2016 lineup!


 
aDay Playing
Title
Rating
Runtime
Category
           
Wednesday, July 27 - 7pm-until
e-Nable: Open Technology Faster Progress G 9min documentary
  HIM+HER PG 9min 10sec short
Brewconomy PG 55min documentary
  Mr Gentle Goes to Heaven G 19min 30sec short
Intermission
Insight PG-13 15min short
Blue Sunday PG-13 16min short
3000 PG-13 20min short
  The Run R 24min 47sec short
Coffin Crusin PG 15min 45sec documentary
  Cage R 4min 26sec animation
         
Thursday, July 28 - 7pm-until
  My Luchador G 12min 51sec short
Cowboys PG 20min short
  Cosmic Kiosk PG 16min short
  wHole G 8min 52sec animation
The Hollerin Contest at Spiveys Corner G 17min documentary
  Circle PG 11min 17sec short
Intermission
At Dawn R 18min 52sec short
Keepsake PG-13 17min 20sec short
Heart of a Tiger PG 35min documentary
This Time It's Shopping G 4min short
  Please Hold R 25min 10sec short
         
Friday, July 29 - 7pm-until
One Day on Carver Street PG 3min 38sec animation
The Last Barn Dance PG-13 32min documentary
No Child

PG

43min 28sec short
Hux PG 11min 49sec short
Intermission
The Life and Death of an Unhappily Married Man R 1hr 41min feature
         
Saturday, July 30 - Matinee - 1pm
  Chairman Jones-An Improbable Leader PG 1hr documentary
  Gift Horses G 22min documentary
Intermission
The Magician G 8min 28sec animation
Kill Yourself R 21min 46sec short
Return to Zanskar G 23min 11sec documentary
  War Flowers PG 6min short
Room 731 PG-13 18min short
         
Saturday, July 30 - 7pm-until
MOOM G 14min animation
Beautiful Dreamer PG 26min short
  Uncanny Valley PG-13 9min short
  Believe G 9min documentary
Le Tierra Del Exodo PG-13 10min 52sec short
  Another Everest G 4min 28sec animation
Intermission
Last Man Club PG-13 1hr 35min feature
         
 Awards & Party!
(Schedule subject to change)
Awards will be announced during the PARTY following the final film on Saturday night!
 
Synopsis

 

e-Nable: Open Technology; Faster Progress [9min - documentary] Raleigh, NC
Brett Abramsky - DIRECTOR, DP, EDITOR
Elisabeth Effron - PRODUCER, STORY
Rachel Rooney - PRODUCER, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Mike Esser - EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
The e-NABLE community designs, fabricates, and distributes open source, 3D-printed prosthetics for people who need them-and gives them away for free. Hear from Jon Schull, founder of the e-NABLE community, and the team of volunteers and researchers who are pioneering this movement and making it all possible.

     

HIM+HER [9min 10 sec - short] Charlotte, NC
Mike Reda - DIRECTOR
Jerome Greene - WRITER
Mike Reda - WRITER
Mike Reda - PRODUCER
A dramatic short film about the beginning and ending of a relationship, told from the perspective of both characters.

     

Brewconomy [55min - documentary] NC
Anson Burtch - PRODUCER
Camden Watts Roessler - DIRECTOR
Shane T. Johnston - EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Tom Rosha - ART DIRECTOR
Meredith Schmidt - EDITOR
The rise of craft beer is here. Even though it represents a small fraction of total beer sales in the United States craft beer is growing steadily, especially in North Carolina. Brewconomy explores the growth of Southern beer and its positive impact on the agriculture, community, and economy. As educated consumers choose more robust, flavorful beers how will the state meet demand? Will it reach a tipping point? Or will craft beer bring more great things to North Carolina?

     

Mr Gentle Goes to Heaven [19min 30sec - short] Belgium
Siham Hinawi - DIRECTOR
Elvire Muñoz - WRITER
Étienne Chédeville - PRODUCER
One day, Emile G. dies. He arrives at the Heavenly Kingdom where the divine weighing scales will determine his final destination: Heaven or Hell. For the first time in the Heavenly Kingdom’s history, the scales announces 50/50... Emile is sent back to Earth to live his last deed again!

