Secret Message – Other Wise

Inspired by a dream, it is a reflection on the sentiment of loss. Working with film material directly, by combining handmade film, slides made from found plants and animals, and original ethereal imagery it considers abstract concepts within a romantic framework to create a visual poem.

“The film is hand made using letraset, insects and plants” – Tess Hughes-Freeland

YEAR2019 RUNTIME5 minutes COUNTRY  United States PREMIERE  World Premiere

FILMMAKER Tessa Hughes-Freeland

Green Ash

In 1575, the resistance led by cacique Onga was cornered and defeated by the spanish conquering troops. Hundreds of Hênia-Kâmîare women, children and elders jumped off the top of the Colchoquí mountain in order to avoid being enslaved.

This was the biggest collective suicide in the territory currently known as Argentina.

YEAR 2019 RUNTIME 10 minutes COUNTRY Argentina PREMIERE Chicago Premiere

FILMMAKER  Pablo Mazzolo

Memoirs

We live with stories. And it’s hard for us to give up on these stories, which provide us our identity, a way of understanding ourselves. Reflections from three successive generations are dusted off and presented as remaining fragments. An attempt to archive thoughts on familial history, narrative traditions, human perception and “the story” from known and unknown sources.

“There is history behind it and the history becomes the story and the story becomes the pattern and the pattern becomes rigidity.”

YEAR 2019 RUNTIME 10 minutes LANGUAGE English COUNTRY Canada

FILMMAKER Aaron Zeghers

I Can’t

A roll of film is not a successful conduit for grief. (for Robert Todd)

YEAR 2020 RUNTIME 5 minutes COUNTRY United States

FILMMAKER Lori Felker

Preiphery

The 5th and final short film from award-winning Filmmaker Lonnie Edwards, “Periphery” is his unique & abstract retrospect on being a young black man in America. Narrated by excerpts from the 1960 interview between James Baldwin & Canadian Television, the dialogue perfectly accompanies the trippy visuals & stunning soundtrack, while taking the audience on a journey thru the filmmaker’s mind.

YEAR 2019 RUNTIME 7 minutes LANGUAGE English COUNTRY United States

FILMMAKER Lonnie Edwards

Autopoiesis

#YouAreASystem #aerialskiers #SeoulWinterOlympics #divers #LeniRiefenstal #Olympia #OpticalIllusions #SpeculativelyGeneratedOuterSpace #SelfHypnosis #SunRa #SpaceIsThePlace #4ECognition #AssaultByHashtags #MeToo #BlackLivesMatter #StillMarching #GiletJaune #Brexit #WhoseUtopia #AfroFuturism #AryanRace #HashtagActivism #ConstantlyBuffeted #Maintain #LoveWins

“All image and audio content in this video was filmed by screen recordings of live streams or shared content on the Internet. Video footage of speculative space exploration was made by screen recording explorations in the free online software Space Engine.” – Lana Z Caplan

YEAR 2019 RUNTIME 8 minutes LANGUAGE English COUNTRY United States PREMIERE Chicago Premiere

FILMMAKER Lana Z Caplan

July 4th, 1925

July 4, 1925: The day Blessed Pier Giorgio left us for the homeland. This short film is a present day look at the life of a young saint who died at the ripe age of 24– The places he lived and frequented

“The week before I left for Italy to shoot this film, I realized I did not have nearly enough money to cover the costs of stock and processing. I was spending time with my Grandpa in adoration at Church, when suddenly, after I loaded him up in the car, a small Spanish woman tapped me on the shoulder and gave me an envelope saying, “Here, this is a gift from God.” She scampered away, and I opened it, deeply touched, as I pulled out two thousand dollars. I could never find this woman to thank her, though I have looked for her every time I return to that same parish.” – Jake Hart

YEAR 2020 RUNTIME 6 minutes LANGUAGE English COUNTRY Italy PREMIERE World Premiere

FILMMAKER Jake Hart

One Night Stand

The film is based on the filmmakers’ real encounter with an unknown European, one night in a bar in Beirut in 2017. It was a man on the road to join the Kurdish militia fighting in the war against the Islamic state on the territory of Syria. The conversation was secretly recorded on a cellphone and serves as the script for animated modeled situations and reconstructions of that night. The film is a formal polemic on the apparent authenticity of the documentary and the possibilities of representation of reality by means of simulations and modeled situations.

YEAR 2019 RUNTIME 24 minutes LANGUAGE Arabic COUNTRY Palestine, Egypt PREMIERE U.S. Premiere

FILMMAKER Noor Abed & Mark Lotfy