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Get Involved with NOHO CINEFEST!
AUDITORIUM 3
SHORTS 7 - Saturday, September 14: 1pm
Le Charade
Comedy, Psychological / USA / 4 min.
A stop-motion psychological comedy set in a run-down 1950s diner. Le Charade follows the final performance of a lonely mime and the psychotic episode that ensues after his imaginary friend breaks up with him and he is forced to re-enter society
Director: Erika Totoro
Producers: Erika Totoro
Writer: Erika Totoro
Cast: N/A
Crew: Erika Totoro, Thaddeus Varness, Josie Howe, Will Macuch, Dahlia Kressler, Lilianna Martinez, Holly Koehler, Sarah Hatfield, Giovanni Martinez
Why Dogs Howl
Comedy/USA/ 5 min.
After meeting online, a BOY and GIRL are out on their first date. It rapidly devolves into the BOY vomiting out his life in a Howl that ultimately encompasses the entire universe
Director: Sandi Johnson
Producer: Gary Teitelbaum
Writer: Gary Teitelbaum
Cast: Gary Teitelbaum, Hayley O’Connor
Hit-Girl: A Kick-Ass Christmas Story
Action/ USA / 25 min.
Mindy McCready is home alone on Christmas Eve when a gang of criminals invade her house looking for a stolen package. Mindy deals with them directly as her alter-ego, HIT-GIRL.
Director: Kevin Barile
Cast: Angie Estevao, Robert Dill
Jaunatis
Experimental/ CHINA / 2:27min
‘Jaunatis’ in Lithuanian signifies the new moon, a celestial marker in the endless cycle of lunar phases. This rhythmic procession mirrors the cyclical nature of existence itself, where all things—day and night, the turning of the seasons, the eternal toil of Sisyphus—follow patterns of rise and fall, of beginnings and endings. These cycles may well encapsulate the essence of human experience or even embody the fundamental laws governing the universe, suggesting that perhaps our very being is intertwined with the cyclical nature of all that is. And we are trapped…
Director/Producer: Juno (Bing Qing Mou)
Cast: Ai Ping, Wu Yang
Dona Nobis Pacem
Thriller / USA / 12 min.
Actaeon is interrogated by a detective following a grisly murder.
Director: Fritz Frauendorf
Producers: Fritz Frauendorf
Writer: Fritz Frauendorf
Cast: Remo Rivero, Cody Mango, Adam Boggs
Cats and Husbands
Dramedy / USA / 7 min.
Fern and Marcie meet for coffee to celebrate what seems like a birthday but is the anniversary of something much deeper, in this bittersweet comedy about the challenges of family:
those who have, those who have not and those… who have issues!
Director: Grace Samson and Barry Samson
Producers: Jane Samson and Grace Samson
Writer: Grace Samson
Cast: Rae Cofsky, Vanessa Simon, Boon Grigsby, Yelizaveta Sorkin,
Marine De Vachon, Lucas Valladier De Vachon, Daniel Shapiro
She
Drama / USA / 4 min.
The inner monologue of a woman over the course of a couple weeks.
Director: Chelsea Newman
Producers: Ken Tolbert, Jared Goetz
Writer: Chelsea Newman
Cast: Chelsea Newman, Cali Levasseur
It Was Only You
Drama- Fantasy / USA/ 5min
"It Was Only You" transports us back to Verona - for a powerful touch - a glimpse- a reverent homage to the most famous of all teen love stories - transcendent.
The timeless truth and pain of first... and sometimes last love.
Told by the only one who truthfully can - a 15-year-old girl.
Director: Eva Ariel Binder
Producers: Mark Binder, Max Karpylev, Eva Ariel Binder
Writer: Eva Ariel Binder
Cast: Eva Ariel Binder, Rio Mangini
Elegy for the Future
Sci-Fi / USA / 15 min.
In an alternate technocratic future, Sybil, a digital sex worker, struggles to find meaning in a isolated world due to a global climate crisis. Everything changes when she meets Ophelia, an AI created from a once living being.