     

Insight [15min short] Brazil
Alexandre Mello - DIRECTOR
Bárbara Nepomuceno - PRODUCER
Pauliram Costa - EDITOR
After attempting suicide, Vitor finds himself between coma, death and dream. In this poetic drama, the transgressions of our main character arouses a discussion about relationships, discrimination and suicide.

     

Blue Sunday [16min - short] Charlotte, NC
Mike Reda - DIRECTOR
Todd Eastman Brown - WRITER
Andrew Huggins - WRITER
Veteran reporter Nick Spears receives a phone call from a mysterious source informing him of a mass terrorist attack. He agrees to meet with the man who claims that there is no way to stop the threat. Nick involves his editor in the search to uncover the truth behind the terrorist, but the answers go deeper than either of them could have ever imagined.

     

3000 [20min - short] Greece
Antonis Tsonis - DIRECTOR, WRITER
Tia Spanos Tsonis - PRODUCER
Panagiotis Fafoutis - PRODUCER
Wayne Blair - PRODUCER
When Leon’s best friend Ari shares tragic news about his battle with cancer, unemployed and desperate to help, Leon secretly decides to become a criminal to pay for more cancer treatments. Against the backdrop of contemporary Athens, Greece, Leon’s actions to save his best friend have irreversible consequences.

     

The Run [24min 47sec - short] Germany
Stefan Najib - DIRECTOR, WRITER
Elaine and Tommy Niessner - PRODUCER
Martin is a teacher at a local high school. He thinks of himself as a good educator, but his own son begins to rebel against him. One day both drive to school together and get into a bad row over Bastian going on a camping vacation with his buddies. Soon after, Bastian's classmate Tom starts to shoot people in their school. Martin can stop the killing by volunteering to drive an escape car for Tom. During the escape, a harsh psychological duel begins between the teacher and the crazed student.

     

Coffin Crusin [15min 45sec - documentary] Florida
Brenton Richardson - DIRECTOR
Joe Cornelius - DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
The Carolina Coffin Cruisers are a taboo-breaking Charlotte-based club of macabre motorists. These creepy classic car enthusiasts convoy the Carolinas to share their appreciation of hearses and all things Halloween.

     

Cage [4min 26sec - animation] New York
Pengpeng Du - DIRECTOR, WRITER, PRODUCER
Life is liberty in a CAGE. CAGE represents a situation that is filled with a lot of constraints, or a habit or an addiction that is hard to get rid of. This project is to present a Chinese cultural and traditional visual style to audiences. On the other hand, CAGE tries to inspire them to recall their memory and consider what is the meaning of life to them individually.

     

Keepsake [17min 20sec - short] Chapel Hill, NC
Meredith Sause - DIRECTOR
In this Southern Gothic Dramedy, estranged sisters return home to sort through their late,
hoarder-mother's estate, and discover a family secret.

     

My Luchador [12min 51sec - short] Charlotte, NC
Shea Sizemore - WRITER, DIRECTOR
Chip White - PRODUCER
An aging Luchador finds himself behind a computer working in a cube. His successful and loving wife helps him find his way.

     

Cowboys [20min - short] Spain
Bernabé Rico - WRITER, DIRECTOR
Olmo Figueredo - PRODUCER
Bernabé RicoProducerMartin is a finished actor, both professionally and personally. He's divorced, has no friends and a son he hasn’t talked to for more than a year. But one fine day he’ll get a working offer his agent will not let him pass: to be companion of a 5-year-old boy in a costume contest at the Amusement Park.

     

Cosmic Kiosk [16min - short] Wilmington, NC
Chip Hackler - WRITER, DIRECTOR
One week from retiring, security guard Hank Goodman stares at blank monitors, and a bleak future. Trapped in his little booth, Hank yearns for adventure--and true love. He’s smitten with Donna, who parks in his lot each day, but so is the dastardly Rizzo. Will the cosmos conspire to help out poor Hank?

