2014

Documentary Short
Peru
Runtime:
52 minutes
31 seconds
Director:
Christian Chapman, Paul Jason Hoffman, Cody Troyer

La Selva Tranquila presents an original look at conservation in the Peruvian Amazon, interweaving three stories of locals who must cut, capture, and sell anything they can to survive.

Katu, a hunter-turned-conservationist, struggles to fund his eco-tourism business in a wilderness surrounded by hunters and lumberjacks.

Trapped in a world of desperation in the city slums of Iquitos, Chepa must illegally sell sloths, baby monkeys, and turtles to support three generations of her family.

After the Peruvian government imposes strict resource management laws on the Mishana community's native land, this jungle village of eighty must find a future in conservation or lose its population to the pull of city industry.

Governments and activists speak of the importance of conservation, but we rarely hear the voices of people at the ground level. When locals struggle to survive each day at the jungles expense, how can they protect the land they love so deeply?

Narrative Short
United States
Runtime:
9 minutes
32 seconds
Director:
Alex Italics

In blissful 1950s suburbia, a lovestruck bobbysoxer and her no-good-nik boyfriend seek refuge from her overprotective and hot-headed father.

Narrative Short
United States
Runtime:
12 minutes
Director:
Allen Martin, Scott Stafford, Todd Sheene

Halloween is a big night for Jasper. An anniversary of ancient sins. He prefers to ignore it and that's been easy since kids stopped making the trek out to his isolated cabin. But things change tonight when a young girl's visit begins a night of tricks instead of treats. To make matters worse, Jasper loses his lucky sobriety token and, with it, any courage he may have saved up over the past 25 years. Can he find his prize and maintain his sanity or will he pay the price for past mistakes.

Animation
United States
Runtime:
8 minutes
27 seconds
Director:
Katelyn Bianchini, Rena Cheng, Asia Lancaster

A fearful balloon must learn to put his fragile life in the hands of an unlikely friend.

Narrative Short
Japan
Runtime:
12 minutes
47 seconds
Director:
Emilie Silvestri

On his first day of retirement Japanese businessman Mr. Yamada eagerly returns home to begin his new life of leisure with his wife, only to discover that she has filled her days without him. As Mr. Yamada struggles to remind her of the couple they once were, both begin to see the compromises their new life together will hold.

Documentary Short
United States
Runtime:
57 minutes
Director:
Barbara Klutinis

An ode to memory: Couples affected by a partner's recent diagnosis of Early Alzheimer's come to terms with their changing roles. Prominent Alzheimer's medical experts offer their perspectives on diagnosis, the nature of the disease, helpful attitudes in caring for loved ones, stigma, support for caregivers, clinical trials, and overall healthcare concerns.

Narrative Short
France
Runtime:
22 minutes
18 seconds
Director:
Donon Marion

In the space of a few minutes, this short film confronts us with the broken puzzle of a life of a young woman in psychological distress, victim of a sufferance that she is trying to control.

The watchful eye of her psychologist and the love of her partner help her, reluctantly, to accept her problems. A pure love that will help her finally to find a path, a direction, a new start…

Documentary Short
United States
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
Director:
Katie Damien

What if you found out you had cancer, then you discovered your well water was contaminated, then you tried to sue the company responsible, but couldnt? Then you fought to get the site cleaned up and nothing happened. Then you tried to sell your house, but no one wanted to buy it. What would you do? What could you do?

My Toxic Backyard chronicles a community's fight to get clean drinking water and see the chemicals, still leaking into their groundwater, cleaned up.

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.

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