Based on a true story set in 17th century Latvia, The Rose of Turaida tells of the tragedy of a beautiful young woman who makes the ultimate sacrifice for love and honour.
2013
Animation
Australia
Runtime:
6 minutes
15 seconds
Director:
Ryan Grobins
REIFF 2013
Documentary Short
United States
Runtime:
12 minutes
9 seconds
Director:
Matthew Fleischmann
REIFF 2013
The residents and small business owners of a small exurban town in New York State fight an incoming commercial giant in order to preserve their way of life.
Narrative Feature
United States
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
35 minutes
Director:
Katharyn Grant
REIFF 2013
It's 1974. Gloria Bethune faces a bleak existence after failing as a singer in New York. She retreats to her small hometown where she falls for a grifter, who claims to be the former manager of a famous Country singer. Through this flawed man's faith in her, Gloria's passion for singing is reborn, but she is pushed into uncharted territory.
Narrative Short
United States
Runtime:
21 minutes
Director:
Harrison Givens
REIFF 2013
After the death of his father, Henry Fleetwood embarks on a whimsical journey to find the meaning of life and death.
Animation
United States
Runtime:
8 minutes
30 seconds
Director:
Derek Dolechek
REIFF 2013
Meet the Wattsons. They're spending some quality time together. In this short film, animation and live-action are combined to tell a story about a family of light bulbs.
2014
Best of the Fest, Special Jury Award for Acting
Narrative Feature
Bulgaria
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
29 minutes
Director:
Thom Southerland
REIFF 2014
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.
Best Narrative Feature
Narrative Feature
United States
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
38 minutes
Director:
Frank Hall Green
REIFF 2014
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.
Best Narrative Short
Narrative Short
United States
Runtime:
27 minutes
4 seconds
Director:
Tim Guinee
REIFF 2014
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.
Best Documentary Feature
Documentary Feature
Canada
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
33 minutes
Director:
Mitchell Kezin
REIFF 2014
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.
Best Documentary Short
Documentary Short
United States
Runtime:
39 minutes
55 seconds
Director:
Edgar Barens
REIFF 2014
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.