     

wHole [ 8min 52sec - animation] Germany
Verena Klinger - DIRECTOR
Jürgen Schopper - PRODUCER
A relationship is put to the test, as a husband makes a drastic sacrifice for his wife.
In the isolation of the steppes lives a pair in a tent. Although the wife was born without eyes, she is happy. Her husband has made many attempts to help her see, but neither magic, technology or Shamanism can help. Ultimately, he decides to gift her one of his own eyes. The woman accepts tentatively at first but soon starts to discover her environment from a new perspective. One night, sleepless and stunned by her own reflection in the mirror, she decides to steal the other eye, to be whole for once, even if just for a moment…

     

The Hollerin Contest at Spiveys Corner [17min - documentary] North Carolina
Brian Gersten - DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, CINEMATOGRAPHER/DP, EDITOR
Liv Dubendorf - DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Geoff Groberg - ASSOCIATE PRODUCER, ASSISTANT CAMERA, ASSISTANT EDITOR
The Hollerin' Contest at Spivey's Corner is a 15-minute short documentary about the National Hollerin' Contest, an annual competition that’s been held in the small town of Spivey’s Corner, North Carolina since 1969. The film follows the stories of three former hollerin’ champions as they attempt to reclaim their championship titles, and keep the oft-forgotten tradition of hollerin' alive. Hollerin’ itself is considered by some to be the earliest form of communication between humans. It was originally used in rural areas before the days of telecommunications to convey long-distance messages. At the height of the contest’s popularity in the 1970s, winners would regularly appear on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and the Late Show with David Letterman. Interest and awareness of the competition has waned in recent years, but the three contestants still have the same goal in sight – to become the undisputed National Hollerin’ Champion.

     

At Dawn [18min 52sec - short] Israel
Omri Burstyn - DIRECTOR
Ruthy Pribar - PRODUCER
Ali, a sensitive teenage boy is the sole Palestinian-Israeli in a radical activist youth group. He is in love with Yael and plans on revealing his feelings towards her at the upcoming group meeting. When a series of political outbursts in the west bank occur, the group is lead towards a violent act. Ali, struggling to impress Yael, finds himself in a dangerous position.

     

Please Hold [25min 10sec - short] Missouri
Jonathan D. Mabee - WRITER, DIRECTOR
Rich Johnson - WRITER
A story about a veteran, PTSD, and the struggle to find help.

     

Circle [11min 17sec - short] Germany
Alexander Heringer - DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Ahmad Saleh - WRITER
Daniel Piechocki - PRODUCER
The short film “Circle” depicts a young woman in despair, who after experiencing a tragic loss escapes into the seemingly perfect past. She loses herself in vivid memories and starts to neglect her real life. A constant inner struggle emerges between past and present, distorting her perception of reality.

     

Heart of a Tiger [35min - documentary] China
Malcolm Clarke - DIRECTOR
Yi Han - PRODUCER
Nick Reed - EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
A documentary movie about WWII Flying Tiger’s pilot Glen Beneda who was shot down behind enemy lines while taking part in a secret mission. The Flying Tigers were an elite group of US fighter pilots secretly recruited by Presidential Authority to help China resist Japanese occupation during the early days of the Second World War. With the help of Chinese villagers, a badly injured Beneda traveled over 500 miles by foot through enemy territory with little food or sleep while avoiding an enemy determined to kill him. In his 80's against doctor's orders, saying that the trip might kill him, Glen traveled to meet the villagers who saved his life to say thank you.

     

This Time It's Shopping [4min - short] Maine
Chek Wingo - DIRECTOR
Jim Picariello - WRITER, PRODUCER
A peculiar customer interrupts a gift store owner's quiet day. Is she really shopping, or is this some kind of game?

     

One Day on Carver Street [3min 38sec - student animation] South Carolina
Azure Allen - WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
One Day on Carver Street tells the story of Charlie's Place and its owner, Charlie Fitzgerald. Charlie's Place was a stop on the famous Chitlin' Circuit, and hosted the hottest musicians of the day. In the post-war Jim Crow south, Charlie's Place was a rare pocket of diversity in a world where the lines between black & white were firmly drawn. Charlie's Place gave birth to the state dance of South Carolina, the Shag. Charlie Fitzgerald and the music he brought to Carver Street inspired many people regardless of color to come together. This simple act of dissent angered some people who would be driven to violence to stop it.

