day
THU
Charter Arts
NMIH
Touchstone
Charter Arts
NMIH
Touchstone
NMIH
Touchstone
VENUE: CHARTER ARTS | 321 E. 3RD ST.
Documentary Block 2 Time: 5:20pm
The Wintering Grounds directed by Jeff Springer
2022 | 26 minutes | documentary short
For most of the year, bands of world class freestyle kayakers roam the land in search of waves. But when the rivers freeze, everyone finds their way to a special spot on the Chattahoochee River on the Alabama-Georgia border. Squatting in an abandoned parking lot, they spend the winter training for the next world championships on North America’s best winter whitewater. Although called “certifiable lunatics” by the locals, this tight knit group is proof of the power of family and that indeed everything is more fun with friends.
Hellbent directed by Justin Grubb and Annie Roth
2022 | 19 minutes | documentary short
In a small rural town in Pennsylvania, the refuge of a rare salamander and the only source of clean drinking water for 700 people is threatened by the installation of a fracking waste injection well, prompting community members to band together and mount an epic fight for the rights of their people and nature.
Lalito 10 directed by Jordan Matthew Horowitz
2021 | 17 minutes | documentary short
When COVID-19 forced his school to close and remote learning proved impossible, a teacher in Guatemala built a classroom on wheels to bring education directly to his students.
Inside the Beauty Bubble directed by Cheryl Bookout and Cheri Gaulke
2021 | 31 minutes | documentary short
Enter a pastel dreamland of 3,000 vintage beauty artifacts in the desert community of Joshua Tree, California and meet “America’s hairstorian” Jeff Hafler as he struggles to keep his roadside attraction afloat during a remarkable year that changes his life and the lives of his husband and son.
VENUE: NMIH | 602 E. 2ND ST.
Animation Block 2 Time: 5:20pm
Regular Rabbit directed by Eoin Duffy
2022 | 8 minutes | animated short
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!
Corvine directed by Sean McCarron
2022 | 11 minutes | animated short
An eccentric boy has trouble fitting in at school due to his obsession with crows.
Boundless directed by David Chai
2022 | 10 minutes | animated short
Come swim with us through the limitless pools of our trans and nonbinary spirits.
The Most Boring Granny in the Whole World directed by Damaris Zielke
2022 | 7 minutes | animated short
Greta has the most boring grandma in the whole world. When she falls asleep on the sofa, Greta gets the idea, to play funeral with her grandma. This confronts them with some questions they didn’t ask themselves before. Because what remains when you have to leave life behind?
Andy: A Dog’s Tale directed by Jamy Wheless
2021 | 8 minutes | Animated Short
An uplifting story of how one puppy overcomes a series of obstacles to find his purpose in life.
Cat and Moth directed by India Barnardo
2022 | 7 minutes | animated short
A fluffy white cat wants nothing more than to find the most comfortable spot in the universe, but little does she know someone else has their eye on it too.
Something Fishy directed by Christina Woo
2022 | 4 minutes | animated short
Sara is getting ready to go on a date with her new boyfriend, but Jessica, Sara’s pet goldfish, notices something not quite right about him.
Period Drama directed by Anushka Tina Nair and Lauryn Anthony
2022 | 2 minutes | animated short
In Victorian-era England, highly precocious and imaginative eleven-year-old Georgiana Crimsworth is up late enjoying a good book. She suddenly experiences cramps and finds blood on her sheets. Not having received the talk yet, she doesn’t understand that this is her first period, and she thinks she’s dying. Her imagination runs amok as she searches for answers among sins and deadly disease, and fears the worst for what this means for herself and for her family.
How to Rig an Election:The Racist History of the 1876 Presidential Contest directed by Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler
2022 | 7 minutes | documentary short
The most hotly contested election in U.S. history took place in 1876 and ended in a “compromise” that permitted racism and racist violence to become more deeply embedded in our nation’s culture and politics in ways that are still felt to this day.
Plausible Audio directed by David Pierce
2021 | 5 minutes | animated short
When your new audiobook subscription is some guy making up stories as he goes along.
Fiesta Blood directed by Elena Fazio
2022 | 2 minutes | animated short
An avenging piñata is fighting back against the brutality of birthday party piñata murder on a mission to save his fellow brethren.
