Month: June 2026

2026 Official Selection: Featurette – Drama

Some decisions don’t arrive as a single moment – they arrive as a flood of everything you’ve ever been.

Program 19 – Shorts Block – Authenticity Spotlight · Sun, Aug 23, 2026 · 3:45 PM — Get Tickets →

• Director(s): Grace Sims
• Writer(s): Grace Sims
• Producer(s): Grace Sims, Don Ohmer, Jonathan Bowles
• Key Cast: Sydney Cole Alexander, Bates Wilder, Jerah Milligan, Taylor Rose, Dee Freeman, Jake Ryan, Savannah Rose Wells
• Editor(s): Natalie Hill
• Cinematographer(s): Riede Dervay
• Production Designer(s): Brittany Ingram
• Sound Designer(s): Alex Bologna
• Composer(s): Lilliana Villines

Runtime: 20m

Country: United States

Synopsis: In a kaleidoscope of memories Maxine (Sydney Cole Alexander; Severance, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning) must navigate the surreal and transformative decision of terminating a pregnancy; questioning the very fabric of her identity and future.

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2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Horror

Have your cake…and it eats you.

Program 03 – Shorts Block – Diabolical Spotlight · Fri, Aug 21, 2026 · 8:00 PM — Get Tickets →

• Director(s): Ren Ariel Sano
• Writer(s): Ren Ariel Sano
• Producer(s): Ren Ariel Sano, Logan Mack
• Key Cast: Daisy Lopez, John-Michael Sedor
• Editor(s): Joe Carugati
• Cinematographer(s): Logan Mack
• Production Designer(s): Grace Alie
• Sound Designer(s): Elizabeth McClanahan
• Composer(s): Sylvain Kauffman

Runtime: 9m

Country: United States

Synopsis: An unsuspecting young couple bring a cursed candle to a friend’s 30th birthday party and unleash an unlikely evil that comes to collect its just desserts.

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2026 Official Selection: Thriller – Short

The only way out is through.

Program 16 – Shorts Block- Visionary Spotlight · Sun, Aug 23, 2026 · 2:00 PM — Get Tickets →

• Director(s): Cameron Zayec
• Writer(s): Sarah Huston
• Producer(s): Sarah Huston
• Key Cast: Sarah Huston, Shonee Samia, Allyson Henson, Lucy London, Bryan Probets, Shanay De Marco, Chloe Botha
• Editor(s): Cameron Zayec, Sarah Huston
• Cinematographer(s): Cameron Zayec, Matthew Davies
• Production Designer(s): Genevieve Morrow Ganner
• Sound Designer(s): Cameron Zayec
• Composer(s): Chloe Botha

Language: English

Runtime: 15m

Country: Australia

Los Angeles Premiere

Synopsis: Refusing to accept the loss of her girlfriend, Quinn spirals through the suffocating confines of prison. In the depths of her grief she must navigate her unraveling mind and confront her inner demons. The only way out is through.

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2026 Official Selection: Drama – Featurette

Finding her place begins with finding her voice.

Program 04 – Shorts Block – Creativity Spotlight · Fri, Aug 21, 2026 · 9:10 PM — Get Tickets →

• Director(s): Anastasia Kuplinova
• Writer(s): Sarah Jane Coleman
• Producer(s): Rhea Damani
• Key Cast: Jordan Cathryn, Matthew Sy
• Editor(s): Christine Yu
• Cinematographer(s): Truman Hatfield
• Production Designer(s): Chinmayee Kharche
• Sound Designer(s): Annie Okuhara
• Composer(s): Keaton Lewis, Scott Tucker

Language: English, Russian

Runtime: 27m

Country: United States

Synopsis: A young musician has spent years silencing her gift out of fear and self-doubt. But when someone finally sees her for who she is, and who she could be, Mira must decide whether to keep running from her past or embrace the music within her.

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2026 Official Selection: Screenplay – Screenplay – Pilot/Series

Screenplay Awards Ceremony · Sat, Aug 22, 2026 · 6:00 PM — Get Tickets →

After their colony ship explodes above an untamed alien planet, an ex-soldier and xenobiologist join forces to survive the perilous wilds while unraveling an insidious conspiracy.

• Writer(s): Amy Kay DuBoff

Language: English

Country: Not Specified

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After their colony ship mysteriously explodes above an untamed alien planet, ex-soldier Evan and inquisitive xenobiologist Anya join forces to survive the world’s wondrous yet perilous wilds. While investigating the crash, they unravel the first threads of an insidious interstellar conspiracy—a revelation that will spark a desperate hunt for ancient alien technology capable of reshaping human civilization forever. Adapted from the internationally bestselling novel.

