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Okotoks Film Festival

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About the Okotoks Film Society

Originally established in March 2016 as the Okotoks Film Festival Society, the Okotoks Film Society changed their name in July 2018 to better represent the increasing scope of their goals and community involvement.

The Society is a group of board directors with the goal of making Okotoks and the surrounding area a viable and attractive place for film creation. They work to educate and connect local filmmakers while providing opportunity for filmmakers and the public alike to take an active part in film culture.

The Okotoks Film Society is also the home of the Okotoks Film Festival and partners with the Okotoks Cinemas to create meaningful film experiences.

Pushing for innovation in both filmmaking and in film watching the Okotoks Film Society is here to answer questions and provide programing to encourage professional development.

The Society believes that individuals should not face judgment or prejudice based on their race, sexual orientation, ability, gender, religion, age, nationality, language, or identity. Read or download our full Inclusion Policy here.

About the Okotoks Film Festival

The Festival is an annual international film festival offering programming for all ages including a variety of film screenings, workshops, and galas. This international professional festival is a joy for audience and filmmakers alike. During the Festival we also include networking opportunities for filmmakers and a 48-hour filmmaking competition, an audience favorite.

Thanks to all our sponsors, donors, Telefilm, and the Community Initiatives Program Grant from the Government of Alberta that fund our Festival and keep us running!


Festival Staff

Katie Fournell

Festival Director: Katie Fournell

Katie is our bouncy, fun-loving face of the festival. Katie is a filmmaker herself with a few films under her belt, such as “I Got You a Balloon” and “Be the Hero”. An avid film lover, she was really into the festival scene in Edmonton. When she moved to Okotoks and realized we didn't already have a festival in place she knew she was going to have to do something about that.

Questions about what the festival is? Want to Sponsor or Donate? Have a film you want to know how to submit? E-mail Katie:

Board of Directors

President – Brendan Rose
Vice-President – Alysha Duke
Secretary – Claire Hoyer
Treasurer – Brian Fea
Director – Scott Lepp
Director – Cassandra Thorbjornsen
Director – Callum Leblanc

Programmers

Katie Fournell

Ashley White

Tony Igeb

Lead Volunteers

General Manager - Anne-Marie Cotton
Application Manager - Karen Brown Fournell
Tech Assistant - Callum Leblanc
Tech Assistant - Brienna Ball

Interested in volunteering? Contact us!

Filmmaker testimonials

We had a great time being part of this festival with our doc, Sensei! The organizers were enthusiastic and fun and there were lots of options for getting involved. Thank you to the OFF for putting on such a great festival!
- Jill Roberts, 2022

Excellent festival - great communication and very nice people. Also very respectful to filmmakers.
- Jenna Bailey, 2022

This festival delivers what filmmakers expect to see from a festival. The organizing committee did a great job of offering, not only screening of the selected films, but they had networking opportunities for filmmakers to connect with each other virtually. Screening fees for selected films are also a bonus. As of this year, you can even add your nominations and awards on IMDb. This is a festival you want to be a part of.
- Darrell Portz, 2021

"Was a pleasure to show our film "Finch" at the Okotoks Film Festival. Their board, directors and team were a pleasure to work with throughout the entire process. Great film selections and such a kind team. Keep up the good work!"
- Andrew, Vek Labs, 2020 - Finch

"The team at Okotoks are so welcoming, kind, and hard working - a group of super stars for sure! They put together some valuable panel talks, and provided filmmakers with multiple networking opportunities. The Q&A's after the screenings allowed filmmakers to connect with audiences, and Katie asked some really insightful questions. I will definitely submit to this festival again, and look forward to returning one day!"
– Julia Beney, 2019 – A Girl, A Boy, A Penny and a Very, Very, Very Long Road

"What a great festival! Very filmmaker focused, with lots of opportunities to network with other filmmakers (filmmaker brunch, podcast panel, Q&A, closing party, etc). The fest was incredibly well organized (which you can't say about a lot of others out there). Communication was great with Katie and her team. They were on the ball every step of the way and never left us in the dark, or an email unanswered. And they do cash prizes! That's not something you see at a lot of festivals these days, but it can really go a long way to helping out up-and-coming filmmakers. Seriously awesome little festival. We had a great time and we hope to be back again someday!"
- Aaron Kurmey, 2018 - Thousand Yard Stare

Past Festivals

2022 Festival

This year featured a great mix of in person screenings, on-demand content online, a special celebration of German films, and even a couple VR films in the theater lobby!

2022 Award Winners

Best Picture

Time To Vote

Santiago Requejo Lopez-Mateos

Best Animation

Almost Unreal

Eve de Montbrial, Léa Vasselle-Bossy, Margaux Kempff, Grégoire Deranville, Ambre Jacques, Eléonore Chaumont, Alexis Descamps

Audience Choice

The Handyman

Director: Nicholas Clifford

Documentary

One Seven Nine

Sam Bechtel, Alexa Gilker, Erik Johnson, Jessica Janzen Olstad, and Cody Giles

Best Screenplay

Bad News

Santiago Cardelús Ruiz-Alberdi, Pablo Manchado Cascón

Best Editing

CATARINA

Denis Camelin

Best Art Direction

Cuckoo!

Lotte Loos

Best Cinematography

Golden Minutes

Vytautas Katkus

Best Performance

The Handyman

Alison Whyte

Visual Effects

Shark

Paul Katte + Vick Nicolaou Make Up Effects Group, Studio Blackbird, and Double Barrel

Best Overall Sound

Hunger

Lex Ortega, Lex Ortega

2022 Feature Films

One Seven Nine

Okotoks, Alberta

Director: Sam Bechtel
Nomination: Best Documentary

With only 179 days, a child with a rare genetic disease inspired a community to choose joy and movement in times of adversity.

This project follows the legacy of a child named Lewiston who had a rare disorder called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). He lived only a short 179 days and yet in that time managed to inspire a community to spread joy and choose movement in the face of adversity.

SWEET DISASTER

Germany

Director: Laura Lehmus
Nomination: Best Editing, Best Art Direction

A late-in-the-game pregnancy and the sudden ending of a relationship are not necessarily catastrophic by themselves. Combine the two, and it is like throwing fire accelerant on charcoal.

Frida unexpectedly falls pregnant and Felix, the father of her child, breaks up with her to re-unite with his ex. Although some serious health problems caused by the late pregnancy force Frida to rest, she still tries to get Felix back, using methods which are absurd, exaggerated and sometimes hilarious.

Abducted

Edmonton, Alberta

Director: Daniel Foreman

At the heart of our story is 17-year-old Derrick, a young man whose character arc begins with a boy who is fully dependent on his grandmother and his sister. Derrick's sister, Lakota, is living an at-risk lifestyle dealing drugs for an all-woman gang. When she suddenly disappears, Derrick sets out to find her. Along the way, he faces racism, police brutality and his own lack of confidence. With guidance from his spirit animal, he is able to continue his journey with renewed strength and resolve, eventually facing his sister's abductor in a thrilling fight to the death.

Jim Button and the Wild 13

Germany

Director: Dennis Gansel

New FAMILY adventures await Jim Button and Lukas the engine driver!

After the two friends have defeated the dragon Frau Mahlzahn, the pirate gang “The Wild 13” seeks revenge. With their steam locomotives Emma and Molly, the Friends embark on a dangerous journey, on which Jim's most sensitive wish could come true: he finally wants to bring the truth about his mysterious origin to light.

After winning Audience Choice with “Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver” at the 2020 Okotoks Film Festival, this adventurous team is back in an all new adventure that will be fun for fans and new comers to the Jim Button story alike.


Country Highlight: Germany

Reise nach Nirgendwo

Germany

Director: Thomas Scherer

After a funeral, the lorry driver, Bernhard, returns to his vehicle to find a young woman asking him for a ride. This is the start of a journey that takes him further than he could have imagined.

Interstate 8

Germany

Director: Anne Thieme

In the southern United States, two young women meet by chance in the back of a police car and, without saying a word, experience the injustice hovering above them.

Endless Pain

Germany

Director: Natalie Lehnart

A life with endometriosis is plagued with pain and the incomprehension of others.

Julie tells the story about her fight with the disease, that she has had to fight since her childhood.Her painful memories are accompanied by animated scenes of her experiences.

CTRL_R

Germany

Director: Maria Kobzeva

CTRL_R is an interdisciplinary dance film at the intersection of technology, dance, film, and site-specific performance that explores the relationship between humans and (surveillance) technologies.

Searching for the Perfect Gentleman (Sub Eng)

Germany

Director: Lena Windisch

A story about research, trust, persistence and the boundaries between originality and reproduction in a world where everything can be easily remixed and reprinted.

THE THIRD KING

Germany

Director: CHRISTOPH OLIVER STRUNCK
Nomination: Best Art Direction

The coldest German winter of World War II. African-American private Jamar gets lost behind the enemy frontline. When he takes shelter in a cabin deep in the forest he struggles in an uncertain path with fateful encounters for heading home again.


General Reels

Memory Makers

Canada

Director: Mark Pagliaroli
Nomination: Best Animation

A ragtag group of cameras try to escape their owner's apartment before they are thrown away.

CUCKOO!

Netherlands

Director: JÖRGEN SCHOLTENS
Nomination: Best Art Direction

Absurd comedy about a lonely man who lives inside a cuckoo clock. Every hour he straps himself into his ejection seat and shoots through the doors of the clock. "Cuckoo!" He yells, "Cuckoo!" His work is of vital importance.

Work it Class!

Spain

Director: Pol Diggler
Nomination: Best Overall Sound

During a fancy New Year's Eve party, two dancers will try to mock the upper class audience by changing the song of their performance.

The Best Orchestra in the World

Austria

Director: Henning Backhaus
Nomination: Best Overall Sound

Ingbert, the sock, applies for a position as double bass player at the Vienna State Orchestra. Bad idea.

SWÄN SØNG

Norway

Director: Daniel Christophersen

After Scandinavians Amanda and Eva accidentally run over a swan on a business trip to Wales, the threat of being trialled for treason exposes the true trust, loyalty and friendship of two best friends about to become business partners.

THE YELLOW DRESS

Ireland

Director: DEBORAH GRIMES

To help her mother regain her joie de vivre after breast cancer and to cushion the blow of her father's news, Aisling, 14, sets her up on what she hopes will be the perfect date but when the date shows up with his teenage son in tow, things take an unexpected turn.

All the Days of Summer are Sad

Spain

Director: Estefania Ortiz

Adrià is a 12-year-old boy who, together with his three friends from school, Pol, Eric and Carlota, is enjoying his last summer before starting high school. Every day is a new adventure for him.

Rerouted

Canada

Director: Kelsey Andries, Noah Fallis

Rerouted is a quarantine story about necessities. We all have them and will go to great measures to fulfill them.

A regular nice guy father named Charlie takes on a grocery delivery job to provide for his family. Diligently following COVID-19 safety protocol, Charlie is motivated to do his best and keep everyone he encounters safe. Thinking his exhausting day is over, he discovers a missed delivery and must pull up his socks, go on an adventure and deliver the most obscure package to the most obscure place. A COVID-19 pandemic inspired story with a cross cultural twist. Since we ALL know an Aussie or two.

Go! Capitaine

France

Director: Pierre-Loup Docteur

Laura and her son Max, a mature and lonely teenager, have found it difficult to understand each other since they moved. When Max crosses paths with Jo, a clumsy adventurer in an old-fashioned diving suit, it's a chance for him to escape his daily routine for a brief moment.

The Guardian | The Orbs' Archive

Canada

Director: Aaron Glanfield
Nomination: Best Special and Visual Effects

Follows the adventures of Raddix and Emma in a post apocalyptic world. Raddix is bent on restoring what is known as "the Order of the Orbs", and bringing about peace and stability throughout the region. The legendary "Archives" is known to contain the mysteries of the magics that exist on the world, and is rumored to contain the answers that Raddix seeks.

Pain

New Zeland

Director: Anna Rose Duckworth

A young girl has an earth-shattering realisation that her father is not invincible, after a cricket accident exposes his vulnerability.

Almost Unreal

France

Director: Eve de Montbrial, Léa Vasselle-Bossy, Margaux Kempff, Grégoire Deranville, Ambre Jacques, Eléonore Chaumont, Alexis Descamps
Nomination: Best Animation

Obsessed with the loss of his sister, an old janitor creates a magical world through collage, hoping to bring her back. But when he thinks he has found her, his perfect world falls apart...

WHITE EYE

Israel

Director: TOMER SHUSHAN
Nomination: Best Picture and Best Cinematography

A man finds his stolen bicycle and it now belongs to a stranger. In his attempts to retrieve the bicycle, he struggles to remain human.

