THE PROGRAM
Shorts. Features. Panels. It’s all happening.
THE SECRET ART OF HUMAN FLIGHT. Directed by H.P. Mendoza. In the wake of a tragedy, a grieving widower turns to a mysterious self help book from the dark web written by an eccentric guru, which promises to unlock the power to fly. Starring Grant Rosenmeyer (The Royal Tenenbaums) and Paul Raci (Sound of Metal, HBO’s Perry Mason).
CULTURE WITHIN THE ICE. Directed by Israel, Laelah, and Spencer. In this heartwarming documentary, a wise and experienced elder takes on the role of mentor, guiding the younger generations towards self-love, acceptance, and embracing life through the thrilling and challenging sport of ice climbing.A special engagement in Fellin Park during the film festival with the filmmakers in attendance.
HEADDRESS. Directed by Taietsarón:sere 'Tai' Leclaire. When a Queer Native Person at a music festival sees a Non-Native person wearing a ceremonial headdress, they retreat into their mind to find the perfect insult.
DÚN LAOGHAIRE. Directed by William Lancaster. A dance of death between a mother and daughter ignites when the daughter attempts to install a new stove in her mother’s house in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland.
FUR. Directed by Zhen Li. A crush gone moldy...
DEATH AND RAMEN. Directed by Tiger Ji. A ramen chef spends his final night alive hanging out with the Grim Reaper. Through a bowl a ramen, they discover the joyous side of Death.
LOVE, DAD. Directed by Diana Cam Van Nguyen. She finds letters full of love her dad wrote her 15 years ago. Now she fights to get that love back.
TRANSFERENCE. Directed by Dylan Trupiano. In the Peruvian village of Palma Real, a member of the Ese’Eja nation shares the story of falling in love and running away with his wife. As he urges for their memory to live on, he slowly slips into a haunting reverie.
GARRANO. Directed by David Doutel and Vasco Sá. A Garrano horse is forced to pull a heavy load under a blazing sun. Young boy Joel discovers a man who is about to set a forest on fire.
THE JELLYFISH MAN. Directed by Ben Davis. Spencer’s neighbor won’t turn off his music, but it’s unclear who’s disturbing the peace.
NEIGHBOR ABDI. Directed by Douwe Dijkstra. How can you understand a violent past? Somali-born Abdi is furniture designer and support worker. He reenacts his life, marked by war and criminality, with the help of his neighbour and filmmaker Douwe. Through playful reconstructions in a special effects studio, Abdi and Douwe embark on a candid and investigative journey through a painful history, focusing on the creative process throughout.
THE GRADUATES Directed by Hannah Peterson. A year after her boyfriend dies from gun violence, a young woman prepares to graduate high school as she navigates an uncertain future alongside a community that is searching for ways to heal.
TOWN DESTROYER. Directed by Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman. A high profile battle erupts over images of African American slaves and Native Americans in New Deal-era murals at George Washington High School in San Francisco, leading to a passionate outpouring of activism and opinions about art, history, and racial reckoning in America.
PUNCHLINE. Directed by Daniel Holz and Kaare Iverson. Eeland Stribling is many things: fly fisherman, wildlife biologist, Colorado native - but most notably, he is an avid stand-up comedian. Born and raised in Colorado, Eeland is doing his part by exposing the outdoors world to those who have historically not grown up with it. As a man of color himself, he is redefining what it means to be an outdoorsman in America - but more importantly, an advocate for preserving the world's natural wonders.
BERRY PICKERS. Directed by Agnes Skonare Karlsson. Two Thai brothers, NAT (19) and TEM (23), take a large loan to come to Northern Sweden as migrant workers in the berry picking industry, hoping to secure a brighter future for themselves back home in Thailand. The problem is, Sweden has been hit by an unexpected heat wave, and there are no berries to pick. Naive younger brother Nat tries to convince his older brother that it’s time to throw in the towel and return back to Thailand, but Tem is stubborn, and refuses to leave Sweden until they’ve secured enough money to pay back their debt. With all other berry pickers having returned home, the pair of brothers only have each other as they set out on a final, desperate quest through the forest, chasing rain, berries, and a chance to return home.
SHIP HAPPENS. Directed by Jordan Bellamy and Josh Gilligan. A "toxic relationship" unfolds between a 656 foot capsized ship loaded with 4200 vehicles and the small town residents of Saint Simons Island, Georgia who bear helpless witness to a two year salvage project gone awry in their otherwise idyllic island paradise.
WHITE ANT. Directed by Shalini Adnani. Ashish, a middle-aged businessman, is called back to his now abandoned childhood home, where he is confronted with a colony of termites eating the house from the inside out. While trying to make arrangements over the days, he realises how disconnected he is from his old self, watching helplessly from the side-lines as the house caretaker and a termite exterminator deal with the infestation.
White Ant poetically explores the drastic shift in values of a country as it modernises, the universal experience of watching the world change around us and the cultural and emotional disconnect a man experiences when being reminded of his past life.
FRAYA. Directed by Clémentine Delbecq. Rufus, who arrived in France at the age of 13, runs an old hotel with his uncle Alpha in the hinterland of Perpignan. Alpha plans to relaunch it with a land sale in Ivory Coast. He leaves for the summer. Rufus keeps the hotel with Monika, his girlfriend, and dreams of restarting the business.
TENDER. Directed by Samm Hodges. An exploration of the generational trap of male violence within the context of rural American poverty.
