2025 Lake County Film Festival Announces Slate
Lake County Film Festival Returns for its 15th Year
LAKE COUNTY, IL — The Lake County Film Festival returns for its milestone 15th edition, bringing an exciting and diverse slate of films to local audiences from September 4–7 and September 12–15, 2025. The festival will screen more than 134 films, including 17 feature-length films and over 120 short films from around the world.
Screenings will take place primarily at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, with additional screenings hosted at the Gorton Center in Lake Forest.
True to its mission, the Lake County Film Festival remains dedicated to showcasing independent voices, powerful storytelling, and cinematic innovation—without a fixed theme, but with a commitment to quality and variety. The 2025 lineup includes everything from thought-provoking documentaries to boundary-pushing narratives and inventive short-form storytelling.
Film fans can explore the full lineup and schedule at 2025.lakecountyfilmfestival.org. Tickets, badges, and festival passes are now available at the-lake-county-film-festival.square.site.
This year’s event is presented with the generous support of the College of Lake County, with additional programming at the Gorton Center in Lake Forest.
As the festival continues to grow and evolve, its goal remains the same: to bring remarkable, often underseen films to appreciative local audiences—and to celebrate the community that makes it all possible.
Announcing the Lineup
Today, we are announcing nearly all of the films playing at the 2025 festival. (Excluded from this announcement are the Opening & Closing Night screenings, and the individual short films in our Pens To Lens program.)
Pens To Lens is a Champaign-based K–12 student screenwriting competition launched in 2013. Kids write scripts, which are submitted to area filmmakers and designers. Designers select scripts to create posters for, and filmmakers pick their favorites and collaborate with the young writers to produce them as short films. The results are a completely unique concoction: adult, professional presentations of youthful, childlike ideas.
🎬 Local Connections
The Lake County Film Festival has long been known for highlighting filmmakers from Chicagoland to Milwaukee—and everywhere in between. This year is no exception, with one-third of the features and dozens of short films created by filmmakers from Illinois and Wisconsin.
Highlighted feature films include:
- Stephanie Stevens – A no-budget comedy whose long takes along the Lake Michigan waterfront mirror the film’s moody tone and emotionally detached characters.
- Brim – A trans-generational drama spanning 80 years. Shot in Central Illinois, the film uses an experimental visual approach to tell a powerful story of racial trauma.
- $POSITIONS – Brandon Daley’s kinetic, twitchy rollercoaster thriller about a gambling addict betting on bitcoin to save his family. Premiered at SXSW.
- American Dendrite – An ethnographic marvel following a road trip down the Mississippi River, capturing interviews and reflections from Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico.
- Brady Street: Portrait of a Neighborhood – A deep dive into Milwaukee’s Brady Street district, known for its vibrant restaurants, historic homes, and eclectic nightlife. This screening is preceded by two documentary short films that take place in Milwaukee.
Beyond our recurring Support Local shorts program, regional filmmakers are also featured in:
- OMG! WTF! (featuring Ring Ring, Captain of Industry, and The Finger Wife)
- Making Movies (featuring Check Please)
- And throughout a wide range of other short film blocks.
🎞️ Returning Alumni
We’re always thrilled to welcome back filmmakers we’ve previously showcased.
This year, returning alumni include:
- The Other People, a suspenseful thriller from Chad McClarnon, who previously wrote and directed Aembras and produced Still Sophie (both LCFF 2019 selections).
- 25 Cats From Qatar, a heartwarming documentary from Mye Hoang, director of the acclaimed Cat Daddies. The film is currently touring nationally, and subject Katy McHugh is scheduled to attend the festival.
The Complete Film List
Narrative Features
$POSITIONS
Narrative • Comedy/Thriller • USA • 2025 • 97 Minutes
Director: Brandon Daley
Blue-collar Midwesterner Mike Alvarado attempts to save his family from the throes of poverty by investing their savings into speculative cryptocurrencies. However, as his investment strategy decays into a full-blown gambling addiction, he sends his life into a nightmarish anxiety-inducing downward spiral, compromising his relationships with his girlfriend, his developmentally disabled brother, and his recovering addict cousin. A twitchy, hyper-contemporary comedy with equal doses of laughs and panic attacks.
Blue For A Boy (Azul de Nino)
Narrative • Comedy/Drama • Spain • 2024 • 87 Minutes
Director: Raul Guardans
As Natalia discovers that her husband is cheating on her, on top of that with a young sex worker, her world falls apart. She decides to confront her husband’s lover – but this is interrupted by the news that her husband has had a stroke and has been admitted to hospital. In the sterile corridors of intensive care, she has to confront not only his uncertain fate, but also the boyfriend who loves him on his own terms.
Blue for a Boy is a tragicomedy in pure Almodovar style that shows that human nature is always stronger than the façade we build.
