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A boy's dreams begin to blur with his reality. Contrasts, juxtapositions, and intuition play significant roles in this short film. A young man on the verge of adulthood experiences an ever-changing sense of reality. By night, he suffers nightmares populated by chilling figures who seem to have a substantive physical presence and who torment his sleep. During the day, he feels somewhat comforted by the soothing routine of his home life which includes the attentive care of his mother. Layers of his childlike understanding are loosened and stripped away leaving him reeling. He comes ever closer to a deeper and more clear engagement of the truth as he now is able to understand it through the lens of his emerging individuated self. He must choose to face the whole of who is and where he comes from in order to proceed on his path to transcendent manhood or shun the facets of the shadow he encounters and remain in a state of adolescent naivete. "As a child, I felt myself to be alone, and I am still, because I know things and must hint at things which others apparently know nothing of, and for the most part do not want to know." ~Carl Jung
Directed by:
Emma Keehan
Student/USA/2018/7 min
Screening
Student Shorts Block
Date
9/29/2019
Time
12:15 PM
A Hidden Life
Based on real events, A HIDDEN LIFE is the story of an unsung hero, Franz Jagerstatter, who refused to fight for the Nazis in World War II. When the Austrian peasant farmer is faced with the threat of execution for treason, it is his unwavering faith and his love for his wife Fani and children that keeps his spirit alive.
Directed by:
Terrence Malick
Drama/USA|Germany/2019/173 min
Screening
Special Presentation
Date
9/29/2019
Time
7:00 PM
Ad Meliora
Ad Meliora' (translation: Towards Better Things) is an experimental short film about the struggles girls go through growing up in a male dominated society.
Directed by:
Rebekah Burrows
Student/USA/2019/9 min
Screening
Student Shorts Block
Date
9/29/2019
Time
12:15 PM
Alone
Jessie travels to an isolated cabin to take his mind off a recent breakup.
Directed by:
Hannah Sobieski
Student/USA/2019/11 min
Screening
Student Shorts Block
Date
9/29/2019
Time
12:15 PM
Always Remember Me - Based On True Events
Grief's a party. A young woman confronts her past at her childhood best friends 7th birthday party. This is complicated, because her best friend has been dead for 18 years. Based on true events.
Directed by:
Nell Teare
Narrative/USA/2018/13 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 2
Date
9/29/2019
Time
2:40 PM
America
Frederik's attempts at creating the safest place possible, where he is protected by his lovely walls in a room filled with guns. A story of uNRAveling.
Directed by:
George ve Ganaeaard, Horia Cucuta
Short, Dark Comedy/Romania|USA/2019/2 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 5
Date
9/27/2019
Time
9:00 PM
Among Mountain Crags
A young woman flees her oppressive small town with a handsome stranger, but as they travel deeper into the untamed beauty of the Appalachian mountains, her hope for a new future begins to unravel.
Directed by:
Kyle Frederick
Narrative/USA/2019/70 min
Screening
Narrative Feature
Date
9/27/2019
Time
7:10 PM
Big Mouth Billy Bass
A woman is visited by a talking fish toy from the future with a warning of her impending doom.
Directed by:
Chris Dean
Narrative/USA/2018/11 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 5
Date
9/27/2019
Time
9:00 PM
Bird of Paradise
A queer geriatric nurse learns one of life hardest lessons when he falls in love with one of his elderly patients.
Directed by:
Alexander Zorn
Student/USA/2019/14 min
Screening
Student Shorts Block
Date
9/29/2019
Time
12:15 PM
Bliss
A brilliant painter facing the worst creative block of her life turns to anything she can to complete her masterpiece, spiraling into a hallucinatory hellscape of drugs, sex, and murder in the sleazy underbelly of Los Angeles.
Directed by:
Joe Begos
Horror/USA/2019/80 min
Screening
Charlotte Film Society Special Presentation
Date
9/28/2019
Time
10:45 PM
Blue & Gold Marching Machine
Follow along as 200 musicians and dancers celebrate the 100th year of the North Carolina A&T marching band from band camp to the "Greatest Homecoming on Earth"
Directed by:
Jay Capers
Documentary/USA/2019/18 min
Screening
Documentary Shorts Block 2
Date
9/28/2019
Time
4:00 PM
Book Week
Book Week is a shaggy dark comedy about a disgraced novelist turned English teacher trying to find redemption.
