Her respect for him goes beyond gender, which makes him feel so accepted that he doesn’t want to leave her.
New York Premiere

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AMERICA

9:51 mins (2017)
Director: Mary Lou Belli (US)
Writer: Jana Sue Memel (US)

NARRATIVE –  In tribute to his brother’s service in Iraq, Tim takes his ashes to NYC. The journey ends with a lesson in racial profiling. New York Premiere

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LIVING

13:35 mins (2017)
Writer/Director: Marcellus Cox (US)

NARRATIVE –  An award winning drama about an angel’s descent from heaven to Brooklyn who seeks to bridge the gap between law enforcement and minorities.

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THE BLACK MALLOW

16:46 mins (2018)
Writer/Director:  Uki Pavlovic (Serbia)

NARRATIVE (Student) – Borko, a young immigrant in NYC, must deal with his grandfather’s death. Nostalgia and his inability to go home to be with his family creates a life-changing test. World Premiere

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EH GIRL

3:00 mins (2018)
Writer/Director:  Cassandre Emanuel (Canada)
Music: Mauves (Canada)

MUSIC VIDEO – A mesmerizing journey through re-enactments of 9 famous paintings featuring women. New York Premiere

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REINDEER GAMES

3:55 mins (2018)
Writer/Director:  Mike Suchmann (US)
Director: Matt Lamourt (US)
Music: Oso Oso

MUSIC VIDEO – A glimpse into the beach town of Yunahon and its colorful locals. New York Premiere

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JUNE FOURTH ELEGIES

7:06 mins (2018)
Writer/Director:  Ina Chen (Germany)

EXPERIMENTAL (Student) – As new technologies foreshadow the future of State surveillance, Liu Xiaobo’s poems reflect the powerlessness of State control of past and present with Orwellian finality.

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BETH’S THREE O’CLOCK WITH DR HARLOW

2:06 mins (2018)
Writer/Director:  Emma Penaz Eisner (US)

EXPERIMENTAL – Beth discloses a recent dream to her analyst. A vivid study of casual brutality and failed empathy, this surrealistic film mixes animation with live action sequences. New York Premiere

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STAR WARS: DRESCA

13:27 mins (2018)
Writer/Director:  Jessica Champneys (US)

SCI-FI – When Dresca – an injured Imperial pilot – is rescued by Rebels after the Battle of Endor, she must choose between her loyalty to the Empire and the kindness of strangers she once thought of as monsters.

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JUMP

2:58 mins (2017)
Writer/Director:  J. Van Auken (US)

EXPERIMENTAL – Jump explores the year before the world ends, and how we each react to the absence of a tomorrow. The story is told through the eyes of a child unaware that her future has been decided, and unwilling to give up hope.
East Coast Premiere

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HUNGER – A SHORT FILM

9:48 mins (2018)
Writer/Director:  CJ Barnes (US/Australia)

DARK THEMES – When a vegan gets turned into a zombie, she finds herself in a world where her deeply ingrained lifestyle conflicts with the new-found need to eat flesh to survive. Will she remain true to herself, even in un-death even if it means her demise? NYC Premiere

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QUIVER

13:41 mins (2018)
Writer/Director:  Shayna Connelly (US)

DARK THEMES – Horror and desire meld when Suzanne arouses a ghostly presence and begins an unusual courtship across space and time.
NYC Premiere

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LITTLE RED

12:38 mins (2018)
Writer/Director: Laura Lechner / David Hanza (US)

NARRATIVE – “Little Red”combines puppets and live actors to re-imagine the classic fairy tale that you thought you knew as a new story about power, transformation and choosing one’s own path.

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CLIQUE BAIT

14:46 mins (2017)
Writer/Director: Anna Mikami (Hong Kong)

NARRATIVE -Set in the international school community of Hong Kong, a high school girl spreads a video sexualizing her childhood friend and classmate.

