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FEATURE FILM PREMIERES AT
Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival
SILICON VALLEY—Cinequest’s In-person Festival roars back August 16-29 in San Jose, CA with a spectacular lineup of 56 World and U.S. Premieres plus a bounty of high profile notables. Hundreds of artists from 55 countries are scheduled to present their latest work. Renowned as the future of film and a bastion of film & media-tech discovery, Cinequest returns to the Silicon Valley in person after serving the globe with its groundbreaking virtual events called Cinejoys.
FEATURE FILMS: WORLD PREMIERES
12 Months | Drama, Comedy, Romance | Category: Love, Inspiration | Director(s): Clinton J Cornwell | Producer(s): Clinton Cornwell, Elizabeth Hirsch-Tauber, Michael James Kelly | Filled with humor and powerful drama, an intensely realistic look at modern love through the lens of two romantics navigating their way through a new relationship. Country: United States (World Premiere)
A Crack in the Mountain | Documentary | Category: Inspiration |Director(s): Alastair Evans | Executive Producer(s): Greg Passmore | Producer(s): Alastair Evans | Deep in the jungle of Central Vietnam, lies a magnificent underground kingdom. Hang Son Doong which translates as “mountain river cave”, is the largest cave passage in the world and a place of spectacular beauty. The paradise is now in danger from those who would develop there. But there are those who would fight to protect the delicate eco-system. Country: United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam (World Premiere)
Continue | Drama | Category: Dazzlers |Director(s): Nadine Crocker | Executive Producer(s): Cassian Elwes | Producer(s): Nadine Crocker, Jay Seals, Anthony Caravella |
Based on a true story, a moving and potent portrait of a woman in the aftermath of trying to take her own life, and her journey of self-discovery, newfound friendship, unwavering love, and a life she never imagined possible for a girl like her. Country: United States (World Premiere)
DASH | Drama, Thriller | Category: Thrills | Director(s): Sean Perry | Executive Producer(s): Sean Perry, Alexander Molina | Producer(s): John Fitzpatrick, Bryce Harrow, Rob Harrow | An adulterous rideshare driver navigating the nighttime streets of Hollywood goes to great lengths to take his troubling double-life to the grave...only to dig a grave for himself. Country: United States (World Premiere)
Discontinued | Comedy, Sci-Fi, Fantasy | Category: Dazzlers | Director(s): Trevor Peckham | Producer(s): Michael Villucci, Trevor Peckham, Ashley Hutchinson | A deliriously fun comedy-fantasy in which a millennial discovers that the world she knows is just a simulated version of reality that is being shut down. Suddenly, she's the only one who wants to stick around. Country: United States (World Premiere)
Distant Thunder | Drama, Sci-Fi | Category: Illuminations | Director(s): Takayuki OHASHI |
A comet is about to destroy the human race in a few months. Three sisters who have been living separately for a long time, come to live together after the death of their father. Will they once again become a family right at the end of the world? Country: Japan (World Premiere)
Enduring Democracy: The Monterey Petition | Documentary | Category: Inspiration | Director(s): David C Schendel | Producer(s): David C Schendel, Elizabeth Nordt, Greg Sumner | In a dusty filing cabinet in Monterey, California, a 1938 film is discovered that depicted a joyous Japanese-American community just before their lives are destroyed. Along with this remarkable never-before-seen film was a trove of signed petitions demanding the restoration of civil rights to those same Americans. Country: United States (World Premiere)
Fanga | Fantasy, Romance, Thriller | Category: Thrills | Director(s): Max Gold | Executive Producer(s): Eva Sigurdardottir, Thomson Nguyen, Sharon Powers, Randall Arthur & Linda Yellin | Producer(s): Lauren Bates, Zoey Gold, Ingi Hrafn Hilmarsson, Shane Donahue, Jesy Odio, Kellen Witschen, Ingrid Lyons, Andrea Snaedal | An unstable farm girl becomes prisoner to a beast to cure her father's illness. A modern retelling (with a twist) of the classic ‘Beauty and the Beast” fable. Country: Iceland (World Premiere)
Freedom's Path | Drama | Category: Dazzlers | Director(s): Brett Smith | Executive Producer(s): Dexter Braff, Jory Weitz, BK Fulton, Skip Williamson, Kerri Elder, Blake Elder | Producer(s): AJ Winslow, Jim Pidgeon, Neko Sparks, Steve Swadling, Brett Smith | 'GLORY' meets 'DANCES WITH WOLVES' When a soldier deserts from battle, he soon discovers the true cost of war through a young heroic black man, who teaches him the real meaning of Freedom. Country: United States (World Premiere)