Brim
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2025 • 105 Minutes
Director: Keenan Dailey
Brim is a trans-generational drama that weaves together a family’s story across the 20th and 21st centuries, exploring racial trauma, resilience, and legacy. Set against the backdrop of segregation in the 1940s American South, the film follows Leroy Payne and Rosetta Bishop as they confront systemic oppression and the erasure of Black identity. As the narrative moves into the 1990s, it delves into the devastating impact of the 1994 Crime Bill, focusing on George Mitchell, a character wrestling with his role in the evolving landscape of race and privilege. Brim poignantly examines how historical and modern racial tensions intersect with personal identity, capturing love, loss, and the enduring strength of the Black community in the face of adversity.
Heartstorm
Narrative • Drama/Musical • USA • 2025 • 88 Minutes
Director: Jerry White Jr.
Heartstorm is about a young woman named Lucia attending an open mic for the first time and being forever changed by the experience. Throughout the course of an evening, her memory is triggered by the performers, launching her into a series of sometimes humorous and sometimes heartbreaking flashbacks in which she is forced to examine her views on family, love, and queerness.
The Ladder
Narrative • Science-Fiction/Drama • USA • 2025 • 103 Minutes
Director: Emilio Miguel Torres
In the twilight of his life, an aging Alaskan fisherman and father, grieving his late wife, considers a mysterious procedure promising a fresh start. As close friends undergo the transformation, he grapples with his longing for a second chance and the cost of letting go of the life he’s known.
The Other People
Narrative • Thriller • USA • 2025 • 113 Minutes
Director: Chad McClarnon
In a town plagued with sudden deaths and missing persons, Rachel meets and quickly marries a grieving single dad named William, and the two set out to provide a stable, comfortable life for his troubled eight-year-old daughter Abby. When Abby makes friends with a boy that lives in the hidden corners of their new home, she learns why things that live in the dark don’t want to be seen.
Paper Marriage
Narrative • Comedy • USA • 2024 • 90 Minutes
Director: Jeff Man
Fanny is an IT consultant facing potential deportation to China due to her expiring H-1B visa. When she meets Jeff, a passive, unemployed introvert, she makes Jeff an offer to commit to a paper marriage for an easy grand a month so she can stay in the country.
While the two have clashing personalities, over the course of a year, while the two cohabitate and practice the details of their love story for the immigration authorities, they each overcome their differences and find the good in each other.
Rules Of Living
Narrative • Drama/Comedy • USA • 2025 • 97 Minutes
Director: Greg Dale
Rules Of Living is a multicultural romantic comedy about a Japanese divorcee who has to take in an American male roommate to make ends meet. Mikuko Abe is stuck, both in life and in love. When her daughter sends her Vincent, an American visitor, the last thing she wants is to let him live with her. What she doesn’t know is that opening up her door to this stranger will soon open up her world.
Stephanie Stevens
Narrative • Comedy/Drama • USA • 2025 • 87 Minutes
Director: Kelsey Ann Wacker
The morning after a bungled suicide attempt, a Chicago stand-up comic is brought face-to-face with his many failures when a pregnant ex pays him a visit. This lo-fi, post-mumblecore dark comedy takes an uncomfortable stroll through what it means to become a parent, and the excuses we make to avoid growing up.
Tether
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2025 • 85 Minutes
Director: Hariharasudhen Nagarajan
Racked with grief after losing his daughter Paula in a high school shooting, Leonard struggles to hold together the remnants of his old life. He clings to a fading hope of reuniting with his estranged wife, Amanda — a hope his therapist insists requires confronting his grief.
Publicly vilified for freezing during the massacre, Gerald, an ex-school resource officer, lives under a shroud of shame, questioning his will to survive. When Leonard and Gerald’s paths collide, and their downward spirals converge, what darkness will their encounter unleash?
Documentary Features
25 Cats From Qatar
Documentary • USA/Qatar • 2025 • 95 Minutes
Director: Mye Hoang
Qatar is one of the world’s wealthiest nations, and its luxurious surface and rapid growth are powered by migrant workers who make 89% of the population. And they also feel compelled to help its struggling street cats. When an American flight attendant and cat cafe owner becomes aware of the crisis, she hatches a plan to fly 25 cats to Milwaukee, where her cat cafe provides a pipeline for adoption. Presenting a microcosm of a global crisis, the film asks searching questions about animal welfare, all within a ticking-clock narrative about the nuts and bolts of a rescue mission. It is both an urgent wake-up call and a heartwarming story of overcoming international barriers for a common goal.
American Dendrite
Documentary • USA • 2025 • 78 Minutes
Director: Adam Marshall Present
A road trip documentary, American Dendrite explores climate, culture, and consciousness across the U.S. Shot on vintage Super 8mm film, the journey follows the Mississippi River from Chicago to the Louisiana Bayou, capturing intimate stories from people along the way. Each participant responds to reflections shared by someone upstream, creating a flowing chain of conversation. The result is a living time capsule revealing how water, geography, and memory bind diverse communities in a pivotal moment of American history.