When JD can’t find his wallet, he feels disrespected. He’s scared of being disrespected. When he’s scared he gets terrifying. He turns his rage on his girlfriend and her teenage son. The cycle continues. Damon faces an impossible choice.
LIFE WITHOUT DREAMS. Directed by Jessica Bardsley. Life Without Dreams is an essay film set in the outer space of consciousness, where the surfaces of far out planetary bodies form the terrain for an exploration of 24/7 capitalism, insomnia, and the disappearance of darkness. Montaging archival images of nocturnal animals, a narrative of sleeplessness, NASA animations of the night sky, and videos of sleeping train passengers, this constellation of images distorts the contours of reality as it melds with fiction.
VIDEO FUNERAL. Directed by Linh Tran. Lam, a Vietnamese international student, welcomes her younger sister, Phuong, to her Chicago apartment. Phuong brings a DVD of their father’s funeral, which Lam could not attend.
SAME OLD. Directed by Lloyd Lee Choi. One bad night for a New York City delivery driver.
I AM HOME. Directed by Kymon Greyhorse. A poetic memoir, a love letter that speaks of introspection and what it means to rediscover who you are and cherish where you come from.
AIRHOSTESS - 737. Directed by Thanasis Neofotistos. An airhostess collapses on flight, convinced that her problem is her new braces, whilst she transfers her mother’s body to bury her next to her grandmother.
OUR QUÍYO: MARIA MARTINEZ. Directed by Charine Pilar Gonzales. Maria "Povika" Martinez left behind an exceptional legacy built through her artistic application and reintroduction of "black-on-black" pottery, still practiced today by her tribal community of San Ildefonso Pueblo located in northern New Mexico. Her influence on the art world left a lasting impression across many borders, but she is much more than a world-renowned Pueblo pottery artist. Maria is our grandmother. She is our Quiyo.
THE DARK EDGE: THE ORIGIN STORY OF A 20-YEAR NAVY SEAL. Directed by Kyle Romanek. A 20-year Navy Seal veteran trains to be a mountain guide while looking back on his life.
AN AVOCADO PIT. Directed by Ary Zara. Larissa, a trans woman and Cláudio, a cis man, meet one night, in the streets of Lisbon. Two people, two realities, who dance their differences away till morning light. In challenge, in surprise, in awe and in recognition. An empowering story, free from violence and filled with light and hope for the better days yet to come.
BRIGHT MORNING STAR: THE JOHNSONS OF HEMPHILL. Directed by Ethan Payne. Mabel and Gwen Johnson are pillars of their post-coal community in Eastern Kentucky. Faced with unspeakable obstacles, they pulled together and started a community center and a bakery.
WELL WISHES MY LOVE, YOUR LOVE. Directed by Gabriel Gabriel Garble. Newly orphaned and freshly wounded from an immense loss, a boy lends his companion a prosthetic arm for the day. The companion would then expose the prosthetic limb to a mélange of textures and materials, whilst documenting the whole process. As the moon inches closer and closer towards the sun, the boy sees something unusual reflected on the water's surface... What will become of the limb, and what will become of the video recordings?
BY WATER. Directed by Iyabo E Kwayana. By Water, was initiated through an unexpected voicemail message my brother left me 3 years after his disappearance. I saved this voicemail for more than three years before I decided to heed its instructions.
FOLLOWERS. Directed by Julia Bales. “I don't know if I'm right or wrong, that's the whole problem.”
KING ME. Directed by John Matysiak. In 1992, Marion Tinsley aspires to achieve his potential as the world’s greatest checkers player by accepting the ultimate challenge—a match against an unbeatable checkers playing computer.
GHOSTS. Directed by Jeffrey Palmer. "Ghosts" tells the story of three Kiowa boys' daring escape from a government boarding school in Anadarko, Oklahoma in 1891, to attend a ghost dance ceremony at a distant Kiowa encampment. After being whipped for insubordination and feeling defeated, CHARLES, a rebellious teenager, plans to escape with an unlikely group of partners, the spiritual ZEPH, who has visions of his grandfather and an upcoming ghost dance, which is sweeping across Indian Territory promising the resurrection of their ancestors, and JUDAH, a trickster, who seizes the opportunity to join them and help them flee. “Ghosts” is an oral history of tribal alliance, resistance, and survival from the degradation of forced assimilation.
ON MY OWN TWO FEET: DESTINATION 3,000 METERS. Directed by Olivier Lamber. For the first time in their lives, Jérôme, Sarah, Christophe, Luca and Michel will climb a 3000m peak in the Alps. Physically prepared or not, they know that their willpower will be stronger than the pain: they are determined to prove that all amputees can walk, run and hike on their own two feet again, thanks to a project of affordable blade developed by young engineers.
BREATHING. Directed by Maria Pankova and Viktor Petrenko. On February 24, Russia attacked Ukraine. This is one of millions of stories of Ukrainians who fled their homeland. The path of heroes from the snowy peaks to the destroyed cities, wrapped in fear and love for each other to find a safe place. The main characters of this film are its authors, Viktor and Maria. The war caught them in the snowy Ukrainian Carpathians. The purpose of their expedition was to make a documentary about mountain rescuers working at the White Elephant Observatory, but the war made its own adjustments. After the mobilization was announced, most of the rescuers were sent to the front, and the main characters of the film became displaced. They join the volunteer headquarters in Yaremche, help volunteers and learn self-defense.