Futra Days | Fantasy, Romance, Drama | Category: Love | Director(s): Ryan David | Producer(s): Ryan David, Orian Williams, David Zonshine | What if you could see your future? Sean is going to do just that, by undergoing a procedure simply known as “The Process.” His goal: to find out how his new relationship with Nichole will unfold. Is romance more than a complex set of feelings, ideals, and reactions? Country: United States (World Premiere)
Goodbye, White Guy | Comedy, Drama | Category: Good Times | Director(s): Milos Ajdinovic | Executive Producer(s): Phil Peters | Producer(s): Dusty Sutton, Alex Katsaros | To impress his boss and father-in-law-to-be, Wiley heads to India two weeks before the wedding with the goal of corralling a wild card manager in the company. However, what Wiley can’t predict is the unlikely partnership they will form, as both men embark on a crackpot journey through India—each running from his own personal demons. Country: United States (World Premiere)
Last Chance Charlene | Drama, Comedy | Category: Good Times | Director(s): Tony Gapastione | Executive Producer(s): Karah Brown | Producer(s): Tony Gapastione, Jessica Musgrave, Keren Southall | A struggling actor and writer is on the path to finally make a big break in her career. But she’s going to have to put her complicated life back together in the aftermath of a tragic event. A story examining the complexity, ridiculousness, and intersection of faith, creativity, family, and grief that shows how we often think we only have one chance to figure it all out, but the reality is, we have a million changes to get it right. Country: United States (World Premiere)
Maybe Someday | Drama, Comedy | Category: Illuminations | Director(s): Michelle Ehlen | Producer(s): David Au, Michelle Ehlen | Attempting to start a new chapter in life, Jay moves in with her high school best friend (a woman with whom she used to be secretly in love) and befriends a charismatic gay man who has long given up on love. Just another day in the inevitable cycles of love, loss, and everything in between. Country: United States (World Premiere)
Montréal Girls | Drama, Romance | Category: Dazzlers | Director(s): Patricia Chica | Producer(s): Samuel Gagnon, Bahija Essoussi, Patricia Chica, Paul Cadieux | Montreal’s underground nightlife is legendary. Follow Ramy, a poet from the Middle East who is in Montreal for med school, and thanks to his partying cousin, meets two local girls and embarks on a relationship that shows him his destiny. Country: Canada (World Premiere)
Out and About | Comedy | Category: Laughs | Director(s): Peter Callahan | Executive Producer(s): David Snyder | Producer(s): Konstantin von Krusenstiern, Ivon Visalli | Jeff’s mind is a swirl of wandering thoughts about his life, his neighbors, and the world around him. It’s probably a good thing that the people he meets can’t hear them. But we can. Country: United States (World Premiere)
Person Woman Man Camera TV | Comedy, Drama, Romance | Category: Illuminations | Director(s): Niav Conty | Executive Producer(s): Ballibay Camps Inc. | Producer(s): John J. A. Jannone | Barack Obama was starting his second term, hope was more than just a hashtag, and Sam met Samantha. Seven years later, 2020 happened. A tragicomedy about race, romance, and remembering. Country: United States (World Premiere)
Rough Edges | Drama, Romance | Category: Illuminations | Director(s): Charles Lyons | Producer(s): Charles Lyons, Jaclyn Hebron | A failed journalist picks up a struggling artist for what he expects will be nothing more than a kinky one-night-stand. But when they find each other more engaging than they anticipated, the two lonely nonconformists begin to cautiously explore the possibilities of an unconventional relationship. | Country: United States (World Premiere)
Safe Space | Thriller | Category: Thrills | Director(s): Stefan Kubicki / Producer(s): Saba Zerehi | Three couples and a lonely friend converge on a weekend retreat in the desert, unaware that their evening is about to devolve into a hallucinatory nightmare involving drugs, infidelity, and “the Banksy of escape rooms”. Also, aliens? | Country: United States (World Premiere)
Seokkarae | Drama| Category: Illuminations | Director(s): Mike Beech | Producer(s): Jiwon Lee, Hyojin Lee, Mike Beech, Daniel Walker, Thomas Maitland | A young woman struggles to run her recently departed mother's countryside guesthouse as a local criminal attempts to extort her and her father. She accepts the aid of a local shaman as she attempts to save her family's home. That is when everything changes. Country: United States (World Premiere)
Simchas and Sorrows | Comedy, Drama, Dramedy | Category: Laughs | Director(s): Genevieve Adams | Producer(s): Genevieve Adams, Matt Ott, Hari Nef, Hannah Swayze, Jackie Donohoe | A spirited comedy in which Agnes, a Catholic school girl who, after her unplanned pregnancy, begins converting to Judaism in order to marry the love of her life and be accepted by his conservative Jewish family. But, as Agnes soon discovers, this is easier said than done. Country: United States (World Premiere)
