Season - 6 ( May 2020)
1. SHORT FILMS (Less then USD 5000)
2. SHORT FILMS (Between $5000 - $10,000)
3. SHORT FILMS (More than $10,000)
4. FEATURE FILMS (Less than $5000)
5. FEATURE FILMS (Between $5000 - $10,000)
6. FEATURE FILMS (More than $10,000)
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SHORT FILMS (Less then USD 5000)
Remembrance
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Film Directed by: Tom White (Genre: Drama, Triller, Suspense, Romance)
"Two broken souls find one another on the road to recovery that reveals they share an even deeper connection.
Part of the Bad Things, Good People anthology."
Trailer of - Remembrance
"TH SR" Second Version
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Film Directed by: Mimi Garrard (Genre: Experimental, Short)
""TH SR" is a dance created for video featuring the dancer Samuel Roberts and the composer Tom Hamilton."
Gay as in Happy: A Queer Anti-Tragedy
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Film Directed by: Jordana Valerie Allen-Shim (Genre: Documentary, Experimental, Short, Student)
"An experimental autoethnographical documentary about queer joy, resistance, and resilience in the face of abuse, trauma, and transphobia."
NIUNIU
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Film Directed by: Xi Wang (Genre: Animation, Experimental, Short, Student)
"Mina tries to fit in with people around her but she finds that it is hard to connect. Then she finds a snail Niuniu, who unexpectedly become her best friend. And develop a special friendship. Mina and Niuniu live in their own world."
Parallel Lines
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Film Directed by: Kyunghyun Choi (Genre: Short)
"Seoyeon, who is under school violence, sits by the serene lake and struggles alone in her silence.
Desperate and resent the fact that no one is around her.
Seo-yeon, whose lips were beaten and bruised by her friends, was caught by Mom.
Having auditory hallucinations again. But Seo-yeon is no longer alone.
Parallel lines cannot be reached, but they are not alone."
From Gringo To Grave
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Film Directed by: Jacob N. Stuart (Genre: Short)
"A 30 year-old alcoholic Gringo, who launders guns into Ciudad Juárez for a living, encounters a Mexican child separated from his mother while trying to cross into the States. Needing a way to reconnect with his mother, the Gringo reluctantly agrees to hide him in his car and get him to El Paso. But things go awry when he realizes he’s no ordinary immigrant, but the son of a high-profile cartel member, whose mother took him and fled in the middle of the night. Having successfully gotten him into El Paso, he must decide whether to spare his own life and return the boy to Mexico, or get him to his mother -- which would likely start a border war."
Trailer of - From Gringo To Grave
The Advisory Club
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Film Directed by: Yazemin Yilmaz (Genre: Drama, Comedy)
"The Advisory Club is formatted as an introduction for a bigger film. Based off of the classic, The Breakfast Club, this student film recreates the characters to match the students of their school."
Hunted
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Film Directed by: Max Cusson (Genre: Short, Student)
"High School student star wars based short film"
Return to Foretop's Father
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Film Directed by: Preston Randolph (Genre: Documentary, Short)
"Return to Foretop's Father follows, 78-year-old, Crow tribal elder and pipe lighter, Grant Bulltail as he travels from Crow Agency in Montana to Heart Mountain in Wyoming.
Through his journey he reveals a dark past of genocide, ethnocide and the destruction of the land.
Grant’s mission is to bring awareness regarding the disconnect between people and nature, culminating in the universal impacts of climate change.
By connecting stories that have been passed down to him from generations of Native Americans, he presents his perspective on the modern crisis through a historic pipe ceremony at the base of the sacred Heart Mountain."
TO BE, OR...?
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Film Directed by: Pozsgai Zsolt, Kerekes András (Genre: Short)
"“Let me introduce myself. I am the managing director of the undertaking centre of Székesfehérvár City Maintenance Ltd. By the right of the winners, Fehérvár got the opportunity to host this competition this year. …Dear colleagues! The fourth national grave-digger contest is over. I think we have seen heroic work…We thought, the most beautiful tomb was made by the Omega Funeral Ltd. “
The other: dummy silence. No synopsis. It’s a cryptic short film."
Virginia, Forever
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Film Directed by: Daria Rountree (Genre: Short)
"A woman mourns the mysterious disappearance of her wife."
Trailer of - Virginia, Forever
Dukkha
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Film Directed by: Elisavet Pirounia (Genre: Documentary, Student)
"The endless peaks and green mountains are dotted with rapeseed fields. Hope is that the animals, plants and people, people and cattle and sheep still survive tenaciously in this barren soil. They live together in this field for generations. It is like a mission calling the descendants of this village, whose voice spans thousands of mountains and rivers. I returned to Yak boy (Zhang Xuerong). Here comes the beauty and hope of this field."