The Handyman

Australia

Director: Nicholas Clifford
Nomination: Best Picture and Best Performance

Alone at her country estate, Evelyn attempts to end her life but is interrupted by the arrival of an awkward but endearing handyman. Evelyn’s desire to make him leave collides with his need of a job and Evelyn discovers the Handyman has problems of his own.

TIME TO VOTE

Spain

Director: SANTIAGO REQUEJO LOPEZ-MATEOS
Nomination: Best Picture and Best Screenplay

What begins as an ordinary board in a traditional apartment building to vote the renewal of the elevator, turns into an unexpected debate about the limits of pacific coexistence.

The Renters

Calgary/Okotoks, Alberta

Director: David Elder

A great home is hard to find. The owner and real estate agent are desperate to sell, but the current renters have other plans. What can happen in a house that you'd do anything to keep?

The Statue (Peykareh)

Iran

Director: Mohsen Salehi Fard

The sculptor struggles a lot every day to create a new sculpture. And the sculpture that loses its freedom when it takes shape

Open Mic at the Comedy Cabaret

Alberta

Director: Gianna Isabella

An aspiring comedian relentlessly pursues her goal of performing at an Open Mic, but will she get laughs or bomb out?

SHARK

Australia

Director: Nash Edgerton
Nomination: Best Visual and Special Effects

Nash Edgerton finds a perfect match in Rose Byrne as Sofie, a woman who loves pranks just as much as Jack, Edgerton’s onscreen alter ego. Alas, the couple’s quest to outdo each other may lead to the most outrageous calamity of all.

Golden Minutes

Lithuania

Director: Saulius Baradinskas
Nomination: Best Cinematography

When a heart attack strikes, a person has exactly ten minutes to be saved by the people around him. In medicine, this short period of time is called “Golden Minutes”.


TwistedReels

Hunger

Mexico

Director: Carlos Meléndez
Nomination: Best Overall Sound

A child is being tormented by a voracious well demanding food from him. But as he proves unable to satisfy its hunger, he drags himself to find another way of feeding it.

A conversation with E

Canada

Director: Esabella Anna Karena Strickland, Taylor Mitchell, Skylar A

When a girl playfully responds to a mysterious post-it note, she finds herself unable to escape the conversation she began...

PERSONAE

France

Director: Rémy Rondeau
Nomination: Best Performance

Anna is a young aspiring actress. Living in a small and old apartment in the projects and failing all her castings next to more talented young girls, she dreams of being someone else and living another life. During a movie casting, she steals an expensive purse belonging to one of the contestants. Inside of it, she finds a letter informing its rightful owner that her biological parents have revealed their identities.

Hunter's Cabin

Canada

Director: N'cee van Heerden

A young father withdraws to a remote cabin to face his curse alone, but he's not the only one with a dark past in the woods tonight.

Part Forever

Tiawan

Director: Alan Chung-An, Ou
Nomination: Best Cinematography

- Taiwanese Traditional Customs -
There is a traditional custom in Taiwan that the soul of a dead person would go home to visit his family within three days after his death. Therefore, the family would wait in the mourning hall all night to mourn the dead and express their feelings of remembrance until encoffining.

- Synopsis -
In the dark hall, candles flickered faintly. A body lay in the middle of the hall. Huei and her husband Wen Hsiung came to say goodbye to Huei’s dearest sister. The seemingly calm and sad farewell ceremony seemed to hide an astonishing and dark secret......

Giraffe

Canada

Director: Dan Nicholls

A depressed young zookeeper named Greg pines over the end of a long-term relationship. His friend Bruce tries to convince him that a brighter future is possible without Sarah-- the only problem is her brother Crad's obsession with Greg.

The Taxi Dead

Germany

Director: Simon Lahm
Nomination: Best Visual and Special Effects

A young guy named Paul tries to survive a zombie apocalypse in Bavaria. Together with his taxi driver, Karl, he has to fight several zombie attacks. And Paul is in a hurry because his girlfriend awaits him.


KinderReels

Early Birds

Alberta

Director: Cole Stevenson

A small penguin tries to find a friend to play with.

Sumpter

Australia

Director: Alice Jao
Nomination: Best Animation

The story follows Artemis, a young girl wandering the desert country with a large bag on her back. Passing through a village, she meets a giant beast. Together, their baggage in tow, they traverse the land in search of home.

Georgina

Brazil

Director: Carolina Batista
Nomination: Nomination

Georgina is a goofy pigeon who is always by Lenora’s side while the witch practices her potion making. This time though, things took a turn for the worst when the pigeon became a little too interested in a twig stuck to the witch's hat.

Cooking with Kyssara

Edmonton, Alberta

Director: Anne Mueller
Nomination: Nomination

Viewers will join young Kyssara as she embarks on a journey of delicious delights, and see that cooking can be fun and easy! Kyssara introduces a few healthy and delicious recipes. She also ventures to new places in Alberta and British Columbia to learn more about supporting local businessess.

It is a story of love, of community and of visual poetry, passed down through recipes.


Documentaries

Sensei

Calgary, Alberta

Director: Jill Roberts
Nomination: Best Documentary

Natalie Olson, the first Canadian with Down Syndrome to achieve her black belt, prepares for a new challenge during a global pandemic with her Sensei and friend of 20 years, Heather Fidyk.

The Nightwalk

France

Director: Adriano Valerio

Jarvis had just moved to his new empty appartement in Shanghai when the pandemic lockdown began. Hardly dealing with loneliness, he starts having dark and anxious thoughts. He tries to escape from his nightmares by eloping into the deserted city to get to a friend's house.

Black Lives in Alberta: Over a Century of Racial Injustice Continues

Canada

Director: Jenna Bailey

Black Lives in Alberta: Over a Century of Racial Injustice Continues tells the story of five generations of Black Albertans and their experiences of discrimination living on the Canadian Prairies. Descendants of a large wave of African American immigrants who moved to Alberta and Saskatchewan in the early 20th Century to escape racism and persecution in the United States candidly share their family histories and discuss how their racial identities have shaped their experiences of living in Alberta.

Pacing the Pool

Australia

Director: Radheya Jegatheva

A tiny glimpse into the extraordinary life of Richard Pace. A different approach to life might have seen him crushed under the weight of the physical and mental stresses he has been through since he was a child, however, healing waters have helped him rise above it all!

Spirit of A Nation: The Places we Belong

Canada

Director: Brandon Wilson

Telling the story of the conflicting nature often felt by Cree people, as they yearn to be back on the land of their ancestors, Spirit of A Nation: The Places we Belong is a look at the sacred lands of the Fort McKay First Nation people in Northern Alberta.

In the Jumpseat with Jacqueline

Canada

Director: Jacqueline Clements, Bill Clements

Explore the Town of Okotoks, Alberta! Hear the inspiring stories of business owners and charities as they navigate the pandemic. Be inspired and entertained as Jacqueline hosts and gets some hands-on experience.


On Demand

On Demand Feature - Shoveling Pixie Dust: a Memoir

United States

Director: Tim Landry
Nomination: Best Documentary

From producing an audacious short film, to becoming a Hollywood refugee, to building a Magic Kingdom, follow Tim's adventures and struggles as he deals with the challenges of making magic. Enjoy a heartfelt memoir about the making of a Disney Imagineer, covering the entire working career of artist Tim Landry, from film school through to retirement.

This film Package will be available ON DEMAND from May 29-June 12. You can watch on our Festival platform with the purchase of a Festival Pass or Online ticket!

Cabbages & Kings

This is the short film that kicked off Tim Landry’s career and is discussed in length in the documentary.

CATARINA

France

Director: Pierre AMSTUTZ ROCH
Nomination: Best Editing

Ruined and left by his wife, Francis is ready to try everything he can. With the help of his friend Simon, he decides to kidnap the wife of the man who conned him, Alex. That guy is crazy about Catarina and keeps telling he would do anything for her.

The duo of good-for-nothing somehow manages to kidnap the young woman.

The problem is Catarina is actually a Maltese dog, and they just kidnapped Marie, the dogsitter.

A Unicorn in Tel Aviv

Israel

Director: Zohar Ballas
Nomination: Best Screenplay

A witty Tel Aviv comedy. Alonna, 28, tries to find herself in the big city despite her insistence to live offline. On the brink of giving up, the city unfolds its love and affection.

Shutter Gun

Iran

Director: Ramin Rastad
Nomination: Best Editing

It's about war in point of a child's view.

Solitude

Brazil

Director: Tami Martins, Aron Miranda

In the Amazon, Sol (25 years old) is recovering from the end of another abusive relationship, while her Shadow escapes to the Atacama Desert because it couldn’t stand to see her suffering. While Sol, finally, begins to retake her own spaces and dreams, her Shadow seeks independence. They both go on journeys in search of self-love and self-confidence to rediscover in solitude the way back to each other.

Frames

Canada

Director: Farhad Pakdel

A smart city tracks and analyzes a woman walking through the city. Things she does are interpreted and logged by the city system, but are they drawing an accurate picture of the woman?

Babaou

France

Director: Alexandra Mignien

During a game of hide-and-seek in the forest, Jules and Chloé, two young kids, will discover that the monsters in the horror stories we tell by the fireside are not always imaginary.

Bad News

Spain

Director: Santiago Cardelús Ruiz-Alberdi, Pablo Manchado Cascón
Nomination: Best Screenplay and Best Performance

A dysfunctional family gathers due to a tragedy. But there's somebody missing: the oldest son is celebrating his birthday at a camp in the Himalayas, unaware of the terrible news. Before he calls them, the family must decide whether to hide the truth and let him live in blissful ignorance for one more week, or tell him and ruin his life forever.

And In My Dream

Israel

Director: Matan Portnoy

Noam is running the track to fulfill his life’s dream and isn’t planning on stopping, no matter the cost.


Virtual Reality

Chasing Dreams - 360

Alberta

Director: Maciej Hatta

Join air show pilot Brent Handy as he embarks on an aerobatic practice routine and provides some inspiration about working through challenges to chase your dreams.

Space Chase with Spot!

United States

Director: Ryan Rogers

The viewer is Spot the dog, flying past space junk and dodging asteroids, in the 360 degree short film "Space Chase with Spot!" In this hand-drawn universe, Spot must fight off angry aliens to return safely back to Earth.


2021 Festival

An international festival is all about celebrating other cultures and this year we were excited to present our first Country Highlight, a screening dedicated to films made in, by or about Mexico! We also tried out a hybrid format, with two weeks of on-demand content in addition to our regular live (streamed) screenings.

2021 Award Winners

Best Picture

Boje

Directors: Andreas Cordes, Robert Köhler

Nominees: Jasmine Road, Ria

Best Animation

A Tiny Tale

Animation: Sylvain Cuvillier, Chloé Bourdic, Théophile Coursimault, Noémie Halberstam, Maÿlis Mosny, Zijing Ye.

Nominees: Ian, A Moving Story, A Gourd-Head's Lessons in Humanity

Audience Choice

Ian, a Moving Story

Director: Abel Goldfarb

Documentary

Boys Don't Cry

Director: Bobbie Faren Müller

Nominees: Why Kill Them?, Garden Shark: There are some things dementia can't touch

Best Screenplay

Best Seller

Screenplay: Paulo García Conde

Nominees: Applebaum, Mars Colony

Best Editing

Thunder From A Clear Sky

Editor: Alexandra Knusmann

Nominees: Leitmotiv, Dream/Life

Best Art Direction

Ria

Art Direction: Martha Funke

Nominees: Night on Fire, Archibald's Syndrome

Best Cinematography

Moon Drops

Cinematographer: Tobias Hochstein

Nominees: Replica, Going Down Alone

Best Performance

Mars Colony

Performance: Theo Van de Voorde

Nominees: Jasmine Road, Applebaum

Visual Effects

M.A.M.O.N. (Monitor Against Mexicans Over Nationwide)

Visual Effects: Marcelo Torterolo and Luis Eduardo Ambriz

Nominees: Clout, The Station

Best Overall Sound

Vincent Before Noon

Sound: RAPHAËL BIGAUD, MATTHIEU DALLAPORTA and FLORENT VRAC

Nominees: Replica, A Tiny Tale


2021 48-Hour Challenge Winners

Audience Choice

The Heist

Team: Ookotoks


Best use of line

The Heist

Team: Ookotoks


Comedy

Time Loop Tech: Security System of the Future

Team: Dapper Ghost Studio


Best picture

Borrowed Ice

Team: Maple Studios


Best use of genre

The I'cest

Team: Social Skeleton


Best use of prop

Ice Ice Maybe

Team: Glasshouse Pictures


2021 Feature Films

Jasmine Road

Canada

Director: Warren Sulatycky
Screening: Thursday, June 3 at 7:00 PM
Nomination: Best Picture, Performance

In the rural western Canadian cowboy town of Red River, Mac Bagley (a recently widowed rancher in his sixties) opens his home to a fractured Syrian refugee family. Withstanding some opposition in the conservative town, Layla (a journalist and booza-maker - Arabic ice cream - from Aleppo), her young magic-inspired daughter Heba and Salem (Layla's adult gay brother) struggle to gain new footing in this new land. Mac finds himself in similar circumstances as he seeks for meaning and hope after the loss of his wife. While waiting for news of her missing husband, Layla introduces Mac to her Muslim culture. She proposes they partner in opening a booza ice cream shop to help them both move forward. The venture may just hold the promise for a new future.