Tell Me A Memory | Documentary | Category: Inspiration | Director(s): Jon Bryant Crawford | Executive Producer(s): Jon Bryant Crawford, Gabe Mayhan | Producer(s): Jon Bryant Crawford | When a filmmaker asks anyone in the Memphis LGBTQ community to sit and share a memory, the result is an incredible blend of humor, emotion, and power. Country: United States (World Premiere)
The Allnighter | Comedy | Category: Inspiration | Director(s): Aimee Graham | Producer(s): Aimee Graham, Kenneth Morris, W. Chris Brown | An enthralling comedy following the adventures of an astrophysics student (Owen Beckman) who, after all his research is stolen, makes a bargain with a woman (Gretchen Lodge) in order to get it back. Neither is prepared for the old wounds that will open or the connection they will make when they risk it all. Also starring Justine Bateman (Violet), James Russo (Django Unchained), Tiny Lister ( Friday), and David Koechner (Anchorman). Country: United States (World Premiere)
The Dinner Parting | Comedy | Category: Laughs | Director(s): J.W. Andrew | Executive Producer(s): Brad Ballein, Greg Ballein, Joe Conrad, Benjamin Nivison, Judith Smith | Producer(s): Luke Allen Hackney | A modern screwball comedy concerning Susan and Henry, who are hosting a dinner party while trying to make good on a lie concerning the recent death of their "father." Unexpected guests arrive, causing the night to unravel despite Susan’s best efforts. Country: United States (World Premiere)
The Falling World | Drama, Thriller, Crime, Mystery | Category: Illuminations | Director(s): Jaclyn Bethany | Executive Producer(s): C.C. Kellogg, Isabelle Chester | October 1992. A group of law students head to a remote home upstate where a girl disappeared two years earlier. Will they be able to unravel what really happened? Country: United States (World Premiere)
The Family | Thriller | Category: Illuminations | Director(s): Dan Slater | Executive Producer(s): Carlo Liconti, Bo Ko, Cristian de la Rosa | Producer(s): Adam Booth | On an isolated farm in what appears to be the 1800s, a tyrannical father preaches fire and brimstone, while the devout mother preaches obedience. But, their flock has had enough, and an uprising is only the start to uncovering the years of lies. Country: Canada (World Premiere)
The Mirror Game | Drama, Comedy, Romance | Category: Love | Director(s): William J. Stribling | Executive Producer(s): Marissa Flaxbart, Russ Nickel, Brett Ringle | Producer(s): William J. Stribling, Michael Tennant, Katya Alexander | Two old friends; one VERY big ask. Two childhood friends find themselves in Vegas on the same weekend, and one night together—with one life-altering favor—will change everything for them both. Country: United States (World Premiere)
The Send-Off | Drama | Category: Illuminations | Director(s): John-Michael Powell | Executive Producer(s): Alex Kim, Cathy Fegan-Kim, Sabrina Powell, Vincent Sieber | Producer(s): Undine Buka | When an actor throws an impromptu soirée at his Hollywood home, with only his closest friends in attendance, a fun evening devolves into something much darker after he makes an unexpected announcement to the group. Country: United States (World Premiere)
Trust | Drama, Comedy | Category: Dazzlers | Director(s): Almog Avidan Antonir / Producer(s): Max Landwirth, Jennifer Levinson, Almog Avidan Antonir | Three siblings attempt to reconcile over their mother’s death but are torn between mourning and greed. Family isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, as they soon find out. | Country: United States (World Premiere)
We Were Hyphy | Documentary | Category: Inspiration | Director(s): Larry Madrigal | Executive Producer(s): Rafael Casal, D-Ray, Matt Werner, Nump | Producer(s): Jason O'Mahony | In the summer of 2006, the San Francisco Bay Area was “Going Dumb! And Ghostriding the Whip!” We Were Hyphy examines and celebrates Hyphy, a thumping subgenre of hip hop, famous for its pounding bass, humorous slang, and insane dances! Country: United States (World Premiere)
What We Do Next | Drama, Thriller | Category: Thrills | Director(s): Stephen Belber | Executive Producer(s): Brian Tanke, Stephen Belber, Matt Bronson | Producer(s): Chris Mangano, Merry-Kay Poe, Max Neace | Starring Corey Stoll (Ant-Man, The Strain), Karen Pittman (And Just Like That, The Morning Show), and Michelle Veintimilla (Gotham, Seven Seconds), a timely, emotional thriller in which three characters battle it out at the intersection of race, class, and criminal justice. Country: United States (World Premiere)
Who Needs You | Comedy, Drama | Category: Inspirations | Director(s): Tyler Hunt | Executive Producer(s): Tyler Hunt | Producer(s): Tyler Hunt, Adam Justice Hardy | When obsessive free-spirit Stephen finds out his teen half sister Sarah is pregnant, he desperately tries to convince her to keep the baby. Sarah finally agrees when Stephen promises to father the child, and they embark on the journey of parenthood—for which neither is ready. Country: United States (World Premiere)
