Hot Films in the Making

A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, Sharka, a scrappy expressionistic painter, finds respite from the isolation of her small apartment on a park bench, where she stations herself to paint. When Bridget, a self-possessed lone traveler encroaches and sits down next to her, angry sparks fly until the two find unexpected common ground. Based on a play by John Patrick Shanley and directed by filmmaker Tara Young.

Aloo Poori follows the story of a mother and daughter during their last day of living together in a small town in Western Pennsylvania. 27-year-old Sejal is on the cusp of leaving her home and mother behind, unsure if she’s scared to go, or scared to stay. Her mother Madhuri is avoiding a recent mental health diagnosis and her daughter’s departure by throwing her heart into her cooking.

The two have never had to function without each other, and on the eve of Sejal’s departure, they realize they might not know how to. A comfort food dinner shared by the family, and an argument over the making of ‘aloo poori’ test what forgiveness and farewell mean to this household.

A short documentary exploring the diverse human perspective on aging, Over the Years invites the audience on an introspective journey, challenging conventional notions and hoping to inspire a positive shift in how society views the aging process.

In a prison cell, five women accused of witchcraft unite to defy their tragic fate, forging an unbreakable community for solace and strength.

Martha, a single mother, must come to terms with her daughter, Olivia, growing up as they spend time together before she leaves for college.

A machine known as a Food Synthesizer can create any meal, no matter the rarity, in a few minutes at the press of a button. A once-renowned food critic discovers a forgotten, highly exotic dish that cannot be synthesized, and in their hedonistic desire to consume it, distorts the last natural meal in existence.

A young man finds love and danger within the conversion therapy program he’s conscripted into.

“Wild Horses at the Door” is a short documentary about John Wayne Smith whose past struggles with homelessness and alcoholism led him to find refuge on a remote Colorado mesa where he gains purpose caring for wild horses.

In the 1950’s, when the American Dream was being built with cookie cutter architecture, a revolutionary countermovement emerged from an unlikely place. Architect Lila Cohen looks at the groundbreaking organic architecture that bloomed out of Oklahoma by exploring the complicated legacy of her great-uncle, Herb Greene, from his Jewish upbringing in depression-era New York to becoming a trailblazer in the heart of the USA under a changed name.

An autistic teenager with dwarfism is hidden away from an unforgiving world by his superficial mother but he discovers that his talent for drawing can set him free.

Withdrawn teenager Hannah invents a transceiver that allows her to communicate across space and time. She receives transmission from Sahas, a survivor of a post-apocalyptic world devastated by a human-engineered virus. He asks her to help him prevent the catastrophe. Despite objections and interference from the people around her, Hannah believes in Sahas and sets out to help him locate Dr. O, the mastermind behind the viral pandemic. Every day that brings them closer to Dr. O, brings them closer to each other. With the help of Sahas’s knowledge of the future, Hannah navigates the present-day world, in a race against time to save humanity.

When a tempestuous moment fractures his loving relationship with Jess, Griff’s world becomes a puzzle of lost connections and unraveling memories. ‘A Place For Lost Things’ ushers us into the shadowy and disorienting corridors of shame, self-recrimination, and buried memories. Set within a ‘skewed reality,’ where the passage of time is ambiguous, our narrative revolves around Griff’s untempered rumination in self-imposed exile. Probing the past, a shaken sanity, and the core of his identity.

A whale a submarine and the sound in between will be a
short stop motion animation film which is based
on true events (10-15 minutes). It tells the story of a conflict
between homeland security and the protection of the Deep
Sea eco system. We dive deep with the Cuvier’s beaked
whales to discover their home. It seems to
be a regular night in the deep. However, as the whales start
to surface, they encounter a massive sound wave (an active
sonar pulse) which comes from a military anti-submarine
training. This night changes the course of these whales and
their entire ecosystem.

Tomás has auditioned for the last five years to become the broadcaster for the Brooklyn Cyclones baseball team. On the day of the results, Tomás struggles with past rejections and the opinions of coworkers that completely shatter his sense of self.

