2024 Festival

Director: Aleem Karmali
Nomination: Best Documentary

In 1972, the President of Uganda, Idi Amin, announced that all Asians had 90 days to leave the country. Among other countries, Canada offered an “honourable place” to almost 8,000 Ugandan Asian refugees. This documentary film explores Canada’s first major migration of non-European and non-white refugees, set against the backdrop of African post-colonialism, a brutal military dictatorship, and changing Canadian attitudes to diversity. Their story of struggle and hope became part of Canada’s conversations about refugees and cultural pluralism, and informed the Canadian response to future refugee movements.

Director: Darrell Dennis

A down-on-his-luck First Nations Archeologist seeking redemption teams up with a group of misfits from the Rez to break into a museum and reclaim sacred artifacts that rightfully belong to their people.

Director: Ryan Tebbutt

““Because I Can” follows the story of Shelley Hunt, a mother of two young boys from Pentiction BC, Canada, who co-founded “”The Because I Can Project,”” a Canada wide campaign of organ donation education. Eventually giving away one of her kidneys altruistically to save a strangers life, Shelley’s incredible journey is told alongside the story of Kevin Campbell & Adrianna Pace, two people dealing with life threatening kidney disease.

The film covers a 12 year time span and shows the effect that one good deed can have, many years later.”

Director: Kory Orban
Nomination: Best Editing

In the mind of every filmmaker, there are two wolves locked in an epic, eternal, and fierce battle for control and influence.

The combatants? The analytical left brain and the whimsical right. [INSERT SHORT FILM TITLE] personifies these cerebral hemispheres in the monumentally (or at least marginally) comedic performances of Chrissy Mozylisky and Matthew MacCaull, evoking the cinematic manifestation of that cerebrum arm wrestle in the form of a meta-troll of the short film genre.

Delicately straddling the line between homage and parody, ISFT stands on the shoulders of giants, taking filmic inspiration from sources as varied as classical German Expressionism, adrenaline fueled American action movies, the daring Danish Dogme95 independent movement, literal internet memes, and many, many more.

ISFT accomplishes all of this while constraining itself to a tight 12-ish minute run time and while taking on the herculean, virtually-impossible task of getting an audience to be genuinely excited to watch other people’s short films.

Box office smash? Maybe. Oscar-bait? Cha-duh. Good enough to be accepted into semi-reputable film festivals? Oh God, please, God.

Director: Bamdad Aghajani, Arian Navabi

A physics professor is trying to teach the concept of Entropy in his class, but unusual things start to happen…

Director: Eric Ehrler

A sickly man must race against the clock to explain a myriad of symptoms to his new doctor after discovering that recent budget cuts have limited their appointment to a mere few minutes.

Director: Gerald B. Fillmore
Nomination: Best Art Dec

After ten years living together, Sebastian is going to confess the truth to Lucia about his sexual orientation. Sebastian is a victim of social pressure and he has been leading a double life but now the time has come to confess Lucia that he is heterosexual. it’s time to get out of the closet, I mean, back to the closet.

Director: Laure Devin, Maxime Bourstin, Nathan Medam, Charles Hechinger, Titouan Jaouen

Sidnei is a young recruit of the fire department fighting forest fires in the Amazon. During his first mission, he will be separated from the group and will have to undertake a perilous mission, guided by his mentor, Joao. Sidnei will be confronted with a choice: follow the orders of the hierarchy or save a thousand-year-old tree at the risk of his life.

Director: Lewis Rose
Nomination: Best Picture, Best Screenplay

“Gordon, the former keeper of a lighthouse now turned into a museum, is desperate for someone to help him maintain the site. When Musa, an Afghan refugee, comes knocking on his door, Gordon finally finds the helper he has been waiting for.

The two men become friends, confronting their respective cultures and pasts with humour and kindness.

But when Gordon discovers the true intentions of Musa’s visit, he is faced with a moral dilemma that upsets all his certainties…”

Director: Eivind Landsvik

Following an unpleasant run in at the beach, teenagers Oscar and Iben are left behind by their friends.

Director: Santiago Requejo
Nomination: Best Picture, Best Performance

After several years working as a counselor in a high school, Maite, a vocational psychologist, receives an innovative employment offer: A job 24 seven.

Director: Ben Harman

After running into his childhood best friend at a convenience store, Daniel reflects on how much they have grown, and the feeling of not knowing someone who used to be so close.

Director: Heather D. Pattengale

While searching for an elusive bird, two women explore the reaches of their friendship.