Wild Bones | Drama, Mystery, Horror | Category: Mindbenders | Director(s): Jack James | Executive Producer(s): Lee Whiteway, Pim van Baarsen | Producer(s): Jack James | Two sisters, Fay and Alice, reconnect after their father’s disappearance. While Fay is on the brink of madness and misremembering the past, Alice attempts to ground her sister and help bring her back from the precipice. But their past is about to come back with a vengeance. Country: United Kingdom (World Premiere)
Wolves | Mystery, Thriller | Category: Mindbenders | Director(s): Danny Dunlop | Executive Producer(s): Mark Nocent, Jon McLaren | Producer(s): Danny Dunlop, Kevin Tuck, Jake Raymond | When a young social recluse stumbles onto a series of unsolved cold cases he finds himself pulled deeper into the dark world of a serial killer, where he must face his own demons to learn the truth. Country: Canada (World Premiere)
FEATURE FILMS: US PREMIERES
#KIDSONTECH | Documentary | Category: Inspiration | Director(s): Paul Zehrer | Executive Producer(s): Pierre Laurent, Henning Kullak | Producer(s): Paul Zehrer, Eric M Ivey | Parents and teachers around the world struggle with kids’ dependence on devices today. How might we better prepare our kids for this digital world? Country: United States, Germany, India, Canada (United States Premiere)
Alpha Male | Comedy | Category: Laughs | Director(s): Katarzyna Priwieziencew, Igor Priwieziencew | Executive Producer(s): Wiktor Bojanowski | Producer(s): Katarzyna Priwieziencew |Piotr signs up for a smoking cessation program. By mistake, he enrolls in an enigmatic self-development course where, under the influence of the charismatic Leader, he begins to question his relationship, which he had considered perfect…until now. Country: Poland (United States Premiere)
Ashgrove | Mystery, Drama | Category: Illuminations | Director(s): Jeremy LaLonde | Executive Producer(s): Amanda Brugel, Cory Chernick, Daryn Chernick, Spencer Giese, Sam Posner, David Kines | Producer(s): Jonas Chernick, Peter Harvey, Jeremy LaLonde | When a troubled couple escape to their rural farmhouse for a weekend of re-connection, they realize that their ability to save their marriage will literally determine the fate of humankind itself. Starring Amanda Brugel (The Handmaid’s Tale, Kim’s Convenience). Country: Canada (United States Premiere)
Balloon Animal | Drama | Category: Love | Director(s): Em Johnson | Executive Producer(s): Katherine Waddell, Gene Hasek, Lillian Todd | Producer(s): Monica O'Hara, Ruvi Leider | A young performer is stuck under the harsh demands of her father and their community's expectations. During a night out to let loose and have some fun with her friends, she meets a young man with whom she quickly forms a bond, forcing her to question everything she has known. Country: United States (United States Premiere)
Carmen | Drama, Romance | Category: Inspiration | Director(s): Valerie Buhagiar | Executive Producer(s): Daniel Bekerman, José Luis Escolar, Dorothy Coetzee, Mark Gingras | Producer(s): Pierre Ellul, Coral Aiken, Anika Psaila Savona | Natascha McElhone (Designated Survivor, Polaris, The Truman Show ) stars as Carmen, a woman finding a new start to life. After her elderly brother, who was a priest, passes, she’s no longer expected to devote her life as caretaker. Through a set of odd circumstances, she finds herself hearing confessions in a local church, to the delight of many parishioners and the horror of the authorities. Country: Malta, Canada (United States Premiere)
Ghosting Gloria | Comedy, Romance, Supernatural Fantasy | Category: Laughs | Director(s): Marcela Matta, Mauro Sarser | Executive Producer(s): Marcela Matta, Gabriel Silva Lamboglia | Producer(s): Nicolás Bottero, Leticia Barreiro | Gloria can’t sleep. At 30-years-old, she has never had an orgasm and doesn’t get along with the men she meets. After moving to a new home, she discovers an invisible entity there who introduces her to new pleasures. But what will she do when she meets a man from the world of the living? Country: Uruguay (United States Premiere)
Here Be Dragons | Drama, Thriller | Category: Thrills | Director(s): Alastair Newton Brown | Executive Producer(s): Milos Djukelic | Producer(s): Alastair Newton Brown, Marc Windon, Nathan Clark Sapsford | An exhilarating and taut thriller wherein a war crimes tribunal investigator goes to Belgrade to hunt a man whom everybody thought was dead. Country: Serbia, Australia (United States Premiere)
Labour Day | Drama | Category: Illuminations | Director(s): Tracey Strnad | Executive Producer(s): Tracey Strnad, Tom Strnad | Producer(s): Rob Chatwin, Tom Strnad, Tracey Strnad | In this adult coming-of-age story, Harper takes medical tourism to a new level as she escapes city life to have her abortion in a small cottage resort town on a long weekend. While there, she experiences her childhood playground in a new light. Country: Canada (United States Premiere)