“your love: behind me” explores the dichotomy of love being in our past and supporting our steps forward. This new film work challenges the stigma around grief by giving audiences a moment to be present with their personal experiences of loss.

Painting in Darkness tells two parallel stories: that of the brilliant and eccentric painter Albert Pinkham Ryder, as well as the coming of the modern art uprising to New York City in 1913 at the controversial Armory Show. Ryder’s journey through the film takes him to the intellectual cafés of New York City, to homeless encampments, to a snow-encrusted racetrack, and to the mansions of wealthy patrons.

The film is an animated feature and we have assembled a diverse and multi-talented international team of animators and voice actors who work in a wide variety of styles: hand-drawn animation, stop-motion, claymation, and painted frames to share the power of art to make real change.

Barry Martin was an African-American dancer who was injured in a car accident in South Africa while on tour in 1983. Because of the Apartheid system of institutional segregation at that time, he was denied immediate medical care which caused him to become a quadriplegic. After two years of rehabilitation Barry received a Masters Degree from NYU and started his own dance company in New York City that he called “Deja Vu”. He also choreographed for The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. We followed Barry’s journey for 10 years and are bringing his story to the forefront now to preserve his legacy and inspire others to rise above their perceived limitations and thrive.

ECHOES explores the relationship between Darcy and Jake over a decade in Los Angeles as the dreamscape of their early romance mutates into addiction and obsession, fracturing their love and forcing them to make life changing decisions.

Aaron is an accountant who lives with his wizard roommate, Jasper. Jasper often gets the two of them roped up in magical shenanigans. In this sitcom-like story, Aaron returns home from a long day at work to discover that Jasper has summoned something by accident, and the two must keep this new monstrosity a secret from Aaron’s girlfriend, Jessica, as she arrives for a surprise visit.

A young woman comes home from rehab in hopes to reconnect with her childhood best friend, only to find that they have tragically outgrown one another.

Unveiling the Bystander Story
Beyond Silence

An anthology series united in theme/subject rather than character and plot.

Every day there are murders, rapes, assaults and accidents. Eye witnesses or those within earshot and other bystanders are increasingly apathetic.

Each episode portrays a different incident with different characters inspired by actual events.

The journalist appears throughout as the voice of reason, asking the important questions.

After growing sick of their brutal routine at the car crash test facility, one night, two Crash Test Dummies decide to take matters into their own hands, coming to life to torment the night shift security guard.

After a 2020 skiing accident left student-athlete Devon Corbett with a brain injury, his parents, family and friends celebrate his accomplishments, endure heartbreaking setbacks, and strive off of the kindness of strangers and they fight to get Devon back to normal.

A widow refrigerates her husband’s body so she and her children embark on a quest to find a new plot after their original burial site receives a generous offer from a foreign real estate developer.

Free Play is a documentary highlighting how a mother’s perseverance in the face of adversity led to the creation of Middle Tennessee’s largest all inclusive playground. In a way to pay tribute to her late daughter Tabitha, Karen West spearheaded the creation of the Gallatin Miracle park. The park has several features that cater specifically to children with physical and mental disabilities. As Karen describes, these interactions lead to long lasting friendships between children of all abilities. The physical exercise that these children receive from the playground translates into other aspects of their life as they gain a sense of independence and freedom.

Incredible and unconventional stories of love from around the world that redefine romance, family and connection; based in science.

A joyride through silent-film era Hollywood, whose center of gravity is a rising, 24 year-old starlet whose violent death clips the rose of her silver-screen dream. One hundred years later her grandsons embark on a 20-year journey to share her story!

Women and families with diverse perspectives courageously share stories of pregnancy loss to clarify misinformation, shine a light on healthcare challenges, examine our emotional attachment to “terms,” and inspire empathy toward the one in four who experience reproductive issues.

“Choose You” is an intimate romantic short film about a Bengali Indian-American outlier who must introduce her Bengali girlfriend to her parents to fit into her family, despite having latent feelings for her American best friend.