Steps out of the blue island
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Film Directed by: Hector David Rosales (Genre: Experimental, Abstract)
"A poetic testimony of an immigrant struggling to redefine her identity in a new society."
KIKAN - THE HOMECOMING
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Film Directed by: Kerwin Berk (Genre: Japanese American, World War II, Asian American, veterans)
"A wartime promise takes Japanese-American soldier Jimmy Ibata on a life-changing journey from the battlefields of Europe to San Francisco to complete his final mission of WWII."
KIKAN - THE HOMECOMING
From Charlie, with Love
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Film Directed by: Andres Ramirez (Genre: Romance, Drama, Silent, Comedy, Period)
"Charlie an ambitious young man must go out of his comfort form to seduce Virginia and eventually earn her trust and heart."
PLANT
​
Film Directed by: Carlos Milite (Genre: Short)
"In a near future humanity has been forced to flee the Earth, a planet now uninhabitable due to wars and climatic turmoils. On the space station Explorer 7, Karen is now ready to deploy on the planet to complete an important mission: to find a plant which might regenerate Earth’s flora and restore mankind’s hope. Escorted by David’s advice, an AI that follows Karen in her journey she manages to reach the surface of the planet finding herself infront of a barren grey spread. Weakened by Earth’s plethora of adversities, the young scientist is forced to camp after few hours of exploration: in this difficult time she remembers all of the wonderful moments spent with her dad by the sea. Safe from the gusts of wind, she gets back on her journey and sees the disintegration of a dying tree, a scene very different from the one she saw in her memories where she recalled the beautiful walks she had with her father. Warned by the signals of an incoming storm David ill advises Karen to go further, but the explorer is stubborn, and deciding to pay no attention to her AI she gets caught by the storm debris."
Victor!!
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Film Directed by: James Zeiss (Genre: Mocumentary, Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Performing Arts, Dance)
"Interpretive dance performers and industry experts share their stories of a legendary figure named Victor who is hailed as the World's Greatest Dancer."
Trailer of - Victor!!
Almost.
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Film Directed by: Elena C. Lockleis (Genre: Short, Television)
"On the outside, the Beta Kappa Theta's are picture perfect."
BODY PLACE IMAGE
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Film Directed by: Gigisha Abashidze (Genre: Arts, Political)
"BODY PLACE IMAGE tells the story of eleven Georgian performing artists creating a site-specific work in KHIDI, a techno-dance club built into the anchorage of the Vakhushti Bagrationi Bridge in Tbilisi. Well-known as a place for Dionysian social gatherings, KHIDI also serves as a center of progressive political action for young Georgians fighting for a democratic future. Led by New York-based director Nancy Allison and her Venetian-based associates, choreographer Laura Boato and dance captain Michela Lorenzano, the Georgian performers explore western contemporary dance practices in this unique setting as insights about their struggles and joys emerge for them and for their audience"
Trailer of - BODY PLACE IMAGE
Shutter
​
Film Directed by: Andres Ramirez (Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller, Drama)
"Mark, a recently promoted Police Detective, finds himself interrogating Charley, a brilliant deceptive photographer, about the disappearances of young models, as the photographer was the last person to see them alive.​"
Trailer of Shutter
Because I could
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Film Directed by: Niki J. Borger (Genre: Short)
"Set twenty years in the future, four adults confess their day-to-day climate sins and why they didn't do things any better."
Short Film - Between $5000 - $10,000
Mantis
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Film Directed by: Hugo Fernández (Genre: Comedy, Drama, Women, Thriller, Crime)
"Mantis, a crazy bitch cruel and ruthless, moves around the country mercilessly hunting the names of her list. The identity of Mantis is still an absolute mystery and national authorities advise men not to leave home alone and to avoid talking to woman they don't know.
Lucas, indifferent to the news on the radio, finishes building one of his airplane models. Suddenly, there's a knock on the door..."
Trailer - Mantis
Falling in Love: A Coming of Age Selfie Film
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Film Directed by: Barbara Becker Holstein (Genre: coming of age, drama, romance)
"A young teen talks to 'you' via Selfies on her smart phone. In these conversations the girl shares her loneliness moving, loosing her best friend, her beginning friendships with new kids, and her realization that she has fallen in love again. When Rob invites her to the school dance there is a crisis which upsets her terribly. At the very end of the film the crisis is resolved in a way that helps her emotionally and makes her stronger. This film is based on my book, Secrets, Diary of a Gutsy Teen. However, the addition of her Selfie recordings to the 'you' is not in the book and opens the door to many other issues that kids face in today's world. Is she keeping a diary or reaching out to a friend, a stranger? Are we in the audience the 'you'? The film has lent itself to great discussion, laughs, sighs and questions."