Brady Street: Portrait Of A Neighborhood
Documentary • USA • 2025 • 86 Minutes
Director: Sean Kafer
In the 1960s and ’70s, Brady Street became a thriving hub of counterculture—a legacy that persists in Milwaukee today. Like many neighborhoods, Brady Street has faced its share of decline. But by the end of the 20th century, determined community efforts sparked a renaissance, revitalizing the area and transforming it into a diverse urban haven. Longtime resident Julilly Kohler puts it best: “It’s people that make the street. It’s really about people and getting people involved.”
MELT: the memory of ice
Documentary • USA • 2025 • 74 Minutes
Director: Betsey Biggs
MELT: the memory of ice is a visually mesmerizing cinematic song cycle, a powerful and contemplative invitation to sit bedside in communion with our earth’s body melting and spilling through climate change. Created during a summer the composer/director spent in Greenland with her mother and 5-year-old daughter, the film slowly explores a spectacular river of icebergs, increasingly interrupted by flashes of memory. An immersive soundtrack rich with glimmers of sound — calving ice, reindeer bells, sled dogs — surrounds the spellbinding vocal ensemble Moving Star and a solo child reciting an unfathomable list of winter’s loss — flurries, ice skates, snow angels. The ice melts on.
Video Dreams: A VHS Massacre Story
Documentary • USA • 2025 • 82 Minutes
Director: Thomas Seymour
From Blockbuster dreams to streaming screens, a filmmaker’s journey through a vanishing world. Follow a director’s thirty-year odyssey to get on the shelf of Blockbuster Video and beyond. A tale of struggle, perseverance, and what to do when your dreams no longer make sense. This multiple award-winning film features Lloyd Kaufman (creator of The Toxic Avenger), Debbie Rochon, Joe Bob Briggs, and many others. From Tom Seymour, creator of VHS Massacre 1 & 2 and American Expendables.
Narrative Short Films
A Nice Lady
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2025 • 16 Minutes
Director: Jessica Weber Kass
A tightly wound New Yorker in her mid-30s impulsively invites a savvy, streetwise young couple to live with her—igniting a seductive and combustible mix that threatens to consume them all.
All You Need Is Love
Narrative • Comedy • Spain • 2025 • 14 Minutes
Asunción and Mari Carmen are two young women who are willing to be part of the “Sección Femenina”, but The Beatles’ visit to Spain will change their plans.
An Affair At The End Of Time
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2025 • 15 Minutes
A man has second thoughts about the affair he’s been having on the day the world ends.
Apart
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2024 • 18 Minutes
College drop-out Sukjin leaves Korea to travel halfway around the world to close a growing emotional distance with his unspoken lover, Hayoon, only to be pulled even further apart.
Blitzmusik
Narrative • Drama • Canada • 2025 • 9 Minutes
Gus and Lars belong to two enemy factions. In the midst of war, they find themselves trapped in a school, separated by a common wall. Both short of ammunition, they will fight with the first thing they can get their hands on: musical instruments.
Brothers
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2024 • 15 Minutes
A cautious teen struggles to pull his reckless brother back from the edge, but as their turbulent night unfolds, he’s forced to question whether some wounds can ever truly heal.
Brush Me
Narrative • Comedy/Animation • Austria • 2025 • 2 Minutes
Director: Nikolaus Jantsch
In a bustling bathroom, amidst the chaos of everyday life, two toothbrushes, find themselves drawn to each other in this heartwarming tale of love, loss, and the resilience of the toothbrush spirit.
Buick
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2024 • 12 Minutes
Director: Michael Godere
In 1990s New Haven, three teenagers spend Friday night driving around playing the new Brand Nubian album. When they decide to see a late movie, it ends in violence.
bush
Narrative • Horror/Thriller • USA • 2025 • 14 Minutes
Director: Emma Mazurek
Alma is meeting her boyfriend’s parents for the first time — at their pool party. She is tense about their opinions of her, but once they start mentioning body hair, her anxiety about her appearance and a sudden strange hair growth force her to shave compulsively.
Calico
Narrative • Comedy/Drama • UK• 2024 • 15 Minutes
Director: Jake Mavity
A girl with vitiligo finds an unlikely friend in the school’s goldfish, who has the ability to speak and orchestrates a jailbreak.
Captain Of Industry
Narrative • Comedy • USA • 2025 • 18 Minutes
Director: Andrew Laudone
A maniacal business tycoon devises a campaign of terror, and hopes to make a little money along the way.
Cast & Brew
Narrative • Comedy • Spain/USA • 2025 • 9 Minutes
Director: Priscilla Zanni
Disaster brews on a chaotic film set when a worldwide coffee collapse leaves the diva lead actor in a frenzy, because apparently, the scene can wait, but his coffee can’t.
Chasers
Narrative • Drama/Comedy • USA • 2025 • 31 Minutes
Director: Erin Brown Thomas
A starry-eyed musician navigates an LA party, chasing her crush while desperately dodging the heartbreaking secret that could shatter her pursuit.