After an inquisitive young girl is told that her recently deceased dad is now an ancestor spirit that she can feel whenever she needs, she tries to find his spirit before her first day of kindergarten.

After finding out that his family has been kidnapped by an underground street sorcerer, a young and unrealized clairvoyant boy must embark on a journey of self discovery in the magic arts to save his family and take down the shadow king. Think Straight Outta Compton meets Lovecraft Country, following the coming of age adventures of those similar to Harry Potter. Ominous, edgy & suspenseful with occasional comedic relief embedded in the racial & socioeconomic undertones of South Los Angeles.

In New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz and home to dozens of brass bands, teen tuba prodigy Mackyrin “Tubadu” Holmes knows he can be truly great. He and his ailing mother Celeste launch his career as the city’s youngest band leader. Despite hardship, trauma and violence, young Tubadu takes on the legacy of band leadership in a city where that title means stepping up for the community. But Celeste’s health is failing as her organs begin to shut down. With whatever time they have left together, they fight for Tubadu’s dream with an astonishing sense of joy, working to record an album that will put him on his path to greatness.

A new documentary that follows a multigenerational group of inspiring women leaders in Belize striving to protect the world’s second largest coral reef system and associated livelihoods.

A refugee (Muhammad Ali) risks his life to help take down a drug lord (Colt White) who’s terrorizing his new home in North-Side Pittsburgh.

Lovers who want togetherness and love, they show love can cross the borders on the Turkish and Syrian border lovers do not care about any danger on the borders.

As vampiric hedge funds suck up and devour local newspapers across the country, a group of Baltimore journalists, backed by a billionaire philanthropist, band together to save local journalism in their city.

A queer climate comedy about two commercial actors who land a gig filming a series of political ads for a not-so-local energy company. In between shoots at the studio, where they learn how to pronounce “Puget Sound” and extol the benefits of cooking with natural gas, they struggle to break out into new roles in their personal lives.

A young caregiver clashes with an elderly widow over her hoarding tendencies.

Fred, a lonely ghost, haunts a small village in Downeast Maine, visible only to her long-lost twin Jesse who moved away when they were children. When Jesse returns, they struggle to reconnect as past resentments and breakdowns in communication are exacerbated by Fred moving through time. Eventually, they begin to process their shared trauma and accept their bond as siblings.

After becoming hypnotized by her microwave Dani is driven to satiate its hunger. When it becomes apparent what the appliance craves we find out just how far she’ll go in order to feed the machine.

Everyone’s machine is different; it’s that drive, that motivation to attain our goals. Depending on who you are, you’ll give the machine different things as you strive to learn what it wants from you. In the end what it wants is your body and your time and will take all that you’re willing to give it. Through Dani’s small encounter we see a literal interpretation of this idea told with the touch of dark humor that only a hypnotic microwave can bring.

A young female immigrant battles interviewers and her own self doubt as she searches for a job after receiving her work authorization card.

In the wake of his best friend’s death, Hank must come to terms with his social environment, navigating the morally dubious waters of guilt and narcissism that go hand in hand with grief in the modern age.

A man convicted of manslaughter, confronts a heartless world upon his release from prison where disownment, stalkers & conspiracy lie in wait.

A married couple’s celebratory date night is derailed when the wife let’s the wrong name slip out during sex – her husband’s dead name. For him, hearing this name stirs up unresolved tensions about the couple’s past and the choices they made along the way to stay together.

As she prepares to end her nomad life and return home, a middle-aged immigrant woman who has run away from home for months is thrown off course when she encounters an underage escort stranded in a remote town.

“Maya & Lydia” follows two teenage girls who must confront their contrasting relationships with their bodies when they attend the popular girl’s pool party —
the one place where they can’t use their clothes to hide.

When a Nigerian-American teenager returns to Nigeria for a family funeral, her mourning is interrupted when she suspects she’s being followed.

Mmanwu, Igbo for masquerade, is a 2D-animated short film set in modern day Nigeria. It mixes magical realism and horror/thriller to explore themes of grief, spirituality and cross-cultural understanding.