CRACK A SMILE
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Film Directed by: LEVY CLAUDE (Genre: COMEDY, ROMANCE)
"On a sunny day, the lives of 9 young people intertwine in Paris, against a backdrop of pop culture, passion about photography and relationships between men and women."
CRACK A SMILE
A Statue's Best Friend
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Film Directed by: Ryan Byrne (Genre: animation, drama, fantasy)
"In the midst of a rainy day, an unlikely but beautiful friendship forms between a statue and a stray dog."
A Statue's Best Friend
Short Film - More than $10,000
Magic Dream
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Film Directed by: Tomás Welss Barkan (Genre: Animation)
"A magician wants to convince with his magic and brilliance, but his capability exceeds the limits of his own control, leading him to a show full of violence and abuse."
A Trip with Mom
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Film Directed by: Sophie SHUI (Genre: Drama)
"In order to take care of his old mother (played by Liou, Yiin-Shang), who has lost her intelligence and is disabled, Xia Changming (played by Yi-Wen CHEN) remains unemployed at home.
A family of four, who have been relying on the wife Xiaoling (played by CHIN, TZU-YEN), who is an insurance salesperson, for many years.
Under the multiple pressures of the complaints from her wife, economic loading, long-term care, and physical and mental bundling, Changming is always depressed and feels hopeless and helpless.
Finally, when the police brought the mother back, and his wife took his son away, after receiving a call, Changming mark the late summer with a red pen. He decided to take his mother to travel..."
Trailer of - A Trip with Mom
Feature Film - Less than $5000
"Not Enough Entries"
Feature Film - Between $5000 - $10,000
Ascoltati
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Film Directed by: Andrea Recchia (Genre: Feature)
"Ascoltati is a comedy that wants to deal with the issues of human relationships, wants to play with people's destiny and fragility, friendship and pain mix together, but, in this time emotions are the winner.
Look closely at the love between two people who never spoke to each other,
The world seen by those who, like many others, have lost someone, The relationship between fathers and children raised in different families, but with the same problems.
The film is shot on modern time in Bologna, which is experiencing its greatest change, thus beginning to go against hand through crisis and globalization.
Andrea, the protagonist, depressed and of few words, shaken by his destiny, begins a journey that will cross the city, a profound search for himself, of the right frequency.
The Character has a great regret, that of never having confided in his mother, he loved her very much, but he never had the courage to speak to him in the eyes, now he would like to go back.
......."
Trailer of - Ascoltati
Feature Film - More than $10,000 -
Devika
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Film Directed by: Jibin George James (Genre: Experimental, Feature)
"Devika, a model claims that she was sedated and raped during a film's audition. At the same time a model coordinator Naresh, a friend of Devika, comes forward and claims that he was with her that day and both had sex with each other's consent, and it wasn't a rape. The situation is again discussed through an interview session, revealing both of their characters and the truth. The movie demonstrates the common attitude of the Indian society towards women. Our society has defined woman's personality within the constraints of her form and dress and if anything, less than what is expected by them is seen in their petty vision, she is labelled as a slut. This perspective should be challenged.
Woman should be treated as an independent personality. She also has all the rights and freedoms of a democratic country. It’s not a generosity by men. Through Devika, we are trying to convey is the general attitude of people. When a person narrates or describes an event, he doesn't reveal certain details. Thus, the truth which being told will change. The truth is what we find while uncovering all the blind spots and angles. The real truth can only be identified by looking at it from all the sides."
Web - Series
Kahdiak's Kitchen: Season 2 - Episode 1
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Film Directed by: Seng 2kx (Genre: Comedy, Cooking Show)
"Kahdiak learns a thing or two about a thing or two in the ways of traditional styled butchery. Then he takes some of that delicious steak to surprise his brother with a steak cooking challenge! Who will cook the better steak? You're just going to have to watch and find out!"
Trillo & Suede Web Series
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Film Directed by: Jonathan Geffner (Genre: comedy, parody, film noir)
"A film noir parody web series, set in Brooklyn, NY. Written, created, executive produced and starring ventriloquist Jonathan Geffner. Trillo & Suede are a ventriloquist/dummy detective duo. Episode 1 of 10 weekly episodes was released on Jan. 1, 2020.
