2020
JANUARY
Rifugi
Dir. Luca Cutini
Italy
Italy, between 1943 and 1944: many Italian cities are bombed by the US air fleet. To protect themselves from attacks, hundreds of men, women and children are forced to take refuge in the underground tunnels of a small town, remaining confined to the bowels of the earth. Some men organize expeditions looking for supplies for the whole community, putting their lives at risk. Among these men is Paolo, husband of Anna and father of Luca, a ten-year-old boy, whose only desire is to go out of that dark and cold place. But the outside world is too dangerous for him.
FEBRUARY
Helping Hand
Dir. Austin Smith
United States
A young man, with the help of a unique friend, just wants to ask out the barista that he sees everyday before work. Can he gain the confidence to do so, or will he let his fear be the best of him.
MARCH
Collapse
Dir. Phillip Lehn
United States
A writer struggles to cope with the trauma and stresses of a loved one who has passed.
(This film was made in isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.)
APRIL
The Seven Deadly Sins And The Four Last Things
Dir. Carmen PÉrez GonzÁlez
Spain
It is a work of Bosco represented in motion. It is intended to investigate the sins represented and the facts performed before and after. The scenarios and perspectives of Bosco are respected. The background is one more actor. Sin has been staged through the animation technique. The pace is slow, premeditated.
MAY
CoronaVegas
Dir. Michael Tushaus
United States
A stark look at the Las Vegas strip and Downtown Fremont Street areas as the threat of COVID-19 forced hotel casinos and many businesses to shut down during the height of the pandemic.
JUNE
Alabaster
Director Dan Ramm
United States
Adopted from the published poetry of Will Reyes, this project was created to maximize mental health awareness and decimate the associated stigmas on an international level.
The script is an adaptation of poems from “Lost In Life’s Ocean” by Will Reyes, woven into a four intersecting storylines. It is 8 minutes and 20 seconds–because we wanted experiencing the film to correspond directly, in real-time, to the 500-second journey of fresh sunlight escaping the surface of the sun and making its way millions of miles across the universe to us. So that by the end of the film, the audience will have been provided with a brand new generation of light to guide their way out of darkness and ignite a flame in their hearts.
JULY
What Happened Is Yet To Come
Director Lucas Marques
Brazil
Nina (Vitoria Raciane) is a young woman who decides to abandon her life in the city to live with Yan (Ze Pedro Baroni), her musician boyfriend, in a country house, far from civilization. However, after finding a photo of Yan with his former girlfriend, Clara (Marina Azze), Nina then begins to have strange visions. That house hides a past that can become quite present.
AUGUST
Cold Mind
Directors Harrison Dove-Green, Austin Smith
United States
After surviving a massive cave-in, a coal miner must face his inner demons in order to free himself, all with a canary at his side. Filmed deep within Beckley Coal Mine in West Virginia.
SEPTEMBER
IJMAGINATION
Director Joaquin Salgado Osuna
Mexico
A short documentary that shows the lives, horrors and frustrations, of the director and his family during the COVID-19 lock down.
OCTOBER
Forgive Me Father
Director Fitch Jean
Canada
Troubled by reoccurring disturbing confessions and by apparent visual epiphanies, a catholic priest is driven into an existential shift and a dark self realization.
NOVEMBER
Adam In Aeternum
Director Pedro Jaen R.
Spain
An exhausted traveler reaches the border of the world chasing his destiny: to face the demon that caused his misfortune.
DECEMBER
Sonata For A Calendar
Director Carmen Rosa Vargas
Peru
Alfonso (Oswaldo Salas) is a 53 year old counter from Lima, which is diligently to fulfill a purpose. Sometimes we do not know how the mind plays when we deny our own humanity, our imperfections are what makes us being.