Directed by:
Heath Davis
Narrative/USA/2019/96 min
Screening
Narrative Feature
Date
9/28/2019
Time
12:00 PM
Border Crossing
A thriller based in the summer of 1989, the final year of communism in Eastern Europe, inspired by a childhood memory of crossing the border - not only between countries, but between the instinctive world of nature and the incomprehensible world of the adults.The story follows paths dictated by the little girl's attention going from the bees buzzing around, to the rising tension between her parents, to the frightening border guard pacing along the queue.As the heat rises and the atmosphere thickens, can the little girl melt the border guard's icy heart?"Border Crossing" premiered at Krakow Film Festival 2019 (National competition) and won Best Short Fiction Award at Biha? Avantura Film Festival 2019.
Directed by:
Agnieszka Chmura
Narrative/Poland/2019/15 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 2
Date
9/29/2019
Time
2:40 PM
Broken Places
BROKEN PLACES explores why some children are severely damaged by early adversity while others are able to thrive. By revisiting some of the abused and neglected children we profiled decades ago, we’re able to dramatically illustrate how early trauma shaped their lives as adults. BROKEN PLACES interweaves these longitudinal narratives with commentary from a few nationally renowned experts to help viewers better understand the devastating impact of childhood adversity as well as the inspiring characteristics of resilience.
Directed by:
Roger Weisberg
Documentary/USA/2018/55 min
Screening
Documentary Feature
Date
9/29/2019
Time
2:30 PM
Camilla, Keep Your Word
Camilla, Keep Your Word is a Hurricane Katrina evacuation love story.
Directed by:
Holland Gallagher
Narrative/USA/2019/16 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 4
Date
9/28/2019
Time
4:35 PM
Carry My Heart to the Yellow River
Taking her hospitalized friend's place on a bike tour to the Yellow River, a high school graduate travels to faraway Gannan and races the clock to share pictures of the journey.
Directed by:
Alexis Van Hurkman
Narrative/China/2019/21 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 1
Date
9/27/2019
Time
5:00 PM
Cells
When a reputable doctor finds himself being held captive by a group of masked intruders, he struggles to understand their motives while being forced to answer why billions of dollars go wasted each year in the name of medical research.
Directed by:
Raymond Wood
Narrative/USA/2018/12 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 3
Date
9/28/2019
Time
6:45 PM
Clemency
Years of carrying out death row executions have taken a toll on prison warden Bernadine Williams. As she prepares to execute another inmate, Bernadine must confront the psychological and emotional demons her job creates, ultimately connecting her to the man she is sanctioned to kill.
Directed by:
Chinonye Chukwu
Drama/USA/2019/113 min
Screening
Special Presentation
Date
9/25/2019
Time
7:30 PM
Department 666
A recently deceased man discovers that the afterlife isn't quite what he was expecting.
Directed by:
Adam York
Narrative/USA/2019/10 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 5
Date
9/27/2019
Time
9:00 PM
Dorris, 85
While trying to maintain composure and a sense of normalcy in a tough situation, Dorris Havemeyer struggles to keep up her spirits while celebrating a significant birthday.
Directed by:
Grace Philips
Narrative/USA/2019/12 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 4
Date
9/28/2019
Time
4:35 PM
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Dre
A young man's attempt to rob a local grocery store, results in the birth of an unusual friendship.
Directed by:
Victor Okoye
Narrative/Nigeria/2019/13 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 1
Date
9/27/2019
Time
5:00 PM
Ella
Ellen "Ella" Liddy Watson moved to Wyoming where she could vote, own property, and raise her own cattle.She married Jimmy Averell in secret so she could continue to own her own homestead.Jimmy helped her purchase her homestead, improve the property, purchase cattle and a cattle brand.Unfortunately, the two made enemies of local cattle baron A.J. Bothwell.Bothwell and his gang accused Ella of rustling cattle, kidnapped her and Jimmy, and lynched them.This is Ella's story.
Directed by:
Kerry Everett
Narrative/USA/2019/22 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 4
Date
9/28/2019
Time
4:35 PM
Every Time
Every Time is a romantic technicolor perspective, by love stricken Cassidy, on her relationship with a problematic lover. Her retrospect through poetry, the memories of fleeting joy and heartbreak display the challenges of young love.
