Once a year, 30,000 quilters descend upon Paducah, Kentucky for its annual quilt competition-- doubling the town's population. "Quilt Week" or “the Academy Awards of quilting” is a huge, adorable spectacle featuring quilt celebrities (including the Quilt Queen herself), a nonstop local TV channel (aptly named The Quilt Channel) and other women passionate about their craft. The film weaves through quilter stories, backboned by the exciting competition. Even though almost everyone has a smile on their face, the film pays tribute to deeper, more serious motivators that make people quilt.
2020
Official Selection
Documentary Short
United States
Runtime:
15 minutes
52 seconds
Director:
Olivia Loomis Merrion
Official Selection
Narrative Short
United States
Runtime:
23 minutes
Director:
David Light
A freak accident pushes two low-level suburban carpet store employees to their breaking point.
Official Selection
Narrative Short
United States
Runtime:
13 minutes
34 seconds
Director:
Cody Joel
A young father tries to protect his daughter from the pitfalls of Eastern Kentucky, the epicenter of America's opiate crisis and crippled coal industry
Official Selection
Documentary Short
United States
Runtime:
11 minutes
24 seconds
Director:
Alizé Carrère
Despite the growing persistence of environmental change, human resourcefulness remains alive and well as people across the globe experiment with adaptive methods on the ground. In ADAPTATION: Kentucky, scientist and National Geographic Explorer Alizé Carrère travels to a small town in western Kentucky to meet Angie Yu, a Chinese-American woman who is turning the Mississippi River’s invasive Asian Carp problem into an environmental and economic triumph. While Americans may want nothing to do with this bony fish, other parts of the world consider carp a resource – one to be cherished and celebrated. Can Americans learn to do the same?
Official Selection
Documentary Short
United States
Runtime:
22 minutes
Director:
Nick Natalicchio
People have been sending messages in bottles for hundreds of years, in search of everything from romance to scientific data. Once found, a message in a bottle can capture the imagination and ignite a feeling of adventure. No one understands that more than Clint Buffington, who has found over 90 messages in bottles. Even more impressive, Clint has been able to track down many of the senders, which usually takes some detective work. Clint never knows where each message might take him, and he’s made some unlikely friends along the way.
Official Selection
Canada
Runtime:
7 minutes
52 seconds
Director:
The Bum Family
Lilly, a giant orange monster, embarks on an adventure at a lakeside fishing camp with her friend Fluffle. Will Lilly discover the mysterious secret that lurks below the surface of the lake?
Official Selection
Documentary Short
United States
Runtime:
20 minutes
19 seconds
Director:
Rachel Bickert, Emily Tapanes
A young queer woman in the American south comes to terms with her sexuality, shattering her deep-rooted religious beliefs and cultural stereotypes within her conservative community, family and self.
Official Selection
Narrative Feature
United States
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
32 minutes
Director:
Zach Schlapkohl, Jacob Kiesling, & Ethan Cartwright
A mockumentary about rehabilitated zombies (or necro-sapiens, to be politically correct) facing the adversities that come with living in a time when they aren't yet considered socially equal to homo-sapiens (aka, human beings).
Official Selection
United States
Runtime:
19 minutes
2 seconds
Director:
Chris Temple, Zach Ingrasci
Lizbeth Mateo is an attorney in Los Angeles—one who started a law practice, hired four employees, and took an oath to uphold the U.S. constitution. She also has no legal options to stay in the country. Lizbeth is undocumented.
Since crossing the border at age 14, Lizbeth hasn’t let her immigration status hold her back. Frustrated by an unjust system, she’s drawing from her own experiences to fight for immigrant rights in the streets and in the courts.
Her latest client is Edith Espinal, a woman avoiding deportation by taking sanctuary in a church. As the months turn to years, Lizbeth is running out of legal options to help. Lizbeth returns to her activist roots and teaches Edith to fight back—because sometimes you need to ignore the law in order to change it.
Official Selection
Narrative Short
United States
Runtime:
14 minutes
30 seconds
Director:
Brenna Malloy
Left behind in the wake of the Civil War, the women of the homefront have a battle of their own that deems itself equally as desperate, challenging and bloody as the soldiers on the front lines.