Alejandra Wills
13 min | 2019 | Colombia | New England Premiere
A story of sadness and tragedy that has taken a toll on many peasants in the Colombian countryside after being caught up in the on-going conflicts that have plagued the country. This film follows a peasant woman and a young man, an unlikely relationship considering how their paths have crossed.
Pedro del Río
15 min | 2019 | Spain | US Premiere
A homeless woman finds a set of keys, tries to find out which apartment they belong they will open and takes on a new identity.
Joanna Bielinski
23 min | 2019 | Germany | East Coast Premiere
A tale of domestic abuse, life begins to spiral out of control after the birth of their son. Rea’s depression escalates as well as her abuse against Oliver. Their life in shambles, his job is in jeopardy, Rea fakes a suicide attempt and when the police are called to the apartment, the evidence is determined by outdated gender roles.
Charlie Manton
25 min | 2019 | UK | US Premiere
Traveling to witness the execution of her son’s murderer, a mother is torn between retaliation and reconnecting with her estranged daughter.
Richard Reens
21 min| 2020 | US/Canada/South Africa | East Coast Premiere
A genocide survivor transcends overwhelming odds to become a master chimpanzee linguist. As the world’s chimpanzee population dwindles in the wild, one-man risks everything to care for a group of mistreated animals rescued by Jane Goodall’s Chimp Eden Sanctuary in South Africa. Stany Nyandwi, a survivor of the Burundi genocide, overcomes insurmountable odds to become one of the only humans to master the complicated ‘pant hoot’ chimp language. Recognizing that it’s not just a chimpanzee/human struggle, he’s taken it upon himself to reconnect with our closest relatives on this planet. Love knows no man-made boundaries in this universal story about understanding.
Gabriel Amaral
23 min | 2019 | Brazil | East Coast Premiere
When Nego discovers that the cacao farm he lives and works on is going to be sold, he must face not only the loss of his home and job, but also the daily contact he has with the land he cherishes so much.
Dan Sullivan
40 min | 2019 | Japan/UK/US
This is a story about a teacher documented by a group of teacher-filmmakers, a Boston-based crew. Ten years ago, Tetsuya Miyamoto had a dream to change the world through puzzles. In his classroom in Yokohama, KenKen was born. Enter a world where puzzles matter. From Tokyo to New York, from the classroom to the puzzle page to the tournament floor, this film takes you into the brain of the inventor and the players, all while the machines of business and technology crash into Miyamoto's philosophies of artistry and humanity. Miyamoto believes each handcrafted puzzle tells a story, and if you look hard enough between the rows, columns and cages of KenKen, you can find the story of the sensei who started a global phenomenon.
Georgi M. Unkovski
19 min | 2019 | Macedonia | East Coast Premiere
After an unsuccessful attempt to renew his car registration, Dejan falls in a bureaucratic trap that tests his determination to be a responsible father.
Dekel Berenson
15 min | 2018 | Nepal/UK
Nestled between a beautiful lake and the Himalayas, Ashmina, 13, lives with her family at the outskirts of Pokhara Nepal, paragliding capital of the world. The remote and traditional town is also a busy tourist destination where the locals are profoundly affected by the swarms of tourists who visit it daily. Forced to skip school, Ashmina helps her family make ends meet by working at the landing field, packing the parachutes of foreign pilots in return of small change.
Awards: Best Short Film award at Krakow Film Festival and Best Live Action Short at Jerusalem Film Festival, qualifying the film for Academy Awards consideration.
Edgar García
30 min | 2019 | Puerto Rico | US Premiere
Weeks after Hurricane María devastated Puerto Rico, a lonely middle-aged man finds himself obsessing with his squatter neighbor, a young closeted and tormented athlete who insistently pursues his attention. The movie deals with fragility issues of living in a forgotten paradise, in the world's oldest colony, still half-torn, half-supported, with half-citizens, half-gods, and half-demons.
Mattis Ohana Goksøyr
10 min | 2019 | Norway | New England Premiere
Danish Amir and Norwegian Sarah connect on a dance floor in central Oslo. He ends up going home with her, but, halfway into bed, he discovers that she is Jewish. Shocked, he reveals his Palestinian background and begins to make his exit.
Victor Velasco
5 min | 2019 | US | East Coast Premiere
In the city, a business man walks to work on a Monday morning when he's interrupted by what appears to be a junkie kid who asks him: Do you want some soup? An interesting perspective into the mind of someone with dementia.
Tavo Ruiz
12 min | 2019 | Mexico | Boston Premiere
A documentary about the director’s mother and the moment that changed her life. Through her narration, she mother shares with me what she remembers from the moment she was raped as a child. By painfully recalling this traumatic event, she reflects on the sexual abuse of children and the scars that these events leave in a person's life.
Michael Tushaus
9 min | 2020 | US | East Coast Premiere
A stark look at the Las Vegas strip and Downtown Fremont Street areas as the threat of COVID-19 forced hotel casinos and many businesses to shut down during the height of the pandemic.
Parisa Sedaei-Azar and Ramin Farzaneh
12 min | 2019 | Iran | US Premiere
An old man wants to run away from the nursing home where he is living until…?
Bofan Luo
25 min | 2019 | China | US Premiere
A taxi driver goes on his mundane routine, until he picks up a mysterious woman. Their journey unveils a secret that will change his life.
Parisa Sedaei Azar and Ramin Farzaneh
20 min | 2019 | Iran | New England Premiere
Narges and Mohsen have a hidden relationship. Yet neighbors know something is going on and they protest until the landlord forces them to vacate.
Dénes Ruzsa and Fruzsina Spitzer
4 min | 2019 | Hungary | US Premiere
Earth is a small floating world, isolated in the infinity of the cosmos, the only place we know supporting life. The animation presents the first stage in the development and evolution of Life 1.0, as referred to by Swedish-American physicist, cosmologist Max Tegmark.
Henry Ogunjimi
25 min | 2019 | Nigeria | New England Premiere
It's the 21st century, and Henry carries marks of the culture of the Nigerian Yoruba people on his face. Remembering vividly the teasing from schoolmates while growing up, he goes to Oyo town to find out what is left of this almost-extinct tradition of tribal marks.
Mahsum Taskin
17 min | 2020 | Turkey | US Premiere
Seyithan, a 12-year old boy living in a Kurdish Village in Eastern Turkey is failing in subjects at school. No one recognizes his passion for reading when he is introduced to the tales of The Thousand and One Nights and seeks a way to find missing parts given by the school teacher to his classmates.