THE SCHEDULE
NOTE: Earlybird tickets are open and can be used for any one film - All Access Passes are good for all films and events of the festival, (except when by invitation).
NARRATIVE SHORTS
A FLOCK OF BIRDS | USA | 29' | World Premiere
Director: VICTORIA HARWOOD BUTLER-SLOSS
Set in 1968 with flashbacks to the Ottoman Empire in 1915 a Flock of Birds is a lyrical tale that explores the many aspects of love while celebrating the beauty and sexuality of women at all ages.
Screens on Thursday, March 16, at 4 pm
Tension mounts when Khadijah, a Muslim High School track runner falls for Terrence, an all American Football player, setting the stage for a dramatic ending during the college championship meet in Queens, New York.
Screens on Friday, March 17, at 7:15 pm
EARTH (BUMIKU) | Indonesia | 5' | American Premiere
The beauty of the environment and how it was abandoned by some people is shown in this music video mixed with a touching song. This music video is also the soundtrack of the documentary about the Minister of Environment and Forestry of Indonesia.
Screens on Tuesday, March 14, at 7 pm
FOREIGN SOUNDS | USA | 8' | New York State Premiere
A young couple, who have just moved in together, has their relationship tested when they take opposing stances in response to the sounds of their neighbor's domestic dispute.
Screens on Thursday, March 16, at 4 pm
IMMIGRATION SANS ISSUE | France | 5' | North American Premiere
A man which we do not distinguish the face, who seems being from Immigration and nonchalantly wanders alone in the streets of Paris. From time to time , equipped with a notepad he scribbled words. A voice declaims a text as rhymes. It Slam reveals us the life of this man; all these experiences, motivations, his failures and finally his only goal.
Screens on Thursday, March 16, at 9:15 pm
When two teen sisters discover that their family holiday abroad is really a plan by their parents to deliver them both into forced marriages, the girls flee home to find their own ways of remaining in Edinburgh, testing the limits of their bond and the resolve of the adults who control their futures.
Screens on Saturday, March 18, at 2 pm
LAURA | USA | 9' | World Premiere
Director: NATALIE JOHNSON
Laura is an American female veteran living in in her car in an industrial parking lot. Struggling with PTSD and working as a security guard, she attempts to make the most of her days while looking for a job to better utilize her skills and experience. On an unsuspecting afternoon, her car gets towed, which pushes Laura to spend the night in the streets, her only comfort the music of a lonely street musician.
Screens on Tuesday, March 14, at 4 pm
Director: DANIEL GARCIA, AMY SECADA, SEBASTIAN REA
An audiovisual dance journey inspired by the Native American Paiute tribe and their fight against the coal industry.
Screens on Friday, March 17, at 4 pm
After almost reaching Europe by boat, Emmanuel and Olu are returned to Libya and incarcerated in one of its infamous migrant detention centres.
Screens on Thursday, March 16, at 7:30 pm
VEIL OF SILENCE | France | 29' | New York State Premiere
Director: JULIE GOURDAIN
It is 1968 and Marianne is 19. She is placed in a home far from her family and friends where she meets other young girls whose common secret has shaken the foundations of their social standing.
Screens on Thursday, March 16, at 4 pm
WHEEL CHAIR DANCE | Japan | 5'
A young ex-dancer in a wheelchair, he is in love with a female server in the cafè. She doesn't treat him as a person with a disability, but she doesn't see him as a special person too. One day, he runs into her on a date with another man. It makes him head to the ocean and push his feeling on his dance.
Screens on Saturday, March 18, at 4 pm
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
One morning in August 2012, renowned Syrian photographer Issa Touma saw young men lugging sandbags into his street. It turned out to be the start of the Syrian uprising in the city of Aleppo. Touma grabbed his camera and spent nine days holed up in his apartment, recording what was happening outside. The result? An unprecedented glimpse into a war that has been raging for five years now.
Screens on Thursday, March 16, at 5:45 pm
AMERICAN PSYCHOSIS | USA | 14' | New York State Premiere
Director: AMANDA ZACKEM
Pulitzer Prize winning Journalist, Author and Activist Chris Hedges, discusses modern day consumerism, totalitarian corporate power and living in a culture dominated by pervasive illusion.