Director: Christina Phensy
Producers: Sue Ann Pien, Jordan Hull, Meg Risley
Writer: Christina Phensy
Cast: Sue Ann Pien, Jordan Hull, Anna Mongeluzo, Arden Lassalle
SHORTS 8 - Saturday, September 14: 1:30pm
The man who revealed the secret of Stradivari
Documentary / Hungary / 20 min.
The story of a Hungarian violin maker who spent decades of his life to figure out why Stradivari’s violins are so much better than any other violins in the world.
Director: Bella Trost
Producers: Bella Trost, Adam Trost
Writer: Bella Trost
Cast: Károly Péteri – violin maker
Sitting in Silence
Drama / USA / 8 min.
After Emmy goes through a traumatic experience at a New Year's party, her lifelong best friend, Claire, brings her to a secret spot to help her heal.
Director: Steph Martinez
Producers: Amy Cosby, Gemma Ryan
Writer: Gemma Ryan
Cast: Siena Solinda, Gemma Ryan, Coby Larinde
Familiar Refrain
Drama / Canada / 10 min.
When a former singer learns the news of her best friend's engagement, she must confront the reality of her misguided choices in order to rediscover her voice.
Director: David Joshi
Producers: Ariel Bond, Brooke Storry, Riley Walsh, David Joshi
Writer: Ariel Bond
Cast: Ariel Bond, Anesha Bailey
The River
Drama / USA / 14 min.
Off the Gila River Indian Reservation, Rocky Camu secretly sells a family heirloom in an attempt to prove her worth to her daughter and aunt. The resiliency of family is tested as her hidden addiction returns to the surface.
Director: Clare Cooney
Producer: Rainbow Dickerson
Writer: Claude Jackson Jr
Cast: Jennifer Bobiwash, Rainbow Dickerson, Geoff Marslett, Susanna Osife
Ojue
Drama / Panamá / 13 min.
A panamanian fashion designer living in the US, who is embarrassed about her culture, is forced to bring her dad with dementia (who is convinced that he is still in Panama) to her most important exhibition.
Director: Fernando Broce
Producers: Mariel Garcia Spooner, Darlene Darma
Writer: Fernando Broce
Cast: Ingrid de Icaza, Eustiquio Broce
A Divine Journey
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Documentary / USA / 24 min.
Striving to overcome the hardships of living at a refugee camp all her life, Divine Mugisha is determined to create positive change for people living at the camp. On a mission to provide education access and mental health services to vulnerable communities, Divine recognizes she must now leave home to pursue her own education to better serve her community.
Director: Annette M. King, Ivanovitch Ingabire
Producers: Annette M. King
Writers: Annette M. King, Oliver Brown, Sujin Jung, Aya Troyer, Dylan Guss
Cast: Divine Mugisha
AUDITORIUM 3
FEATURE - Saturday, September 14: 3pm
Sunflowers in the Rain
Documentary / USA – UKRAINE / 95 min.
Rather than leave or give up hope, civilians in Ukraine tirelessly volunteer, work,
and create in the face of war, and in doing so, reveal how their lives and philosophies have changed during their quests to help the country resist Russian aggression.
Director: Aaron MacCarley
Producer: Aaron MacCarley
Director of Photography: Bohdan Rozumnyi
AUDITORIUM 4
FEATURE - Saturday, September 14: 3:45pm
Happy Holidays
Drama / USA / 74 min.
After moving across the country for college to pursue her art, Clarissa (Mary Fae Smith) returns home years later, accompanied by her fiance and unartistic pillar of support Charles (Robert Walters.) There, she is confronted by the life she left behind, including her first love and muse, Thomas (Jeff Whitlatch.) Despite her best efforts to run from the past, Clarissa must face the long-simmering but inevitable collision between her love for Thomas, Charles, and her life’s passion, painting.
