We were overwhelmed with the number of submissons we received this year. 290 films were submitted from 38 countries. Our screening and programming committees worked hard to bring you some incredible content!
Strong Female Protagonists lead the pack in this terrific block!
She's driving the Car She's leading the Story She's The Protagonist! Let’s talk about female*characters in this short western! Driving the car, it’s driving the Story! So… fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy road-trip!
Runtime 14:01
Country of Origin: Belgium
Writer/Director: Sarah Carlot Jaber
Mahsa, is an Iranian woman TV presenter. She sings and post her videos on Instagram anonymously. As a result of this, Mahsa faces a challenge during one of her shows so she needs to decide between leaving the country and loosing her job…
Runtime: 14:55
Country of Origin: Islamic Republic of Iran
Writer/Director: Zahra Ahooei
Alma W. Thomas lived a life of firsts: the first Fine Arts graduate of Howard University (1924), the first Black woman to mount a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art (1972), and the first Black woman to have her paintings exhibited in the White House (2009). Yet she did not receive national attention until she was 80.
Runtime: 20:00
Country of Origin: USA
Writer/Director: Cheri Gaulke
London 1780s, a time of turmoil. Dido Belle, an illegitimate young woman of mixed race, raised in privilege, speaks truth to power about the grim reality of slavery.
Runtime: 12:49
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Writer/Director: Penelope Shales-Slyne
Inspired by the lives of the forgotten black female muses in 18th and 19th-century masterpieces.
Runtime: 4:04
Country of Origin: USA
Writer/Director: Diana AlL Chire
In an effort to save her friend's life, Lilias is forced to confess to the crime of witchcraft in spectacular fashion.
Runtime: 20:00
Country of Origin: United Kingdon
Writer/Director: Elize du Toit
Love is sometimes a battlefield
A woman discovers a secret that changes everything.
Runtime: 13:32
Country of Origin: USA
Write/Director: Aisha Schliessier
A young woman's struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder threatens her career dreams and a budding romance.
Runtime: 14:59
Country of Origin: USA
Write/Director: Tori Ernst, Sarah Young
They meet in the dark of the night. Women, sisters, friends: a feminist group gathers to leave writings on the walls of Montreal. Their challenge: raise awareness to end systemic violence endured by women and minorities. Feminicides must stop!
Runtime: 15:00
Country of Origin: Canada
Write/Director: Manon Testud
Joe and Connie's awkward blind date takes an interesting turn when they discover that they share the same magical ability.
Runtime: 8:26
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Write/Director: Natalia Andreadis
Lou can't get over her history with Alexis. The questions are jostling in her head. They walk through together the key moments of their relationship in order to understand what happened. Hoping to fix what didn't work.
Runtime: 21:56
Country of Origin: France
Write/Director: Baladine Ardant Conversi
„Closed“ is a short rom-com about a woman working at a mattress store who has a crush on her colleague, but the conflicting fearful and yearning voices in her head grow unbearable and risk making her lose the guy.
Runtime: 7:30
Country of Origin: Germany
Write/Director: Anna Avramenko
When nervy Al has an absurd encounter with a stranger, he begins to question his whole identity.
Runtime: 9:10
Country of Origin: Ireland
Write/Director: Edwina Casey, Simon Ashe Browne
This block will leave you thinking "WTF just happened???"
A pregnant Alejandra is on the road and on the run from an abusive husband. She is undocumented and exhausted with nowhere to go as she drives to a remote desert, hiding a secret inside a dusty piece of luggage. ,
Runtime: 16:49
Country of Origin: Canada
Writer/Director: Ana Carrizales, Arun Fryer
Having a private life, having the right to choose what to wear, what to believe, what to eat, and so on, are parts of normal life but not in Iran
Runtime: 12:00
Country of Origin: Islamic Republic of Iran
Writer/Director: Sara Mokhavat
This is Angela’s story, a girl who discovers at a very early age that actions don't always have consequences
Runtime: 7:37
Country of Origin: Mexico
Writer/Director: Victoria Naranjos Montoya
Through an instagram livestream, an amateur influencer Alicia, announces that she’s setting off to her honeymoon. However, her ignorance of the thin red line between personal and public, has lead to an unexpected event that will challenge their marriage.
Runtime: 19:02
Country of Origin: Taiwan
Writer/Director: I-hui Lee
Isolated by her grief after an early miscarriage, Faye preserves the embryo in a jar of oil, and does all she can to keep the embryo safe.
Runtime: 14:59
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Writer/Director: Karen Lamond, Simone Pereira Hind
Rahil mohajer was buried alive by her husband and her father on her wedding night because they thought she wasn't a virgin.
Runtime: 15:00
Country of Origin: Islamic Republic of Iran
Writer/Director: Adel Mashoori
In wild 18th century Britain a lonely woman discovers that her menstrual cycle is of interest to a stranger.
Runtime: 17:14
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Write/Director: Beth Park
Laugh out loud and some darker comedy
A dysfunctional guardian angel fails miserably at protecting her human assignment
Runtime: 13:21
Country of Origin:USA
Writer/Director:Christy Lee Hughes, Matthew McLachian
If luck is a lady, grief is a bitch. A young woman loses her mother and finds herself.
Runtime: 14:53
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Writer/Director:Ella Jones, Molly O'Shea
The Wolf family never expected their neglected pet turtle, Snowy, to live so long. After 25 years in the cold basement, Snowy gets a chance at happiness with the help of a vet, an animal psychic, a scientist and his caretaker Uncle Larry.