VENUE: TOUCHSTONE | 321 E. 4TH ST.
Drama Block Time: 5:20pm
The Voice in Isabel Fleiss’ Office directed by Jim Haverkamp
2022 | 6 minutes | narrative short
A woman with an unusual malady–cobweb buildup in the throat–receives an even more unusual treatment in this adaptation of a surreal poem by North Carolina writer Virgil Renfroe.
Villain directed by Sparky Tehnsuko
2023 | 10 minutes | narrative short
After a dragon destroys young Georgia’s home, she journeys to its lair to enact violent revenge but instead finds an innocent child in the cave. When the dragon then returns, Georgia must reckon with the price of vengeance.
I Have No Tears, And I Must Cry directed by Luis Fernando Puente
2022 | 13 minutes | narrative short
Maria Luisa is ready to escape immigration limbo, but when her greencard interview takes an unexpected turn, she faces the anxiety of losing the life she had planned.
Decorator directed by Ramil Muradov and Nadir Aliyev
2019 | 6 minutes | narrative short
The existing classical and mythic characters have been adapted to modern times in this film. The Decorator (he is “Satan”) is busy building his own scenery near his workshop. A small object is falling from this decoration. Meanwhile a passing by street musician (he is the “Chosen one”, an innocent Prophet) kicks it by leg and the subject slips forward to the middle of the road.
Burial directed by Mariel Iezzoni
2023 | 16 minutes | narrative short
Teenage siblings, Jade and Mason, are struggling to care for their terminally-ill mother. Money is tight, insurance isn’t an option, and Pat is suffering. This film begins on the day these two teenagers decide to help Pat with a more merciful death, but the cost is they must deal with what remains.
Hurricane directed by JLee MacKenzie
2020 | 19 minutes | narrative short
As a young girl grapples with her mother’s absence, a chance encounter with a woman coping with the loss of her son creates an unlikely friendship.
North Star directed by P.J. Palmer
2021 | 30 minutes | narrative short
A rural rancher and his ailing husband, struggling against poverty and isolation, make a heartbreaking decision in order to preserve the dignity of their marriage in the face of mounting pressures from relatives.
VENUE: CHARTER ARTS | 321 E. 3RD ST.
Comedy Block 2 Time: 7:20pm
Boomerang directed by Rylee Jean Ebsen
2022 | 13 minutes | narrative short
After losing her job, a flailing millennial is forced to move back into her childhood bedroom and navigate life with her dysfunctional parents. Determined to take on a lover, she re-connects with a middle school crush.
Falls Cry directed by Joshua Wann
2023 | 6 minutes | narrative short
A story about one boy, living on one block, in one crazy world.
Period Drama directed by Anushka Tina Nair and Lauryn Anthony
2022 | 2 minutes | animated short
In Victorian-era England, highly precocious and imaginative eleven-year-old Georgiana Crimsworth is up late enjoying a good book. She suddenly experiences cramps and finds blood on her sheets. Not having received the talk yet, she doesn’t understand that this is her first period, and she thinks she’s dying. Her imagination runs amok as she searches for answers among sins and deadly disease, and fears the worst for what this means for herself and for her family.
Cherry directed by Kate Stanley Brennan
2021 | 18 minutes | narrative short
Cherry’s Mum has big dreams for her 7 year old football fan to win the Xtravadance Dance Championship, when a rival encounter has an unexpected outcome.
Troy directed by Mike Donahue
2022 | 16 minutes | Narrative Short
Troy has loud sex. Troy has loud sex 24-7. Troy shares a wall with Thea and Charlie. Troy is ruining their lives… or is he saving them? A darkly comedic tale of New York neighbors, the ways in which we become interwoven with the lives of strangers, and the unexpected consequences of unasked-for intimacy.
Cat and Moth directed by India Barnardo
2022 | 7 minutes | animated short
A fluffy white cat wants nothing more than to find the most comfortable spot in the universe, but little does she know someone else has their eye on it too.
Everything I Learned When My House Burned Down directed by Joe Pickett
2022 | 9 minutes | Comedy short
Comedian Jacy Catlin was living the simple life in his remote log cabin in rural Wisconsin, eking out a living as a comedy writer and self-producing numerous comedy shorts. One fateful February, on the coldest day of the year, a fire in his wood stove spread out of control, and the house and all of his family’s belongings were destroyed. After the smoke had cleared, he returned to his former home to shoot one last comedy film.
