2014

Proud Citizen
Best of the Fest, Special Jury Award for Acting
Narrative Feature
Bulgaria
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
29 minutes
Director:
Thom Southerland

Krasimira Stanimirova wins second place in a Bulgarian play writing contest. Her award is a trip to the United States, Kentucky to be exact, to see the world premiere of her communist-era, autobiographical play, 'Black Coat'. Expecting to meet with a warm welcome and southern hospitality, Krasi instead finds herself isolated and lonely in a hotel off an interstate.

Exploring America on foot, Krasi must confront the reality that her play might not be such a big deal in the States. Along the way she slowly finds comfort amongst strangers in this alien world, including a young mother and her son and a fellow tourist.

WildLike
Best Narrative Feature
Narrative Feature
United States
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
38 minutes
Director:
Frank Hall Green

Mackenzie, a troubled but daring teenage girl, is sent by her struggling mother to live with her uncle in Juneau, Alaska. Although Uncle seems like a supportive caretaker and friend, the relationship turns and Mackenzie is forced to run. Trying to make her way back to Seattle alone to find her absent mother, Mackenzie only winds up deeper in the Alaskan interior. Lost and with no one else to turn to, she shadows a loner backpacker, Bartlett, an unlikely father figure with scars of his own. Together, they cross the wilderness and discover sanctuary in the last frontier.

One Armed Man
Best Narrative Short
Narrative Short
United States
Runtime:
27 minutes
4 seconds
Director:
Tim Guinee

CW Rowe has it all. He owns the cotton gin, making him the wealthiest man in Harrison, Texas, and his ascendancy has solidified an unshakable belief in the system that enriched him. Few things ever interrupt the purity of his vision, with the exception of the weekly visit of a young man, Ned, who lost an arm in the gin's machinery. Ned is a little touched and believes CW can give him his arm back.

On a normal day, he goes away when CW offers him five dollars. But today is anything but a normal day.

Jingle Bell Rocks!
Best Documentary Feature
Documentary Feature
Canada
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
33 minutes
Director:
Mitchell Kezin

From The Flaming Lips to The Free Design, JINGLE BELL ROCKS! is a trippy, cinematic sleigh-ride through the subculture of alternative Christmas music.

Featuring hardcore collectors, legendary DJs & musicologists, record producers and Xmas obsessives like cult film auteur John Waters, director Mitchell Kezin's intimate & quixotic search for the SOUL of Christmas music, tells the stories behind twelve of the most profound Christmas songs ever recorded...Many of whom you've likely never heard, until now!

We'll hear irreverent insights from Irwin Chusid, Wayne Coyne, Joseph (Rev Run) Simmons, bebop legend Bob Dorough, Clarence Carter, Doctor Demento and many more.

Equal parts social history, pop culture pilgrimage and revealing character study, JINGLE BELL ROCKS! confronts the Christmas music mainstream, re-inventing the seasonal soundtrack for the 21st century.

Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall
Best Documentary Short
Documentary Short
United States
Runtime:
39 minutes
55 seconds
Director:
Edgar Barens

Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall is a moving cinema verite documentary that breaks through the walls of one of Americas oldest maximum security prisons to tell the story of the final months in the life of a terminally ill prisoner and the hospice volunteers, they themselves prisoners, who care for him.

The film draws from footage shot over a six-month period behind the walls of the Iowa State Penitentiary and provides a fascinating and often poignant account of how the hospice experience can profoundly touch even the forsaken lives of the incarcerated.

Lilly's Big Day
Best Animated/Experimental Film
Animation
Canada
Runtime:
4 minutes
42 seconds
Director:
The Bum Family

Lilly, a 10 foot tall orange monster, steps out for a special day at Wilma's Super Salon. What could go wrong? Everything! Patrons gasp and drown in the hair sinks as the affable giant bumbles her way through a beauty ritual like no other.

Cut out animation created during Quickdraw Animation's 48 hour Animation Lockdown by The Bum Family, 6 Canadian cousins ages 4 to 11.

The Gunmen of Soldier Creek
Narrative Short
United States
Runtime:
12 minutes
9 seconds
Director:
Austin Madding

A young man discovers a world of endless violence and hate when he decides to try for revenge against those who take away his loved ones.

Hamarkiv Hadodi (The Secret Ingredient)
Documentary Short
Israel
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
5 minutes
Director:
Dror Shostak

Uri and Neta, the owners of the Indian restaurant 24 Rupee in Tel Aviv, and Lilach, a photographer, decided to travel to India, in search for the Secret Ingredient in Indian food. This simple search after the secret ingredient in Indian food, leads them to encounters and experiences that only magical India can provide. The journey transforms itself to a surprising life adventure for all of them in the appearance of repressed memories, old wounds of betrayals, marriage, death and even madness, and becoming a search for the secret ingredient in their own lives.

The Dooms Chapel Horror
Narrative Feature
United States
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
30 minutes
Director:
John William Holt

Buried secrets, vengeful wishes and unspeakable horror confront a college student when he returns to his hometown to make peace with his troubled family.

OstrichLand
Narrative Short
United States
Runtime:
14 minutes
15 seconds
Director:
David McCracken

Two brothers from two different worlds. A road trip in their dead dad's '74 Chevy pickup. Aliens, flying saucers, yoga, the wide-open desert, and of course, ostriches.

OSTRICHLAND follows ZACH, the older 'white trash' brother who never left home, and TRAVIS, the young hippie who moved away for grad school. But when their dad dies, they reunite to empty his storage locker in Roswell and haul his UFO memorabilia back to Carson City. Along the way, they're forced to come to terms with their dad's death and the chasm that's deepened between each other.

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