   

The Last Barn Dance [32min - documentary] North Carolina
Jason Arthurs - DIRECTOR
Ted Richardson - CO-DIRECTOR, CO-PRODUCER
Jon Kasbe - CINEMATOGRAPHER/DP, EDITOR
In a last-ditch effort to keep his dairy running, Lewis applied for a grant to produce and market his own milk on a much smaller scale, with hopes of gaining some control over the quality and cost of his product. The family dairy business is only part of what stands in the balance. Losing the farm would also mean losing a community gathering place and home of the town's annual barn dance. Lewis says the farm may provide a living, but without the dance, it's not much of a life.

   

No Child [43min 28sec - short] Raleigh, NC
Rob Underhill - WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Will Williams - PRODUCER
Aravind Ragupathi - PRODUCER
NO CHILD is about growing up, and the power of growing together. It explores our inner passions, becoming inspired to be responsible, and the ability in us all to overcome our disadvantages... and our demons.

   

Hux [11min 49sec - short] California
Mageina Tovah- WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Hux, longing to connect, rebels against the lonely isolation of her autism. Braving the confusing, chaotic world of others, her attempts at interaction are repeatedly thwarted - by her powerful aversion to stimuli, and by an epidemic that decimates the population. But when all seems lost, Hux finds one final chance to connect.

   

The Life and Death of an Unhappily Married Man [1hr 41min - feature]
Josh Hope - DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, WRITER
A man disillusioned with his failing marriage and dead end career abruptly decides to visit his past to figure out where it all went wrong.

   

Chairman Jones-An Improbable Leader [1hr - documentary] Durham, NC
Anna R. Jones - WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Stewart Nelsen - EDITOR
A farmer's fight for equal education in Northampton County, NC transforms him and his community in unimaginable ways. Chairman Jones tells the story of the director's father, James H. Jones, a self-educated farmer who disregards racism and lack of education and emerges as a trailblazer during the tense 1969 school desegregation crisis in Northampton County, leading the fight to end nearly a century of inequality in education. After freeing himself from Jim Crow sharecropping in the 1950's, he launches a personal campaign to free black children from Jim Crow education. The story unfolds through the voices of those who participated in that movement and who witnessed his extraordinary courage and leadership.

   
Gift Horses [22min - student documentary] Pennsylvania
David Block - WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Horses don’t judge by appearance. They look past peoples’ disabilities and recognize the emotions inside. A horse is a mirror of the soul. Horseback riding provides physical therapy. Walking with the horse, touching the horse, grooming the horse all provide emotional therapy. My documentary shows the benefits of using horses for therapy: Horses provide a safe and protected venue to help Autistic children speak for the first time. Horses comfort people disabled by grief. Horseback riding gives blind people the freedom and mobility to go wherever they want. Horseback riding puts wheelchair users at the same eye level as able-bodied riders. Horseback riding gives wheelchair users the ability to travel over any terrain.

   
The Magician [8min 28sec - student animation] California
Thom Lu - DIRECTOR
Andrew Rubin - PRODUCER
A whimsical animated music video set to Andrew Rubin’s musical composition, “The Magician” tells a loose story of a failing street performer who gains attention through playing tricks on others. Before long, playful mischief turns into catastrophe in a small town.

   
Kill Yourself [21min 46sec - student short] Winston Salem, North Carolina

Jesse Brown - DIRECTOR

Jesse Brown - WRITER

Marki Zander - PRODUCER
Two lonely misfits rendezvous to fulfill a suicide pact, until an imbalanced and unexpected attraction threatens to unravel their plan.

   
Return to Zanskar [23min 11sec - documentary] California

Daniel Bull - DIRECTOR, PRODUCER

Bryan Liptzin - WRITER, PRODUCER

30 years after their first visit, two American college friends return to an ancient Buddhist monastery high in the Himalayas to reconnect with their past, and witness a culture being dragged into the modern world as the first ever road to the monastery nears completion.