John, 316

Canada

Director: JarvisG
Screening: Friday, June 4 at 7:00 PM

Liar, Lunatic, Lord? A psychiatric hospital is turned upside down when a mysterious drifter is admitted and assigned to Room 316. Known only as John Doe, the other patients believe that he bears an uncanny resemblance to Jesus Christ. When he starts performing 'miracles', the inmates begin to follow him as his disciples. This causes tension with the hospital administrators who are loathe to admit the patients are actually improving under John's guidance. They set out to expose him, leading to one final miracle that will change all their lives forever.

The Great Fear

Country

Director: Iain Laird
Screening: Saturday, June 5 at 10:00PM

'The Great Fear' is a film about a collapsing food industry, a lonely farmer, a lonely botanist and the wraith-like elements that disconnect and veil us all

STAND STRONG

Japan

Director: Hisashi Kikuchi
Screening: Sunday, June 6 at 2:00PM

The story begins at a hangout spot of four skateboarders. A random conversation leads them to create a team called “Crasher.” Together, they show up at skate parks and events where their skateboard tricks attract a growing flock of admirers. As their reputation gains momentum - fueled through the power of social media - their fame spreads. However, when Crasher members Ryo and K are sponsored by skateboard company ELEMENT, it puts undue pressure on their friendship.


Country Highlight: Mexico

Captain Justice

Mexico

Director: Efrén Alberto López Legarra

"Ponchis" is a young man who lives in the city of Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico, in a context of drug trafficking, he begins a job as a "puntero" one day he meets an imaginary old friend from his childhood

The Station

Mexico

Director: Alan V. Markakis

Laura is a woman trapped in routine and monotony, an employee of a transport station, whose dawn is about to change, since she must deal with the fact of being inside a station together with a ghostly entity.

M.A.M.O.N. (MONITOR AGAINST MEXICANS OVER NATIONWIDE)

Uruguay

Director: ALEJANDRO DAMIANI
Nomination: Visual Effects

While Donald Trump is undergoing heart surgery, a portal to another reality opens. Latinos start falling from the sky to the desert, on the Mexico - US border, divided by an enormous wall. An hilarious war breaks between a Trump-like mecha robot and several stereotypical Mexican Latinos.

Hacked

Canada

Director: Erick Delgado

Social media power couple perform a social experiment where they only communicate with each other via picture for 30 days. But on the day of the husband's return, what is originally seen as a cute display of love turns into a twisted horror show.

WHY KILL THEM?

Mexico

Director: LUDOVIC BONLEUX
Nomination: Documentary

50 years later, a former soldier returns to Tlatelolco, where he participated in the massacre of dozens of students.

COFFEE IN THE MORNING

Mexico

Director: ROGELIO RODRíGUEZ

A young woman recovers in a Doctor's cabin in the middle of the woods. With some unexpected help, she prepares herself to finally return to her hometown. This may not be yet as safe and easy as she expects.

LEITMOTIV

Mexico

Director: NaMiguel Ángel Ocaña Contrerasme
Nomination: Editing

An inner look of a women that longs to be a better version of herself.

I THOUGHT YOU WERE NOT GOING TO WAIT FOR ME

Mexico

Director: Franco Acosta

Graciela is a peasant who leads a solitary life at home. One day, she receives a letter informing her that her husband Fidel has been released after six years in prison. She has waited for him all along. They finally meet again. Fidel is very sorry and wants to rebuild his life with his wife; To achieve this, he will be forced to evoke the event that led him to prison, reopening the wounds that have not yet healed in Graciela.


General Reels

ONE

Spain

Director: JAVIER MARCO RICO

Far out at sea, a cell phone floating inside an air-tight bag starts to ring.

Night on Fire

Czech Republic

Director: Martin Kuba, Eva Josefikova
Nomination: Art Direction

A group of boy scouts is confronted for the first time with the erotic, laughable, disturbing yet oddly beautiful world of adulthood. Faced with secrets and pretense, their friendship goes through trial by fire.

THUNDER FROM A CLEAR SKY

Canada

Director: YOHAN FAURE
Nomination: Editing

Ten years after the discovery of a remote planetary system likely to sustain the early stages of a civilization. Tonight the whole world answers the question: "Should we, YES or NO, meet this civilization?". David Lacombe, famous TV host, welcomes on his set the representatives of both opposed parties: Jurgen Hayes and Sloan Amondsen for a last debate of ideas.

THE CAMEL BOY

France

Director: CHABNAME ZARIÂB

Somewhere in the desert, a little boy is plunged by force into an intimidating and completely foreign new world: the world of camel racing. Will the distant hope of seeing his mother again give him the strength to overcome his fears and find his place in this hostile environment?

Applebaum

United States

Director: Edward Loupe
Nomination: Performance, Screenplay

A dying man and his nurse have one last conversation. It changes her life forever.

A New Leash On Life

Canada

Director: Daniel Jeffery

After one too many rage-filled outbursts, a magical talking dog named Basketball must talk his owner, Frank, out of having him put down.

I AM NAKED

France

Director: ALEXANDRA MIGNIEN

A woman wakes up and go to work. She’s completely naked but around her, nobody seems to notice.

Thin Ice

France

Director: Pauline Epiard, Valentine Ventura, Tiphaine Burguburu, Clémentine Vasseur, Lisa Laîné, Élodie Laborde

Followed by his faithful cameraman, a shady reporter takes off on a journey to document a presumed exctinct species.

Boje

Germany

Director: Andreas Cordes, Robert Köhler
Nomination: Best Picture

Boje, who is living on the coast with his father Holke, has a lot of questions in his mind that are not that easy to answer. How do I know I love somebody? Where was I before I was born? How do I know I’m not dreaming? Nothing would make Holke happier than answering his son’s complex questions, but he is literally missing the right words. Nonetheless he doesn’t want to leave Boje alone with his questions and eventually turns to the sea for help...

ARCHIBALD´S SYNDROME

France

Director: DANIEL PEREZ
Nomination: Art Direction

Archibald was born with some curious curse: he can’t make a move without everyone around doing the same.Now, grown man, he robs by despair a bank and, there, meets Indiana, a young woman who always escaped every form of control

Tulsa

Iran

Director: Seyyed Parviz Shojaei

Historians believe, one of the most tragic events in America's History of racial discrimination is 'Tulsa' killing in 1921. More than 300 Blacks were killed and 126 houses were destroyed...

Going Down Alone

Italy

Director: Michele Bizzi, Claudia Di Lascia
Nomination: Cinematography

A woman enters an elevator, the story is entirely narrated with a POV shot: we live the scenes through the woman’s eyes, we follow her gaze, we can see her hands and her body, we only observe her face when she turns towards the mirror.

AN EXCEPTIONAL DAY

France

Director: CEDRICK SPINASSOU

For one day, a father exchanges his role with his daughter

SJAAK’S WIFE DIED, SO NOW HE NEEDS TO SAY SOMETHING

Netherlands

Director: EVA M. C. ZANEN

76 year old Sjaak tries to write a speech for his recently deceased wife, but he is only capable of writing starters. While the ceremony begins, Sjaak is postponing the speech. He has to find the true way to say goodbye to his great love.

Ria

Germany

Director: Dennis Baumann
Nomination: Best Picture, Art Direction

WWII through the eyes of a child that has never really seen the war. A fantasy-story, about family, growing up and learning to cope with difficult situations.

A Gourd-Head's Lessons in Humanity

Canada

Director: Shawna Koski
Nomination: Animation

A gourd spontaneously comes to life and learns what it means to be human.

27 marzo 2020 (Sub Eng) / 2020 March 27

Italy

Director: Alessandro Haber

27th March 2020: a man seeks a remedy for the gloomy and unnerving loneliness of the lockdown.

Best Seller

Spain

Director: Max Lemcke
Nomination: Screenplay

The library has been closed for half an hour already and Rosario, the librarian, is setting the last few books on the shelfs and erasing the underlining that Armando, a waiter at the university’s café, has scribbled in several novels. That is, until she discovers that they are not simple underlines and that they haven’t in fact been written by Armando. The life of a young woman is in danger and now Rosario's is too. When she looks up, she finds Armando standing in front of her

GAME

United States

Director: JEANNIE DONOHOE

A new kid in town shows up at the high school boys basketball tryouts and instantly makes an impression. Will talent and drive be enough to make the team?


TwistedReels

Attack of the Killer Scarecrow

Canada

Director: Octavian Kaul

On Halloween night, two teenagers accidentally unleash a killer scarecrow when they trespass on its farm.

Family

Spain

Director: Iván Molina Jiménez

A young girl wakes up disoriented and tied to a chair in an abandoned place, she would never imagine the reason for her stay there.

Solipsism

Canada

Director: Callum Leblanc

After a man wakes up in a place where nothing is as it seems, it appears he is followed by someone. As the mystery unravels so too does his reality.

Love, Death and Tomatoes

Turkey

Director: Tuğba Erdem

LOVE, DEATH AND TOMATOES is a tender and warm dark comedy short which is full of quick-witted dialogue and comedic tension. But at the same time, the project is a student film shot on an Alexa Mini. The film tells the story of a dying man and his wife, who decide to commit suicide together in a diner.

Rationale

Canada

Director: C. Blake Evernden

Late one wintry night, Douglass Haitner reminisces on his life and the meeting of his true love, his memories twisting and devolving, fighting to maintain his romantic vision in a dark world.

Clout

Canada

Director: Ariel Hansen
Nomination: Visual Effects

Lyra is living a pinterest-perfect life as a social media influencer until both her and her following begin to crumble. Is her downfall just the work of a new algorithm, or something out of this world?

Replica

Spain

Director: Álvaro de la Hoz
Nomination: Overall Sound, Cinematography

Olivia is willing not to fail. She goes out and tests herself, going further and further. Until she executes her plan.

Grave Sight

Canada

Director: Angus Swantee, Walter Forsyth

Grave-robbing Tanya, with her precious hubby Preston in tow, unearths a cursed ring and unleashes a powerful demon hellbent to get it back by any means necessary.


KinderReels

7th Floor

France

Director: Clémentine Laurent, Angela Cicatello, Marine Lorent

Clarence lives on the 7th floor. Locked in with her loneliness, she's trying to write a book. The arrival of a strange neighbor might just shake up her daily life.

The Healing Dance

Canada

Director: Shaelyn Johnston

Rosie is preparing to dance in her first pow wow, but after Nookomis tells her the origin story of jingle dancing, she worries that she’s not as ready as she thought she was. The drums are calling, but will Rosie answer them?

The Ribbon

United States

Director: Polla-Ilariya Kozino

A young girl suddenly finds herself in a beautiful imaginary world. As she explores this enchanting place, the long ribbon of her dress gets caught, holding her back. As she pulls on the ribbon to break free, a completely unexpected journey begins.

A Tiny Tale

France

Director: Sylvain Cuvillier, Chloé Bourdic, Théophile Coursimault, Noémie Halberstam, Maÿlis Mosny, Zijing Ye
Nomination: Overall Sound, Animation

A dog gets abandoned on the side of the road. Attached to a street light, he stays alone until the day he meets a young astronaut wannabe and a professional cyclist who keeps on trying to beat her highest score.

Operation: Clean Slate

Canada

Director: Jayson Therrien

When their summer of freedom is threatened, four very different teens hatch a plan to break into city hall and destroy their parking violations records clean.

TALENT SCOUT

Spain

Director: JOSÉ HERRERA

Dominique had been the most prestigious talent scout in París. Now, he is only the shadow of his past until he discovers Sofía, an Spanish flamenco dancer who emigrates to France because of the Spanish civil war and who hides the secret of the greatest talent in history.

IAN, A MOVING STORY

Argentina

Director: ABEL GOLDFARB

Ian was born with cerebral palsy. Like all kids, he wants to have friends, but discrimination and bullying keep him from his beloved playground. Ian won't give up easily, accomplishing something that will surprise everyone.