Chatbot Dee Dee
Narrative • Comedy • USA • 2024 • 11 Minutes
Director: Kenny Holmes & Kyle Bales
When Mikey learns the company he works for is closing its doors, he is forced to transform himself from the company’s #1 deadbeat, to its savior. With the help of his AI assistant and a questionable sales scheme, he goes to extraordinary lengths to remain a slacker.
Check Please
Narrative • Action/Comedy • USA • 2025 • 10 Minutes
Two headstrong Koreans can’t agree on who’s treating who to dinner, causing their casual restaurant outing to spiral into a martial arts deathmatch.
Chips Or Crackers
Narrative • Comedy • USA • 2025 • 3 Minutes
Director: Michael Gabriele
A simple goodbye turns into an awkward predicament.
Chocolate Chip
Narrative • Horror/Comedy • USA • 2025 • 7 Minutes
Director: Josh Deepan
A brazen mortgage officer attempts to bully a farm owner into selling her property, only to realize she is harboring a terrifying secret.
Choice
Narrative • Drama • North Macedonia • 2025 • 17 Minutes
Director: Marko Crnogorski
A young mother and her toddler face a devastating reality when a new law bans her scheduled abortion.
Claire Bikes
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2024 • 10 Minutes
Director: Molly Weinstein
Two people, one homeless and one not, connect while fixing a bike together one night in the Twin Cities.
Coconut Girl
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2024 • 12 Minutes
Director: Ayesha Agarwal
Swetha, the young child of Indian immigrants, struggles to accept her heritage when she gets bullied at school for the coconut oil in her hair.
Con/Freud
Narrative • Comedy • Canada • 2025 • 10 Minutes
Director: Brian Quintero
An unexpected message derails a short-tempered
cop while a quick-witted con attempts to play
backseat therapist.
Conspirituality
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2024 • 17 Minutes
Director: Jake Edwards
A troubled young woman in constant pain and looking for healing solutions is given a new path by a charismatic figure.
Controlled Burn
Narrative • Drama • Canada • 2025 • 22 Minutes
Director: Peter Howie
Reid spends his final day of parole doing all the things that got him there in the first place.
Cowboy Boots
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2025 • 13 Minutes
Director: Eric K Delehoy
Jack, a gay cowboy from Nebraska, finds anything but the promised land he envisioned when he visits a San Francisco gay club for the first time.
Feeling Blessed
Narrative • Comedy • USA • 2025 • 7 Minutes
Director: Mark Stewart Iverson
An average, ordinary man must summon higher powers in order to battle the funky Captcha on his browser so he can rise above mediocrity and update the status on social media.
Figment
Narrative • Drama • New Zealand • 2025 • 20 Minutes
Director: Ian Sweeney
Crippled by loneliness, a woman is prescribed a drug that gives her an imaginary friend. But this new relationship becomes more complicated than she could ever have imagined.
Flavor Of The Month
Narrative • Comedy/Drama • USA • 2025 • 13 Minutes
Director: Nathan Xia
A B-list Chinese actor fears being replaced as “Hollywood’s Asian” while screen testing for a life-changing role.
Floss
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2025 • 12 Minutes
Director: Alexander Gustaveson
Two people meet, floss, and then the rest of their life unspools…
Freak Job
Narrative • Comedy/Horror • USA • 2025 • 11 Minutes
Director: Langan Kingsley
Freakin’ Weekend
Narrative • Comedy • USA • 2024 • 6 Minutes
Director: David L Bradburn
Gator Gal
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2024 • 18 Minutes
Director: Michelle Craig
When Elle has to return home to take charge of her little sister, beasts from the past appear in what becomes a fight for survival.
Hellvette
Narrative • Horror/Thriller • Australia • 2025 • 15 Minutes
Director: Amiel Peter Matthews
A young mechanics dream build becomes his worst nightmare when his missing 1978 C3 Corvette resurfaces, transformed into a death machine leaving a trail of bodies-and every clue points back to him.
HomePlanet
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2025 • 26 Minutes
Director: Andrew Pritzker
Barefoot on a country highway, a disoriented man is picked up by two local cops who suspect he may be a space alien.
It’s Time
Documentary • USA • 2024 • 4 Minutes
Directors: Jason Lindsey, Scott Krahn
It’s Time is a poetic 4-minute film born from a personal journey of discovery. Set in early spring, in our backyard on the banks of the Sangamon River in Illinois, this cinematic ode gives voice to nature through stunning visuals and lyrical narration.
Julienne d’Ampoules (Julienne of Light Bulbs)
Narrative • Comedy • Germany • 2025 • 7 Minutes
Director: Dave Lojek
Cool conjuring contest connects crazy couple.
Kal-Haven
Narrative • Horror • USA • 2025 • 12 Minutes
Director: Kal Kociss
A young man named Hunter is in search of food in a post-apocalyptic world. During his travels, he meets another scavenger with ambiguous intentions.
Kali
Narrative • Drama/Horror • USA • 2025 • 9 Minutes
Director: Cassius Michael Kim
A mysterious woman appears in the desert and undergoes a startling transformation, leading to a fateful encounter with a lonely old man.