Director: BASON BAEK
Nomination: Best Special and Visual Effects

Most people in this world are headless. DuSeong is a police officer; one of the few that still have a head. He takes on a sexual assault case, where both the perpetrator and the victim lose their heads. One day, he discovers his daughter has also become headless, and is faced with a choice.

Director: Kevin Castellano, Edu Hirschfeld
Nomination: Best Cinematography, Best Editing

Alicia and Ruth finally leave Malasaña to play with their band, Las Hermanitas de la Calidad, at a music festival. The problem is that they are stranded the middle of nowhere and they can’t get a signal. Their only way to get there on time is to get into Javi’s car, a young hunter from the area who doesn’t give them a good feeling.

Director: Kiarash Dadgar Mohebi
Nomination: Best Cinematography

A birthday ceremony preparation gets upside down as something horrible takes place.

Director: José Gomez De Vargas
Nomination: Best Performance

RICARDO, a former gang member, tries to keep his son JOEL out of the streets, but the legacy he has laid over his son is stronger than Ricardo´ss intentions. Joel ascends on the gang´s hierarchy when he defeats CHIVO, another gang member, who desperately seeks the same goal as Joel. Things go out of control, Joel´s life is threatened.

Director: Gunnur Martinsdóttir Schlüter

“A bird hits a window of a café and disrupts its customers. A woman faces a decision on whether to
ignore nature or to react.”

Director: Daniel Herz, Luis Felipe Sá

The tragic melody of a transgender woman who was murdered by her lover.

Director: HUGO SANZ
Nomination: Best Overall Sound

Two sisters, seven and eleven years old, are hiding inside a closet in a house. The little sister thinks they are rehearsing for a game but the older one knows that a terrible threat lurks outside.

Director: Silvain Bressollette
Nomination: Best Overall Sound

Time stands still just before a terrible car accident. The two motorists get out and see, frightened, the drama that will take place in a fraction of a second. A surreal negotiation follows between a stressed family man and a glib misfit.

Director: Jayson Therrien

Suzy has a unique talent. She makes the best tasting red velvet cupcakes. She parlays that talent into getting even with her abusive husband, deceiving the local crime family and making out with a bowling full of cash.

Director: Chen Sing Yap

A psychotherapist struggling with climate anxiety explores what it means to live in a dying world.

Director: Victor Guilbaud

Emile is a contract killer. A hired killer who travels by bicycle and who kills in exchange for a few tickets left in a small mailbox lost in the middle of the fields. This time, the man to be slaughtered is named Gaston Pouget and lives at 7 rue des Peupliers: a shed on the edge of a highway. Only here, when arriving on the scene: – SURPRIIISE!!! Emile is surprised by a birthday in honor of Gaston which should, a priori, arrive soon. Emile was not invited.

Director: Logan H Coutts

“For years there was a little green and white house on Riverside Drive in Okotoks. Most Okotokians can’t remember a time it wasn’t around. Unfortunately, this little house’s days were numbered.

What many remember most of all is the one-of-a-kind lady who has made that house a home for so many years.

We had the pleasure of sitting down with Rose to hear some of those stories and to pull from her wealth of knowledge and experience.”

Director: Ian Halley, Nathan Hermouet, Luka Croisez, Laurène Vaubourdolle, Jade Van De Veire

Instead of giving his wife the attention she deserves, Dédé sends all his love to his vegetable garden. One day, all his delicious tomatoes mysteriously disappear.

Director: José (putxa) Puchades Martínez, David Maqueda Pavo, Julieta Gasroc
Nomination: Best Picture, Best Art Dec

Eugenio is an elderly puppeteer with more past than present, living anchored to a wheelchair and the remembrance of his late spouse. Ramon is a young assistant that helps Eugenio day to day and is complicit in his fantasy. Sarina is now a memory that is no longer what she used to be and wants to leave to return to whom she was.

Director: Alexandra Mignien

In the Dark Ages, all the villagers are gathered near the cliff to witness the execution of six women accused of being witches. Between misogyny and false religious arguments, the victims may finally become the persecutors.

Director: Harry Holland

A guilt-ridden mother risks everything to reconnect with her son. Staring Lindsey Duncan and Tom Holland.

Director: Yoni Collins

A Canadian veteran who served in Afghanistan turns to music to help him in his battle with PTSD and to raise awareness of veteran suicide and mental health.