Documentaries

Garden Shark: there are some things dementia can't touch

Canada

Director: Anna Cooley and Dawn Nagazina
Nomination: Documentary

Garden Shark breaks through the hopelessness and loss of a dementia diagnosis by giving people living with dementia and their caregivers a new way to connect and find joy. It explores improv’s ability to teach people to live in the moment, communicate, and learn to laugh in spite of their struggles. Garden Shark highlights couples’ individual experiences and shows how beautifully partners living with dementia respond to the risk free, playful and hilarious environment created by Inside Out Theatre’s Village Improv for Alzheimer’s program.

Beyond the glacier

Spain

Director: Jorge Rivero González

Experience the trickle down effect that the shrinking of a glacier can have literally down stream.

Boys don't cry

Denmark

Director: Bobbie Faren Müller
Nomination: Documentary

A girl helps four boys examine and understand why it's difficult for them to show their vulnerabilities and be open about their emotions in today's society.

SPOKO (THE BLIND FOOTBALL COACH)

South Africa

Director: WIM STEYTLER

Dumisani Ntombela has never seen a football stadium. But he coached a women’s soccer team to the Premier League. Then he lost his funding and his team. He wants to get them back on the field

DREAM/LIFE

Germany

Director: DAVID AUFDEMBRINKE
Nomination: Editing

A young man escapes his routine to find out what he truly wants in life. His friends refuse to participate in his endeavor, so he goes alone and arrives further than he ever would have dared to dream.

Zero Altitude

Netherlands

Director: Castor Sprado

Zero Altitude is a short documentary showing professional Dutch climbers in their attempt to come out on top during the corona crisis. They do this by building creative climbing constructions in their homes and gardens.


On Demand

Ghetto Uprising- The Untold story

Israel

Director: Yuval Haimovich Zuser, Simon Shechter

The main battle in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising occurred at Muranowski Square, during which a blue and white flag was raised over the roofs. However, the story of those fighters disappeared from history books...why?

Lila

Spain

Director: Lamberto Guerra

One night. Three women. Three generations. A grandmother, a mother and a daughter are about to lose Lila, the pet that has joined them for the past 20 years. This will expose their unresolved conflicts: their fears, their mistakes, their secrets... And how much they need each other. Tonight, they not only face a bitter farewell, but the distance that had separated them until now, and they will discover if they are able to walk that path... Or if they will have to keep walking alone.

That Was Awesome!

United States

Director: Arlen Konopaki

When a floor hockey team of adults with special needs gets pushed around one too many times off-the-court, they decide to stand up for themselves on-the-court in the game of a lifetime.

Vincent before Noon

France

Director: Guillaume Mainguet
Nomination: Overall Sound

A father pays his son a visit after years of conflict and turns up in the middle of his house move. The son Vincent reacts violently to that intrusion. Emotionally weakened, the father involuntarily reveals the true reason of his visit, which revives the tension between them. Within a few minutes, the anger, the memories and the crossed looks move the two men deeply.

Shift

Canada

Director: Chen Sing Yap

During a pandemic, a nurse decides to live in her car to protect her family. The cheesy greeting cards her son sends her in social isolation begin to take on a special importance.

Mars Colony

France

Director: Noel Fuzellier
Nomination: Performance, Screenplay

Logan, 16, is a troubled teenager. Only his sci-fi dreams of a better life on Mars can rescue him from his gloomy everyday life, filled with conflict both at home and at school, where he's labeled a bully. One strange night he receives a visit from a mysterious man who swears to come from the future and to be Logan's future-self, 40 years older. The man asks him to accomplish a shockingly important mission: to save humanity.

Moon Drops

Israel

Director: Yoram Ever-Hadani
Nomination: Cinematography

A factory worker assembles an enigmatic machine that produces liquid drops from the moonlight.


2020 Festival

2020 presented some unique challenges, with COVID-19 preventing any sort of in-person gatherings. But with enormous support from our staff, volunteers and fans we were able to stream these amazing films online. And one great side effect of the new format was being able to include filmmakers around the world in our Q & A sessions!

2020 Award Winners

Audience Choice

Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver

Director: Dennis Gansel

Best Picture

W

Director: Stelios Koupetoris
Nominees: Rustic Oracle, W, The Scorpion's Tale
Jury: Scott Lepp, Lorna James, Scott Westby

Best Cinematography

Ca Dentro - Inside

Director: Tiago Pimentel
Nominees: W, Ca Dentro - Inside, REEL ME – The Film Musical
Jury: Douglas Munro CSC, Wes Doyle, Chase Gardiner

Best Screenplay

The Scorpion's Tale

Director: Jhosimar Vasquez
Nominees: Ups and Downs, Handarbeit - Cover Up, The Scorpion's Tale
Jury: Mark Haroun, Kevin Doree, Christina Beamish

Best Overall Sound

My Daughter Yoshiko

Director: Brian Blum
Nominees: Horrorscope, My Daughter Yoshiko, R31
Jury: Alex Mitchell, David Heacock, Justan Ross

Best Art Direction

W

Director: Stelios Koupetoris
Nominees: JEMAND UND NIEMAND - Somebody and Nobody, W, REEL ME – The Film Musical
Jury: Kj Gallagher, Dale Marushy, Ryan Pfannmuller

Best Editing

The Scorpion's Tale

Director: Jhosimar Vasquez
Nominees: The World Cup in a Square, The Scorpion's Tale, Refuge in the Rockies
Jury: Neshe Delici, Sarah Taylor, David Alderson

Best Animation

The Quiet

Director: Radheya Jegatheva
Nominees: Bolero Station, Yikásdáhí - Awaits the Dawn, The Quiet
Jury: Jarett Sitter, Chantal Beaulne

Visual Effects

Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver

Director: Dennis Gansel
Nominees: O.I., The Garbage Boi, Jim Button and Luke the Train Engine Driver
Jury: Ken Bitz, Brendan James Boyd, Leo Wieser

Best Performance

Rustic Oracle

Director: Sonia Bonspille Boileau
Nominees: Rustic Oracle, Ups and Downs, My Daughter Yoshiko
Jury: Joe Norman-Shaw, Ryan Kennedy, Sandi Somers


2020 48-Hour Challenge Winners

Audience Choice

Yellow Crane

Team: Pineapple Tuesday

Best Picture

Yellow Crane

Team: Pineapple Tuesday

Best Use of Line

Don't Do Anything Stupid

Team: Cinema Buns

Best Use of Prop

Know When to Fold Them

Team: Isometric Films

Best Use of Genre

One New Friend

Team: Finale Films

Best Social Distancing

Jacques in the Box

Team: Classy But Sinister

2020 Feature Films

Living the Warrior Code

Canada

Director: Drew Kenworthy
Screening: Thursday, June 11 at 7:00PM

Ultra-distance triathlete Scott McDermott was competing in the 2015 Ultraman World Championships when he crashed on his bike suffering injuries to his head, shoulder, arm and knee. Early on during his recovery he set a goal to come back and compete again at the same race. Despite so many challenges along the road of recovery and training, his relentless dedication to the Warrior's Code of never giving up kept him going. With a very supportive wife, family and friends he made his way back to the start line of the Ultraman World Championships 3 years later. Living The Warrior Code is a documentary film about the human spirit and what it takes to do something truly incredible.

Rustic Oracle

Canada

Director: Sonia Bonspille Boileau
Screening: Friday, June 12 at 7:00PM
Nomination: Best Picture, Performance

Set in the late 90s, Rustic Oracle is a dramatic feature about Ivy, an 8-year-old girl trying to understand what happened to her big sister who has vanished from their small Mohawk community. With minimal clues, Ivy and her mother Susan embark on an unwelcome journey to find Heather which will ultimately bring the pair closer together despite challenging circumstances. Behind the story of desperation, told through the eyes of a child, lies one of hope, growth, awakening and love.

Ups and Downs

United Kingdom

Director: Eoin Cleland
Screening: Saturday, June 13 at 11:00AM
Nomination: Screenplay, Performance

Conal is a 22 year old with Down's Syndrome. Full of heavy metal attitude, he wants to be a rock star. Mum, Fionnuala lost her husband five years ago and places a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of her daughter Gemma, 18. She is mum number two. Conal wants to be treated as an adult and Gemma wants her own life, but Fionnuala is too stressed to take this on board. While Gemma looks forward to university in Scotland, Conal can only see his life getting worse. But he has a plan.

REEL ME – THE FILM MUSICAL

Germany

Director: Peter Lund
Screening: Saturday, June 13 at 10:00PM
Nomination: Cinematography, Art Direction

Lennard runs away to Berlin and moves into a flat share, along with easygoing Ben and crazy Fine.

Yet Lennard has a lot of roommates already…at least in his head: No wonder Lennard can’t make up his mind, with whom he is in love with: Ben or Fine?

JIM BUTTON AND LUKE THE ENGINE DRIVER

Germany

Director: Dennis Gansel
Screening: Sunday, June 14 at 10:00AM
Nomination: Visual Effects

Based on the bestselling novel by Michael Ende (The Neverending Story), this epic fantasy adventure follows a young orphan boy JIM BUTTON, his best friend LUKE and a magical steam engine called EMMA as they travel across the world in search of the truth about where Jim came from. Battling pirates and dragons, outsmarting make-believe giants, they must travel through the Forest of a Thousand Wonders, beyond the End of the World to find the hidden Dragon City.


General Reels

The world cup in a square

Italy

Director: Vito Palmieri
Nomination: Editing

November 2017: the Italian national football team does not qualify for the 2018 world championship. There are people who can’t live without having their national team to support; they hang around in the squares, feeling useless and purposeless. In the deep South of Italy, a group of them do not give up and decide to set up a parallel world championship to be played right in their hometown square. Italy will compete against other national teams made by immigrants. But some of them were born and raised in Italy and they feel Italian 100%. So, what? There’s only one solution: two Italian teams will play against each other. And we will see who wins.

JEMAND UND NIEMAND - SOMEBODY AND NOBODY

Germany

Director: Joscha Douma
Nomination: Art Direction

The calm, reserved young cowboy Jonah wants to avenge his murdered brother - to finally step out of his shadow and prove his own manfulness to their father. But the enemy seems to be one size too big...

Fairy Tail

United States

Director: Justin & Kristin Schaack

A hopeless romantic discovers an unlikely intruder and finds love at first fight. Suspense... Romance... Puppets!

My Daughter Yoshiko

United States

Director: Brian Blum
Nomination: Performance, Overall Sound

With her daughter Yoshiko diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and her husband overseas serving in the military, Saki Omura is finding it harder and harder to cope. Too ashamed to burden others and too proud to ask for help, Saki faces the now-daunting task of giving her daughter the best life possible.

Nut Milking Exposed

Canada

Director: Nick Saik

This is a short satirical comedy that seeks to take city folk into the country to educate them about the truth behind how almond milk is produced. By introducing them to proud third generation nut milker TYLER DUFFY, who will clear up all the doubts that the world has on how you actually get the almond milk out of the almonds

The Quiet

Australia

Director: Radheya Jegatheva
Nomination: Animation

When an astronaut ponders on the quietude of space, he comes upon a startling self-realisation.

The truth is written in the stars, but what will he uncover?

Wild Hearts

Canada

Director: Inder Nirwan

A mini documentary about the wild horses of Alberta.

Penny

Canada

Director: Robert Misovic

Kate Fenton (Let Her Out) and Troy Harryman (The Intersection) star in this dramatic thriller about miscommunications & consequences. Written & Directed by Robert Misovic (The Intersection) with Music by Andjelika Javorina (Stain), this timely film explores racial tensions and the bond between two strangers on a mid-summer night.

W

Greece

Director: Stelios Koupetoris
Nomination: Best Picture, Cinematography, Art Direction

A teacher is set to do his daily routine classroom at the school he works, during one of the most difficult days to teach.

CA DENTRO - INSIDE

Portugal

Director: Tiago Pimentel
Nomination: Cinematography

A man and a woman share the same space. Between them a sexual contention unravels. An impending scream that cannot be smothered. That who prevails attains lasting freedom.

Sarino

Italy

Director: Valerio Filardo

Nazi concentration camp, 1944. Two Italian prisoners locked ion a very small cell are taking a pledge. How far are they willing to go to keep the promise

Old man

Spain

Director: Trueba & Trueba

Carmen, once again, is about to go to her tedious workday. With the passing of the hours something extraordinary happens, sadly, not such an extraordinary thing for Carmen. The selfishness society we live in will soon make the dystopian society that "Old man" poses a reality.

HANDARBEIT - COVER UP

Germany

Director: Marie-Amélie Steul
Nomination: Screenplay

The life of Ibrahim, a short tempered conservative Arabic censor, is turned upside down when his colleague Waleed discovers a compromising photo that could ruin his reputation. A race against the clock begins. The photo has to disappear. At all cost.