VENUE: NMIH | 602 E. 2ND ST.
Time: 7:20pm
Satan Wants You directed by Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams
2023 | 88 minutes | documentary feature
Satan Wants You tells the untold story of how the Satanic Panic of the 1980s was ignited by “Michelle Remembers”, a lurid memoir by psychiatrist Larry Pazder and his patient Michelle Smith. Supported by the Catholic Church, the bestselling book relied on recovered-memory therapy to uncover Michelle’s childhood abduction by baby-stealing Satanists. Amplified by law enforcement and America’s Daytime TV boom, satanic rumors spread through panic-stricken communities across the world, leaving a wave of destruction and wrongful convictions in their wake. This film digs deep into the roots of moral panics and cult conspiracies, showing how these events still affect and distort our reality today.
VENUE: TOUCHSTONE | 321 E. 4TH ST.
LGBTQ Block 1 Time: 7:20pm
Troy directed by Mike Donahue
2022 | 16 minutes | Narrative Short
Troy has loud sex. Troy has loud sex 24-7. Troy shares a wall with Thea and Charlie. Troy is ruining their lives… or is he saving them? A darkly comedic tale of New York neighbors, the ways in which we become interwoven with the lives of strangers, and the unexpected consequences of unasked-for intimacy.
Pipes directed by Kilian Feusi, Jessica Meier, and Sujanth Ravichandran
2022 | 4 minutes | animated short
Bob the plumber is hired to fix a broken pipe & lands to his surprise in a gay fetish club.
Thriving: A Dissociated Reverie directed by Nicole Bazuin
2022 | 10 minutes | narrative short
Thriving: A Dissociated Reverie is a surrealist exploration of dissociative identity disorder (DID) based on the lived experience of Black, non-binary, disabled emerging multidisciplinary performance artist and former sex worker Kitoko Mai. Grappling with their DID diagnosis while attempting to survive capitalism, we meet a range of “alters” (alternate personalities) representing the various emotional states of Mai, the “system host.” Featuring a tour-de-force performance by Mai, Thriving is directed by Nicole Bazuin (Modern Whore, SXSW 2020), and co-written/co-produced by Mai and Bazuin, alongside sex worker advocate and author Andrea Werhun. This visually striking film lensed by Ashley Iris Gill is complete with lush animations by Society of Illustrators triple-gold-medallist Dylan Glynn. Thriving was created with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Toronto Arts Council.
Too Rough directed by Sean Lìonadh
2022 | 15 minutes | narrative short
After a night of intoxication, a hungover and hysterical Nick wakes up next to his boyfriend Charlie and must conceal him from his own homophobic and dysfunctional family.
Boundless directed by David Chai
2022 | 10 minutes | animated short
Come swim with us through the limitless pools of our trans and nonbinary spirits.
North Star directed by P.J. Palmer
2021 | 30 minutes | narrative short
A rural rancher and his ailing husband, struggling against poverty and isolation, make a heartbreaking decision in order to preserve the dignity of their marriage in the face of mounting pressures from relatives.
Lipstick of the Brave directed by Bill Plympton
2022 | 6 minutes | animated short
Lipstick of the Brave represents the animated journey of Madstone Rowan, composer and performer, as they find inspiration in the rock and pop music which inspired them to move beyond the gender binary and embrace their non-binary self. Through Bill Plympton’s poignant animation, homage is paid to the songs and artists that lifted Madstone on their journey as the film seeks to connect with the audience in a way that inspires the viewer to see their own sense of personal power as a part of a world that collectively embraces all expressions of gender and sexuality. The animation is set to the music written and sung by Madstone Rowan.
VENUE: CHARTER ARTS | 321 E. 3RD ST.
Time: 9:20pm
Still Working 9 to 5 directed by Camille Hardman and Gary Lane
2021 | 95 minutes | documentary feature
When the highest grossing comedy, 9 to 5, starring Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton, Dabney Coleman and Lily Tomlin, exploded on the cinema screens in 1980, the laughs hid a serious message about women in the office. Still Working 9 to 5 explores why workplace inequality 40 years later is no longer a laughing matter.
VENUE: NMIH | 602 E. 2ND ST.