Director: Sassy Mohen
Producers: Ross Mathy, Sassy Mohen, Dillon Morris
Writer: Sassy Mohen
Edited by: Ross Mathy & Nate Orloff
Composer: Ludwig Göransson
AUDITORIUM 3
SHORTS 9 - Saturday, September 14: 5:15pm
Bajo La Tierra
Drama – Magical Realism / USA / 17 min
After tragically losing her mother while she was busy working, an obsessed pottery maker goes to unhealthy measures to bury her grief with more work; a task that becomes increasingly difficult when her own home becomes mysteriously consumed by dirt.
Director: Pablo Guillen
Producers: Mon Castro, Daniel Radzinsky
Writer: Pablo Guillen
Cast: Susana Boyce, Ivette Gonzalez
CUT
A breathtaking flamenco-dancer tries to navigate a world of constant gazes, trying to adjust, and live up to the way the world sees her. A unique dance film shot on Super 8, Super 16, 35mm and 65mm analog film. Directed by Jesper Tønnes & starring Selene Muñoz.
Eat That Up, It's Good for You
Drama / USA / 7 min
In preparation for her dream job interview at her favorite magazine, Flora, a talented but insecure twenty year old, gets swallowed up by her anxieties, forcing her to face her past in order to move forward.
Director: Camila Noriega
Producers: Grace Abbate, Camila Noriega
Writer: Camila Noriega
Cast: Shannon Gisela
Mr. Man's Piano
Comedy / USA / 8 min.
Queer couple Molly and Rebecca have the “purrfect” family: wife, wife, and cat. Until one stormy night, when their bubble of domesticity is punctured by their cat-child’s piano taking on a life of its own.
Director: Stephanie Williams
Producers: Marisa Hood, Stephanie Williams
Writer: Marisa Hood
Cast: Marisa Hood, Rachel Paulson
Pee Pee Platter
Comedy / USA / 10 min.
Pete, a waiter at a restaurant in his hometown, plots revenge on the bully who traumatized him in high school.
Director: Jon Conklin
Producers: Jeremy Koenig, Johnny Komar
Writer: Jon Conklin
Cast: Sarah Wisser, AJ Urias, Jess Kellner, TL Flint, Robert Wilde
Bathroom Break
Comedy / USA / 7 min.
Two girls break into an apartment to use the bathroom.
Director: Brandon Okumura
Producers: Brandon Okumura, Alyssa Leanne So
Writer: Alyssa Leanne So, Brandon Okumura
Cast: Jordan Nguyen, Alyssa Leanne So, Nathan Horowitz
Once More, Like Rain Man
USA / Comedy / 15 minutes
‘It’s up to you to make a future that has you in it…’ We follow Zoe (Martinez) and her dad, Gerry (Jones) in a ‘day in the life’ of an autistic actress running the gambit of stereotypes she has to deal with - and her dad’s battle in supporting her forging that path for herself - in a funny, frustrating, painful and sometimes triumphantly sarcastic kind of way.
Director: Sue Ann Pien
Producer: Suzann Ellis Spurgeon, Darren Dean, Bella Zoe Martinez
Cast: Bella Zoe Martinez, Matt Jones, Joe Mantegna, James Paxton, Sosie Bacon, and Sue Ann Pien
Writer: Bella Zoe Martinez, Melissa J Martinez-Areffi, Andrew John Areffi
GAYLE fmk (with blackbear)
Comedy / United Kingdom / 4min
This bright and colourful dark comedy sees miniature Gayle and blackbear failing at being good neighbours in the most extravagant ways. Think Celebrity Deathmatch meets Groundhog Day, a playful stop motion tale of human behaviour gone wrong.
