FILMS 2023
A History of Sitting in Waiting Rooms
“A History of Sitting in Waiting Rooms (or whatever longer title you prefer)” is the coming of age story you never knew you wanted. Meet Lorenita: a rambunctious six-year-old with six cavities. One for each letter in her name no one can pronounce. Lorenita is a butch Latina fighting to find herself in the cacophony of Queens, NY in the 90s. With the help of her imaginary best friend, Boo, a civil war ghost, Lorenita will poorly navigate the drawn-out pains of puberty.
Achromatism
My documentary is about the way black hijabis are represented in the media through dance. I plan to enlighten people’s knowledge on us black hijabis through a preformative and cinematic documentary.The media is extremely biased in who they want to present to the public and I find that unfair. We work just as hard as others so why is our talent pushed aside?
And Along Came Lily
And Along Came Lily is an intimate story following a young woman’s journey to understanding the mythical orgasm. Media often portrays sex as all “sexy” “fun” and “adventurous”, but it rarely dives into how complicated and stressful trying to “find” pleasure in the bedroom is. Lily is a sheltered Midwesterner struggling with what it means for her to have pleasure and with the help of her best friend Rachel, what that journey looks like.
Astonishing Little Feet
Afong Moy, the first documented Chinese woman to come to the United States, realizes the men who separated her from her family only have interest in profiting off the peculiarities of her bound feet.
Bad Blood
On an Autumn Friday, 10-year-old Olivia receives her period for the first time. However, she shields the truth from her mother, Sharon, and her older sister, Andrea, in hopes of attending a sleepover at the family’s church. Blind to her young sister’s experience, Andrea continues to defy her mother’s wishes as she searches for freedom and her identity outside of their family unit. Unable to communicate as they wish they could, these two sisters find themselves navigating their coming-of-age stories as they try to overcome the guilt of their shame together.
Bowling 4 Eva
A troubled teen girl spends her time trolling men online and bowling with her grandfather while becoming increasingly medicated by her psychiatrist.
BreadWinners
Breadwinners is a five-part mini docuseries that examines the complex relationship between New Yorkers and the people who feed them. By focusing on farmers, food distributors, and home cooks, the series explores access to sustenance, the power of land, and the magic of community.
Episode 4 features Raina Kennedy – co-owner and sourcer for Brooklyn Packers, a co-op that makeS food more accessible by distributing fresh produce throughout Brooklyn and Queens without the grocery store pricing.
Daddy’s Night
h Mommy out for the night, Daddy invites over Natalie. But when his daughter Betsy wakes up afraid of a monster, can Daddy put her back to bed in time to get in bed with Natalie?
Faith in Blackness
“How can the creator of the universe be smaller than me?” Black Latine people around the world practice a myriad of faith traditions. This short-form documentary explores dynamic identities of these AfroLatine people and their journey for a home, a faith in Blackness.
Feeling the Apocalypse
A psychotherapist struggling with climate anxiety explores what it means to live in a dying world.
Filip
A Polish Jew who found himself in the eye of the storm, lost everything and everyone in Poland, and now just wants to survive.
Film For Aliens
Fourteen-year-old Jeremi is a YouTuber. His father, a space agency employee, promised to show him the launch of a real rocket, but called it off at the very last minute. Instead, he sends the boy to his grandpa’s place in the countryside. To distract Jeremi from spending time on the Internet, his father comes up with a competition. Jeremi receives a package with a small robot that gives him tasks to complete. The boy is supposed to create a message for aliens in the form of a film, which will help to save the world. At first unhappy, Jeremi gradually makes friends with a group of local kids. Together, they make the film until the secret plan comes to light.
Forgive
Five people from different walks of life are joined by an art therapist whose sister was a victim of sexual violence. Together, they embark on a session in order to alleviate their feelings of guilt and regret. The session unfolds with each participant candidly sharing their deeply-rooted guilt, shedding light on the personal burdens they’ve been carrying. As the session continues, the therapist’s ulterior motive is revealed, prompting all but one participant to leave.