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FOREN

9:25 mins (2016)
Writer/Director: Sushma Khadepaun (India/US)

NARRATIVE -On a hot summer afternoon, Tanu and her grandma inquire of a world outside the bounds of their home.
East Coast Premiere

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PARKER & ANGEL

24:28 mins (2017)
Writer/Director: Ty Whittington (US)

WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT – A lonesome teen girl befriends a homeless woman who reluctantly becomes her vocal coach.
NYC Premiere

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ROOTS

6:32 mins (2018)
Writer/Director: Jo Burrows (UK)

WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT – With adolescence fast approaching, Ella’s journey begins and we’re given a glimpse at a day in her life. She unknowingly inspires others. North American Premiere

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FIRST FEATURE

13:58 mins (2018)
Writer/Director: Bentley Brown (US/Saudi Arabia)

NARRATIVE – Working a year before the legalization of cinema in Saudi Arabia, a team of mostly women makes its first feature. A filmmaker documents this with his childhood camera. New York Premiere

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HER PATH

2:55 mins (2018)
Directors: Ahmad Asaad & Tamara Horton (US)

WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT – This film asks Has birthplace played a role in your poverty or prosperity? Challenges are highlighted.
New York Premiere

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PRESERVING BEAUTY

5:12 mins (2017)
Writer/Director: Diana Guerra (Peru)

WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT – Addressing notions of beauty, make-up is broken here to liberate us. Creating alien versions of femininity highlights the arbitrary ways we function in society. World Premiere

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DELIGHTFUL

4:44 mins (2016)
Director: Anna Haas (US), Music: Katie Garibaldi (US)

MUSIC VIDEO – Delightful celebrates self-empowerment and independence, and considers that happiness is a choice.
NYC Premiere

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ARE YOU HOLDING ME OR AM I HOLDING MYSELF?

11:47 mins (2017)
Director: Cesar Brodermann (Mexico)

EXPERIMENTAL – A self-study examining the relationship between body, thoughts, actions, and seemly insurmountable gaps between what we think we want to feel and what we actually experience.

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IMAGINE

5:15 mins (2017)
Director: Peter Meng (US)

EXPERIMENTAL – Inspired by John Lennon’s Imagine, this experimental film evokes a vision and hope for a world without strife, war, or conflict. All things Central Park are used in this visual narrative, including help from an angel.

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MUMPSIMUS AND HALCYON DISCORD

3:48 mins (2017)
Writer/Director: Rolf Klein (UK)

NARRATIVE – Exploring connections between mental health, homelessness, and challenging misrepresentations in the media. The film questions whether we’ll ever view these issues objectively.

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BLOWS WITH THE WIND

6:30 mins (2017)
Writer/Director: Hazhir As’adi (Iran)

ANIMATION – After several events occur, the scarecrow becomes human.
New York Premiere

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BALANCE

2:21 mins (2018)
Writer/Director: Barzan Rostami (Iran)

ANIMATION – Balance is a story about the soldiers who sacrifice their lives for the city’s people and future generations.
New York Premiere

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ALPHABET

5:57 mins (2017)
Writer/Director: Kianoush Abedi (Iran)

ANIMATION – It has been years since the people of this town forgot the alphabets of life. They have no sight, hearing, or speech left – but the words are impatiently waiting to be sung again.
New York Premiere

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FOR YOUR SAFETY

3:17 mins (2018)
Writer/Director: Dan Walls (Australia)

NARRATIVE – For Your Safety is a quick and clever look at the possible consequences of internet vigilantism.
New York Premiere

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HEAVY RAIN

8:30 mins (2018)
Writer/Director: Motaz Elbahaey (Egypt/US)

NARRATIVE – A young man holds his father hostage at gunpoint after watching his mother be brutally murdered. He is torn by the choice to get revenge or let justice prevail.
East Coast Premiere

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GAB

10:00 mins (2018)
Writer/Director: Gazanfer Biricik (France)

NARRATIVE – Ani is a journalist charged to write an article about Ezra, killed during an attack. She makes an appointment with Lily, the sister of the deceased, in a pub. While waiting for her, Ani will make an unexpected meeting that will not leave her indifferent.