Last Night In Urbana
Narrative • Thriller • USA • 2024 • 20 Minutes
Director: Aaron Anastos
Over the course of a rain-soaked night, private detective Andre Conrad unravels a series of confounding murders, uncovering a deadly menace stalking the streets of Urbana
Light Bunny
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2025 • 15 Minutes
Director: Valerian Zamel
A grieving mother receives a mysterious phone call from her deceased son, but their heartfelt reunion takes a dark turn when he asks her to fulfill a difficult request.
Lightly Ghosted
Narrative • Horror/Comedy • USA • 2025 • 10 Minutes
Director: Garrett Sammons
A contented ghost stirs his tea—blissfully unaware he’s dead. His peaceful afterlife unravels when two young paranormal investigators—one a believer, the other a fraud—accidentally tear the veil between their worlds.
Like Comment Subscribe
Narrative • Comedy • Canada • 2024 • 8 Minutes
Director: Sabina Olivia Lambert
Told exclusively via the screens and devices that consume them, Like Comment Subscribe follows BFF’s Meaghan and Avery who are two of Toronto’s hottest social media influencers. With a dedicated following of #Veaghans and #Gayveries at their fingertips, these privileged Zillennials are consumed by creating buzz-worthy content to satisfy every one of their thirsty online followers.
Love Machine
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2025 • 12 Minutes
Director: Jon Clark
In the not-so-distant future, two women ask each other intimate questions on a date—things get weird.
Mildred 4 A Million
Narrative • Comedy • USA • 2025 • 21 Minutes
Director: Kimmie P. Callaway
A gregarious great-grandmother who desperately wants to connect with her tablet-obsessed great-granddaughter sets out to get a million followers on TikTok. Starring TV legend Marla Gibbs, this poignant comedy explores human connection across generations in the age of tech addiction.
My Last Martini
Narrative • Drama/Comedy • USA • 2024 • 14 Minutes
Director: Rob Christopher
One evening at an elegant cocktail lounge, a frustrated writer is joined by a mysterious woman who drifts over from the next booth, looking for a good listener.
OK/NOTOK
Narrative • Comedy • UK • 2024 • 13 Minutes
Director: Pardeep Sahota
Loretta, a working-class British Asian woman, attempts to navigate a turbulent world, a new stranger in her life and unskippable adverts.
Okay Annie
Narrative • Comedy/Thriller • USA • 2024 • 14 Minutes
Director: Sam Chudler
A casual party takes a turn for the worse when the birthday girl claims to see a frightening figure in her kitchen.
Out Of The Box
Narrative • Comedy • USA • 2024 • 15 Minutes
Director: Rene Marcelle
A perfectionist creates a cardboard world to escape from her mistakes, and her best friend and his brother must get her out before her cardboard paradise turns into a prison.
Perfect Casting
Narrative • Comedy/Drama • USA • 2025 • 5 Minutes
Director: Autumn English
A skilled costume designer struggles to collaborate with an asocial creature actor who is scarily good at playing his monster character.
Please Don’t Send Help
Narrative • Drama • Canada • 2025 • 3 Minutes
Director: Grigory Lukin
We’ve finally heard back from our deep-space outpost on Proxima Centauri B, but there’s something odd about their message…
Poem With Human Intelligence
Documentary • Experimental • USA • 2024 • 3 Minutes
Director: Pamela Falkenberg, Jack Cochran
A meditation on the difference between human intelligence and artificial intelligence, and what that might mean as we all confront the dangers of global warming, geopoltical unrest, … and possible AI disruption of the global (human) job market
Randy As Himself
Narrative • Comedy/Drama • USA • 2025 • 11 Minutes
Director: Margaret Miller
A daughter returns home to confront the unresolved family conflicts and discovers the generational cycle of abuse, realizing that only she can break it.
Ring Ring
Narrative • Comedy • USA • 2025 • 12 Minutes
Director: Lucas Xavier Simes
The simple mistake of tossing wedding rings into a trash compactor spirals into a fight for survival when the best man dives in after the rings and finds himself about to be crushed.
Ruby
Narrative • Comedy/Drama • USA • 2024 • 14 Minutes
Director: Jaclyn Bethany
Sister Natalie, a spirited Catholic nun in New Orleans and her schoolgirl protege Ruby challenge the status quo.
Sage
Narrative • Drama • UK • 2025 • 5 Minutes
Director: Max Blustin
The right words can oppose even the most destructive hate.
Scored
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2024 • 17 Minutes
Director: Robert Henry
A composer in Los Angeles grapples with exploitation, creative compromise, and personal grief while scoring a film that challenges his artistic integrity and identity.