Director: Aleisha Anderson

Based on the adage “if these walls could talk”, an ordinary guy discovers that he can hear and talk to walls. His special power takes him on big adventures and teaches him the true meaning of happiness and fulfillment

Director: Jesús Plaza
Nomination: Best Overall Sound

Birdie tells the story of Kate, an international dubbing actress who, after a voice-over job, connects with a desire that has been on her mind for too long. A tender story of connection between two people through voice and the importance of sharing important moments in life with our loved ones.

Director: Emilio Martí López
Nomination: Best Documentary

Those who do not know the Sahara think there is only sand in the desert. But in the desert there are children who play and draw and make movies, and who would like to not have to think about the war. In the desert there is a European colony, an occupied country called Western Sahara, where there are thousands of Sahrawi refugees living a hard life in exile. LITTLE SAHARA tells their story, the story of a supportive, resilient people who try to thrive and grow in the Hamada, where everything has a hard time growing.

Director: Elvira Barboza
Nomination: Best Cinematography

1986, in a village in France. Natalia, of Argentinean origin, is 11 years old when she discovers strange scars on her father’s body. From then on, the shadow of the past hangs over the daily life of the little girl, whose childish gaze questions exile and the adult world.

Director: Fatima Kaci
Nomination: Best Performance, Best Screenplay

Rim is a Tunisian interpreter working in France on asylum procedures. Every day, she translates the stories of exiled men and women, whose voices raise questions about her own history.

Director: Natxo Leuza
Nomination: Best Documentary

Fadia, Wais and Emram are fleeing the hell of one of the worst humanitarian crises of the 21st century: the armed conflict in Afghanistan. They’ve spent all their families? savings and risked their lives to get to Europe. The journey transforms them: they will never be the same.

Director: KC Caywood

Amidst the eerie shadows of the graveyard shift, a lonesome security Guard encounters a mesmerizing Woman. A Playful dance of cat and mouse unfolds, but who is the pray and who is the hunter? Secrets become unravelled by the hypnotic rhythm of the night. Featuring Calgary Local Band “Summer Bruises” premiering their brand new song “Death Disco”.

Director: Joan Vives Lozano
Nomination: Best Special and Visual Effects

It’s been years since Ovidi disappeared in the sea without leaving a trail. Teresa, his widow, still visits the cave where he was seen for the last time. Ten years later, the lovers will meet again, although not in the way they would have expected.

Director: Ata Mojabi

A thief who is burglarizing gets surprised by the host and commits a brutal murder. He runs away but realizes that something is following him.

Director: Laura Georgescu Baron

Tired of his daily routine, Bobo feels being in someone else’s shoes would make him happier. The metamorphosis starts, but it proves out of control. Could the happiness Bobo pursues ultimately lead to profound dissatisfaction?

Director: Ryan Neil Butler

The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the zombie apocalypse has settled in nicely. There’s just one problem…one of the undead is in the yard. What’s a pacifist to do?

Director: Frédéric Uran, Kevin Poezevara

A dark night, an abandoned hospital and a scarified corpse hanging from a rope. Detective Reynies investigates at the crime site of a serial killer who enjoys playing hangman with his victims.

Director: Lorenzo Puntoni
Nomination: Best Art Dec

In pursuit of a strange figure wearing a red cape, a hunter finds himself as a guest at a young woman’s house in the woods. He falls victim to a fairy tale turned upside down.

Director: Justin Cauti

A young woman wanders Trapper Woods in search of an escape. With nothing but old folklore in the back of her mind, she seeks to make a deal.

Director: Jorge Yúdice
Nomination: Best Editing, Best Special and Visual Effects

Erica and Anna haven’t seen each other in years. They meet at a coffee shop to catch up. But first, Erica has to warn Anna of one thing… There is something threatening that only Erica can see. And that “something” is right behind Anna.

Director: TOMMY NG & STEP C
Nomination: Best Animation

Things that we thought were gone may not truly leave us – perhaps they are still with us somehow. Life is full of ups and downs. Death is a natural part of life. This story inspires us to rethink our life and treasure every moment we have, just like the two inseparable little cats enjoying their life and experiencing the grief of death.

Director: Mathias Richard Horhager, Aaron Hong

As the seasons change, three little trees learn about themselves, friendship and their place in the world.

Director: Jitka Nemikinsová

Lightbulbs are throwing a party for growing up flames to welcome them in the system that will let them shine and protect them. But one flames likes to play with fire and rebels against the system.