   
War Flowers [6min - short] Charlotte, NC

Cory Warren - DIRECTOR
Darin Holiday - Director OF PHOTOGRAPHY

This short takes place around 1971 in a small village in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. The American Soldier is on a Recon mission and is wounded. The Vietnamese character has just lost his young daughter in a bombing in his village. He is seen burying his little girl at the opening of the film. The story unfolds as the two soldiers realize that they both have something in common that changes their lives forever.

   
Room 731 [18min - student short] California

YOUNG MIN KIM - DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, WRITER

Bridget Tang - PRODUCER

A young Chinese girl who has no memory, wakes up, alone, in an abandoned factory. She meets a doctor and a mysterious woman who both seem to want to help her. As her memory returns, she realizes the place is the infamous Unit 731 Japanese concentration camp in World War II. She encounters horror upon horror as she tries to discover the truth about who she is and why she has been chosen as its next victim.

 

 

MOOM [14min - animation] Japan

Daisuke Tsutsumi - DIRECTOR, WRITER

Robert Kondo - DIRECTOR, WRITER

Genki Kawamura - PRODUCER

Tomohiko Ishii - PRODUCER

Have you ever wondered what happens to your forgotten objects? In this story, those objects with its 'memory' still attached end up rising from the waters of the magical lake. Scared and lost, memories need help to let go of their objects. Sometimes, it can be as simple as opening a car door or loosening a lid. Other times, memories can have a hard time letting go. Those memories might need more help. This is the story of one of those memories stuck in this world. His name is Moom.

   
Beautiful Dreamer [26min - short] New York

David Gaddie - WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER

Steven Kelleher - WRITER

Ken Liu - ORIGINAL STORY

Quentin Little - PRODUCER

Facing a terminal disease, a mother uses space travel and relativity to stretch her last two years over the lifetime of her baby daughter, visiting for only one night every seven years. Mother and daughter must negotiate to forgive, to find what is important and to turn the pain of separation into love and a shared life.

   
Uncanny Valley [9min - short] Argentina

Fererico Heller - DIRECTOR

In the slums of the future, VR junkies satisfy their violent impulses in online entertainment.  An expert player discovers that the line between games and reality is starting to fade away.

   
Believe [9min - documentary] North Carolina

Cara Hagan - DIRECTOR

Few people are as passionate about their craft as Santa Cliff Snider. Believe is a peek into Santa Cliff's life and motivation for following his passion to an unlikely career. If you don't believe in Santa Claus already, Believe, will change your mind.

   
La Tierra Del Exodo [10min 52sec - short] California

Skinner Myers - WRITER, Director, PRODUCER
Obed, a Mexican street kid with hopes of making it to America, leads a recently kidnapped American teenager to the Mexico/United States

   
Another Everest [4min 28sec - student animation] North Carolina

Aleksandre Kosinski - WRITER, DIRECTOR

Gavin Lankford - WRITER

Zing Grem - WRITER

Justin Dunkle - WRITER

Edward Loupe - WRITER
A retired mountain climber attempts to summit a new challenge that his old age presents in this animated production from UNC School of the Arts.

   

Last Man Club [1hr 35min - feature] Texas
Linda Pandolph - EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Bo Brinkman - DIRECTOR

LAST MAN CLUB follows Captain John “Eagle Eye” Pennell, a WW2 veteran who has learned that his family is going to force him into a retirement home. That same day, he receives a letter from a former B-17 crew mate, reminding him of the pact they made to each other in 1944. That letter will send Eagle on a cross country trip to reunite his remaining crew and make good on the promise they made to each other decades before. Along the way, Eagle meets Romy, a sassy young woman on the run from the mob. After a rocky start, she joins forces with the boys, realizing she needs them as much as they need her. On the run from life, our heroes are determined to finish their quest at all costs. Last Man Club is a moving yet often light-hearted and touching story of true friendship. It is their story of honor and ultimately the bond between brothers-in-arms.

 

 
 
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