In Episode 9, "Lisa Mona", the beautiful client of the title turns to Trillo & Suede to track down the source of horribly frightening text messages. Will Trillo & Suede be able to track down the culprit before the harassment escalates? And can a femme fatale find true love with a puppet?"
Trillo & Suede Web Series
STUCK ON PROBATION
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Film Directed by: Larry Hardison (Genre: Short, Web / New Media, Other)
"New York City Probation Officer Ade Hardy believes NYPD mistakenly arrested the wrong man. Officer Hardy knew the innocent man very well because he is a probationer on his caseload for 5 years. Despite supervisor directive, Officer Hardy and associates is willing to re-open a closed case from NYPD to prevent an innocent man from going back to jail and gain respect for the Probation Department amongst the world of elite law enforcement department."
​STUCK ON PROBATION
Music Video
Nice Shoes
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Film Directed by: Jonathan Lawrence (Genre: Music Video)
"A sci-fi extravaganza that is as pointless as the lyrics. Over 40 classic movie references are featured in this epic music video."
Nice Shoes
#RÚŠKONIEJEHANBA / Mask is not a shame
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Film Directed by: Dominik Schmidt (Genre: Music Video, Student)
"Corona has struck us and we, at least in Slovakia, have to wear masks everywhere. This is an experimental clip to raise awareness of not only protecting yourself and others and being resposible, but also about showing empathy for people suffering from COVID-19"
#RÚŠKONIEJEHANBA / Mask is not a shame
Six Day Back
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Film Directed by: Scott Cierski (Genre: Animation, Music Video, Short, Web / New Media)
"Three bodybuilders sing about a revolutionary new workout regimen."
Manifesto
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Film Directed by: Les Owen (Genre: Hip-Hop, Rap)
"Taurean Washington is a painter who's style originates from a strong hip-hop music influence in his life. Now he comes full circle as an artist and uses music to share his paintings."
Washington
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Film Directed by: Preston Randolph (Genre: Music Video)
"Garrett Randolph's song Washington is a personal reflection on the opioid crisis in America."
Competition Only
TARA-The Journey of Love & Passion
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Film Directed by: Kumar Raj (Genre: Drama)
"Merely a few hundred kilometers away from the hustle and bustle of the fanatically fast paced Mumbai city lies the deceptively sleepy village of Tanda. A village girl Tara seems to be content with her confined life, very much in love with her liquor maker husband. But, when the beautiful protagonist’s seemingly mundane existence parts ways to reveal the unspoken realities of exploitation and darkness enveloping the village, she leads the villagers in their quest for survival, only to realise that she is up against something she may not be prepared to fight against prejudice. The young woman who bravely stood up for the whole community finds herself cruelly alienated in her most vulnerable moment.
Ultimately, after a series of gut wrenching experiences, she has to make a choice... Based on disturbingly common realities of Indian villages, this powerful story of self-discovery transcends the original theme of tribal strife to raise a ......."
Password : tara2014
TARA-The Journey of Love & Passion
SHIRONAM
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Film Directed by: INDRANIL GHOSH (Genre: Feature)
"Immediately after joining a news channel as cameraman Abhin was assigned to cover Ronchordji, the most dreaded terrorist, accompanied by veteran reporter Sujit secretly. A bike-rider picked them up into the jungle from a specific spot. However the slated meeting was declared cancelled by two armed men on the way. They decided to stay back. Next day Abhin left the hotel to capture the landscape as it had a distinguished clarity, but didn’t return ; neither could he be contacted. Paranoid Sujit intimated his immediate senior. Concerned authorities conducted an emergency meeting and concluded the incident as abduction by the terrorist due to a previous threat on media. Actually authority was in a hurry to capture the moment for a sensational breaking news than to find out the truth. Next day their arc rival channel scooped out the news of his inglorious death in a road side red light area. Emotionally broken, mentally perplexed, socially ostracized Anandi, Abhin's wife, stood alone in this crossfire of truth, half truth and lie. Anandi seemed to be a classical media war victim, who finally started to fight her own battle."
Return to Foretop's Father
​
Film Directed by: Preston Randolph (Genre: Documentary, Short)
"Return to Foretop's Father follows, 78-year-old, Crow tribal elder and pipe lighter, Grant Bulltail as he travels from Crow Agency in Montana to Heart Mountain in Wyoming.
Through his journey he reveals a dark past of genocide, ethnocide and the destruction of the land.
Grant’s mission is to bring awareness regarding the disconnect between people and nature, culminating in the universal impacts of climate change.