Mind-Set | Drama, Comedy | Category: Illuminations | Director(s): Mikey Murray | Executive Producer(s): Angela Waddell | Producer(s): Mikey Murray, Josh Mandel, Darren Scales | Love, sex, and disillusion in the modern world. Lucy is unhappy at work and unhappy with her partner. No surprise she finds herself on the cusp of a not-so-secret affair. But, while this new relationship may seem like what she needs, the answers are far more complicated. Country: United States (United States Premiere)
Much Ado | Romance, Drama, Comedy | Category: Inspiration | Director(s): Anna-Elizabeth Shakespeare, Hillary Shakespeare | Executive Producer(s): Anna-Elizabeth Shakespeare, Hillary Shakespeare | Producer(s): Anna-Elizabeth Shakespeare, Hillary Shakespeare | A fresh, vibrant, and youthful adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” is played out in a house of university students, whose party spins out of control. Country: United Kingdom (United States Premiere)
Nothing Ever Happened | Drama | Category: Dazzlers | Director(s): Gonçalo Galvão Teles | Executive Producer(s): João Fonseca | Producer(s): Luís Galvão Teles, Raquel Morte, Antonio Gonçalves Junior | Three teens in Lisbon are on the precipice. With uncertain futures and shadows from their past and present…and not one of them can pretend nothing ever happened. Country: Portugal (United States Premiere)
Now is Now | Romance, Comedy | Category: Laughs | Director(s): Péter Szajki | Executive Producer(s): Adam Cobler, Bodó Julianna, Marencsák Kitty, Sandor Perecz, Králik Samu Péter, Adél Vörös | Producer(s): Gábor Kutyik, Péter Szajki, Judit Romwalter, Dóra Szücs, Gulácsi Lóránd | Szilvi makes a quick decision: she flees her wedding and jumps into Petya’s taxi—who just happens to be going to his own bachelor party that evening. Their day around Budapest together will become their adventure and their story. Country: Hungary (United States Premiere)
Out In The Ring | Documentary | Category: Inspiration | Director(s): Ryan Bruce Levey / Producer(s): Darren Dean, Ryan Bruce Levey, Brad Webb | Featuring appearances from legends of the past, veteran journeymen, rising and current independent stars and important wrestling experts, Out in the Ring explores the rise and history of LGBTQ+ professional wrestlers and representation in the sport. | Country: United States, Canada (United States Premiere)
Salma's Home | Drama | Category: Illuminations | Director(s): Hanadi Elyan | Producer(s): Nathan Bennett | Three Arab women living in modern day Jordan must put their differences aside and work together. Tangled in a family drama after Bakri dies, his two wives and his adopted daughter navigate his inheritance, finding out that the only way forward is to try and make peace with each other. Country: Jordan (United States Premiere)
Second Thoughts | Comedy | Category: Dazzlers | Director(s): Zora Rux | Executive Producer(s): Leonie Minor, Roxana Richters, Fred Burle | Producer(s): Leonie Minor, Roxana Richters, Fred Burle | When Marie’s boyfriend proposes to her in front of his entire family, she doesn't know what to say and flees to the countryside to think it over alone. Easier said than done, when her throughts manifest themselves in the form of her mother pestering her with baby names, ex-boyfriends climbing out of trees, and a mysterious woman narrating it all with poems. Country: Germany (United States Premiere)
Seven Days | Drama, Comedy | Category: Dazzlers | Director(s): Corey Kupfer | Executive Producer(s): Corey Kupfer; Ellyn Jameson | Producer(s): Corey Kupfer, Ellyn Jameson | Seven possibilities; one woman. There are infinite possibilities of circumstances one can be born into, and what a person can become. An anthology of seven women, a tour-de-force performance, all played by the same actress; and each woman refuses simple definition. Country: United States (United States Premiere)
Sonic Fantasy | Documentary | Category: Inspiration | Director(s): Marcos Cabotá | Producer(s): Paula Serra | Bruce Swedien is considered the best sound engineer ever. For three decades he was Michael Jackson's right-hand man and together they created the best-selling hits of all time. Inspirational and highly entertaining, Sonic Fantasy tells the beginning of that magical adventure. Country: Spain (United States Premiere)
Tehranto | Drama, Comedy, Romance | Category: Love | Director(s): Faran Moradi | Executive Producer(s): Andrew McCann Smith,Ian Thompson,Wendy Donnan,Mariah Owen | Producer(s): Jackie de Niverville | In Toronto, lively music, intricate textiles, and vibrant colours paint an unlikely story of love and family when Badi and Sharon, two young students with very different upbringings in a divided Iranian community, accidentally fall in love. Country: Canada (United States Premiere)