Something Wrong With Kit
Narrative • Drama/Horror • UK • 2025 • 21 Minutes
Director: Ali Cook
A doctor, hell bent on proving a woman’s place is in the home and not practising medicine, is sent to investigate her miraculous claim – only to discover the source of her unearthly power…
Sticky Buns, Ravioli, and White Cake
Narrative • Fantasy • USA • 2025 • 10 Minutes
Director: Nicole Pouchet
During breakfast, a grown-up Alice tries to convince the Mad Hatter to share his emotions so that Wonderland won’t collapse along with his mental stability.
Superman Doesn’t Steal
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2024 • 19 Minutes
Director: Tamika Lamison
Based on a true story, and set during the 70’s Atlanta Child Murders, a young brother and sister fascinated with comic books- experience traumatic events which cause them to question the meaning of heroes, villains, superman & themselves.
Supermarket Affairs
Narrative • Drama/Comedy • USA/Viet Nam • 2025 • 16 Minutes
Director: Hang Luong Nguyen
At the local Asian supermarket, a middle-aged Vietnamese immigrant woman argues with her adult daughter over how best to honor her late husband as they shop for his second death anniversary—while inadvertently dragging a very handsome stranger into their messy family dynamic.
Te Seguiré a la Oscuridad
Narrative • Comedy • USA • 2024 • 10 Minutes
Director: Nicholas Luciano
A driven high school student in 2005 obsessively studies Spanish all year so she can test up a level into her crush’s class.
The Cancer Card
Narrative • Comedy/Drama • USA • 2024 • 14 Minutes
Director: Jimmy Rancich
The Cancer Card, follows Benny, a young cancer fighter, as he seeks advice on how to manage the disease from a cancer survivor, Tony.
The Finger Wife
Narrative • Horror/Comedy • USA • 2025 • 8 Minutes
Director: Taryn Stickrath-Hutt, Dan Lund
She just needs a minute.
The Invite
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2024 • 19 Minutes
Director: Max Chopovsky
Having quit his job to pursue his passion—and alienating his father in the process—a struggling first generation immigrant photographer must visit his parents to convince them to attend his first major solo show.
The Pearl Comb
Narrative • Drama/Horror • UK • 2025 • 21 Minutes
Director: Ali Cook
A doctor, hell bent on proving a woman’s place is in the home and not practising medicine, is sent to investigate her miraculous claim – only to discover the source of her unearthly power…
The Places We Don’t Know
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2024 • 11 Minutes
Director: Chané Fischer
A Neurodivergent woman’s world gets complicated when she falls in love with a spontaneous young man.
Travel Plans
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2025 • 4 Minutes
Director: Zoey Sidwell
After her wedding ceremony, a bride must extricate herself from an unfortunate entanglement before she can honor her vows.
Un Film Social
Narrative • Horror • USA • 2025 • 2 Minutes
Director: Esteban Sanchez Del Rio
Illuminated by the light of a parking lot neon, Jean-Brigitte is about to achieve the impossible; amidst administrative paperwork and human waste, he will turn shit into gold.
Unbreaking
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2024 • 9 Minutes
Director: J. Andrew
An otherworldly child finds healing and a new best friend through the Japanese art of Kintsugi.
We Are Not Magicians
Narrative • Comedy/Drama • Taiwan • 2024 • 15 Minutes
Director: Yu-Lun Chang
Yang Jie, once a winner of a major magic award, is now struggling to make a living between teaching at an after-school care center and performing commercially.
Weave
Narrative • Drama • UK • 2024 • 12 Minutes
Director: Martyn Lee
Entrusted with sorting his daughter’s hair a father encourages her to hide her Afro, after previous devastating experiences linger in their family.
What’s Left
Narrative • Drams • USA • 2025 • 18 Minutes
Director: Ryan Gentle, Austin Quarles
A story set in a future Tennessee where the consequences of global warming have drastically altered the American landscape, bringing the ocean inland and triggering societal collapse—this is what’s left of The United States of America.
When Everything Was Blue
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2025 • 14 Minutes
Director: Christina Chironna
A heartfelt drama that unfolds through the intimate lens of a home video camera. It tells the story of Luke, a firefighter, and his family, as they navigate the heartbreaking aftermath of September 11th.
When The Clocks Stop
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2025 • 23 Minutes
Director: Brett Willis
Love transcends so trust us and vote YES on the “Soft Exit.”
Wolf
Narrative • Drama/Comedy • UK • 2024 • 2 Minutes
Director: Chris Blaine, Ben Blaine
Halloween proves to be a time of reflection and change for two long-term friends.
Wrong Address
Narrative • Drama • USA • 2024 • 15 Minutes
Director: John Simmons
Ahmadu, a young aspiring artist of African origin, is caught up as a target of dangerous police rage after he retrieves his pizza, delivered to the wrong address.
Yule
Narrative • Drama/Horror • UK • 2025 • 20 Minutes
Director: Griff Jones
With underlying tensions rising, Violet’s Christmas holiday in Yorkshire is derailed when she fails to uphold tradition.
Documentary Short Films
Against The Ropes
Documentary • USA • 2025 • 5 Minutes
Director: Kleyon (Prince) Hampton
The Journey of Javier Zamarron, a boxer from Milwaukee, WI, making it to the professionals and the adversity he faced to achieve this level in his career.