A man’s suspicions about his wife’s infidelity reach a horrifying climax.

In a sleepy Texas town, a girl group formed in their parents’ garage. In order to find the perfect band name, the girls consulted a Spirit Board. They got a bitchin’ name, Daughters of Evil, but they also got possessed. Beleth, a king of Hell, sent his minions to distort the band’s style and songs. Suddenly, the band started to receive attention for their macabre flair and they enjoyed modest popularity on local radio and television. After a rather gruesome incident on the music show “Sulphur Scene,” Beleth and the Daughters of Evil returned to Hell. Decades later, a YouTuber accidentally summons the band back to the land of the living by playing their album backwards.

An idyllic, weekend mixed doubles match devolves when the players find themselves stuck in deuce for what feels like an eternity. This fast-paced, comedic short by creator and writer Shelby Slauer explores human nature and the ways in which sports bring out our worst (and best).

Set in the year 2014, Outside The Lines is a modern-day Romeo and Juliet story that tackles racial tension between Blacks and Hispanics in Boyle Heights , when the family of a Latin girl finds out she’s dating a Black boy.

A young woman struggling to overcome her fear of flight finds courage from her father’s former flight instructor.

Logline: “Agape” explores the enchanting and tender connection between Kiro, a young dreamer, and Umi, a girl who exists solely within his dreams.

Description: “Agape” is a dialogue-driven short film that explores the connection between Kiro and Umi as they plane watch from an airport parking lot. Umi feels trapped, longing to explore the world beyond her reach, while Kiro desires to experience more in life. As they bond over laughter and vulnerability, they discover a shared history that transcends time and reality.

Born in Korea without legs, a Korean-American artist and athlete finds the courage to search for the truth surrounding his birth and abandonment at 2 weeks old.

In a Queens apartment in 1982, a recently immigrated Iranian couple must balance their political activism in their home country with the struggles of making a new life in New York. 40 years later, in the same apartment, their granddaughter finds herself in a period of uncertainty when she loses a job and a roommate in the same week.

Tara and Julia go on a trip to the dessert because Tara robbed money from a bad guy, but Julia, her girlfriend, doesn’t know it. They meet the Hechicero (the Sorcerer, a nickname). When Julia finds out about the robbery, she breaks ties with Tara, and the Hechicero invites her to stay with him. When the bad guy she robbed arrives there, looking for her after torturing her best friend, the Hechicero helps her save that friend who has no blame.

A repressed tough guy’s desire to get in touch with his feelings at a self-help seminar is put to the test when he encounters an unexpected adversary in the form of a mysterious bathroom sink. THE FAUCET is a twisted and uplifting comedy short about love, fear, and good hygiene, from the acclaimed team of writer Steve Young (LETTERMAN, THE SIMPSONS) and Tribeca & WGA Award-winning director Dava Whisenant (BATHTUBS OVER BROADWAY).

A support group in Southern California provides comfort and community for people who have been abducted by aliens. Their collective experiences challenge conventional realities as they seek to comprehend the incomprehensible.

THE BOMB WITH NO NAME’ is about gullibility, about how unprotected we are when things go wrong. Especially when it comes to bombs. We rely on formal bodies to be there for us – but often they’re not, as this film proves. Taking advantage of this openness, on the 25th of April 1994, a day before the first multi-racial election in South Africa, several large bombs exploded in many black townships across the nation’s capital city, killing almost 50, and injuring over 150. Thirty years after, the perpetrators are still not found, and putting the nation under pressure, operate confidently under the notion that they’re likely to get away with their gameplay and cause more havoc.

Keeping oneself entertained will always be a lifelong pursuit, and while scholars and critics alike debate the merits of some of the more common forms of entertainment, perhaps none is more accessible or as overlooked as the coin-operated amusement.

From Pinball to Pac-Man, kiddy rides, sticker machines and everything in between, this feature-length documentary tells the story of those behind the machines, whose passion and hustle continues to help craft this unique American pastime… one quarter at a time.