The Day I Found a Girl in a Trash | Sci-Fi, Fantasy | Category: Illuminations | Director(s): Michal Krzywicki | Executive Producer(s): Natalia Bednarska | Producer(s): Natalia Bednarska | December 30, 2028. Poland is a totalitarian country with its own laws, built on the backs of slaves and the slave economy. Blue, who managed to escape from prison by chance, begins to regain her senses and rediscovers a world of sensations. Country: Poland (United States Premiere)
The Other Side | Drama| Category: Dazzlers | Director(s): Shailesh Bhimrao Dupare | Producer(s): Shailesh Bhimrao Dupare, Pawan Wasudevrao Sadamwar, Suraj Wasudeorao Sadamwar, Mangesh Bhimrao Dupare, Pranoti Suresh Panchal | The story of a small community family—a grandfather (Mahadu), his widowed daughter-in-law (Makshmi), and her young son (Shambhu)—who traditionally assist people in carrying out the last rites of their loved ones. While Mahadu believes in age-old traditions and that Shambhu will follow in his footsteps, Shambhu wants more for himself. Will this tear their family apart? Country: India (United States Premiere)
The Smoke Master | Comedy, Action-Thriller | Category: Laughs | Director(s): Andre Sigwalt, Augusto Soares | Producer(s): Andre Sigwalt, Augusto Soares | Comedy and action ensure, as two brothers rely on a handful of friends to face the fury of the Chinese mafia. With the help of the Smoke Master and a fighting style based on the properties of marijuana, they will try to overcome this huge challenge. | Country: Brazil | (United States Premiere)
Visitor | Thriller, Horror, Fantasy | Category: Thrills | Director(s): Alberto Evangelio | Executive Producer(s): Rosa del Saz, Sebastian Mery, Anna Hapenko | Producer(s): Jose A. Sanchez | When Marga decides to spend a few days alone in her old family home, her peace is upended by an invisible entity who seems to know a lot about her and won’t let her leave. But this strange presence is only the beginning, and her reality is literally in peril when she discovers the truth. Country: Spain (United States Premiere)
Wake Up, Leonard | Comedy | Category: Good Times | Director(s): Kat Mills Martin | Executive Producer(s): Sasha Klupchak | Producer(s): Maria Krovatin, Kat Mills Martin, Nigel DeFriez, Kira Pearson | Leonard’s manifested a date with his ex; now he’s just gotta fix his vibration. Part comedy, part self-help nightmare, WAKE UP, LEONARD follows one man's quest for wellness while failing miserably to stay on his vibe. Will Leonard learn how to not only love his higher self, but his lower self too? Country: United States (United States Premiere)
FEATURE FILMS: HIGH PROFILE NOTABLES
18 ½ | Comedy, Thriller | Category: Dazzlers| Director(s): Dan Mirvish | Executive Producer(s): Tel K. Ganesan, Ashwin T. Ganesan, Richard Schenkman, Sebastian Twardosz | Producer(s): Dan Mirvish, Daniel Moya, Terry Keefe | Starring Willa Fitzgerald (Reacher), John Magara (The Many Saints of Newark), Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead), Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men, Supergirl), and Richard Kind (Argo, A Bug’s Life), A 1970s-era Watergate conspiracy thriller and dark comedy following a White House transscriber who is thrust into scandal after obtaining the only copy of the infamous 18 ½ minute gap in the Nixon tapes. Country: United States (Bay Area Premiere)
Charm Circle | Documentary | Category: Inspiration | Director(s): Nira Burstein | Executive Producer(s): Fred Armisen, Brian Devine, Brooke Devine, Jonathan Gray, Jason Orans | Producer(s): Nira Burstein, Betsy Laikin | Executive produced by Fred Armisen (Portlandia, Saturday Night Live), a moving portrait of an eccentric New York family navigating the chaos that divides them, yet finding what makes them alike will help them reunite. Country: United States (Bay Area Premiere)
Come Find Me | Drama | Category: Inspiration | Director(s): Daniel Poliner | Producer(s): Daniel Poliner, Sol Miranda, Paul Ashey, Matthew Pourviseh, Julie Schubert, Alyssa May Gold | Starring Sol Miranda (Unbreakable Kimmy Schnidt), Victoria Cartagena (Batwoman), and Tovah Feldshuh (Star Wars: Resistance, The Walking Dead), the beautiful story about a mother and daughter facing major life changes and how their love challenges and sustains them. Country: United States (Bay Area Premiere)
Dealing With Dad | Comedy | Category: Laughs | Director(s): Tom Huang | Producer(s): Tanner Kling, Brian Yang, Cindy Lu, Randy Kulina, Tom Huang | When the Chang siblings’ dad begins not acting normal and won’t leave the house, they set out to deal with dad—leading them to reconnect and discover they have a lot more in common than they think. Filled with humor and heart, a case study on relationships of all kinds and what we have to do to protect them. Country: United States
Free Renty: Lanier V. Harvard | Documentary | Category: Inspiration | Director(s): David Grubin | Producer(s): David Grubin | The gripping story of an African-American woman determined to force Harvard University to cede ownership of photos of her great-great-great grandfather--who was an enslaved man named Renty. With a focus on Lanier and her lawsuit, it is a captivating journey, both powerful and inspirational. Country: United States