As Long As We Can
Documentary • USA • 2024 • 11 Minutes
Director: Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
As Long As We Can captures a day-in-the-life of an Arizona reproductive health clinic trying to navigate the turbulent aftermath of the 2022 Dobbs decision. As the entire abortion care system struggles to figure out what is now legal and what is not, extra poignancy was thrown onto this particular clinic by an Arizona Supreme Court decision to uphold an 1864 law criminalizing all abortions.
Building A Champion
Documentary • USA • 2025 • 20 Minutes
Director: Mike Woodall, Neal Woodall
Following the Boston Crusaders at the 2024 Drum Corps International Finals, this documentary weaves archival footage, vérité storytelling, and personal reflections. It explores their 85-year journey in the world of major marching arts and what it truly means to succeed.
Dance Of The Bootlegger
Documentary • USA • 2025 • 13 Minutes
Director: Adam Karp
In 1974, the FBI, under the direction of the Motion Picture Association, raided the film collections of underground film dealers, collectors, historians, and even well-known actors. Within months, private collections were confiscated or destroyed, and Woody Wise found himself in the crosshairs of the Motion Picture Association of America and the FBI.
Freeman Vines
Documentary • USA • 2025 • 14 Minutes
Director: André Robert Lee, Tim Kirkman
For decades, 82-year-old Freeman Vines has been hand-carving guitars in hopes of replicating a sound that captivated and still haunts him. The guitars range in style from more traditional to fully abstract using a variety of wood — including lumber from trees once used to lynch Black men.
Looking Forward
Documentary • USA • 2025 • 9 Minutes
Director: Devon Gulati
Diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease at 11, Owen Craven defies his visual impairment to pursue triathlons. A decade later, he stands as one of the top athletes in his sport, striving to secure his place at the Paralympics.
My Back Pages
Documentary • USA • 2024 • 10 Minutes
Director: Nick Canfield, Paul Lovelace
A portrait of Mitch Blank, the world’s foremost collector of Bob Dylan memorabilia and recordings, all kept in his tiny New York City apartment. This short documentary follows Mitch as he donates his life’s work to the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Mystery Seeds
Documentary • UK/South Korea • 2025 • 10 Minutes
Director: Nathan Truesdell
After thousands of mysterious packages sow the seeds of a xenophobic conspiracy, we track its growth through local news, internet detectives, and your online shopping history.
Shepherd Boy
Documentary • Portugal/Qatar • 2025 • 17 Minutes
Director: Joao Queiroga
Left to fend for himself on the outskirts of Doha, a dog named Shepherd Boy must navigate the harsh desert that has become his new home in a fight for survival.
Something In The Water
Documentary • USA • 2025 • 12 Minutes
Director: Nateya Taylor
Five water justice advocates discuss how Milwaukee’s Black communities are disproportionately being lead poisoned, and the debilitating effects it has on residents’ health, with hopes to see equitable change that will heal the water and Black resident’s relationship with it.
Songs Of Black Folk
Documentary • USA • 2025 • 26 Minutes
Director: Haley Watson, Justin Emeka
This inspiring documentary follows Artistic Director Ramón Bryant Braxton as he unites history and heritage through music, showcasing the transformative power of faith, resilience, and community to honor the legacy of Black artistry.
The Most Memorable Art
Documentary • USA • 2025 • 14 Minutes
Director: John Beder
The Most Memorable Art follows two painters on a bold artistic experiment, one striving to create the most unforgettable artwork and the other aiming for pure forgettability. Their works are put to the test in a gallery filled with strangers, but human perception isn’t their only judge. A groundbreaking AI, designed to predict memorability with remarkable accuracy, will challenge our understanding of what truly makes art stick in the mind.
The Sardine Roaster
Documentary • Spain • 2025 • 14 Minutes
Director: Adrián Ordóñez
Manuel Galindo, a man linked to sand, fire, sea and air, as the last sardine roasters. Raised on the beaches, Manuel was not initially destined to be a sardine roaster, but a family tragedy forced him to devote himself to this profession. Through the embers and the flavors he creates, he reveals stories of memory, identity and deep human connections on our coast.
The Second-to-Last Time I Pooped my Pants
Documentary • Canada • 2025 • 3 Minutes
Director: Sébastien Landry
On a sunny day, enjoying burgers and swimming seemed perfect for young Seb… until a dreadful stomach ache turned everything upside down.
They Call Me The Tattoo Witch
Documentary • USA/Viet Nam • 2025 • 14 Minutes
Director: Lindsay Nyman
In Hanoi, Vietnam, tattoo artist Tran Ngoc specializes in the rare and challenging art of tattooing over scars. Despite the social stigma surrounding tattoos in Vietnam, Ngoc empowers her clients, including breast cancer survivors and women with self-harm scars, to reclaim their bodies, demonstrating that her work is a profound act of compassion and resilience.