Fundamental Shapes
Jacob, an unemployed actor seeking a steady day job, stumbles into an unusual gig: nude figure model for a fine arts class. When his next-door neighbor turns up in the class, he must find a way to keep his identity hidden, and their budding romance intact. A gentle romantic comedy about vulnerability, surprising coincidences, and the unexpected ways we find love.
Hangman
A recently widowed woman works through the complexities of grief with the help of friends, strangers and Tupperware.
Hela
When teenage trouble maker orphan Hela learns that her 5 years old sister has been adopted, she decides to run away from the reformatory to find and kidnap her sibling.
Hot Tears
When a precocious eighth-grader develops a crush on her older sister’s 20-year-old boyfriend, the line between friendliness and flirtatiousness becomes blurred. Eve finds herself lost in his ambiguous nature. After a mutual attraction forms between the two, Eve has to face the consequences head-on.
Hush
June, a standby dancer, is obsessed with dancing and wants to learn solo choreography with the lead dancer Lauren. However, as soon as she wins the opportunity from Lauren, she is distanced by the group. Thus, she decides to cancel her rehearsal schedule with Lauren and fixes her relationship with the others. When she thinks her life returns to normal, Lauren gets injured during the rehearsal for unclear reasons and has to quit the practice. Feeling guilty about Lauren’s injury, June wants to fill her position as the only person who learned her part to secure the coming show. However, she has to face the same isolation again when she does so.
Interview with Traveler #582
Drawing the power dynamics of a job interview out from behind closed doors, Traveler #582 takes aim at this absurd capitalist ritual and its many tropes. Our satirical short also introduces the world of Third Eye Moonwalk, a secretive spiritual order that has learned to teleport through time and space. Despite their miraculous powers, the organization is mired in debt, suffering from dwindling numbers and struggling to keep the lights on. A seasoned gatekeeper launches a recruitment campaign and interviews Traveler #582 for a middle management position, but his corporate approach frustrates the devotee, who dreamed of a meaningful discussion about truth and enlightenment.
Into The Spotlight
A heartfelt story of how a script, a stage, and a theater program composed of adults with disabilities celebrate their creativity, explore life’s complexities, and empower a community, in their own words and their own way.
Joyland
Gentle and timid, Haider (Ali Junejo) lives with his wife Mumtaz (Rasti Farooq), his father, and his elder brother’s family in Lahore, Pakistan. Following a long spell of unemployment, Haider finally lands a job at a Bollywood-style burlesque, telling his family he is a theater manager, when in actuality, he is a backup dancer. The unusual position shakes up the steadfast traditional dynamics of his household and enables Haider to break out of his shell. As he acclimates to the new job, Haider becomes infatuated with the strong-willed trans woman Biba (Alina Khan) who runs the show—an unforeseen partnership that opens his eyes and ultimately his worldview, in ways both unexpected and intimate.
Leaving Yellowstone
What starts as a romantic trip in the wilderness, turns ugly as Tessa fights for her life in the winter of Yellowstone National Park.
LESYK a.k.a. Words of Wisdom
‘LESYK a.k.a. Words of Wisdom’ is a moving portrait of Alexander Lesyk Balaban, an eccentric Ukraine stamp collector living in Astoria, NY for over fifty years. Told across four seasons and spanning over 1,000 years of history, come spend some time with Lesyk, who’s extensive stamp collection is part of the fight for the survival of Ukraine’s identity and history.
Let My Grandpa into Heaven
Lucas, a six-year old boy, wants to bring his recently deceased grandfather to Heaven after hearing his father say that Grandpa is burning in Hell.
Limbo
Edward, now 28, hasn’t seen his family since he crossed the US-Mexico border on foot 10 years ago. Trapped in the US by a maddening waiting game for citizenship, he grapples with the idea of leaving the life he built in New York behind forever in exchange for a long overdue homecoming. Will Edward reunite with his family or continue on in his self-imposed purgatory?