Finch

Canada

Director: James McLane

Trapped in an abusive relationship, Sarah struggles to make sense of her past and present. After a brutal assault, Sarah realizes she’s not the only captive in her partner’s control. It’s time to accept or leave the prison of her daily life.

THE SCORPION’S TALE

United States

Director: Jhosimar Vasquez
Nomination: Best Picture, Screenplay, Editing

Greed, revenge and death all impact one another in this taught crime drama. Nothing is what is seems in this film written and produced by Maximiliano Hernández and directed by newcomer Jhosimar Vasquez.

Shuttlecock

Canada

Director: Melanie Jones

Winnie Callaghan puts the bad in Badminton. She should have had it all, the medals, the fame, the glory - but an unfortunate accident took all that away. When her former rival announces a charity game at her local club, Winnie will stop at nothing to prove she’s a winner. Meanwhile a young filmmaker hired by her brother captures more than he bargained for as he documents the seedy underbelly of this seemingly innocent sport.

Battiti (Heartbeats)

Italy

Director: Michele Bizzi

Giorgio has to control his heart rate but love can't be controlled...

REFUGE IN THE ROCKIES

Canada

Director: Kaio Kathriner
Nomination: Editing

Anderson Losada was 8 years old when he lost his leg to a landmine in Colombia. As a refugee, he was resettled in a small Canadian ski town which opened his eyes to the world of para-alpine skiing. He was on the brink of national competition, when citizenship complications restricted his athletic potential and withheld the sense of belonging he desires. Following Anderson’s Colombian past and his journey to citizenship in rural Canada, this short documentary explores the citizenship barriers he and other refugee minors face. When Anderson’s struggles caught the attention of a Canadian Senator, his story impacted an amendment that recently changed Canada’s Citizenship Act, to aid refugee minors.

MARISOL

United States

Director: Zoe Salicrup

Marisol is a young mother striving to make a life for herself and her young daughter, María. She poses as her friend, Luisa, and borrows her car to take fares on a ride-sharing app. But her last passenger of the day, a young white man named Frederick, acts increasingly suspicious. When he accuses Marisol of being undocumented, her worst nightmare comes to life.

LOLO

Germany

Director: Leandro Goddinho, Paulo Menezes

Lolo is an openly gay 11-year-old boy trying to finally convince Max, his first love, to go public with their relationship at the school party.

R31

Spain

Director: Alex Cuellar, Rafa G. Sánchez
Nomination: Overall Sound

Spanish Civil War. The fighter planes fly over the sky of Alicante. The alarms are heard and thousands of citizens are looking for a place to be safe from bombing. That place can only be under the city.

A Wink Or A Smile

Canada

Director: C. Blake Evernden

In a mid-town coffee shop, Heath Pollard and Ned Theodore debate the intricacies of texting protocol when Ned is stumped trying to finish an impromptu message to the newly single girl that he’s crushed on for months.

Bube maises

Israel

Director: Or Levy

Yaffa is a 80 years old woman who live in a nursing home and has dementia. the dementia causes her to live her childhood again. At that time, her dad who was a business man was traveling the world and sending her postcards from every country he visited, and she imagined her with him in his adventures. at the end we find out that her daughter, Miri, is forging Yaffa this postcards today to keep her mother happy.

The Narrator

Canada

Director: Darren Harmon

Phil is afraid of silence. As a result, talking out loud and self-narration has become a way of life for Phil, though not everyone appreciates hearing the inner most thoughts of a random psychiatric patient. What could possibly remedy Phil’s fear of silence?


TwistedReels

O.I.

Canada

Director: N'cee van Heerden
Nomination: Visual Effects

Chris revisits the Tiki bar where he made his first ever deal. He wants to celebrate the biggest deal he's ever made by drinking down memory lane. It is early morning and there is only one other customer, Barry, and the Barman. Barry is drinking to forget and is in no mood to celebrate anything. Only Chris' offer of free drinks for a week if he can't solve Barry's problems makes Barry change his mind. Barry has a unique problem. He came up with a truly original idea. And he is the only one immune to it. Chris doesn't believe a word of it and is determined to prove Barry a liar and win the bet.

Horrorscope

Spain

Director: Pol Diggler
Nomination: Overall Sound

An ordinary schoolgirl's life unravels after an evil creature takes over her body. Only her mother, with the help of a strange doctor, will be able to save her.

ALTITUDE

Austria

Director: Nicole Scherer

For two alpinists the hike up to a mountain cabin turns into a life- threatening battle between reality and illusion.

Escalation

Spain

Director: Nacho Solana

A mother and her daughter are driving to the mall. Such a daily situation like finding a spot in the car park quickly escalates to a violent clash.

NIMMERLANDVERRÄTER - A CLOWN'S TALE

Germany

Director: Alexander Frank

Two rebellious clown doctors bring moments of joy and happiness to the terminally ill inhabitants of a hospice for children. But when they encounter Lena, a young girl that vehemently refuses to step into their world of clownery, the two put on the show of their lifetime to fulfil Lena’s last wish.

NOM

Spain

Director: Angel Hernández Suarez

An old cyclist sets off on a last journey with an uncertain end...

Franka

Croatia

Director: Hrvoje Wächter

A little girl who found herself in the woods.She is soon attacked by an army and it is revealed that she is not just an ordinary little girl.

THE COCAINE FAMINE

Ireland

Director: Sam McMullen

The Cocaine Famine is an Irish black comedy about cocaine and the futility of nationalism. Set in an isolated shed in rural Ireland, three characters play out an absurd scene in real time. The result is a short film full of playful humour and hard-hitting historical facts.


KinderReels

Balance

Singapore

Director: Raymond Limantara Sutisna

"There isn’t enough room for the both of us." Two painters battle out what space they have to paint in their own style.

Bolero Station

Switzerland

Director: Rolf Brönnimann
Nomination: Animation

The signalman lives on one side of the tracks, the saleswoman on the other. They see each other every day, but it’s not till death comes knocking that they both seize their chance to be together. They do it properly – and it’s enough for a lifetime.

The Garbage Boi

Canada

Director: Simon Chan
Nomination: Visual Effects

The magical umbrella lady pays a visit to a lone street sweeper in attempts to teach him the joys of cleaning.

Yikásdáhí - Awaits the Dawn

Argentina

Director: Gabriela Clar
Nomination: Animation

When the time comes to create the sky chart, the Black God takes his blueprints and a sack filled with stars to set about creating the constellations. But things get complicated when his actions catch the eye of Coyote, a troublemaker who thinks any excuse is good enough to make some mischief. Based on a Navajo legend.

Used Rubber

Canada

Director: David Prokopchuk

A silent film about Cornelius, an under-ambitious used tire salesman, who falls head over heels for a charming damsel only to find her villainous Step Father has other plans in the work

TONGUE TIED

Canada

Director: Alexandra Melnyk

A futuristic Sci-Fi race comes to a close as three racers duke it out for first place. Between a legendary tiger pilot, a cat in a giant mech, and a frog in over their head, who will take it?

Om Nom Nom

Japan

Director: Minato Matsuda, Haruna Ueno, Tomoko Taiga

One day, a hungry dinosaur came across a weird jumping egg in the forest. He swallowed it, and then felt some strange rumblings in his tummy. Well, well, well...

This stop-motion animation is essentially a funny short story for kids, but its fanciful visual images may also attract adults. The unique imagery of the dinosaur’s internal organs and nature have been created with a multi-plane camera, by combining fluffy flat puppets (a boy, a dinosaur, and other creatures) with carefully composed pastel drawings.

The Smuggler's Door

Canada

Director: Haleigh Toney

Tantalized by a mysterious door, an impulsive coyote demands the truth from an evasive crow. The unintentional gatekeeper might not be enough to ward off the coyote’s curiosity and keep the devilishly cheeky door closed.

Stood Up

Canada

Director: Cjay Boisclair

Dialogue free and universal in its story-telling, Stood Up is a short film filled with memories of happily ever afters and love at first sight.

Charming, loyal and perpetually single Ben is tired of always being the best friend and wing-man. After deciding to shake things up, he agrees to a blind date. But, when things go awry, will fate step in and save him from forever being friend-zoned?

The Lonely Entertainer

Canada

Director: Shawna Koski

A former concert entertainer lives for performance, even if he has no audience to perform for.

Flip

Canada

Director: Chase Ashbaugh

What magic can be found with the Flip of a Coin.


2019 Festival

Another great year, featuring 3 feature length films, 46 shorts, and some great panels with our best filmmaker attendance yet!

2019 Award Winners

Best Picture

Aquarium

Director: Lorenzo Puntoni

Nominees: Aquarium, Are You Volleyball?!, Break On Through

Jury: Scott Lepp, Lorna James, Scott Westby, Regan Dickson Nerbas, Jennifer Ryan

Audience Choice

Alternative Math

Director: David Maddox

Best Performance

Sea at Night

Nominees: Sisak, CC, Sea at Night

Jury: Joe Norman-Shaw, Ryan Kennedy, Sandi Somers

Best Cinematography

Irsendwer (Someone)

Nominees: Irsendwer (Someone), Sisak, Aquarium

Jury: Doug Munro CSC, Wes Doyle CSC, Chase Gardiner

Best Editing

Kein Problem (No Problem)

Nominees: Kein Problem (No Problem), Irsendwer (Someone), Jackrabbit

Jury: Neshe Delici, Sarah Taylor, David Alderson

Best Art Direction

A Typical Fairytale

Nominees: A Typical Fairytale, "A Girl, A Boy, A Penny and a Very, Very, Very Long Road", The Metamorphosis of a Bottle Cap

Jury: KJ Gallager, Dale Marushy, Ryan Pfannmuller

Best Animation

Death-in-Training

Nominees: Tailored, Death-in-Training, No Gravity

Jury: Carol Beecher, Chantal Beaulne

Best Overall Sound

Paris You Got Me

Nominees: Paris You Got Me, Voice, Pulled Strings

Jury: Alex Mitchell, David Heacock, Justin Ross

Best Screenplay

In Your Place

Nominees: Alternative Math, Are You Volleyball?!, In Your Place

Jury: Mark Haroun, Kevin Doree

Best Visual Effects

Paris You Got Me

Nominees: Outpost, Paris you got me, Five Course Meal

Jury: Ken Bitz, Chris Friesen, Leo Weiser


2019 48-Hour Challenge Winners

Feature Films

Break on Through

Alberta

Director: Dustin Clark
Nomination: Best Picture

A group of strangers find themselves trapped in an abandoned, isolated farmhouse during a potentially cataclysmic world event. As their fear and confusion mounts, they must learn to trust one another if they have any hope of survival.

Dustin is a distinguished director, editor and composer working in both theatre and film. Previous directing credits for film include Year After Year (AMPIA nominated for Best Director & Best Editor), Easy Ways (Official Selection: Yorkton International Film Festival), Power Setting: High and Two Hours. As a composer, he was most recently LEO nominated for his score to the web- series Soldiers of Earth and AMPIA nominated for his score to the short film Bonheur.

Occupants

Director: Russ Emanuel

'Occupants' is a film about Annie Curtis, an award-winning documentarian and her husband Neil. Annie and Neil embark on a '30 Days of Clean Living' documentary, setting up cameras all over their house to document, via the Internet, their new eating habits. By doing so, half of their cameras capture a parallel version of themselves - a version that ultimately unravels and threatens their very existence.

A Girl, a Boy, a Penny and a Very, Very, Very Long Road

Director: Julia Beney
Screening: Sunday, June 2nd at 2:00PM
Nomination: Best Art Direction—Claire McMillan and Julia Beney

After turning down a long, seemingly abandoned, road in a 1968 Ford Galaxie named Archie, Yuna encounters a philosophical hitchhiker, a girl with (almost) pink hair and an unusual Old Lady who asks her to put all of who she is in a small empty box.

Embarking on a journey down this long un-named road, our trio fall into a series of mis-adventures in which they discuss the appropriate assemblage of a sandwich, struggle to pee in the woods, build illegal campfires, debate what to put in empty boxes, and contemplate their own existence.

This heart-felt quirky drama does not shy away from the truth, whether that be the fragility of dreams, homes and life itself, or the destructive nature of loss and mental disorders. “A Girl, A Boy, A Penny and a Very, Very, Very Long Road” is an indie-film that inspires trust, self-love and bravery. Featuring music from FXRRVST, Plàsi and Jordy Searcy.

General Reels

Paris You Got Me

Germany

Director: Julie Boehm
Nomination: Best Visual/Special Effects—Marc Zimmermann

The street artist George lures Ksenia into his magic world of art illusions.

