Short films

Overview "7th Night is an experimental short film that tells the story of a young Chinese woman's encounter with her dead grandfather's spirit on the 7th Night after his death. As a queer woman, and a granddaughter, she fights to break free from her conventional Asian household and at the same time, stumbles on her self-exploration journey, seeking acceptance from her family and herself. This film tries to uncover the patriarchal powers over Asian women that have long been excused under the cultural...

Overview "18 Years: A Letter to Zora is a proof-of-concept episode for a series, Onyx and the Chronicle of the Seers. This film is a piece of speculative fiction within the tradition of Afrofuturism. The story revolves around a line of women who have the ability to commune across space and time with the aid of their special meditation jewelry and their extrasensory Empathic abilities to show each other memories and visions through ritual. We follow Quasheba Blackstone, our protagonist on earth in the...

Overview

"A short documentary film chronicles the challenges of a full-time dementia caregiver. Leandra Manos is 45 years old, single, unemployed, and a full-time caregiver to her 84-year-old father, who has dementia. According to the Alzheimer's Association, one in three U.S. seniors will die while suffering from Alzheimer's or some other form of dementia. This short film looks at the challenges of caring for a loved one with dementia." -- Abstract

Overview "Before Completion is a short film about a painter's creative process: Lydia is a young artist who just received her first offer to paint for a gallery opening exhibition. When struggling for the best inspiration, she had a dream about different eyes and woke up feeling the urge to draw them out. Used up her imagination, Lydia started to look for a perfect subject in real life. She met this beautiful woman in a park but missed her out of miscommunication eventually. Confronting her...

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"Blue Rebellion is a project featuring a multimedia exhibition, as well as short-film documentary called, "Out of the Blue' which explores the story and colonial history of natural indigo dye, an indigenous product of Bengal that is now being revived in Bangladesh, through slow and sustainable fashion by local artisans and entrepreneurs. It is a project celebrating an important artisanal craft that exists at the intersection of indigenous expression and colonial legacy." -- Abstract

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"Blue Square is a short narrative fiction film in the horror/comedy genre. The film was written and produced with the intent to dissect the caricature of the tortured artist, criticize the popular romanticism of an imagined link between creative talent with severe mental illness, and use the genre conventions of cosmic horror to visually represent the anxieties and fears that come with creating art in any medium." -- Abstract

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"Bulletproof Bandit is a female led dystopian short film that follows Bandit as she finds her voice in a world of chaos. This story is grounded in the need for Bandit to get life saving medicine for her sister Luna, with the help of their friend Mirah. However, at its core, it explores the world of passive and active resistance, survival, living life, and the powerful role of art in a broken society." -- Abstract

Overview "How isolated can we feel in a foreign country? How much do we feel the need to constantly stay connected with our family? And how do we cope with the fear of losing the traditions transmitted by our loved ones? Working with a collection of Home movies filmed by my grandfather from his time in Morocco, and a series of recordings of conversations I've had with my grandmother, Call Home reflects on the preservation and transmission of the memory taking the form of a visual poem." --...

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"Colour is a twelve minute still image short film. The film portrays a unique relationship between a young girl and a toy seller and the influence of his tales with moral lessons on the girl's outlook to life. She breaks the shackles that is imposed on her by her parents and learns to embrace life and especially youth." -- Abstract

Overview "Divine Providence is a narrative short film set in and inspired by the city of Providence, Rhode Island. Building on the city's history of organized crime and taking place during the winter of 1978, the film follows a tumultuous confession that brings the lives of a lonely parish priest and a guilt-ridden mobster crashing together, forcing the two men to tear open old wounds and confront the demons of their respective pasts. A dialogue-driven chamber piece, Divine Providence explore...

Overview

"My thesis project is a narrative short movie, around 20 mins. The story is about three young friends reunites to dig out three bottles they buried when they were high school students. During this journey, three of them have to face their life dilemma." -- Abstract

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"The visual elements of Fish is presented in the form of experimental narrative short Film. This project examines the flow of consciousness and awareness. It initially characterizes scenes in a more or less standard fashion, describing mental conflicts as 'detachment of image an sound'. But as movie progresses, it introduces several religious elements that serves to catalyze the conflicts between conscious and subconscious." -- Abstract

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"Happy to Be With You is a short narrative that depicts the emotional bond between an old woman and her lifelong AI robot. It raises the discussion of the potential relationship between humans and AI. It is also a film about companionship." -- Abstract

Overview "While the script centers around a historical turning point for the United States with serious global impact, it focuses this moment on one individual and his choice to make a speech about standing up for what is right. Reframing this massive moment as one character's personal journey helps audiences both understand and empathize with events that occurred over 75 years ago. Though the U.S. tends to lean into the savior narrative of World War II, the script highlights how unpopular the idea...

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"My short film named Hear the Wind Whisper, talks about an elderly woman Minyan living in a house with her daughter in America alone. However her neighbor Liling from the same hometown brings joy and warmth to her. In this afternoon, the memory of her dead husband comes back in a gentle breeze. Minyan tries to adapt to the life in Boston and finds the new connection with the surroundings." -- Abstract

Overview "Invisible Green is a 13-minute short film written and directed by Dinghui Liu. The story is about a middle-aged housewife, MARY, who decides to take a road trip to see her lover, but her daughter, ALIYA, insists on coming along. Mary tries to continue the affair and hopes to have the romantic weekend she wanted, but Aliya confronts her about it. Mary opens up to her daughter and Aliya begins to see her mother as a person who has needs. We shot this in muted color and used a 4:3 frame to...

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"Kill Me is a short dark family drama that tells a story that a female care worker needs to keep a dying boy alive until January 13th. But, as they get to know each other better, it turns out that they are both sad people who are controlled by others. A helpless compromise or a final rebellion? Everything will end on the 13th." -- Abstract

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"King of the Ring is a short drama following an in-over-his-head wrestling promoter as he manuevers to salvage his highly anticipated main event. Through anxiety-driven intensity, the film seeks to explore isues of workplace exploitation of independent pro wrestlers in a world that struggles to separate reality from fiction." -- Abstract

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"Maestro is a 24 min film about the struggle in today's society to survive. The film is about getting the opportunity that life provides and making the best use of it. The outcome is all controlled by the main character. He is the Maestro, the conductor, who controls all the aspects of an orchestra, but there is no sound without the instruments and musicians." -- Abstract

Overview "María is the story of a young Latina protagonist whose path to becoming a civil rights lawyer is complicated by an unplanned pregnancy. The short film provides raw insight into a woman's experience through this process, allowing us to get a glimpse of the varying motivations towards her decision. The production book provides details from the production process giving insight into the story inspiration, context, script, budget, production materials, the filmmaker's background and their...