2017

Best of Fest
Narrative Short
Iran
Runtime:
13 minutes
Director:
Milad Jarmooz

The story of a woman accused of infidelity on the day after her wedding.

Special Jury Award
Experimental
United States
Runtime:
7 minutes
Director:
Kristin Reeves

The Chicago Board of Education made history in 2013 approving the closure of 50 schools, the largest public school closing to date in the United States. I shot all 50 schools on a 100 roll of 16mm film while my DSLR caught vignettes of their communities. Direct laser animation and bleach were used to distress the 16mm film, which was then optically printed.

Special Jury Award
Documentary Feature
United States
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
13 minutes
Director:
Gayle Nosal, Beret E. Strong

The refugee crisis in Ugandas Kyangwali Refugee Settlement isnt new. For the people of this camp, being a refugee is a protracted circumstance endured for decades. SAUTI (Voice in Swahili) follows the efforts of five young women who were brought to the Settlement as children and who, as they approach adulthood; strive to pursue their dreams for a future beyond the constraints of a protracted refugee situation in an underdeveloped host country. Though safer than they were before, little else has changed since fleeing war and persecution years ago in their home countries of Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan. Transcending the label refugee has been especially challenging for the women of Kyangwali.

Special Jury Award
Documentary Feature
Mexico
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
36 minutes
Director:
Julio Carlos

THE GUY FROM OKLAHOMA narrates the story of Anado McLauchlin, a visual artist born in Oklahoma but whose chaotic life took him to San Francisco, New York and India before finally settling down in Mexico, where he has built an impressive art gallery in the middle of a desert village, on the outskirts of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato.

Special Jury Award
Narrative Feature
United States
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
23 minutes
Director:
Dean Peterson

A comedy about two estranged sisters who are thrust back into each other's lives by the impending death of their grandmother and forced to try to repair their feral relationship.

Animation
Canada
Runtime:
5 minutes
Director:
The Bum Family

Lilly, a 10 -foot tall orange monster, and her adorable friend Fluffle, are abducted by aliens. An epic adventure ensues as they try desperately to return home in the nick of time.

Documentary Short
United States
Runtime:
23 minutes
Director:
Jon Mohr

U.S. bat populations, which have an estimated value of 22 billion dollars to the agricultural industry, are declining due in part to loss of habitat. An artificial bat roost, called BrandenBark, offers a unique and promising solution to this dilemma for bark roosting, endangered bats. The film tells the story of the synthetic bark's inception, new installations on TVA land in Alabama and Tennessee, and groundbreaking research with these structures at Fort Knox, KY.

Narrative Short
United States
Runtime:
13 minutes
Director:
Shannon Silva

Its 1978. Stranded without a car, in the middle of nowhere North Carolina, a young mother rides out a severe storm and internally struggles with how to exit her abusive marriage.

Narrative Short
United States
Runtime:
4 minutes
Director:
Tom Putnam

A young girl is awakened in the middle of the night by a mysterious scratching on the screen door outside her room.

Narrative Feature
United States
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
44 minutes
Director:
Mischa Marcus

I AM STILL HERE is the story of 10-year old Layla, who was stolen from her family and thrown into Americas child sex industry. Stories of courage drawn from interviews with trafficking survivors are the foundation for the fictionalized account of Laylas journey as she confronts the monsters of her past and embraces the hope of her future.

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