Directed by:
Catrina Fielis
Student/USA/2018/8 min
Screening
Student Shorts Block
Date
9/29/2019
Time
12:15 PM
Fed Up
Three little girls seek revenge on the criminals who destroy their toys as they try to escape a bounty hunter.
Directed by:
Keema Mingo
Narrative/USA/2018/9 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 2
Date
9/29/2019
Time
2:40 PM
Fiddlin'
Fiddlin' is a foot-stomping celebration of true Americana and artistic expression. This hopeful, inspiring documentary shines a light on what is best about America. Filmed in the Appalachian Mountains at the World's Oldest Fiddler's Convention, Fiddlin' shows the uplifting and healing power of music. With multi-generations jamming together and kids holding instruments instead of phones, it truly feels like we have taken a step back in time.
Directed by:
Julie Simone
Documentary/USA/2018/92 min
Screening
Special Presentation
Date
9/26/2019
Time
7:30 PM
First Love
A young boxer and a call girl get caught up in a drug-smuggling scheme over the course of one night in Tokyo.
Directed by:
Takashi Miike
Crime, Action, Romance/Japan/2019/108 min
Screening
Special Presentation
Date
9/27/2019
Time
9:20 PM
Flicker
A young girl and her puritanical parents are wary of the evils outside their door, but it's what's inside that is truly terrifying.
Directed by:
Julia Barnett
Narrative/USA/2018/6 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 2
Date
9/29/2019
Time
2:40 PM
Float
In the ultra-competitive indoor sport of elite, stunningly-designed model airplanes, a wild-card newcomer threatens to knock a teammate off his world champion throne.
Directed by:
Phil Kibbe
Documentary/USA/2019/82 min
Screening
Documentary Feature
Date
9/29/2019
Time
4:00 PM
For A Better Life
Sold for $100 at the age of 5, Fekri suffers through years of abuse before his plight is discovered. After almost a year of hospitalization and therapy Fekri moves into a group home where he finds support, mentorship, and eventual forgiveness towards the family which sold him.
Directed by:
Yasmin Mistry
Documentary/USA/2018/10 min
Screening
Documentary Shorts Block 3
Date
9/29/2019
Time
12:30 PM
Frances Ferguson
A small town's reaction to scandal.
Directed by:
Bob Byington
Comedy/USA/2019/74 min
Screening
Special Presentation
Date
9/29/2019
Time
5:55 PM
Free
A Young plantation worker is secretly taught to read and write by his masters wife. Using only the air as their blackboard, this random act of kindness provided an education that paved the way from slavery to freedom.
Directed by:
Ben Hartley
Narrative/USA/2018/12 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 4
Date
9/28/2019
Time
4:35 PM
Gill
A headstrong scientist bickers with her only lifeline while test piloting a malfunctioning teleportation suit.
Directed by:
Kieran Moreira
Narrative/USA/2018/9 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 3
Date
9/28/2019
Time
6:45pm
Greener Grass
Suburban soccer moms find themselves constantly competing against each other in their personal lives as their kids settle their differences on the field.
Directed by:
Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe
Comedy/USA/2019/95 min
Screening
Special Presentation
Date
9/29/2019
Time
4:50 PM
Hope
Based on a true story.When a widow with mental illness attempts suicide, she survives only to find herself homeless and unable to reconnect with her son.After a year of living in a shelter with no hope of overcoming her situation, she has a chance encounter that changes her life.
Directed by:
Katie Damien
Narrative/USA/2018/15 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 1
Date
9/27/2019
Time
5:00 PM
Horse Girl
After she is betrayed by the creature she worships, a ten-year-old struggles to forget her past persona and overcome her fears.
Directed by:
Jack Campise
Student/USA/2019/11 min
Screening
Student Shorts Block
Date
9/29/2019
Time
12:15 PM
In Good Faith
Produced by Naka Productions, Inc., award winning video production company in Charlotte, NC, IN GOOD FAITH is a documentary that centers around the work of Dr. Orlan Svingen, professor of history at Washington State University (WSU), and his ongoing work with the Mixed Bands of Shoshone, Bannock and Sheepeater Indians at the Fort Hall reservation in Pocatello, Idaho.Through his decades of work with Indian tribes across the U.S., Dr. Svingen has developed strong relationships at Fort Hall and forged the creation of Indian history field schools that are conducted in Central Idaho and Southwestern Montana.Since 2010, Dr. Svingen and his students have researched The Virginia City Treaty of 1868, negotiated and signed almost 150 years ago by Chief Tendoy.It was signed, in good faith, by the US government and tribal members, but never ratified.Though never ratified, the US took all that was promised to them and, in return, granted the tribe an Executive Order reservation, a far cry from the terms of the treaty.Dr. Svingen, researching National Archives microfilm, found the "Holy Grail". It was the signed and sealed Cession Document that clearly laid out the parameters of the treaty and the boundaries of the lands the tribe gave up - over 12,000 square miles of territory in Wyoming and Montana.With these findings, the Mixed Bands have started the legal process to right the wrong and proceed IN GOOD FAITH.