2026 Official Selection: Sci-Fi – Short

Find a way or die trying.

Program 14 – Shorts Block- Eclectic Spotlight · Sat, Aug 22, 2026 · 10:00 PM — Get Tickets →

• Director(s): Anthony Ferraro
• Writer(s): Anthony Ferraro
• Producer(s): Clint Carney, Anthony Ferraro, Nate Lipp, Eric Michael Kochmer. William McHugh, David Yohe, John Dunnigan
• Key Cast: Don Scribner
• Editor(s): Anthony Ferraro
• Cinematographer(s): Jon Schweigart
• Composer(s): Matthew Patterson Curry

Language: English

Runtime: 19m

Country: United States

Los Angeles Premiere

Synopsis: Aging and adrift, a spacefisher gets one final shot at greatness when a long-lost comrade tips him off to a mythical catch — a moment that would rewrite the meaning of his entire life.

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2026 Official Selection: Comedy – Short

On the morning of her wedding, a bleeding bride and her maid of honor scramble to hide a crime, a gun, and a secret plan to prove her love.

Program 12 – Shorts Block – Crossroads Spotlight · Sat, Aug 22, 2026 · 9:20 PM — Get Tickets →

• Director(s): Sean Dube
• Writer(s): Patrick Quinlan, Sean Dube
• Producer(s): Patrick Quinlan, Sean Dube
• Key Cast: Candice Bennett, Carrie Poyer, Patrick Quinlan
• Editor(s): Sean Dube
• Cinematographer(s): Sevag Chahinian
• Composer(s): Adam Finne & Mallory Finne

Language: English

Runtime: 10m

Country: United States

Synopsis: On the morning of her wedding, a bleeding bride and her maid of honor scramble to hide a crime, a gun, and a secret plan to prove her love.

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2026 Official Selection: Feature Film – Documentary

A first-time director convinces his best friend to sell his house to fund their first film “The Last Stop In Yuma County.” Everything goes GREAT!

Program 18 – Sell Your House · Sun, Aug 23, 2026 · 3:15 PM — Get Tickets →

• Director(s): Eric Alexander Foss, Brandon Pickering
• Producer(s): Eric Foss, Brandon Pickering, Deborah Lee Smith, Sam Chortek, Will Bakke, Clay Wolflick, Brad Blondheim
• Key Cast: Francis Galluppi, James Claeys, Jim Cummings, Faizon Love, Jocelyn Donahue, Mac Fisken, Rachel Galluppi
• Editor(s): Eric Foss, Brandon Pickering, Will Bakke
• Cinematographer(s): Eric Foss
• Sound Designer(s): Juan Campos
• Composer(s): Alex Pfender

Language: English

Runtime: 1h 35m

Country: United States

Synopsis: You have to be really rich or really stupid to make a movie. James and Francis aren’t rich, so they opt for stupidity when James sells his house to finance their debut feature. This kicks off a years-long journey through the wonderful, lucrative, glamorous world of indie filmmaking, where absolutely nothing bad happens never ever ever. A comedic documentary following the making of The Last Stop in Yuma County and the complications that come with indie film distribution.

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2026 Official Selection: Screenplay – Screenplay – Short Film

Screenplay Awards Ceremony · Sat, Aug 22, 2026 · 6:00 PM — Get Tickets →

In 1860s America, the head house slave, a mixed love-child of the master, makes a secret plan to free all of the slaves from Bonchomont Plantation, but their exodus happens in a wa

• Writer(s): Brandon J. Somerville

Language: English

Country: Not Specified

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In 1860s, Southern U.S.A., the most productive plantation hums along. Master Jackson Boregard Bonchomont, manifest his beliefs of the black race as an object of curiosity via procurement of “exotic” black women. It’s not until his most recent acquisition, Azra, that everything changes. In reality, Azra is a centuries old archangel sent to destroy the Bonchomont Plantation, and expedite the Civil War’s end. They yield a son, Bartholomeux, who’s mixed by ethnicity and being.

2026 Official Selection: Screenplay – Screenplay – Feature Film

Screenplay Awards Ceremony · Sat, Aug 22, 2026 · 6:00 PM — Get Tickets →

It takes a village — or at least one very questionable hockey team.

• Writer(s): Lesley Hoyt-Croft

Language: English

Country: Not Specified

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A hockey-playing single mom is threatened with having her daughter taken away by her sister and her sleazy filmmaker boyfriend, She must enlist the aid of her lesbian teammates, a church choir and some “Angry Coochies” to try and stop them.