Runtime: 12:11
Country of Origin: USA
Writer/Director:Kaitlyn Schwalje , Alexander Lewis
Gene, at the end of his rope, heads up a mountain in search of an end to his pain and finds something else entirely.
Runtime: 17:50
Country of Origin: USA
Writer/Director: Jason Faircloth, Alice L Walker
In this playful comedy, three kids worry that their beloved school bus driver will be lonely this summer without them. They set out to find her a partner and imagine the perfect matches
Runtime: 10:00
Country of Origin: USA
Writer/Director: Zoey Martinson
An unexpected invite to a Christmas Bad Jumper party leads to a life-changing moment.
Runtime: 14:18
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Writer/Director: Vanessa Hehir
Madness ensues in a restaurant parking lot when a desperate server confronts her disappointed table after they write a negative review about her service (and hair) online.
Runtime: 8:10
Country of Origin: Canada
Writer/Director: Mercedes Papalia
All About Families
A teenager’s efforts to reconnect with her estranged father forces them to confront a secret in their past
Runtime: 21:00
Country of Origin: New Zealand
Writer/Director: Rebecca Tansley
A starry-eyed fat teenager actively reimagines the world around her as she experiences first love and first heartbreak
Runtime: 13:17
Country of Origin: New Zealand
Writer/Director: Grace Hood-Edwards
Runtime: 19:55
Country of Origin: India
Writer/Director: Lekshmi Pushpa, Arathi M R
Inspired by her grandfather’s escape from Nazi Germany, Ms. Ladybug is a second-generation clown who strives to make the world a better place.
Runtime: 16:39
Country of Origin: USA
Writer/Director: Laura Asherman
When Monica finds out her congressman husband has been cheating on her, she sets the stage for an evening of horrible revenge.
Runtime: 18:52
Country of Origin: USA
Writer/Director: Steven Fechter, Michelle Bossy
Friends and frenemies
A troubled pre-teen is interviewed about her relationship to a classmate at school.
Runtime: 4:19
Country of Origin: USA
Writer/Director: Sarah Corean
On her last night of work, a pregnant theater manager discovers a bag of cash under a seat and must decide what to do with it.
Runtime: 7:50
Country of Origin: USA
Writer/Director: Zoe Eisenberg
Sofia returns home to Puebla after years of absence and finds herself reconciling a lost friendship.
Runtime: 11:30
Country of Origin: USA
Writer/Director: Nicole Barley, Julianna Leopold
An overworked housewife finds solace in her retired neighbor whose onset of dementia reveals neglect in both of their lives.
Runtime: 18:48
Country of Origin: USA
Writer/Director: Katie Prentiss
Two best friends’ friendship is tested when one keeps a large secret from the other.
Runtime: 13:00
Country of Origin: USA
Writer/Director: Mallory Siegenthaler, Cameron Wolfslayer
1967 Los Angeles. Two women decide to meet face to face and discover that they have a lot more in common than a man.
Runtime: 11:31
Country of Origin: USA
Writer/Director: Rebecca Knox, Maxine Muster, Alexandria Collins
When a horny Jimmy John’s delivery lady and her two overachieving high school best friends get disinvited from a fuckboy's party, they’re forced to face the truth of their decaying friendship and how to skate it back together.
Runtime: 11:52
Country of Origin: USA
Writer/Director: Emma Weinswig, Noa Beckham-Chasnoff
Dance, Animation & Music
What does a Teddy Bear do when she can't sleep?
Runtime: 2:20
Country of Origin:USA
Writer/Director: Sydney Geiger
3 women bound to a shared soul oscillating between the throes of brutality and piety. A visceral display of true sisterhood- they suffer together, thrive together and bleed together.
Runtime: 6:33
Country of Origin: USA
Writer/Director: Nina McNeely
An alien conspiracy theorist’s wildest dream comes true when she’s accidentally abducted by intelligent life that may not be intelligent after all.
Runtime: 4:54
Country of Origin: USA
Writer/Director: Camilla Wolf
180 million years ago, through a chance horizontal gene transfer, ferns acquired a much needed light sensor (neochrome) that allowed them to modify and survive in low light environments. We should all be so lucky.
Runtime: 5:29
Country of Origin: USA
Writer/Director: Shannon Silva
Al'ora, a mysterious creature, embarked on a turbulent, emotional, lonely journey across the Ocean of Hope.
Runtime: 5:04
Country of Origin: USA
Writer/Director: Irenka Style
The Promise is an urban fairy tale that plays out on the mean streets of a mean city. Here, a young thief tries to snatch an old woman’s bag but she cannot have it without giving something in return: The Promise.
Runtime: 6:44
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Writer/Director: Chi Thai
Through the loss of her leg, her children, her marriage, and her voice, Christa Couture presses into the pages of this field guide stories and notes on how to lose everything.
Runtime: 4:54
Country of Origin: Canada
Writer/Director: Christa Couture, Bekky O'Neil
Six poems written by six young prisoners animated to tell their stories, thoughts, fears and hopes. Read by Letitia Wright, Michael Kenneth Williams, Jodie Turner-Smith, Adepero Oduye and Riz Ahmed
Runtime: 9:42
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Writer/Director: Claire Fleming
Bringing together Barrowland Ballet’s dance artists and young people with complex needs, Strings explores the rich possibilities for connection and creative expression through dance.
Runtime: 11:47
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Writer/Director: Natasha Gilmore
A witch gets less than she bargains for when she tries to summon Satan on her ex-boyfriend. An occult comedy.
Runtime: 4:14
Country of Origin: USA
Writer/Director: Anna Owenson