Lunchbox
When a Taiwanese American woman prepares lunches from her childhood, she struggles to forgive herself for pushing away her immigrant mother.
Made in Germany
A nearly finished construction site. The wiring is completed, the walls are painted, the final inspections are being done. The construction manager Thomas Zetzsche is proud of his achievement. The prestigious building he created is a modern dream come true. But suddenly that dream begins to crumble as more and more defects appear. Cables run into dead ends, the fire protection malfunctions and entire rooms go missing. Desperately Thomas is trying to fix the building until he finally accepts that the opening date has to be postponed. Now he must confront his own responsibility in this faulty system and draw the necessary consequences.
Made in Heaven
Serena, a closeted lesbian, accidentally finds her mother trying to reconnect with an old boyfriend. She sends her girlfriend to be her mom’s assistant, only to realize her secret can no longer stay hidden.
Mechanical Bulls
Four wayward twenty-somethings reconnecting after years apart. Taking place over the course of one day, the once close-knit group attempt to confront their personal truths and unresolved issues with each other. Will they recognize each other by the end of the night?
Moth Hunting
Warsaw 1905. A young girl, entangled with independence activists, gets out of prison and is sold to the high-end brothel of Franciszka Szlimakowska. She takes the name “Yvette” and decides to earn money working as a prostitute to go to her beloved in Siberia. She wants to take her life into her own hands, hoping fortune will smile upon her. However, she does not anticipate the coming storm resulting from a political conspiracy of General Margrafsky, the head of Okhrana, a secret police-force of the Russian Empire, carried out with one of the most dangerous men of the Warsaw underworld – a corrupt policeman, Wiktor Grun. Warsaw brothels will fall victim to the conspiracy.
New Lives
A psychological portrait of a Holocaust survivor navigating the trauma of her past with the pressures of assimilation, in 1950s Brooklyn.
No Elephant In The Room
Two huge plastic elephants are being pulled down from the top of the colourfully decorated grand are-na of the State Circus of Bucharest. Change has finally become unavoidable for this circus built by the communist regime in 1961. Wild animal shows are suddenly forbidden and with this, the circus loses its main attraction. Long-time animal-training partners Adi and Mioara are left without the occupation that has meant everything to them, and have to see their pupils off to the zoo. The circus is in crisis, so the director makes a risky move: he calls in Adrian, a Vegas show director who works for the famous Cirque du Soleil. Adrian holds casting calls, and now Mioara, Adi and their colleagues are expected to turn an old-school circus into a world-class acrobatic spectacle by the end of the year. Through the stories of the trainers who lose their jobs and are trying to survive in the new reality, the circus becomes a mirror for processes of transition that have been taking place all over East Europe over the past thirty years.
No Other Gods But Me
In the midst of a sexual awakening, a religious teen finally musters up the courage to kiss her crush, but will lust send her straight to h-e-double-hockey-sticks?
Nora
Influenced by Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House”, Nora is confronted with her primal urges, when her husband is away on a business trip and she is left home confined to herself.
Only The Wind
It is the story of an extraordinary journey of 90-year-old Zdzisław, from Krakow to the Kazakh steppe, searching for a woman – his first love that he was forced to leave there 70 years ago. Zdzisław is part of over 300,000 people who were forced to work in Siberia during the war. However, he stands out from the few still living exiles –¬¬¬ he decides to travel back to the deportation place. Zdzisław and his granddaughter will travel 3500 km by train to reach the village of Karasu in Kazakhstan. Zdzisław doesn’t know that a friend he has not seen for 70 years is waiting for him there.
Powerful Stuff
Confronted by the inspiration for his most problematic character, an indie filmmaker fights to save his career at the premiere of his debut feature.
Repentance
After sharing online a video of herself dancing, a young Iranian woman is being pressured to apologize on public television.