In Your Place

Italy

Director: Giuseppe Carleo
Nomination: Best Screenplay—Giuseppe Carleo and Riccardo Cannella

Annachiara wants to win back her ex boyfriend. Her grandma suggests that she uses an ancient rite that could save the destiny of her lost love. 

Sisak

India

Director: Faraz Arif Ansari
Nominations: Best Cinematography—Saurabh Goswami and Best Performance—Jitin Gulati, Dhruv Singhal

Our two characters, A and Z, are as poles apart as their locations in the alphabet.

iRony

Australia

Director: Radheya Jegatheva

A film that explores the relationship between man and technology...told from the perspective of a phone.

Pulled Strings

Calgary, Alberta

Director: Vicki Van Chau
Nomination: Best Overall Sound—Rachel Soong, Valerie Siu

A father teaches his daughter the ancient art of hand pulled noodles.

Abracadavers

Calgary, Alberta

Director: Morgan Ermter

Gabriel, Chris' closest friend, believes he has an obsession and along with their group of friends kidnaps him on a trip.

Boxed

United States

Director: Wanjiru Njendu

A fictionalized short film based on the true story of the terrifying daring escape of Henry "Box" Brown, who used creativity to escape from slavery in 1849 by mailing himself to freedom.

CC

Vancouver, BC

Director: Kailey Spear, Sam Spear
Nomination: Best Performance—Jewel Staite

AIDCC28002025, known as CC, is an AID (Artificially Intelligent Device). She has been leased by Cloverhill Nanny Agency to Lena Howard to take care of her daughter, Adelaide.

Cold Storage

Finland

Director: Thomas Freundlich

On a desolate arctic shore, a lonely fisherman discovers his prehistoric counterpart frozen in the ice, and thaws him out as his newfound soul brother.

Aquarium

Italy

Director: Lorenzo Puntoni
Nomination: Best Picture and Best Cinematography—Juri Fantigrossi

What seems like a carefree day at the swimming pool turn into the last set in a violent plan.

Monuments

Calgary, Alberta

Director: Lincoln Constable

Mia's spirit and lust for life that gives Rhiannon the strength to move on.

The Traffic Separating Device

Sweden

Director: Johan Palmgren

A traffic separating device is installed in the middle of Stockholm.

Trapped

Edmonton, Alberta

Director: Adriel Rosenfeldt

James Smith is a black office employee tasked to finish an overnight project, but when Smith discovers the motives and politics of the business he works for, he realizes he has been hiding his identity to fit in.

Burqa City

France

Director: Bracq Fabrice

Souleymane and Leila just got married, for better or for worse. The better is that they love each other very much. The worse is that they live in an absurd and kafkaesque country.

The Moustache

Edmonton, Alberta

Director: Michael Schaar-Ney

An unassuming man grows a moustache with unexpected results.

Are You Volleyball?!

Iran

Director: Mohammad Bakhshi
Nomainations: Best Picture and Best Screenplay—Mohammad Bakhshi

A group of Arabian spoken asylum seekers arrive to an English spoken country border and can't keep going.

Love

Okotoks, Alberta

Director: Chantal Kapiniak

What really is True love? What are we willing to forgive?

ZOOOM Youth Festival winner.

Outpost

United States

Director: Justin Giddings, Ryan Welsh
Nomination: Best Visual/ Special Effects—Paul Lada

When the last Citizen on the furthest outpost in space makes first contact with intelligent life, he's forced to not only protect humanity, but that which makes him human: love.

Voice

Japan

Director: Takeshi Kushida
Nomination: Best Overall Sound—Murakamix

A lonely man becomes fascinated with a shadow that appears on his apartment's wall.

Live, Learn, Dance

Calgary, Alberta

Director: Chengis Javeri

Live Learn Dance is a lyrical piece with only the faintest of story. It starts in the morning and ends in the evening. She is born and lives and then dies.

Irsendwer (Someone)

Germany

Director: Marco Gadge
Nominations: Best Cinematography—Niklas J Hoffmann and Best Editing—Rene Jacob

Greta and her family are hiding in a cellar hoping for mercy.

I Am Rare

Edmonton, Alberta

Director: Dianne Mahoney

A family struggles to discover what is wrong with their son’s health before it is too late.

Alternative Math

United States

Director: David Maddox
Nomination: Best Screenplay—David Maddox, Malcolm Morrison

A well meaning math teacher finds herself trumped by a post-fact America.

Sea at Night

Germany

Director: Kim Fabienne Hertinger
Nomination: Best Performance—Peter Kotthaus

Tells the story about a man, whose disease took away his self-determination, reputation and social support.

Jackrabbit

Australia

Director: Alex Feggans
Nomination: Best Editing

Jed lives with his father at a remote gas station in Australia. They take a special interest in an Italian backpacker who stops by to refuel.

The Holy Tank

Ontario

Director: Thomas Rodrigue

Jonathan and Rosalie, a young couple looking for their friend Félix, and find themselves involved in a baby-foot game inside an odd bar to win the Holy tank.


TwistedReels

Nepenthes

Vancouver

Director: Ariel Hansen

Max is desperate to make a meaningful connection, but when she decides to meet an online dating match at home she gets herself into a painfully sticky situation.

The Last Drop

Germany

Director: Sascha Zimmermann

Once a week, a group of strangers meet to talk about their addiction.

Five Course Meal

Edmonton, Alberta

Director: James Cadden
Nomination: Best Special/ Visual Effects—Brendan James Boyd

Mark and Jenny agree to take part in a mysterious experiment for money. Things get exceptionally messy.

The Woodsmen

Belleville, Ontario

Director: Victor Cooper and Jodi Cooper

Something is wrong in Slender Valley. Residents are starting to go missing in the vast forest.

Samantha

Toronto, Ontario

Director: Sebastian Ponton

A mysterious place in a dark city is where this legend begins for a novel writer.

Good Morning World

Austria

Director: Alexander Weber

A dystopian thriller about our media and the way we already may be using it.

Little White Lies

Okotoks, Alberta

Director: Dave Elder and Craig Nolin

9 year old Katherine is sure there are monsters in her closet. We tell our children a lot of things to keep them safe. Some of them are true, and others are just little white lies.

The Photographer

France

Director: Bertrand Normand

Helena walks in the gardens of the Versailles palace, photographing statues of antique gods. Through her camera, she perceives a presence.

Bagheera

India

Director: Christopher Watson

This dark yet uplifting film noir thriller follows BAGHEERA, a determined young leader of an Indian Girl Scout troop, who equips them with amazing survival skills, courage and determination.


KinderReels

The Girl Who Talked to the Moon

Edmonton, Alberta

Director: Neil Grahn

The adventures of an inquisitive girl named Harmony who lives on the magical island of Haida Gwaii

Big Booom

Russia

Director: Marat Narimanov

The history of humanity and of our planet in four minutes.

A Typical Fairytale

Vancouver, BC

Director: Annette Reilly
Nomination: Best Art Direction—Moe Curtin, Greg Delmage, Brandon MacKay, Brendan Taylor, Mia Johnson

Sherry and Larry have a storybook life with their daughter...until she admits that she is not a she at all.

No Gravity

France

Directors: Charline Parisot, Jérémy Cissé, Fioretta Caterina Cosmidis, Flore Allier-Estrada, Maud Lemaître-Blanchart, Ludovic Abraham
Nomination: Best Animation

An astronaut comes back to earth and tries to fit in again.

The Metamorphosis of a Bottle Cap

Canada

Director: Kathryn Jankowski
Nomination: Art Direction—Kathryn Jankowski

A seemingly complacent crab is suddenly called to action by mysterious intentions and a chance encounter with an elusive bottle cap.

William's Words

United States

Directors: Donna Guthrie, Colin W. Guthrie

An animated film about young William Shakespeare finding the words for his future plays.

Black and Blue

Edmonton, Alberta

Director: Justin Kueber

Nine-year-old troublemaker Katie is forced to spend a day with her senile, blind Grandpa.

Tailored

France

Directors: Léa Cousty, Chloé Astier, Raphaël Guez, Mélanie Fourgeaud, Hugo Bourriez, Victoire Le Dourner
Nomination: Best Animation

This short film tells the story of a human living in a world full of animals.

Pinchpot

Australia

Director: Greg Holfeld

A short story about art and work, giving and receiving, life and death, and things made from lumps of clay.

Death-in-Training

Okotoks, Alberta

Director: Shawna Koski
Nomination: Best Animation

A young skeleton is training to become a grim reaper.


2018 Festival

This year was even bigger, with three feature films produced locally in addition to 49 short films from around the world and a great turnout from our 48-Hour challengers!

2018 Award Winners

Best Picture

Champion

Award sponsored by Servus Credit Union
Director: Måns Berthas
Nominees: Dem Dem!, The Circle
Jury: Lorna James, Robin Thibodeau, Angel Willmont, Scott Lepp, Matt Watterworth

Audience Choice

Thousand Yard Stare

Director: Aaron Kurmey

Best Performance

Izhak Pekker (One More Experiment)

Nominees: Lena Strömdahl (Champion), Adam Munro (Thousand Yard Stare)
Jury: Joe-Norman Shaw, Ryan Kennedy

Best Cinematography

Simone Hart (Mission Accomplished)

Nominees: Sandro De Frino (Birthday), Christophe Rolin (Dem Dem!)
Jury: Wes Doyle, Doug Munro, Aaron Bernakevitch

Best Editing

David Alderson (MANSON: The Final Words)

Nominees: Jhonathan Mathew (Thousand Yard Stare), K. Spencer Jones (The Human Project)
Jury: Neshe Delici, Sarah Taylor

Best Art Direction

Andrea Schmidlin and Katharina Meier (Cloud Rider)

Nominees: Costantino Ciminiello and Mitchell Slan (Balloon), Nia Fausset (Outside)
Jury: KJ Gallagher, Chantal Beaulne

Best Animation

Light Sight

Director: Seyed M Tabatabaei
Nominees: The Man Who Made the Night Light, Hope
Jury: Chantal Beaulne, Thomas van Kampen, Carol Beecher

Best Overall Sound

Henrik Lindström (Pipe Dream)

Nominees: Rachel Soong, Orthicon and Valerie Siu (The Perfect Man), Shahin Peimani, Alireza Mahmoud Zadeh and Mahboube Karimi Nezhad (Sasism)
Jury: Alex Mitchell, David Heacock

Best Screenplay

David Beatty (The Human Project)

Nominees: Rosario Capozzolo (Peggie), Alfred Thomas Catalfo (Split Ticket)
Jury: Kevin Doree, Mark Haroun


2018 48-Hour Challenge Winners

Audience Choice

Princess Cotton Candy Rainbow Sparkle's Last Stand

Award sponsored by William F. White
Team: Damfinos

Best Picture

IBBC 1987

Award sponsored by William F. White
Team: Burning Sneakers

Best Use of Prop

Princess Cotton Candy Rainbow Sparkle's Last Stand

Award sponsored by Rhoda's Elegance
Team: Damfinos

Best Use of Line

Surface Tension

Award sponsored by Pace Setters
Team: Isometric Films

Best Use of Genre

Chasing Bubbles

Award sponsored by The Emporium of Impossible Things
Team: Team Eagle

Feature Films

Ice Blue

Okotoks

Director: Sandi Somers
Screening: Friday, June 8th at 7:00PM

When home-schooled Arielle's long-estranged mother mysteriously returns to their isolated family farm, it drives a wedge into her seemingly-perfect relationship with her father and reveals a chilling, dark past.

Filmed in Okotoks and the surrounding area this critically acclaimed film is a must-see. Starring Sophia Lauchlin Hirt, Michelle Morgan, Billy MacLellan, and Charlie Kerr. The Film had its world premier to a sold-out audience at the Calgary International Film Festival. Based in small town Alberta, see if you can recognize our very own Elizabeth Street.

Ice Blue and Somers won Best Feature Director at LA Femme Film Festival and has 7 Nominations at this year's AMPIA Rosie Awards. Sandie Somers has also received the 2018 Doug & Lois Mitchell Outstanding Calgary Artists Award.

Join us following the film for a chat with local producer Scott Lepp and director Sandie Somers.