Directed by:
Beverly Penninger, Alyson Young
Documentary/USA/2018/57 min
Screening
Documentary Feature
Date
9/28/2019
Time
1:55 PM
It's Not Funny
A young couple stops at a pharmacy to make a necessary "morning after" purchase... The only problem? They're still dressed as clowns from a Halloween party the night before.
Directed by:
Matt Lennon
Student/USA/2018/9 min
Screening
Student Shorts Block
Date
9/29/2019
Time
12:15 PM
Juskatla
Juskatla weaves together perspectives of the people who live on the islands of Haida Gwaii-an archipelago on Canada's Northwest coast, and the ancestral territories of the Haida Nation. From industrial loggers who harvest trees from ancient forests, to Sphenia Jones, a Haida matriarch who bears an intimate knowledge of her People's territories, Juskatla meditates on the divergent ways of being that shape the islands and its people.
Directed by:
Georg Koszulinski
Documentary/USA/2019/14 min
Screening
Screening with IN GOOD FAITH
Date
9/28/2019
Time
1:55 PM
Katie's Dog
On the eve of her wedding, Gerry and Patty's daughter Katie died in an accident, plunging their marriage into depression. Katie's grief-stricken fiance cared for Katie's dog. But after two years, he's moving to Chicago and can't take the dog. Gerry clings to the dog but Patty needs to move on.
Directed by:
Jim McQuaid
Narrative/USA/2018/17 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 6
Date
9/28/2019
Time
2:15 PM
Life Lakota
A glimpse into the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the challenges they face as a nation, a cultural enigma, and a piece of American heritage, too often forgotten.
Directed by:
​
Documentary/USA/2019/16 min
Screening
Screening with IN GOOD FAITH
Date
9/28/2019
Time
1:55 PM
Limbo
1600 years after his birth, Tearlach O'Rian works to save souls from Hell while battling his own demons.
Directed by:
Pat Dortch
Narrative/USA/2019/60min
Screening
Narrative Feature
Date
9/26/2019
Time
9:20 PM
Long Roads
In search of a cure for his fatal illness Mickey takes a cross country road trip with his best friend Natalie in hopes of gaining a medical miracle from an old Cherokee medicine man.
Directed by:
Ashleigh Chavis
Narrative/USA/2019/22 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 6
Date
9/28/2019
Time
2:15 PM
Maere
A sleep doctor unable to move in his bed knows the science behind sleep paralysis but the nightmare refuses to end.
Directed by:
Daniel Hamby
Narrative/USA/2019/10 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 3
Date
9/28/2019
Time
6:45 PM
Manhood
"Manhood" tells the story of OLIVIA, a little girl awaiting the arrival of her father on her tenth birthday. When DADDY arrives, he gives her a princess tiara and she nervously asks if he's going to hit her because she's turned ten. He laughs and says he only hit her brothers to turn them into men. Hearing the benefits of manhood, Olivia asks to be punched in the nose as well.In the basement, Daddy pretends to hit her and Olivia says if her brothers get to be men, so should she. Daddy finally reveals that he didn't actually hit any of her brothers: the entire ritual is fake.Unsatisfied, Olivia demands to be really hit. She begins punching her father and, trying to protect himself, Daddy accidentally hits her in the nose. She falls, the tiara breaking. Daddy apologizes but Olivia doesn't hear him as she ascends the stairs with a bloody nose. She puts the unbroken tiara on her head and smiles. She is the man.