By connecting stories that have been passed down to him from generations of Native Americans, he presents his perspective on the modern crisis through a historic pipe ceremony at the base of the sacred Heart Mountain."
2024 BACK TO THE FUTURE
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Film Directed by: WILLIAM MUSSINI (Genre: Short)
"A prophecy suddenly. in 2024 everything will be different."
2024 BACK TO THE FUTURE
This was Berlin
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Film Directed by: Valentina D'Annunzio (Genre: documentary, reportage, culture, trip, europe, postwar)
"I've been to Berlin, and this is what I saw."
This was Berlin
Shutter
​
Film Directed by: Andres Ramirez (Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller, Drama)
"Mark, a recently promoted Police Detective, finds himself interrogating Charley, a brilliant deceptive photographer, about the disappearances of young models, as the photographer was the last person to see them alive.​"
Trailer of Shutter
Behind High Walls
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Film Directed by: Frank Bartscheck II (Genre: Drama, Experimental, short)
"This short film is a collaboration of undergraduate and graduate students at the American University in Cairo (AUC). The students were supervised throughout the entire process by AUC Professor Tania Kamal Eldin in the Film Department.
Behind High Walls is an allegory of the demise of the Arab revolution. The protagonist, Karim, is a disillusioned young man who has passed away under enigmatic circumstances. His soliloquy is intercut with vignettes from his memorial.
Karim represents the dashed hopes of Arab youth as well as their precarious future.
"
Trailer of - Behind High Walls
The Ominous Project Universe Presents: ISOLATION
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Film Directed by: Shreco Bakari (Genre: Horror, Suspense, Thriller)
"Filmed during the “Covid-19 Pandemic” as an “EXPERIMENTAL” quarantine competition project; witness this thrilling short story from Foreman Empire Productions’ CEO Shreco Bakari & executive board members Amanda Shanely & Tonya Cole.
Dive deeper into the sinister world of “The Ominous Project Universe” with this chilling short story into the unknown.
Filmed with iPhone 8plus cameras & combining video chat software technologies, witness the pilot episode of “The Ominous Project Universe Presents” & prepare for an anthology horror series that connects with previous, current and future features of “The Ominous Project”.
Director Biography - Shreco Bakari"
Critique Review Only
Shutter
​
Film Directed by: Andres Ramirez (Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller, Drama)
"Mark, a recently promoted Police Detective, finds himself interrogating Charley, a brilliant deceptive photographer, about the disappearances of young models, as the photographer was the last person to see them alive.​"
Trailer of Shutter
Ascoltati
​
Film Directed by: Andrea Recchia (Genre: Feature)
"Ascoltati is a comedy that wants to deal with the issues of human relationships, wants to play with people's destiny and fragility, friendship and pain mix together, but, in this time emotions are the winner.
Look closely at the love between two people who never spoke to each other,
The world seen by those who, like many others, have lost someone, The relationship between fathers and children raised in different families, but with the same problems.
The film is shot on modern time in Bologna, which is experiencing its greatest change, thus beginning to go against hand through crisis and globalization.
Andrea, the protagonist, depressed and of few words, shaken by his destiny, begins a journey that will cross the city, a profound search for himself, of the right frequency.
The Character has a great regret, that of never having confided in his mother, he loved her very much, but he never had the courage to speak to him in the eyes, now he would like to go back.
......."
Trailer of - Ascoltati
PLANT
​
Film Directed by: Carlos Milite (Genre: Short)
"In a near future humanity has been forced to flee the Earth, a planet now uninhabitable due to wars and climatic turmoils. On the space station Explorer 7, Karen is now ready to deploy on the planet to complete an important mission: to find a plant which might regenerate Earth’s flora and restore mankind’s hope. Escorted by David’s advice, an AI that follows Karen in her journey she manages to reach the surface of the planet finding herself infront of a barren grey spread. Weakened by Earth’s plethora of adversities, the young scientist is forced to camp after few hours of exploration: in this difficult time she remembers all of the wonderful moments spent with her dad by the sea. Safe from the gusts of wind, she gets back on her journey and sees the disintegration of a dying tree, a scene very different from the one she saw in her memories where she recalled the beautiful walks she had with her father. Warned by the signals of an incoming storm David ill advises Karen to go further, but the explorer is stubborn, and deciding to pay no attention to her AI she gets caught by the storm debris."
From Charlie, with Love
​
Film Directed by: Andres Ramirez (Genre: Romance, Drama, Silent, Comedy, Period)
"Charlie an ambitious young man must go out of his comfort form to seduce Virginia and eventually earn her trust and heart."