Ghostwritten | Thriller | Category: Thrills | Director(s): Thomas Matthews | Producer(s):
Lena Hudson, Daryl Pittman | One-hit-novelist Guy Laury’s (Jay Duplass) been selected for a very exclusive (and mysterious) island winter-residency. On the cliff’s edge of obscurity, he stumbles onto a lost manuscript, a decades-old murder-mystery and a culture of ghosts, demons and mythology that could be the key to his redemption. Country: United States
Grasshoppers | Drama | Category: Illuminations | Director(s): Brad Bischoff | Producer(s):, Brad Bischoff, Justin Nijm, Lisa Rudin | Discovering all their neighbors have left for winter, two star-crossed lovers hatch a devious plan to ditch work, tour the neighborhood, and visit every single empty house for a drink. Startling revelations are revealed…until their once idyllic life becomes uprooted for good. Country: United States
Juniper | Comedy, Drama | Category: Dazzlers | Director(s): Katherine Dudas | Producer(s): Olivia Blue, Katherine Dudas, Madison Lawlor, Jacob Nichols, Decker Sadowski | Mack wants to get away to her family’s rustic cabin and spiritually connect with her recently deceased sister. A nice idea…that is, until her Type-A bestie and her offbeat friend decide to show up too—leading to emotional highs, lows, and all in between. Country: United States
Land Of Dreams | Comedy | Category: Laughs | Director(s): Shoja Azari, Shirin Neshat | Producer(s): Amir Hamz, Christian Springer, Sol Tryon | Starring Sheila Vand (A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night), Matt Dillon (Crash, Drugstore Cowboy), Isabela Rosellini (Blue Velvet), Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad), Christopher McDonald (Thelma & Louise), and Joaquim de Almeida (Clear and Present Danger), a hilarious political satire, set in the near future, which follows an Iranian-American woman as she navigates what it means to be a “free American” while uncovering a devious government plot. Country: United States
Linoleum | Comedy, Sci-Fi | Category: Laughs | Director(s): Colin West | Producer(s): Chad Simpson, Dennis Masel, Chadd Harbold | Starring award-winning comedian Jim Gaffigan, Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul), and Katelyn Nacon (The Walking Dead), LINOLEUM follows the host of a failing children's science show as he tries to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming an astronaut by building a rocket ship in his garage. But, a series of bizarre events occur that cause him to question his own reality. Country: United States
Medusa | Drama | Category: Illuminations | Director(s): Sophie Levy | Producer(s): Franck Annese, Brieux Férot | Clemence looks after her sister Romane, who was disabled in a car accident as a teen. But, when Clemence returns home one night with her new boyfriend, Guillaume, and he begins to form a bond with Romane, the bonds the sisters have created begin to crack and force new decisions. Country: France
Mixtape Trilogy: Stories Of The Power Of Music | Documentary | Category: Inspiration | Director(s): Kathleen Ermitage | Producer(s): Dave Harding. Kathleen Ermitage | Featuring folk rock icons Indigo Girls, renowned pianist Vijay Iyer, and famed Jamaican rapper/activist Talib Kweli, a transformative documentary exploring the most intense and unique relationship between music artists and their fans. Country: United States
Our Words Collide | Documentary | Category: Inspiration | Director(s): Jordan W. Barrow, Matt Edwards | Executive Producer(s): Rosario Dawson, Diane Luby Lane, Samual Curtis | Producer(s): Jordan W. Barrow, Matt Edwards | Executive produced by Rosario Dawson, the inspiring stories of five teenage poets in Los Angeles takes us on their journey as they navigate their final year of high school, exploring identity and expression, transitioning into adulthood, and overcoming mental health issues – all through the unique prism of their poetry. Country: United States (Bay Area Premiere)
Paris is in Harlem | Drama | Category: Dazzlers | Director(s): Christina Kallas | Executive Producer(s): RJ Beavers, Yan Cui, Jake Jia, Cleo Li | Producer(s): Josh Mandel, Christina Kallas | Structured like a jazz composition, an emotionally powerful journey that uses the diverse tapestry of Harlem as the backdrop for exploring multiculturalism through the lives of several strangers who are forever changed after a shooting at a historic jazz bar in Harlem. Country: United States (Bay Area Premiere)
Peace In The Valley | Drama | Category: Illuminations | Director(s): Tyler Riggs | Producer(s): Andrew Carlberg, Brit Shaw | A timely, powerful, resonant drama following a woman’s resilience after loss and her determination to find closure, all while finding the strength to raise her son in a complicated world. Country: United States