MANSON: The Final Words

Okotoks

Director: James Day
Screening: Saturday, June 9th at 10:00PM
Nomination: Best Editing (David Alderson)

James Day spent a year interviewing CHARLES MANSON by phone from his cell in California State Prison. The production tracked down members of the so-called MANSON FAMILY, many who have been in hiding since the early seventies. These compelling new interviews reveal never-before-heard details that unveil the motives behind the murder spree. How could a no-account drifter and ex-con become a charismatic leader of what prosecutors called a diabolical murder cult? Why did the killers target the home of a Hollywood sex symbol? And where did the prosecution come up with the theory that CHARLES MANSON aimed to start a race war called Helter Skelter based on the music of THE BEATLES? Some have proposed that the prosecution made up the race war theory in order to more easily convict CHARLES MANSON through a sensational conspiracy narrative. If the prosecution did construct the Helter Skelter Theory, is convicting a man like CHARLES MANSON so essential that any means of achieving it is acceptable? MANSON: THE FINAL WORDS is an explosive documentary that will change the conversation about CHARLES MANSON and the notorious "MANSON FAMILY" murders.

Thousand Yard Stare

Okotoks

Director: Aaron Kurmey
Screening: Sunday, June 10th at 2:00PM
Nomination: Best Editing (Jhonathan Mathew), Best Performance (Adam Munro)

During World War II, German forces crush the Americans at the 'Battle of Kasserine Pass'. A lone Sergeant, Roland Rothach, is separated from his platoon in the North Africa deserts. Captured by German soldiers, he's forced to face his worst fears. Fears that haunt him long after the war ends. Back home he struggles with flashbacks of the horrors and trauma he experienced, a failing marriage, and the emptiness of isolation.

Edmonton director, Aaron Kurmey, brings us this amazing story shot completely in Alberta. Challenging the abilities of small budget work, the film brings production value and talent in droves. Thousand Yard Stare received 6 nominations at this years AMPIA Rosie Awards.

General Reels

Peggie

Italy

Director: Rosario Capozzolo
Nomination: Best Screenplay (Rosario Capozzolo)

Inspired by true events, the film addresses the theme of dementia as a way to travel through time.

Fatal Rhapsody

Vancouver

Director: Javier Badillo

A pizza deliveryman's quest to win back his ex is thwarted when he's pulled into the turmoil of two deranged criminals with their own relationship woes.

Short But Sweet

Netherlands

Director: Junaid Chundrigar

A young hero must embark on an epic quest to save a princess, in an absurdly short amount of time.

One More Experiment

Israel

Director: Sergey Vlasov
Nomination: Best Performance (Izhak Pekker)

In the near future all actors have become computer generated characters and human actors are unemployed.

Wanderer

Newfoundland

Director: Mark O'Brien, Jake Wilkens

A young backpacker slowly makes his way across the desert. He sees an open gate leading to a vacation home.

Gustav

Ireland

Director: Ken Williams, Danis Fitzpatrick

A man wakes up with a strange tune in his head. But what is it? And how did it get there?

Little Voices - Fragments

Edmonton

Director: Justin Cauti

Little Voices is a project focusing on anxieties, insecurities, and the problems that weigh us down.

No Exit

Okotoks

Director: Dave Elder, Craig Nolin

Cursed to relive the same night over and over, unable to change their fate.

Split Ticket

United States

Director: Alfred Thomas Catalfo
Nomination: Best Screenplay (Alfred Thomas Catalfo)

A supernatural drama based on true events.

The Man Who Made the Night Light

United Kingdom

Director: Ryan Potter
Nomination: Best Animation

A short live action/animation hybrid about the life of a street lamplighter.

Suspended

Poland

Director: Aleksandra Hildebrandt

Trapped, a wooden boy is hopelessly watching and dreaming of the colorful world outside.

Death* (and Disco Fries)

United States

Director: Dennis Cahlo

After finding out he is dead, Charlie has a chance to make good on a past regret.

Cloud Rider

Switzerland

Director: Manuela Rüegg
Nomination: Best Art Direction (Andrea Schmidlin and Katharina Meier)

Maximilian loves daydreaming and escaping into his imaginary world where he goes on adventures.

Pipe Dream

Sweden

Director: Normann Bjorvand
Nomination: Best Sound (Henrik Lindström)

Richard Wagner Jr. III is a musician that cannot be contained.

The Breakup Cafe

Edmonton

Director: Nathan MacDonald

At the end of the trail, near the edge of the park, there's a little place they call 'The Breakup Cafe'.

Mission Accomplished

Austria

Director: Hanna Mathis
Nomination: Best Cinematography (Simone Hart)

Young Pol wants to go to the moon and seeks the help of a clever girl named Sophie to build a rocket.

The Perfect Man

Calgary

Director: Vicki Van Chau
Nomination: Best Sound (Rachel Soong, Orthicon, Valerie Siu)

A young woman has to figure out the perfect thing to say to a stranger she believes is the perfect man.

Exchange

Okotoks

Director: Maya Phov

Maya Phov recounts her travel adventures while an exchange student in Switzerland.

Winner of the ZOOOM Youth Film Festival

Never Been to War

Foothills

Director: Derek Selinger

A music video of gratitude afforded to us because of the sacrifices of our Armed Forces Service Members.

Redemption

Spain

Director: Vasni J. Ramos

What sense does it make to be a hero if you cannot save the one you love?

Champion

Sweden

Director: Måns Berthas
Nomination: Best Picture, Best Performance (Lena Strömdahl)

Harsh midwinter. A frozen marriage in a remote cabin. A man from the past returns.

In Your Hands

France

Director: Delphine Delannoy, Lisa Baillon, Tsu-Ning Lai, Atiyyah Lallmahomed, Gwenaël Renaud, Daphné Westelynck

One couple learns how difficult it can be to live this life when confronted with depression.

The Human Project

United States

Director: K. Spencer Jones
Nomination: Best Screenplay (David Beatty), Best Editing (K. Spencer Jones)

In the wake of their father's death, two estranged siblings begin a journey of self discovery.

Outside

United Kingdom

Director: David Javid Zaidov
Nomination: Best Art Direction (Nia Fausset)

A short retelling of the final days of the British expedition to the South Pole in 1912.

The Promise

Vancouver

Director: Jason Karman

Two men dance in an open field, jumping from reality to dream as each follows his own path.

Dem Dem!

Senegal

Director: Pepe Bouname Lopy, Marc Recchia, Christophe Rolin
Nomination: Best Picture, Best Cinematography (Christophe Rolin)

Matar, a Senegalese fisherman, finds a Belgian passport on a beach in Dakar.

Methodic

Okotoks

Director: Colin Williams

Engrossed by his psychological state, a theatre actor blurs the line between reality and performance.

The Circle

United States

Director: Sheldon Schwartz
Nomination: Best Picture

A father and son travel town to town. The dad sketches portraits for locals to make a meager living.

Hope

Switzerland

Director: Michael Scherrer
Nomination: Best Animation

The story of a little boy, who is condemned to spend the time he has left in a prisoners' camp.


TwistedReels

A Father's Day

United Kingdom

Director: Mat Johns

A father is unexpectedly reunited with his daughter amongst the ruins of the world they once knew.

Henna

Edmonton

Director: Fami Kaur Biji

An experimental short film symbolizing the struggle between darkness and light inside one woman’s mind.

Beary

Spain

Director: Coré Ruiz

Something terrible has happened at his home, and now Álvaro has to help his girlfriend to fix it.

Birthday

Italy

Director: Alberto Viavattene
Nomination: Best Cinematography (Sandro De Frino)

An abusive nurse wanders through the halls of a nursing home. The only thing she hates more than her job is old people.

I BEAT IT

Spain

Director: Ainhoa Menéndez

A dinner with friends. An innocent game. An unexpected end.

La Carnivore

Montreal

Director: Michael Treder

Karine keeps the wolf at the door.

Hell of a Day

Australia

Director: Evan Hughes

A lone survivor in a post-apocalyptic world finds herself trapped in a basement below a zombie infested Inn.

The Little Things

Okotoks

Director: Chris Friesen

Beautiful young serial killer Sam has one agenda: rid the world of really, really annoying people.

Balloon

United States

Director: Mitchell Slan
Nomination: Best Art Direction (Costantino Ciminiello, Mitchell Slan)

Penny and her therapist battle her phobia of balloons through psychological experimentation.

Eighteen

Spain

Director: Tonet Ferrer

It's Jennifer's 18th birthday. Menu: an eye soup, fingers in their sauce and fried knuckles. All very normal until ... Happy birthday!


KinderReels

A Priori

Germany

Director: Maïté Schmitt

To protect his books, Albert, the young librarian, must put his prejudice aside and make friends with a bat

Rag Dolls

United States

Director: Justin & Kristin Schaack

Playtime turns into uncontrolled shenanigans when a child discovers rag dolls in an antique chest.

Raven Meets the Little Makers

Edmonton

Director: Daniel Foreman

Raven's new friends invite him to their magical home.

Twin Islands

France

Director: Manon Sailly, Charlotte Sarfati, Christine Jaudoin, Lara Cochetel, Raphaël Hout, Fanny Teisson

Twin Island East and Twin Island West are two twin islands governed by two kings, where everything goes in twos.

Sasism

Iran

Director: Mahboube Karimi Nezhad
Nomination: Best Sound (Shahin Peimani, Alireza Mahmoud Zadeh, and Mahboube Karimi Nezhad)

A bedbug is suffering from sadism and acts viciously regardless of his small body.

Shellshock

Ireland

Director: Danilo Zambrano

A young boy develops a friendship with his breakfast.

The Go Cart

United States

Director: Kailyne R Waters

A lone shopping cart, injured and seized for scrap, breaks free.

Okatok

Okotoks

Director: Shawna Koski

The Blackfoot story of the Okotoks Erratic.

Nouvelle Cuisine

Spain

Director: Manuel Reyes Halaby

A chef that loves his job is preparing a very different menu for a peculiar group of clients.

Light Sight

Montreal

Director: Seyed M Tabatabaei
Nomination: Best Animation

M.E., the imprisoned character in a room, is attracted to a hanging light and tries to catch it.


2017 Festival

Our inagural Festival was a great success, showcasing over 50 films from around the world, including some great local talent, 3 film-making workshops, and parties to open and close the festivities.

2017 Award Winners

A Whole World for a Little World

Best Picture

A Whole World for a Little World

Award sponsored by Sprung Structures
Nominees: How Hipolito Vaszquez Found Magic Where He Never Expected, Cuerdas
Jury: Allan Boss, Cheryl Taylor, Lorna James, Joanne Klein, Scott Lepp

Taking the Plunge

Audience Choice

Taking the Plunge

Award sponsored by the Okotoks Arts Council

Dreams on Sale

Best Cinematography

Alexandru Pavel (Dreams on Sale)

Nominees: Douglas Munro csc (The Caravan Film), Hampus Linden (Memory of You)
Jury: Chase Gardiner, Nick Thomas, Craig Wrobleski

Mr. Dentonn

Best Overall Sound

Cristina Amore (Mr. Dentonn)

Nominees: Geoff Manchester (I Phub You), Beau Shiminsky (It’s All In Your Head)
Jury: Frank Laratta, Mitch Lee, James Fonnyadt

The Barber's Cut

Best Editing

James Gilmore (The Barber’s Cut)

Nominees: Tomas Esteras (Mr. Dennton), Nicolas Manfredi (Taking the Plunge)
Jury: Ken Filewych, Neshe Delici

Mongoose

Best Art Direction

Chantal Beaulne (Mongoose)

Nominees: Elisabeth Mainy, Lina D. Mena, Vegard Holter, Andrea Sorestrand (Hope), Michael Chen (LOST)
Jury: Kjirsten Gallagher, Trevor Smith

The Cherry Tree

Best Screenplay

Matthieu Boivineau (The Cherry Tree)

Nominees: Lidia Milette and Ramon Lazaro (Director’s Cut), Sergi Marti (Blue Division)
Jury: Christopher Craddock, Jason Long, Kevin Doree

Memory of You

Best Performer

Emil Jonsson (Memory of You)

Nominees: Hannah Jane Zirke (LOST), Henry Douthwaite (CATCH)
Jury: Gigi Saul Guerrero, Rhonda Fisekci


2017 48-Hour Challenge Winners

Best Picture

Dr. Schemely

Award sponsored by Dawgs Baseball
Team: Damfinos

Audience Choice

Dr. Schemely

Team: Damfinos

Best Use of Prop

C.A.T.

Team: Black Diamond Crew

Best Use of Line

A.R.I.

Team: A Second Sun

Best Use of Genre

Dr. Schemely

Team: Damfinos

GeneralReels

The Caravan Film

The Caravan Film

Millarville

This year's feature film offered an inside look aboard The Caravan where adventurers young and old grapple with route-finding, mother nature and group dynamics in an epic horse-drawn experience across America.

The Caravan film follows the exploits of an eclectic group of international carriage drivers and horse riders as they journey across the American south from California to Florida over 5 months and 2,500 miles.