A single father of Wasco/Samoan Origin must fight prejudice and create a community event in a bid to keep the tribal mustangs alive in the face of climate change.

When a young single mother’s baby is murdered by a close friend, she and her family struggle with each other and regret about the past before
they find peace through the sound of a beating heart.

After 20 years apart, a family shattered by the foster care and prison systems reunites to heal old wounds and rebuild their family, starting with finding their mom who is houseless in the streets of Sacramento.

Three trans women fight to overturn a law that prohibits people with felony convictions, like themselves, from legally changing their names. Tania Cordova, Eisha Love, and Reyna Ortiz are the outspoken advocates for HB2542, the Name Change Modernization Bill, which passed in January of 2023.

OUR GUYS is the story of five New England mothers who find each other in the early 1970s when they bring their babies with Down syndrome and autism home from the hospital to a landscape that has little to offer in terms of medical, social or educational support. Phone calls and mutual acquaintances connect these strangers, who have one thing in common: bucking their doctors’ advice to “put their kids away and forget about them.”

The founding members of The South Shore Mothers Group share stories from the past and invite us into their lives in the present. The images of their sons as they grow up juxtaposes with the real-time journey of their lives now as grown men.

Two individuals from vastly different backgrounds navigate the ups and downs of their tumultuous relationship in the diverse and vibrant neighborhood of Brooklyn, as they explore themes of love, loyalty, forgiveness, and the complexities of modern-day relationships, interwoven with relatable supporting characters who mirror the trials and triumphs experienced by millennials everywhere.

After years of harboring guilt about her younger sisters disappearance from Russia, a young girl comes to Tokyo in hopes of finding out what happened to her. Ultimately she gets pulled into the same underground world that consumed her sister, and is forced to not just find her way out, but to find her peace along the way.

BOMB WITH NO NAME’ is about gullibility, and how unprotected we are when things go wrong. Especially when it comes to bombs. We rely on formal bodies to be there for us – but often they’re not, as this film proves. Taking advantage of this openness, on the 25th. April 1994, a day before the first multi-racial election that resulted in the first elected Black president of South Africa, several large bombs exploded in many townships across the nation’s capital city of Pretoria. Thirty years after, the nation is still afraid to talk about the dreadful incidents. The perpetrators of the bombs have since locked themselves away, and operate confidently under the notion that the system is corrupt.

Uncovering the dark and heartbreaking reality of human trafficking of young males, #BoysToo is an eye-opening documentary that challenges the misconceptions about who can be a victim of this heinous crime with a powerful and nuanced look at the struggles of young boys and men who have fallen prey to this injustice, the film highlights the shocking inadequacy of services currently available for these victims with a vital exploration into the all too often-overlooked aspect of human trafficking.

When her grandfather loses his voice and vocal cords to cancer, filmmaker Gabriella Canal captures the personal journey before and after his procedure, revealing a portrait of grief and resilience as her family’s patriarch loses what once defined him.

A group of young people spend a nice weekend at their best friend’s house for her birthday, a deadly virus forces the young people are forced to stay locked up,causing them stress and mental health problems. One of them discovers a strange and immense cloud dominating the sky. The young people try to understand if there is a link between the cloud and the deadly virus.This story is inspired by a real-life phenomenon, a cloud shaped like a mother
ship with a yellow light in its center, appeared in the city of Cartagena de
Indias, Colombia in 2015, made international news, and covered the media
and networks.

The Queen of Junkanno Angelique McKay and The Genesis Warhawks navigate Junkanoo for the first time in 2 years as the culture and history of The Bahamas, as well as its connections to the African Diaspora are explored. The second in a series of love letters to Black people living in the diaspora, Who in Da Mornin’ takes us to the Bahamas where Junkanoo, a celebration based on West African culture, is the highlight of every Boxing Day and New Year’s Day celebration. Through artful storytelling, interviews, and cinema verité, the audience embarks on a discovery of the warrior Jan Kwaw, uncovering the origins of the Bahamian identity and its connections to the African Diaspora.