Story by Chris Ullens
Produced by Jade Bogue Directed, animated, edited by Chris Ullens
Director of Photography Jamie Durand Art Director Brin Frost
Lead Model Maker Beattie Fartley Model Maker Connor Chung Model Maker Rosie Tonkin
Character 3D printing Julian Clark Studios Grading by Matthew James Day
Shot at Clapham Road Studios special thanks to Daisy Garside
Video Commissioner Trevor Joseph Newton
AUDITORIUM 4
FEATURE - Saturday, September 14: 6:15pm
Fault
Drama / USA / 10 min.
In a poignant last conversation, a woman confronts her lover about his hidden relationship status, realizing she's unknowingly been the other woman. As emotions flare and truths unravel, they grapple with the depth of their connection and the consequences of deception, navigating the delicate balance between love and betrayal.
Director: Steph Martinez
Producers: Amy Cosby, Ian Neville
Writer: Ian Neville
Cast: Rio Magdaleno, Ian Neville
Let's Both Try
Drama / USA / 77 min.
Embarking on a wild romp through the Arizona deserts, a photographer-couple's relationship is pushed to its limits as they navigate a morally charged exploration of sexuality and divine meaning in modern life.
Director: Dave Hill
Producer: Dave Hill
Writer: Dave Hill
Cast: Olivia Hytha, Michael Davis, Amanda Fronckowiak, Robert Fabiani, Cyndal Mckay, Taye Anne Rose, Thea Henry
AUDITORIUM 3
FEATURE - Saturday, September 14: 7:30pm
Sync
Psychological Thriller & Sci-Fi / USA / 1 hr 23 min 29 sec
SYNC IS A “PSY-FI” FILM SET IN THE MICRO-CHIPPED NEAR FUTURE WHERE A LONELY YOUNG WOMAN, DETERMINED TO FOSTER A NEW FRIENDSHIP, MUST STOP A MIND-SYNC IN LESS THAN 72 HOURS BEFORE SHE LOSES CONTROL OF HER OWN THOUGHTS
Director: Carolina Alvarez
Producers: Carolina Alvarez, Tessa Markle, Suhashini Krishnan
Writer: Carolina Alvarez
Cast: Carolina Alvarez, Tessa Markle, Kelly Lou Dennis, IvyAnna Harris, Shivneel Singh, Katie O’Hagan, Nicki Sun
AUDITORIUM 7
FEATURE - Saturday, September 14: 7:45pm
In My Sleep
Thriller / USA / 98 minutes
Marcus desperately investigates if he murdered a friend while sleepwalking to hide their dark secret, while the police close in on him.
Director: Allen Wolf
Producers: Allen Wolf, David Austin
Writer: Allen Wolf
Cast: Philip Winchester, Lacey Chabert, Abigail Spencer, Tim Draxl, Beth Grant, Tony Hale, Michael Badalucco
AUDITORIUM 4
FEATURE - Saturday, September 14: 8:45pm
Last Known Location
Thriller, Drama, Suspense / USA / 114 min.
When three women from very different walks of life are mysteriously taken,
detectives struggle to find a connection between them. Over time, the
women form an unlikely bond as they fight to survive captivity.
Director: Danny Donnelly
Producers: Aimee Theresa, Danny Donnelly
Writer: Aimee Theresa
Cast: Aimee Theresa, Jennifer M. Kay, Sophia Lucia Parola, Jamie Kerezsi, Dax Richardson,
Patrick Hickman, and Allison Kessler
AUDITORIUM 3
FEATURE - Saturday, September 14: 9:45pm
Rainbow Door
Drama, Comedy / USA / 79 mins
Miles Drisko, formerly a successful screenwriter, struggles to finish his latest project, Rainbow Door. Between the divorce, barely seeing his daughter, and his substance abuse, something has to give.
Director: Trent Moran
Producers: Kerry Fleming, Wesley Blake, J.Margo Giron, Matt Spenn, and Tres Moran
Writer: Trent Moran
Cast: Wesley Blake, Juan Calderon, Sandra Nori, Kerry Fleming, Natalie Tischler, Scott Leibowitz, Judy McMillan, Samual Egger, Michelle Masker, LeVar Veale.