Documentary Block 1 Time: 9:20pm
Swimming Through directed by Samantha Sanders
2022 | 15 minutes | documentary short
As the brutal Chicago winter draws near, Deirdre, Helen and Jennefer—avid open water swimmers—make a pact to continue through the snow and ice as the pandemic rages on. This intense commitment becomes their salvation from lockdown and helps alleviate each of their personal struggles. Initially just acquaintances, Swimming Through follows their friendship as it coalesces around their commitment to the daily ritual of swimming at sunrise in Lake Michigan.
Bravo Marcel: The Century Climber directed by Hannes Tell
2022 | 22 minutes | documentary short
Still climbing on the sharp end of the rope at 99 years of age, Marcel Remy is a truly unique climbing super hero of our time that shows us in an incredible way that you are really never too old to achieve your goals in climbing and lead an inspiring life.
Time & Temperature directed by Justin Foreman
2021 | 21 minutes | documentary short
An intimate portrait of a unique artist’s life, this film follows Maestro Gianni Toso, a lifelong student of glass from Murano, Italy, with 700 years of tradition to his family’s name. His one-of-a-kind glassworks are only part of the maestro’s story, as he presents perspectives on life, learning, and passing the torch to the next generation of glassblowers.
The Ruth Brinker Story directed by Apo W Bazidi
2022 | 23 minutes | documentary short
At the age of 63, retired food-service worker Ruth Brinker became a pioneer of HIV care in her community and would become a legend among San Franciscans. The AIDS epidemic hit San Francisco the hardest and created a wave of fear and uncertainty that left many victims feeling hopeless and alone. Brinker, a woman whose deep compassion became a source of strength for others struggling to cope with the times, began cooking meals in her kitchen to deliver to her neighbors who were too ill to take care of themselves. Her goal was to not only provide meals but to also revitalize the city’s sense of community and spend time with HIV/AIDS patients to end the isolation they experienced. Providing meals with love became the hallmark of her mission. The work of Brinker and her growing team of volunteers led to Project Open Hand, the largest provider of nutrition to the HIV/AIDS community with sister organizations across the country. Ruth Brinker’s legacy carries on today as Project Open Hand has once again joined the frontlines in facing the crisis of the COVID19 pandemic.
VENUE: TOUCHSTONE | 321 E. 4TH ST.
LGBTQ Block 1 Time: 9:20pm
Campfire directed by Austin Lee Bunn
2023 | 17 minutes | narrative short
A married farmer travels to a gay campground in rural NE Pennsylvania on a quest to find the man he fell in love with 30 years before — and discovers the past is not done with him yet. A narrative/doc hybrid film.
Love, Barbara directed by Brydie O’Connor
2022 | 15 minutes | documentary short
A short documentary about the iconic legacy of pioneering lesbian experimental filmmaker, Barbara Hammer, through the lens and love of her partner of over 30 years, Florrie Burke.
The Ruth Brinker Story directed by Apo W Bazidi
2022 | 23 minutes | documentary short
At the age of 63, retired food-service worker Ruth Brinker became a pioneer of HIV care in her community and would become a legend among San Franciscans. The AIDS epidemic hit San Francisco the hardest and created a wave of fear and uncertainty that left many victims feeling hopeless and alone. Brinker, a woman whose deep compassion became a source of strength for others struggling to cope with the times, began cooking meals in her kitchen to deliver to her neighbors who were too ill to take care of themselves. Her goal was to not only provide meals but to also revitalize the city’s sense of community and spend time with HIV/AIDS patients to end the isolation they experienced. Providing meals with love became the hallmark of her mission. The work of Brinker and her growing team of volunteers led to Project Open Hand, the largest provider of nutrition to the HIV/AIDS community with sister organizations across the country. Ruth Brinker’s legacy carries on today as Project Open Hand has once again joined the frontlines in facing the crisis of the COVID19 pandemic.
Inside the Beauty Bubble directed by Cheryl Bookout and Cheri Gaulke
2021 | 31 minutes | documentary short
Enter a pastel dreamland of 3,000 vintage beauty artifacts in the desert community of Joshua Tree, California and meet “America’s hairstorian” Jeff Hafler as he struggles to keep his roadside attraction afloat during a remarkable year that changes his life and the lives of his husband and son.