Director: JORN LEEUWERINK

A big group of animals makes itself dependent on a power grid, hooked onto the socket-shaped snout of a single sleeping pig… How long will that last?

Director: Radheya Jang Jegatheva

A heartfelt story of unrequited love explored through a lonely seagull struggling to accept that his newfound object of affection is a human-operated drone with a limited battery life.

Director: Sully Desplats, Amélie Berche, Clémence Cognot
Nomination: Best Animation

A man attempts to rebuild and tame a long-defeated golden dragon in order to use its powers for the good of all. However, soon after the monster’s construction, corruption and lust for power seize the man and consume him.

Director: Beric Dean Manywounds, Alanna Bluebird-Onespot, Ben Pipestem, Ryan Von Hagen

Seven Tsuut’ina men refuse to turn back despite 3 dark omens urging them to, they come upon a Cree camp which leads to battle and death in a supernatural way.

Director: Alyssa Koski

A lonely mouse builds themselves a friend in the Canadian Foothills, but when that friend is swept away in the wind, it unexpectedly opens up a new world of possibilities.

Director: Yuta Noguchi
Nomination: Best Screenplay

“Shiori Sato has been searching for her son Taka, who mysteriously disappeared three years prior. One day, on the anniversary of Taka’s fourth birthday. Shiori meets an “”information pawnbroker”” who can exchange “”wanted information”” for “”memories of commensurate value.”” Shiori is torn to give up her memories for information on Taka’s whereabouts. However, Shiori’s father, Hideki, who is worried she is still bound by the past, stops her.

Willing to do anything to reunite with her son, Shiori deposits her own “”precious memories”” in the pawn shop. The consequences of her sacrifice, however, might exceed her own mother’s love.”

Director: Susumu Kimura

In the future city of Submittan, people over 80 years old are forced into ‘retirement’ to a remote mountain area, as the city deals with increased population. The burden falls on the shoulder of an immigrant artist, who is tasked to design a propaganda poster to convince citizens of this new registration.

Director: 文太 川元

Centering on the relationships between the people who work at a bookbinding factory, it portrays the human society as a whole, with people who manage to get by no matter how hard they try.

Director: Yuki Kedoin, Takashi Okado
Nomination: Best Animation

This is a story of when I liked to draw manga alone. I would always draw manga by myself at school, but then someone started to follow me. “Am I being stalked?!” To run away from them, I hid in a random car trunk. “Okay, they can’t find me here.” But as soon as I thought of that, the trunk closed, and I got locked in. My phone was dead too. What do I do?!

Director: Thomas Henry Scott

“Downhill” follows the harrowing journey of two boys who, after a biking accident, awaken to find themselves in a strange new world. With no memory of how they arrived, they must navigate their new surroundings and consider what may threaten their community’s very existence. As they work frantically to get back home, they realize their short bike ride in Okotoks was more challenging than ever imagined.

Director: Aidan Taylor Groves

Spirits, phantoms, and all sorts of hauntings have been housed at the school of Henry Wise Wood for generations. In the wake of a mysterious murder on school grounds, one brave and important film crew decides to do a public service and goes on the hunt for the ghost.

Director: Orianna Rodriguez-Saltron, Mattea Bass, MJ Hansen and Gemma Brown

A film adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven

Director: Kiyan Karimaghaei, Wynn Brown, Zachary Schaan

Two friends catch up over some food.

Director: Thomas Henry Scott

In this gripping short film, we accompany a solo young filmmaker on a bike ride equipped with his camera. His journey takes a dark turn when he encounters a mysterious stranger whose intentions are ominous. With suspense building, the film leaves viewers on edge, contemplating the unsettling possibilities that unfold.

Director: Jaxson Visser

A young cowboy gets pushed to his limits in this Revenge Western by 10-year old Writer/Director, Jaxson Visser

Meet director Aleem Karmali of “Thrown Into Canada”, this year’s opening film. He will chat about the issues raised by the film and tips for documentary filmmaking.

Join Lethbridge College Instructor Trinh Simpson as she introduces ways that small budget filmmakers can use XR tools to create spectacular large budget looks.

Is this the future of filmmaking?

Last year the Town of Okotoks put a focus on creating filming procedures for that productions must follow to film in Okotoks. What does this mean for filmmakers? What does this mean residence can expect? Out panelists to talk about this issue are Mayor Tanya Thorn, Economic Development Specialist Josh Welz, and Film Set Location Manager Mohammad Qazzaz.