Screens on Tuesday, March 14, at 9:15 pm
AFRICA YOGA PROJECT | Canada / Kenya | 20' | New York State Premiere
Director: ANDREA WING
Having grown up in the slums of Nairobi, Millie & Patrick face violence, crime, and despair. At vulnerable points in their lives, they are introduced to yoga through the Africa Yoga Project.
Screens on Saturday, March 18, at 4 pm
DISNEYLAND OF WAR | USA | 19'34" | World Premiere
Director: CHRIS SMILEY
Director Chris Smiley and Producer Michael Hanes, an Iraq War combat veteran, challenge the glorification of war and violence in our culture while exposing the propaganda of the Miramar military air show. This air show is one of many outlets where war and violence is given a warm, inviting and exciting aura.
Screens on Tuesday, March 14, at 4 pm
CHILDREN IN GOLD | USA/Greece | 6' | New York State premiere
Director: IRINA PATKANIAN
After disembarking on Lesbos, Greece, children of refugees get wrapped up into silver and gold thermal blankets and we tensely watch how the golden foil, quite eerie at first, morphs into regal finery and turns these children of foreign lands into precious gifts to us all – wonderful, fabulous, carrying the mystery of the future. In this documentary poem, there is no narration or interviews, but I hold the shot long enough to let audience stop thinking and start seeing for themselves.
Screens on Thursday, March 16, at 6 pm
ECHOES OF SURVIVAL | USA | 26' | New York State Premiere
Echoes of Survival is a documentary series that explores the individual work of a group artists, writers, and musicians whose work draws influence from their Armenian roots. Featuring Ara Dinkjian.
Screens on Wednesday, March 15, at 5:45 pm
During a session of carpet weaving, Pasang recounts her history and tells how weaving is deeply connected to Tibetan culture. She shares her personal story of escaping Tibet and eventually finding refuge in New York.
Screens on Saturday, March 18, at 7:15 pm
Linda explains to us the situation of the refugees in Samos, Greece, the human tragedy, the discrepancy between what they need and the donations.
Screens on Tuesday, March 14, at 4 pm
Director: EDELSIN LINETTE MENDEZ
12-year-old Edelsin Linette Mendez illuminates the consequences of climate change on the coffee market, her community’s traditional source of livelihood and Nicaragua’s primary agricultural product.
Screens on Friday, March 17, at 4 pm
Director: ARTHUR KANEGIS
Garry Davis gave up Broadway to become world citizen #1, standing up for a world in which Humanity is United, a world in which we are one.
Screens on Tuesday, March 14, at 7 pm
Italian photographer/author Federico Busonero captures images of rare moments with a traditional film camera. Busonero documents a Palestine that is personal, poetic, and subtly painful.
Screens on Tuesday, March 14, at 4 pm
THE GATHERING | USA | 24' | New York State Premiere
“The Gathering” tells the story of Witness to Innocence, the largest organization of death row exonerees in the United States. The injustice suffered by these survivors compels them to be warriors against the death penalty.
Screens on Wednesday, March 15, at 4 pm
Meet Ekrem & Ayda Borekciler, Sarkis and Baydzar Eken: Two couples, four individuals, all of whom were born and raised in the lively historical city of Diyarbakir (to Armenians: Dikranagerd), with their ever so similar stories.
Screens on Wednesday, March 15, at 7:15 pm
A 30 minutes Docudrama on Violence against Women mainly focused on India. the film highlights the irony that men who prey upon women are the ones who pray to Goddesses.
It is recorded in different Indian Languages with English Subtitles.
Screens on Thursday, March 16, at 4 pm
The power and significance of telling a story that unfolded over many decades, and the importance of follow up reporting, is illustrated by Retro Report’s, “Where is my Grandchild?”
Screens on Tuesday, March 14, at 4 pm
They come to the prison complex jittery and wild-eyed, wired to detect danger. They spook easily. They are suspicious, careful and anxious. They are here to be trained, these wild horses. But at this prison, people don’t say the horses are here to be “broken.” They are here to be gentled.
Screens on Saturday, March 18, at 5:30 pm