2014 Packages
2014 Festival
Films in this package
A documentary about children growing up with same sex parents.
A couple’s kitchen becomes a live sporting event when their argument is broadcast on Domestic Fight TV complete with a referee and sportscaster Rod Black calling the play-by-play. The gloves come off and low blows fly as the combatants strive to win at any cost. Won Best Short Film at the 2014 Reel Islington Film…
When eight-year-old Pearl has to complete a family tree assignment for school, she tries to find out more about her father, who she’s never met, from her single mother, and then sets out to find him herself.
A touching documentary about the special relationship between a boy and his grandfather as they make a trip to the woods on a final adventure. Won Best Documentary at 2013 Aspen ShortsFest. Winner of the Best Documentary Short Award.
Dotty, a stubborn nursing home resident struggling to send a text message to her daughter, ultimately ropes the woman who brings her morning tea into her seemingly endless fight with her cell phone. Won Best Short Film 2013 Nantucket Film Festival among others. Winner of the Best Live Action Short Award.
A table read of the winning script from the Youth Screenwriter Mentorship Project and Screenplay Competition.
The films created during the Frantic 48 weekend of May 2-4.
Wildlife filmmaker Andrew Manske has been in pursuit of wild wolves for two decades. With five internationally broadcast wolf documentaries under his belt, he isn’t stopping yet! This talk covers Andrew’s incredible experiences filming wolves in some of the most remote regions in North America from coast to coast to coast, and highlights several projects…
When a woman turns out the lights, she sees a figure in the shadows, but when she turns them back on, there is nothing. Is she alone in her apartment and just seeing things? Or is there something sinister waiting for her in the darkness? Won Best Director, 2013 Bloody Cuts Horror Challenge. Voted as…
An old man seems invisible to the world around him. With only a cat for company, is he just a sad stereotype? Won the Audience Choice Award at the 2014 Aspen Shortsfest. Voted as one of the Best of the Fest.
As her classmates prepare for their First Holy Communion, Rúbai announces that she is an atheist and refuses to participate. Screened with the kind permission of Network Ireland Television and Maga Media Teo. Voted as one of the Best of the Fest.
When eight-year-old Antti’s parents tell him that it’s time for his old dog to go to the vet to be put down, the boy begins to think about death and wonder what it means. Won the Youth Jury Prize for Finnish Short Film Under 30 minutes at the 2013 Tampere International Short Film Festival.
Sky Burial, a private ritual that involves offering the bodies of Tibetan dead to wild griffon vultures, has become a tourist attraction. Burial sites are now highlighted on tourist maps and local officials charge admission to visitors who take photos and video, often posting them online against the wishes of affected families. This documentary exposes…
On his first day of work, a young mortician is told the story of Harald Kramer, a man who suffered a head injury and appeared to be dead, but wasn’t. Harald could hear though and, due to the excellent chili his wife had served him the night before his apparent death, be heard, but still…
A day in the life of a devoted father and RAF drone pilot – juggling the normality of his domestic life with the reality of firing Hellfire missiles 4,000 miles away in Afghanistan … until one fateful decision shatters his resolve. Won the Grand Prize for Best Short at the 2013 Rhode Island International Film…
Lola works for a financial institution. From her tiny cubicle, she spends the day phoning people who are late on their payments. It’s a job she does without giving it a lot of thought, but that’s about to change.
Heather (Golden Globe winner Sally Hawkins), a shy Crisis Centre worker, takes a call from a suicidal man (Oscar winner Jim Broadbent) and tries to change his mind. Screened with the kind permission of Network Ireland Television and RSA Films. Won the Oscar in 2015 for Best Live Action Short.
Peter Davenport runs the National UFO Reporting Center, a one-man operation fielding phone calls and collecting data from UFO sightings around the U.S. Prank calls, hoaxes, and misguided interpretations mix in with legitimately breathless reports of the extraordinary. As a quiet bachelor in solitary scientific pursuit, Peter remains something of an enigma in the small…
Depressed and frustrated with his life, Dr. John Kitchin leaves his career as a neurologist and moves to Pacific Beach where he undergoes a radical transformation into a rollerblading legend known as SLOMO. Won Audience Award for Best Short Documentary at the 2013 Ashland Independent Film Festival among many other awards.
In 1980, 14-year-old Romanian gymnast Ana trains hard with her coach Teodor in the run-up to the Moscow Games. They want to win and the government has a plan that will give them an edge, but at what price?
Two old men share a hospital room. There is only one window that gives the nearest patient a view of the outside world, while the other fellow, confined to his bed, can only stare at the walls and his more fortunate roommate until a fateful choice presents itself. Won Best Animated Short Film at the…
In the summer of 1943, German attempts to conquer the strategic location of Leningrad have failed miserably. As a last resort, Hitler decides to send in his best men – the Spanish soldiers of Blue Division. Won Best Comedy at the 2013 Tolfa International Film Festival in Italy among many awards.
Margarethe and her husband run the only restaurant on an island that tourists visit by the busload. One day a young couple opens a sushi bar next door. While her husband easily makes friends with the newcomers, Margarethe devises a plan to encourage them to back to where they came from.
Sixteen-year-old Tino has to host a date for Diablo, the family’s stud cat. While he pours tea for the middle-aged woman and her daughter after they arrive with their cat, he must try to make polite conversation over the distracting sounds coming from the next room. Won the Short Film Jury Award for International Fiction…
Two Israeli teens on a school trip to Poland to visit death camps and memorials are torn between the remote events of the Holocaust and a more immediate biological attraction. Won Best Short Film Award at the 2013 Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
Elisabet comes home from a disappointing online date to find Adam, her teenage son’s friend, playing video games while her son has gone to a party. Letting her hair and her guard down, she enjoys Adam’s playful company until neither is sure if they are still playing.