Directed by:
Rodney Stringfellow
Narrative/USA/2018/12 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 2
Date
9/29/2019
Time
2:40 PM
Martin Hill: Camera Man
Martin Hill: Camera Man is the story of an unlikely curator of iconic Hollywood film cameras. For over 40 years, Martin collected cast-off film equipment from the big motion picture studios. He was a savvy broker/dealer/hoarder of Hollywood's antiquated film production gear and discarded scrap. Martin trucked his "treasures" back east from Hollywood and stored everything in a leaking, dilapidated, former bowling alley in his back yard in Midland, North Carolina.There are no collections in the world that rivals Martin's cinematic treasures. Cameras that lensed iconic movies such as, The Ten Commandments, The Grapes of Wrath, Gone With the Wind, Rocky, Lawrence of Arabia, Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey and countless other Academy Award winning features are crammed into Martin's leaking, building.His most prized possession is Charlie Chaplin's personal camera, purchased by Chaplin in 1917. It's a 35mm Bolex that framed Hollywood's earliest films, including The Gold Rush and The Kid.Director / Producer, Joanne Hock and Editor/cinematographer John Disher embarked on a ten-year journey with Martin, documenting and telling this story of passion and preservation, obsession and compulsion, unmet expectations, sacrifice and disappointment as Martin Hill took on the task of being the sole guardian of this magnificent Hollywood Camera collection.
Directed by:
Joanne Hock
Documentary/USA/2019/30 min
Screening
Documentary Shorts Block 1
Date
9/25/2019
Time
7:45 PM
Meow
This is a story about a dog, who thinks he is a cat, meets a real dog for the first time.
Directed by:
Yu Shu Grace Wang
Student/USA/2018/3 min
Screening
Student Shorts Block
Date
9/29/2019
Time
12:15 PM
Mike
Mike is an intellectually challenged man in his mid-50's, working for his only friend, Donald. When one dream propels Mike onto a course of adventure and splendor along the path of life, the dream mission turns out to be not as simple as it might have seemed. It's a tale about finding yourself while experiencing the moment. One dream. One Journey.
Directed by:
Kent Smith
Narrative/USA/2019/31 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 6
Date
9/28/2019
Time
2:15 PM
Murder in Mobile
In 1948, in Mobile, Alabama, a black man named Rayfield Davis is beaten to death by a white man who is not prosecuted. The crime is forgotten until 2012, when the investigation is revived by a Northeastern law student. Her discoveries lead to a shocking conclusion.Murder in Mobile is a film about race, murder, and one family's search for the truth 70 years later.
Directed by:
Adam Fischer
Documentary/USA/2019/24 min
Screening
Documentary Shorts Block 3
Date
9/29/2019
Time
12:30 PM
My Father's Brothers
Outnumbered 10-to-1 in the Vietnam jungle, an army platoon is savagely attacked while they wait for reinforcements. 50 years later, survivors tell their story of tragedy, resourcefulness and heroism. Some volunteered for the army as teenagers. Others were drafted. Some went back to Vietnam years later in hopes of finding closure. All share a bond that cannot be broken.
Directed by:
Shawn Kelley
Documentary/USA/2019/74 min
Screening
Documentary Feature
Date
9/28/2019
Time
6:10 PM
My Grandson, Charlotte
A transgender teen and his immigrant granddad; a Sapeur from the Congo, bond over their shared understanding of the importance of identity and of always being true to one's self.
Directed by:
Tyler Pierreson
Narrative/United Kingdom/2019/14 min
Screening
Narrative Shorts Block 1
Date
9/27/2019
Time
5:00 PM
Nimic
A professional cellist has an encounter with a stranger on the subway which has unexpected and far-reaching ramifications on his life.
Directed by:
Yorges Lanthimos
Short, Drama/Germany|USA/2019/12 min
Screening
Screening with PARASITE
Date
9/29/2019
Time
7:30 PM
On The Clock
When Sofia gets her first period, Lucas sets out to secure the feminine products she needs, confronting many harsh realities along the way. 'On the Clock' is a kinetic and intimate portrayal of two siblings coming of age in EAST LA.
Directed by:
Tayo Amos
Student/USA/2018/15 min
Screening
Student Shorts Block
Date
9/29/2019
Time
12:15 PM
Our Ingredients: Corn
Food is a unifying force across our communities. In this short film, we share the stories of three Latinos - each from a different country but now living in the same American city - who come together to shareflavors of their homeland, all of which include one central ingredient.
Directed by:
Cesar Rodriguez
Documentary/USA/2019/8 min
Screening
Documentary Shorts Block 1
Date
9/25/2019
Time
7:45 PM