Eva
NARRATIVE SHORT | SPAIN | 10 MINUTES
This is the story of a girl named Eva. A religious teenager whose sexual development and the desire to be loved will test her commitment to God and her ordinary christian live.
DIRECTOR: Andrea Cora Armas, Gabriel Mata
WRITER: Andrea Cora Armas, Gabriel Mata
Cenote
ANIMATION SHORT | USA | 6 MINUTES
When Axel, a young axolotl, gets separated from his family by ancient magic it’s up to him and Memo, an unlikely human ally, to get him out of the cenote he’s trapped in and back to his home.
DIRECTOR: Daniel Villanueva Avalos, Samantha Barroso
PRODUCER: Andrew Pettit, Amity Fulmer
Seatbelts
NARRATIVE SHORT | USA | 4 MINUTES
When Chad and Rachel go on their second date, he refuses to put on his seatbelt because he did his own research.
DIRECTOR: Michael John Dunker
Just A Little
BluesAbout A Girl
NARRATIVE SHORT | USA | 15 MINUTES
Jacob is stuck in a rut. Fogged out and depressed after a break up, he seeks a spiritual reset: trying DMT. His search leads him to South Pasadena, where he enlists the help of a spiritual healer named Laura.
After being invited into her sacred temple it becomes clear that Jacob’s case of the blues may be a symptom of a bigger problem. Laura cleanses him with bells, sananga and other holistic divine healings. But, it is not enough. She discovers a great darkness in Jacob’s aura and urgently pleads for him to partake in a taboo ritual. Could this cure what ails him?
Reluctant yet desperate, Jacob agrees to a ceremony that will leave him changed forever.
DIRECTOR: Julia Meltzer
PRODUCER: Ari Stidham, Jacob Wysocki
WRITER: Jacob Wysocki
CAST: Jacob Wysocki, Hillary Anne Matthews
Racial Idiocracy
NARRATIVE SHORT | USA | 13 MINUTES
A White Nationalist gets deported to Mexico when it's discovered he's an illegal immigrant living a fraudulent identity in the United States.
DIRECTOR: John Salcedo
PRODUCER: John Salcedo, Michael F.X. Daley, Christopher Barbour
WRITER: John Salcedo
CAST: Lombardo "Bardo" Boyar, Scott Peat, Kaiya Shivers
Coco
NARRATIVE SHORT | USA | 4 MINUTES
The story is about a teenager chubby girl, Coco, who is struggling with chasing her superstar dream.
DIRECTOR: Ragini Bhasin
PRODUCER: Bo Pang
WRITER: Na Gao
CAST: Xing Yi Li, Jia Rui Li, Christine Liao
Bellybutton
NARRATIVE SHORT | USA | 8 MINUTES
A Y2K teen girl struggles to connect fantasy and reality when she gets a piercing on her birthday.
DIRECTOR: Hilary Eden
PRODUCER: Oliver Daly
WRITER: Hilary Eden
CAST: Izabella Johnson, Jack Reid, Izzy Crenshaw
Rain to Reign
NARRATIVE SHORT | USA | 5 MINUTES
5 women - most of whom have never met each other, are connected through one woman - Julie - who is bringing women of African descent together to explore how we prepare the next generation of women for ‘Rain’, and to ‘Reign’, through examining black womanhood via the Body, the Heart, the Land, and the Soul in the face of a post Obama-era where people of color are made to feel as if they do not belong.
Set in New Mexico, these women will explore these conversations by sharing their experiences through hip hop / soul lyrics and Key Ballah’s poetry, “Preparing My Daughter for Rain.”
DIRECTOR: Julie M. Wenah, Keturah King
PRODUCER: Key Ballah, Julie Wenah, Keturah King
WRITER: Julie Wenah, Key Ballah
CAST: Renee Edmund, Chantelle Parker, Nati Quinones-Jones
Dissonance
NARRATIVE SHORT | USA | 19 MINUTES
Dissonance (2023) is a nonlinear psychological story about a vigilante’s attempt to take back the power of the people by ending political corruption. The story begins after the vigilante kills a wild card businessman. She then justifies the murder by reflecting on her distant actions through her manifesto. In doing so, we explore different perspectives of each character she interacted with in her past. Those interactions then lead us to a grueling realization that is tough for the vigilante to swallow — the truth. That truth loops us in with the recurring theme of the film— reality versus fantasy.
DIRECTOR: Indy Gott
PRODUCER: Veronica Bruce, Ken Greggory
WRITER: Indy Gott
CAST: Veronica C. Bruce, Ken Greggory, Gia Kara
Dark Blue
NARRATIVE SHORT | USA | 12 MINUTES
In the lawless border area stretching between the U.S. and Mexico, an immigrant embarking on an uncertain journey stumbles upon the grisly aftermath of an execution gone awry. The path he chooses next will forever impact the balance of life in a new land.
DIRECTOR: Stephen Cole Webley
PRODUCER: Preston Lee
WRITER: Stephen Cole Webley
CAST: Salvador Chacón, Michael Cudlitz, Benedict Samuel