Unfurled
Documentary • USA • 2025 • 28 Minutes
Director: Gail Willumsen
At mid-career, queer artist Eve Wood still chases fame and fortune. A long-time fixture in the Los Angeles art scene, she is known but not renowned: “The art world is a horrible business, and I have to wonder why I keep doing this.” “Unfurled” follows Wood over a year as she creates new works for a solo exhibition she hopes will launch her career to the next level. Her art is dark, angry and funny. It stems from a deep well of trauma, which she reveals for the first time on camera.
We Were The Scenery
Documentary • USA • 2025 • 15 Minutes
Director: Christopher Radcliff
The story of Hoa Thi Le and Hue Nguyen Che, who, in 1975, after fleeing the Vietnam War by boat and docking in the Philippines, were utilized as background extras in the filming of Apocalypse Now.
Welcome Home Freckles
Documentary • UK/South Korea • 2025 • 26 Minutes
Director: Huiju Park
A daughter returns home to confront the unresolved family conflicts and discovers the generational cycle of abuse, realizing that only she can break it.
Zastava Brothers
Documentary • USA • 2025 • 22 Minutes
Director: Pep Stojanovic
Zastava Brothers is a documentary about the cars of former Yugoslavia and a group of immigrants now living in America who transcend their different backgrounds to form a bond over their love for those cars.
Animated Short Films
Autophagy
Narrative • UK • 2025 • 11 Minutes
Director: Edie Lawrence
A dystopian landscape pitches those who can afford to suffer from a spreading waterborne disease, and those who despise them.
Cell Buddies
Narrative • Netherlands • 2025 • 5 Minutes
Director: Melle Windig
A grumpy raccoon and a sweet manatee team up for a messy prison escape—and discover friendship along the way
Crac!
Narrative • France • 2025 • 15 Minutes
Director: Dimitri Martin Genaudeau
Under the intrigued gaze of a lonely beetle, a hiker pitches her tent at the foot of the tree to spend the night, while a group of forest rangers mark with a red line the trees to be cut down.
Cubosee: The Secret Garden
Narrative • Croatia • 2024 • 4 Minutes
Director: Filip Gašparović Melis
When a paper dragon escapes from his little friends, cow Moo, bear Bee and rabbit Doo have no idea that in searching for it they’ll discover a secret garden. What lies behind the closed doors?
Family Portrait of the Black Earth
Narrative • Bulgaria • 2024 • 10 Minutes
A loving husband’s quest to find a replacement breast for his cancer-stricken wife ends up in the botany books.
FearISH
Narrative • Iran • 2024 • 4 Minutes
A hungry fish searches for food in its aquarium, but its world is suddenly disrupted when it is struck by something unexpected.
Hang
Narrative • USA • 2024 • 3 Minutes
Director: Sam Slowik
Work is always more enjoyable when you get to do it with good friends and loud music. Watch as Lego Man and Rig work on building the spaceship of their dreams while while rocking out to amazing music of Bad Crime.
La Guerra Verde
Narrative • USA • 2025 • 8 Minutes
Director: Cassius Michael Kim
Spanish conquistadors invade a native village in what is now Colombia, sparking a generations-spanning conflict centered on greed, colonization and emeralds.
Lil’ Somethin’ In: Clash With The Cube Demon
Narrative • UK • 2025 • 3 Minutes
Director: Dan Sollaccio
Lil’ Somethin’, a cartoony, little blob fellow, finds himself targeted by a planet-sized, cube-shaped demon that wants him dead! He must find a way to defeat the demon and save himself, though he has rather unusual problem-solving strategies.
Retirement Plan
Narrative • Ireland • 2025 • 7 Minutes
Director: John Kelly
At apathy with his life, Ray dreams of the beauty and joy he will find in retirement.
Roadkill
Narrative • UK • 2025 • 3 Minutes
Director: Colleen Goldberg
Roadkill is a short comedy that proves opposites really can attract.
Tigre
Narrative • Mexico • 2025 • 8 Minutes
Tigre tells the story of a young man who ventures deep into the jungle, unaware that not everything is as it seems.
Wandering
Narrative • Australia • 2024 • 3 Minutes
Director: Nuoya Ge
Shua is a unicorn who cannot be seen by others, trying their best to fit into the modern society.
Music Videos
Before The Dawn
Narrative • Music Video • Ukraine • 2025 • 7 Minutes
C-Note
Narrative • Music/Comedy • USA • 2025 • 8 Minutes
Director: Jack Horrigan
Two indie musicians shoot a music video in a bank vault… and they’re allowed to do that?
Dobrina
Narrative • Music Video • Germany • 2025 • 5 Minutes
Director: Hannes Rall
Lotte Reiniger meets Sergio Leone in this animated short,
where desire burns as bright as the desert sun.
Middle Of Nowhere
Narrative • Music Video • USA • 2025 • 4 Minutes
Director: Travis Shields
Official music video for the song, “Middle of Nowhere,” by the Dennis Fuentes Band