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TIN CAN

20:00 (2018)
Writer/Director: Pat Battistini (US)

NARRATIVE – J.C. came to the US as an illegal immigrant child. Now an adult, he finds work as a rodeo clown. When the rodeo is sold, J.C. searches for happiness. He finds it near the Mexican border but the price paid could get him kicked out of the country. New York Premiere

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AUGUST SUN

19:57 mins (2018)
Writer/Director: Franco Volpi (Argentina/UK)

NARRATIVE – Javier is back in his hometown of Buenos Aires, torn between the needs of his mentally ill mother and the life he’s built in Europe.
New York Premiere

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SAC DE MERDE

13:27 mins (2018)
Writer/Director: Greg Chwerchak (US)
Director: Gabrielle Berberich (US)
Story: Arielle Haller-Silverstone (US)

COMEDY – Mazel, unlucky in love, sleeps with her dream man, but he might be full of shit. Literally.

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THE EMOJI SONG

3:27 mins (2017)
Writer: Ben Rauch (US)
Director: Adam Volerich (US)

COMEDY/MUSICAL – Is the modern man overdoing it with emojis?

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ANDALE

3:00 mins (2018)
Director: Jason Anthony Lalor (US)
Music: LoVel (US)

MUSIC VIDEO – Rotoscope animated music video for singer-songwriter LoVel.
World Premiere

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Alexis Chaviaras

Born in Antwerp, Alexis taught animation at Universities in Cyprus from 2009 and 2015 and is a doctoral candidate at Middlesex U London, researching scenic design for 3D computer animated films. He won Best Animated Short at #theartistsforumfilmfest 2017 for Agrinoui.

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Cinder Chou

Cinder is a NYC-based Taiwanese-American writer, director, and producer. As a filmmaker, she’s interested in exploring intersections of the mundane and the surreal. Her narrative short film The Man With The Western Hat won our Audience Award at #theartistsforumfilmfest 2017.

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Martha Gorzycki

Martha is an award winning animator, filmmaker and media artist. Her work screens globally in festivals, galleries, on LED billboards, as outdoor projections and online. She’s produced animation for 30+ years and teaches digital cinema and animation at SFSU.

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Nona Hendryx

Nona is both a solo artist as well as one-third of the trio Labelle (Lady Marmalade). Her music ranges from soul, funk, R&B to hard rock, new wave, and new-age. She states her family’s last name was originally spelled with an ‘i’ and that her distant cousin is guitarist Jimi Hendrix.

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Stephen Hilyard

Artist/Educator Stephen Hilyard’s work deals with the paradoxical nature of our impulse towards the profound. His work has been supported by The Huntington Library, The Harpo Foundation, The American Scandinavian Foundation & The McKnight Foundation.

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Henry S. Kanegsberg

A graduate of Ithaca College, Henry received his MBA from NYU and is a former finance executive in the broadcasting, music, and publishing industries. He’s held senior positions with NBC, RCA Records, and Random House. He is chair of community organizations for Mt Sinai Hospital.

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George Radovanovich

George is an independent scholar with a focus on research and writings on art and cultural criticism. Originally from Serbia, George received his US citizenship in 1995 while studying at New York’s School of Visual Arts, earning his BFA in Film and MFA in Computer Arts in 1997. 

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David Ranghelli

David studied filmmaking at Brooklyn College (BA), and Comp. Lit./ Cinema Studies at NYU’s GSAS (MA, MPHIL). Previously, David taught film analysis at Tisch School of the Arts. Currently, he works at the Media and Communication Arts Dept. at CUNY, educating aspiring filmmakers.

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Amos White V

Amos is an inter-disciplinary multimedia artist, event producer, and exhibit designer. A graduate of the College of Human Ecology at the University of Maryland, College Park, Amos bridges his passion for the arts and human relations with the formation of THE ARTISTS FORUM.

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