Princess | Drama | Category: Illuminations | Director(s): Peter Luisi | Producer(s): David Luisi, Peter Luisi | 1985: Josef’s younger sister moves in with him, and an unexpected friendship blossoms between Josef and his 4-year-olf niece, Nina. Thirty-five years later, Nina is in trouble, and Josef must make life-altering choices in order to help her. Country: Switzerland
Shoebox | Drama | Category: Dazzlers | Director(s): Faraz Ali | Producer(s): Faraz Khan | Mesmerizing, beautiful, inspirational---a story in which Mampu watches her father struggle to keep his single-screen theatre alive, as her hometown Allahabad in India acquires a new name and starts losing traces of its past. Country: India
Spin Me Round | Comedy | Category: Laughs | Director(s): Jeff Baena | Producer(s): Jeff Baena, Mel Eslyn, Chris Parker, Dylan Sellers | Starring Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Tricia Helfer, and Molly Shannon, the uproarious story of a woman who wins an all-expenses trip to a company's gorgeous "institute" outside of Florence, and also the chance to meet the restaurant chain's wealthy and charismatic owner. However, she finds a different adventure than the one she imagined. Country: United States
Sweet Disaster | Comedy | Category: Laughs | Director(s): Jeff Baena | Producer(s): Mel Eslyn, Jeff Baena, Alison Brie, Dylan Sellers, Chris Parker | A late-in-the-game pregnancy and the sudden ending of a relationship are not necessarily catastrophic by themselves. Combine the two, and it is like throwing fire accelerant on charcoal. A comedy that is sometimes absurd and often hilarious. Country: United States
The Abandon | Sci-Fi, Thriller | Category: Thrills | Director(s): Jason Satterlund | Producer(s): Victoria Hadeler, Regis Terencio | On the battlefield a soldier is hit with a blinding light. He wakes up alone in a strange room with no doors, windows, or exits. He tries to radio for help, but the only person he can reach is a woman who claims to be trapped in a similar room. Can they work together and find a way out before it's too late? Country: United States
The Golden Age | Drama, Romance | Category: Inspiration | Director(s): Jenna Suru | Producer(s): Jenna Suru | Two people desperate to change the world embark on a provocative and artistic journey through the beautiful streets of Saint-Tropez, a small village in the South of France. But, how far are they willing to go to create the transformation that will make them both happy? Country: France
The Grand Bolero | Drama, Romance, Thriller | Category: Thrills | Director(s): Gabriele Fabbro | Executive Producer(s): Xamxela s.a.s | Producer(s): Fulvio Biavaschi | During lockdown in Italy, Roxanne, a gruff pipe organ restorer struggles to control her obsessive attraction to Lucia, her new 20-year-old mute assistant. An exploration of our aching need for human connection and touch. Country: Italy (Bay Area Premiere)
Tomorrow… | Drama | Category: Illuminations | Director(s): Dhafer L'Abidine | Producer(s): Dhafer L'Abidine, Dorra Bouchoucha | Habib and his 15-year-old son Ahmed are brought together by Habib’s worsening state of health. Unfortunately, Habib’s political past causes turmoil, and it is Ahmed’s job to now protect his father. They soon find themselves in a chaotic position for which neither is prepared. Country: Tunisia
We're All in This Together | Drama, Comedy | Category: Illuminations | Director(s): Katie Boland | Executive Producer(s): Katie Boland, Gail Harvey | Producer(s): Paula Brancatti | The members of the Parker family have had their fair share of complications. When matriarch Kate Parker miraculously survives plummeting over a waterfall in a barrel—a feat captured on a video that goes viral—the dysfunctional Parker’s have to do something they never thought possible: act like a real family. Country: Canada (Bay Area Premiere)
With This Breath I Fly | Documentary | Category: Inspiration| Director(s): Sam French, Clementine Malpas | Producer(s): Leslie Knott, Sam French | Shot over ten years, the story of two courageous women as they fight for their freedom against a patriarchal Afghan society, while exposing the complicity of the European Union in censoring their voices, and how the international press forever alters the course of their lives. Country: United Kingdom, Afghanistan
You Resemble Me | Drama | Category: Illuminations | Director(s): Dina Amer | Executive Producer(s): Spike Lee, Spike Jonze, Riz Ahmed , Alma Harel , Geralyn Dreyfous | Producer(s): Elizabeth Woodward, Dina Amer, Karim Amer | Executive Produced by Spike Lee, Spike Jonze, and Riz Ahmed, director Dina Amer’s powerful debut feature wherein cultural and intergenerational wounds erupt in a story about two sisters on the outskirts of Paris, and a choice that shocks the world. Attacking one of the darkest issues of our time, an evocative and intimate story about family, love, sisterhood, and belonging. Country: Egpyt, France, United States ( Bay Area Premiere)
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