Rest
Iris, a recently sober alcoholic, is due in court tomorrow: rested and prepared. Unable to fall asleep, she battles the voices in her head and her own desire for a drink as the night stretches on, seemingly without end.
SEARCHING: Our Quest for Meaning in the Age of Science
How is it possible that falling in love, feeling connected to nature, and experiences of awe and wonder, can all arise from the material atoms of our bodies? Can science explain such complex human experiences? Can a computer achieve consciousness? And what does it mean to be human in a world of increasing science and technology? In “SEARCHING: Our Quest for Meaning in the Age of Science,” physicist and novelist Alan Lightman (Einstein’s Dreams) embarks on a journey across time and space to ponder these questions. In the course of his odyssey, he speaks with Nobel-prize winning scientists, leading ethicists and philosophers, faith leaders (including the Dalai Lama), a paralyzed ex-gang member who was the first person to have computer chips implanted in an area of his brain that allowed him to move a robotic arm by pure thought, and even an advanced humanoid android named BINA48, one of the few African-American AI’s.
Smothered
In the midst of a breakup, Slim visits Dani’s apartment to pick up a painting. An argument ensues, Slim’s fate is determined by a surreal and horrific turn of events.
Starved
A young man’s pet goldfish sits atop a dresser, observing its owner neglect his ambitions, relationship and livelihood in order to feed the only thing that matters: an opioid addiction.
Stay Don’t Go
Martha, a devoted volunteer in the search for a missing teenager, stumbles across a possible lead and is forced to take matters into her own hands.
Stopping The Next Pandemics
Stopping the next pandemic is a new challenge to the most prominent scientists. Their field studies around the world are showing that our health as humans depends on animal and environmental health. Diseases that occur in the remotest places are now our concern. We live in a connected world. We will have to preserve the environment to prevent future pandemics.
Sulam
When an immigrant teen must help her mother buy a ladder before a school exam, tensions of belonging in a new country bubble to the surface.
The Artist & the Astronaut
Pat and Jerry would grow up in the same neighborhood and go to the same schools. Pat would travel thousands of miles and Jerry would travel millions of miles before they would eventually meet each other in Houston Texas. This film centers around a uniquely American couple’s captivating story during the pinnacle of American exploration and social change. Although this film is in essence a love story, Pat and Jerry lived entire lives before they even met each other in 1976. Pat was a 1950’s housewife with three daughters married to a football coach. Jerry was an astronaut with six children of his own. The experiences that each of them went through in the 1960’s and 1970’s prepared them to create art that would address the very important social issues of woman’s rights, race relations, issues of the native Americans, environmental sustainability and war.
The Confirmation
A tenacious biologist grapples with her beliefs when her ailing daughter turns to spiritual healing in search of a cure.
The Cookbook
After his father’s debilitating stroke, an estranged son returns home to Central New York where he’s torn between taking over his father’s Lebanese restaurant and carrying on family tradition or pursuing his own dream.
The Ever Hours
In a dreamlike montage of tangible love, we follow three separate stories: Cleo and Noah, a mother and her young daughter, Elsie and Aaliyah, lovers, and Thomas and Kait, an elderly father and his daughter. We are touched by intimate moments of joy and peace in these love stories before transitioning to a lens of loss. The tone is not one of sadness but of hope as we transcend into an abstract interpretation of love as an ethereal and immortal energy that surrounds us even beyond death.
The Hamlet Syndrome
THE HAMLET SYNDROME is a powerful portrait of a vibrant young Ukrainian generation, the first one born after the collapse of the Soviet Union, shaped by the Maidan Revolution of 2013, empowered by political change and scarred by war.
Till Eye Die
Isaac is a young painter who suffers from achromatopsia. Since birth, he only sees in black, white and shades of grey. His life changes overnight, when he takes a pill that will make him see in color…
Wild Geese Returning
A blind painter who has never seen the sea is obsessed with painting it, hoping to capture its entirety—till the sea takes him.