Leading this group of relative strangers is Gerard Paagman with his team of elegant Friesian horses fresh off filming The Hunger Games - Catching Fire. Challenging the limits of disability is Michael Muir, Great Grandson of the visionary John Muir, Father of the National Parks and co-founder the Sierra Club, a conservation movement in the U.S..

This epic journey weaves it’s way through iconic landscapes, up and over mountains, through vast deserts, under tall pine forests, to bayous and down the backroads of America. The film explores the complexities of group dynamics, the relationship we share with our horses in this modern world and the surprising connections made along the route.

Everyone came to The Caravan laden with their individual expectations but united by their love of the horse, what happened on the journey was something they will never forget.

My Father Says the Stupidest Things

My Father Says the Stupidest Things

France

The supermarket is about to close. As Adrien, a young cashier, sees different generations of love as the shoppers pass, he cannot take his eyes off the beautiful blue-eyed brunette standing at the end of the line. Maybe a chance to follow his heart..

How Hipolito Vaszquez Found Magic Where He Never Expected

How Hipolito Vaszquez Found Magic Where He Never Expected

Argentina

Director: Matias Rubio
Nomination: Best Picture

Hipólito Vázquez is an old talent's scout, that, among his loyal partner Cholo, is looking for a little child whose supposed to "do magic with the football".

One, One Thousand

One, One Thousand

Alberta

Director: Justin Brunelle

In the 1890's, a photographer and his assistant scaled one of the Canadian Rockies most daunting mountains to take one of the regions first summit photographs in history.

The Cherry Tree

The Cherry Tree

France

Director: Matthieu Boivineau
Nomination: Best Screenplay - Matthieu Boivineau

A large cherry tree in a garden. A family, memories, moments of life and time passes, tirelessly. Through the four seasons, the cherry tree evolves and this family also. Like a poem about passing time and an ode to nature.

Blue Division

Blue Division

Spain

Director: Sergi Marti
Nomination: Best Screenplay - Sergi Marti

Leningrad, summer 1943. German attempts to conquer the strategic location of Leningrad have failed miserably. Hitler, desperate, will need his best men… He will need the Spanish soldiers of the… BLUE DIVISION.

Wild Man

Wild Man

Israel

Director: Hila Mutayn

Little and helpless man facing giant animal, in its most wild and threatening figure.

The United Guys Network

The United Guys Network

Vancouver

Director: Tabatha Golat

Loving newlywed husband Paul Seger is making the other guys in the neighbourhood look bad. Time for The United Guys Network to step in and teach him how to be a 'real' husband.

Fearless Norman

Black Diamond

Director: Zoe Slusar

This uniquely animated short film captures a fantastic character and reveals his words of wisdom through moving pictures and words.

Memory of You

Memory of You

Sweden

Director: Nils Janlert
Nominations: Best Cinematography - Hampus Linden
Winner: Best Performance - Emil Jonsson

Adam is going to dinner with his wife, when he is disrupted by something from his past. A story about a love that never was, shot in one single take.

Stephan Hair in Passion

Stephan Hair in Passion

Calgary

Director: Justin Krul

This film is a look into the mind of Stephen Hair as he describes his love for his career of acting and why this is so important to him.

Catch

Catch

United Kingdom

Director: Paul Cooke and Dominic Rees-Roberts
Nomination: Best Performer - Henry Douthwaite

In a near future where all antibiotics have failed, Tom and his young daughter, Amy, are quarantined in their home during a lethal pandemic.

Dreams on Sale

Dreams on Sale

Romania

Director: Vlad Buzaianu
Winner: Best Cinematography - Alexandru Pavel

In a world where people are able to record, buy and sell dreams, many are starting to lose the ability of dreaming.

LOST

LOST

Nanaimo

Director: Michael Chen
Nomination: Best Performer - Hannah Jane Zirke, and Best Art Direction

A little girl finds a stuffed rabbit and tries to reunite it with it's owner.

Ant Apartment

Ant Apartment

Iraq

Director: Tofigh Amani

This story is about a threesome family that live in the ant’s apartment in one of the deserts of Iraq after the war. One day a strange thing happens that changes their…

Unseen

Unseen

Netherlands

Director: Justin Krul

A young ballet dancer is struggling with here choices about her future as a dancer.

Wolves

Wolves

Andorra

Director: Alvaro Rodriguez Areny

World War II. Arthur, British Royal Air Force pilot, flees cross-country after his plain crashes. He begins a fight for survival in which he will encounter more than German enemies.

Shadowbox

Shadowbox

Okotoks

Director: Shawna Koski

A journey through a world of shadows and music.

A Whole World for a Little World

A Whole World for a Little World

France

Director: Fabrice Bracq
Winner: Best Picture

A woman tells a great story to her baby. In a tale with princes and princesses, she passes her story on her daughter.


KinderReels

Love Song of the Drone

Love Song of the Drone

United States

Director: Brian J. Larson

An animated music video about the life (and love) cycles of a drone bee

I Phub You

I Phub You

Edmonton

Director: Shannon Hunt
Nomination: Best Sound Design - Geoff Manchester

After an incident that leaves the world around him silent, Kurtis discovers what it means to communicate in a technologically consumed society.

About Want and Need

About Want and Need

Germany

Director: Sarah Heinrich

Will projects his fears onto the helpless bird that just doesn't seem to be open for this kind of mental training.

Raven Steals the Light

Raven Steals the Light

Edmonton

Director: Daniel Foreman

Raven is the craftiest of all creatures. Be transported into a magical animated world where Raven is flying blindly in the endless night. The story is adapted from an ancient Haida (North Pacific Coast First Nations) myth.

The Tea Party

The Tea Party

Calgary

Director: Nolan Briggs

A young girl takes matters into her own hands when her tea party is disrupted.

Charlie's Buck Teeth

Charlie's Buck Teeth

France

Director: Esther Lalanne, Xing Yao, Valentin Sabin, Camille Verninas, and Chao-Hao Yang

Charlie, a little boy with ridiculous big teeth, always hides behind his scarf to avoid the teasing from his classmates.

Change

Edmonton

Director: Tom Robinson

An animated change purse separated from its lady at the laundromat must find a way back to her.

I Want It!

I Want It!

Argentina

Director: Nicolás Conte

On his usual way back from school Juancito, a lonely country boy, meets a little horse which seems to be abandoned.

Walk Don't Wait

Walk Don't Wait

Edmonton

Director: John Osborne

A short animated film in which a crosswalk sign comes to life.

Save the Earth

Save the Earth

Ukraine

Director: Ruslan Bokach

Shadow Dancers show the actions of humans have consequences.

Taking the Plunge

Taking the Plunge

United States

Director: Nicholas Manfredi, Elizabeth Ku-Herrero, Thaddaeus Andreades, and Marie Raoult
Winner: Audience Choice

When a young mans marriage proposal is put in jeopardy he is forced to dive into unknown waters to salvage his plans.

Booba

Booba. Biology Class

Russia

Director: Leonid Rakhmanin

He is only 70 cm tall, he is naughty and curious as a child. We don't know where he comes from, but his clumsy movements and his desire to explore the world sometimes lead to real chaos!

Slipping Away

Okotoks

Director: Brooklyn Reiter and Sierra Slough

Sometimes it is hard being a girl and no one should be bullies. Zooom 2016 festival Winner!!

It's All in Your Head

It's All in Your Head

Calgary

Director: Greg Jeffs
Nomination: Best Sound Design - Beau Shiminsky

A bedtime story about the monster in the closet

Mongoose

Mongoose

Vancouver

Director: Chantal Beaulne
Winner: Best Art Direction

An old woman confronts her childhood imaginary friend, who has taken up residence in the walls of her home.

1-0

1-0

Iran

Director: Saman Hosseinuor

The barber started cutting the boys hair while watching a football game on Tv.

Hoblio: The Path to Freedom

Hoblio: The Path to Freedom

Italy

Director: Piero Tonin

A pilgrim carrying a heavy burden travels through a dark forest to a radiant valley.

Surf Anywhere

Surf Anywhere

Calgary

Director: Desiree Bilton

You can surf anywhere – even 1500m above sea level and 1000km away from the nearest ocean, on the Kananaskis River.

The Double Cross

The Double Cross

United Kingdom

Director: Mark Brocking

Our hero is a young waiter for hire who gets caught up in a murder plot during a party and eventually rescues the damsel in distress.

Evil Teddy Bear

Okotoks

Director: Chantal Kapiniak

A girl accidentally brings her teddy bear to life not knowing it would become evil.

Cuerdas

Cuerdas

Spain

Director: Pedro Solís García
Nomination: Best Picture

María’s routine at school is altered by the arrival of a very special child. Soon, they become close friends.


TwistedReels

Director’s Cut

Director’s Cut

Spain

Director: Pol Diggler
Nomination: Best Writing - Lidia Milette and Ramon Lazaro

An indie filmmaking crew shoots the first snuff movie with a plot.

Anxiety #5

Anxiety #5

Okotoks

Director: Jesse Foster

Within the confines of a Brooklyn tenement-housing bathroom, a man’s fate is sealed.

Flies

Flies

Greece

Director: Nadia Zygouri and Aris Pavlidis

Two people are feasting. They are discommoded by flies. Time draws to a close. The rude awakening occurs when they realize where they are currently standing.

Drunk Zombies

Drunk Zombies

United States

Director: Alex Napiwocki

Two recovering alcoholics, escaping zombie apocalypse, find refuge in a bar. They soon learn zombies don't attack the drunk.

Like

Like

Italy

Director: Giulio Manicardi

A mysterious serial killer hosts a macabre show, where he tries and executes his victims in live streaming., leaving the final verdict in the hands of the Net public, which can decide to kill or spare the victim with simples " Like ".

Bedlamite

Bedlamite

United Kingdom

Director: Jamie Cooper

A brother and sister looking to recapture their youth, decide to explore an abandoned WW1 bunker deep in the heart of the British countryside. The pair stumble across a girl nailed to a chair, beaten, gagged and barely alive. When the captor returns to finish the job the three must frantically try to navigate the many bunker tunnels to escape.

Patata Day

Patata Day

Germany

Director: Peter Böving

Five people in a diner who spin a yarn about potato dishes.

Skinner

Skinner

Calgary

Director: Rob Jacobsen

Every year a small town sends to people to the abandoned factory to see if The Skinner has returned to demand the sacrifice of a mother.

Hungry Hippos Trailer

Hungry Hippos Trailer

Okotoks

Director: Chris Friesen

A fake movie trailer for a childhood game in the style of Michael Bay.

Mr. Dentonn

Mr. Dentonn

Spain

Director: Ivan Villamel Sanchez
Winner: Best Overall Sound

On a cold winter night, Laura reads herbrother David the story of a strange creature that attacks children. Suddenly, a shiver runs Laura's body, feeling a strange presence in the house. It’s him.

The Barber's Cut

The Barber's Cut

United Kingdom

Director: Mark Brocking
Winner: Best Editing - James Gilmore

Two cut off but living heads wake up in a fridge and manage to escape while trying to avoid a psycho barber.

Echo

Echo

Vancouver

Director: Oliver Robertson

When two naive film students go deep into the forest to record sound effects, they overhear someone getting murdered.

Black Reflection

Black Reflection

Iran

Director: Soudabeh Kamrani

The young man was pouring coffee for himself, he see' s himself in the coffee, Drinks the whole cup, puts it on the saucer upside down & starts to turn the pages of a book that suddenly the cup starts to tremble ....

Dark Dreamer

Dark Dreamer

Germany

Director: Max Ponischowski

Marcus wakes up in the middle of the night and gets a visit from a strange creature with unnatural powers. The man calls himself a Nighthob and opens up about the fact, that Marcus doesn't know what life he has lived so far in secret . The adventure begins.

Werewolf's Greated Hit

Werewolf's Greated Hit

Australia

Director: Jim and Nick Zounis

A brief tale of a werewolf and his strong obsession with the full moon.

Hope

Hope

Norway

Director: Adam A. Losurdo
Nomination: Best Art Direction

A senseless wandering ghoul roaming through a world of the hunger-less undead and accepting yet resentful humans will soon discover a craving that leaves him completely and utterly without hope.

Plight: A Comic Book Rock Opera

Plight: A Comic Book Rock Opera

Edmonton

Director: Randy Brososky

Daniel Plight, a security guard, develops superpowers after he is wounded with a mystical knife. Along with Michelle Striker, a scientist with enhanced fighting abilities, Daniel must discover the secret behind his new powers, and learn the difference between feeling special and being special.

Bitch, Popcorn and Blood

Bitch, Popcorn and Blood

France

Director: Fabio Soares

At Salt’ n Sugar, a popcorn bar in the middle of nowhere, LILY a bored waitress, is going to turn her life around when two fishy strangers show up in the bar.