Desperate to solve the seemingly irreconcilable problems in his marriage, a man goes to a mysterious fixer for help. There is a catch – the process is irreversible and he’ll have to live with the consequences forever. Won Audience Choice Award at the 2013 International Black Film Festival of Nashville.
As a young married couple, Alfred and Anna move to a new town and open the Alfred Music School, producing a string of winners of the Young Music Talent Contest. Decades later, the town’s factory closes, many families move away, and Alfred is left with no children to teach. When a new student arrives one…
When Ethan, an Emo kid who hates almost everything, falls in love with Trinity, a good Christian girl with a passion for life and her Lord Jesus Christ, they dare not let their friends find out because she belongs to a group of Christian musicians and Ethan belongs to a group of Emos, and both…
Concerned friends set out to protect Matt from the clear and present danger of catching cooties from his friendly but infected female lab partner.
Ravi is a 10-year-old boy from Sri Lanka whose family is seeking asylum in Australia. They just moved into Sydney’s Villawood detention centre and school is the only time that Ravi is allowed outside its fences. On his first day of school, he is befriended by Jane, but can their friendship withstand circumstances that are…
Based on the true story of the first woman to build and design an airplane, this animated musical takes place in 1909 when Miss Todd dreams of becoming one of the brave pioneers of flight, but as a woman, she’s got more than gravity holding her down. Won the Gold Medal in the Foreign Film…
Ten-year-old Tristan’s parents are deaf, but he and his sister can hear just fine. Even though Tristan’s father plays for the Dutch national football team for the deaf and he has offered to coach Tristan’s football team, the club won’t allow it because communication may be too difficult. Tristan sets out to prove that his…
According to Inuit oral history, long ago animals had the power of speech, could shift their appearances, and could even assume human form. In this tale, a neglected orphan is adopted by a polar bear elder. Under the bear’s guidance, the little orphan learns the skills he will need to survive and provide for himself.
In a faraway forest, the graceful Centipede is admired by all the other creatures except for an old jealous Toad who devises a plan that will stop the Centipede in its tracks. Won the Adult Jury Prize for Best Animated Short Film at the 2013 Chicago International Children’s Film Festival among other awards.
Stressed businessman Bob heads to a remote island to get away from it all, but the island isn’t quite as deserted as he thought it would be and crazy scientist Lizzie is the least of his worries.
Eight-year-old Annabelle is a child beauty queen whose mother’s ambitions for her daughter’s beauty pageant success dominate their relationship. When Annabelle sees no way out, she takes drastic action to reclaim her childhood.
A model becomes consumed by the demands of her profession. Winner of Best Short Film at the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea among other awards.
Simoné Botha was born completely deaf in both ears and was the youngest recipient of cochlear implant surgery in Africa at the age of 22 months. Against enormous odds, she has succeeded in becoming a professional ballet dancer.
As Canadian adventurer Bruce Kirkby crosses the Georgia Strait from Vancouver to Victoria on a stand-up paddleboard in the spring of 2013, he ponders the true meaning of adventure.
Bruno roams the streets of Berlin, gazing behind the many facades and surfaces as he seeks the soul of the city. Unexpectedly, he meets an ally in his quest and immediately falls in love, but she’s only in the city for one more week and he must find the right way to say goodbye. Won…
When Charlotte Rampling watches a rerun on TV of a 1985 film that she starred in, she discovers that she has been replaced by a young actress whom the media is calling the “new Charlotte Rampling.”
In a war-torn fishing village in Somalia, a young boy must help support his family by becoming a pirate like the older boys in his village or by becoming a fisherman despite his bad luck at fishing. Nominated for an Oscar in 2013 for Best Live Action Short.
Every Sunday morning, men and women held hostage by rebel guerrilla groups deep in the Colombian jungle listen to messages from their families on The Voices of Kidnapping radio show. The harrowing personal accounts of police major Guillermo Solórzano and the parents of Juan Camilo Mora represent thousands of people who rely on the show…
When a former neo-Nazi skinhead and the gay victim of his hate crime meet by chance 25 years later at the Museum of Tolerance, they embark on a journey of forgiveness that challenges both to grapple with their beliefs and fears, eventually leading to an improbable collaboration … and friendship. Nominated for an Oscar in…
In 1942, Nazi Germany occupies all of Yugoslavia. Nikola Radosevic is sent for desperately needed ammunition by a group of Partisans involved in the resistance movement, but instead he brings back a weapon he believes to be more powerful than guns. Despite their scorn, he risks his life to use it in this World War…
When Helga Landowsky discovers a broken jug in an antiques store near the German/Polish border, she wants it at any cost, but the shopkeeper inexplicably refuses to sell it to her even as she offers 10,000 euros for it. But she can have it for free … if she’ll tell him a good story. Won…
Two shepherds go to increasingly extreme lengths to keep their flocks separated. Symbolic of the efforts that governments use to delineate their territory and control their citizens, the most effective method of separation leads to the most destructive consequences. Won the Audience Award at the 2013 Monstra Festival in Lisbon among other awards. Winner of…
New Zealand photographer Anthony Powell spent a decade documenting his experience at the bottom of the world – from the awe-inspiring auroras and animal ecosystems to the freezing and terrifying ice storms. But most importantly, he pointed his camera at the people – not just the scientists, but the everyday workers who live on base…
35-minute presentation by Horacio Galanti and 15-minute Q&A Horacio set out on his Grand Slam of Mountaineering goal twelve years ago and has summited the biggest five of the Seven Summits (Everest, McKinley, Aconcagua, Elbrus, and Kilimanjaro) and recently ran a full marathon at the North Pole. He will share photos of his summits and…