SNAFF Updates

2024 SNAFF
Nominees and Winners

Best Dramatic Short

Nominees

Trapped - Dir. Sam Cutler-Kreutz, David Cutler-Kreutz

Layaway - Dir. Kaitlyn T. Busbee

Blue Hour - Dir. J.D. Shields

Hangman - Dir. Megan Brotherton

Plastics - Dir. Kip Calendine

Winner: Trapped - Dir. Sam Cutler-Kreutz, David Cutler-Kreutz

Best Short Comedy

Nominees

Meat Puppet - Dir. Eros Vlahos

Make Me a PIzza - Dir. Talia Shea Levin

Hey Alexa - Dir. Xochi Blymyer

Shannon Is Strange - Dir. Don Hessell, Alan LaFave

P@ssword Pr0blems - Dir. Mitchell McCallson

Winner: Meat Puppet - Dir. Eros Vlahos

Best Short Documentary

Nominees

Hello Stranger - Dir. Amélie Hardy

Weree - Dir. Tal Amiran

The Road of Our Fathers - Dir. Bruno Palma

Remember, Broken Crayons Colour Too - Dir. Urša Kastelic, Shannet Clemmings

The Accelerators: Brains, Braids, & Bots - Dir. Leah X Rathe

Winner: Hello Stranger - Dir. Amélie Hardy

Best Horror Short

Nominees

Transylvanie - Dir. Rodrigue Huart

We Joined a Cult - Dir. Chris McInroy

Apotemnofilia - Dir. Jano Pita

Dream Creep - Dir. Carlos A.F. Lopez

SHÉ (SNAKE) - Dir. Renee Zhan

Winner: Transylvanie - Dir. Rodrigue Huart

Best Animated Short

Nominees

Tennis, Oranges - Dir. Sean Pecknold

A Crab in the Pool - Dir. Alexandra Myotte, Jean-Sébastien Hamel

Coot - Dir. Marlies van der Wel

Nobody - Dir. Job, Joris & Marieke

Diaphony - Dir. Mirjam Debets, Selle Sellink

Winner: A Crab in the Pool - Dir. Alexandra Myotte, Jean-Sébastien Hamel

Best Music Video

Nominees

The Anix - Spit You Out - Dir. Brandon Spencer Smith

OMG - Dir. Iris Zhao

Daedric - Mortal - Dir. Robert McCoy, Clayton Reese Schroeder

Hunky Dory - Dir. Steven Vander Meer

Beyond Broken - The Madness - Dir. Monte Bryan Money

Winner: The Anix - Spit You Out - Dir. Brandon Spencer Smith

Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Nominees

Hey Alexa - Dir. Rebecca Demeter

What Does Watermelon Taste Like - Dir. Zhongzixia Yao

Bloody Fury - Dir. Inconstant Jordan

Leaf Man - Dir. Kevin Ackley

Here In There - Dir. Chris T Anthony

Winner: Hey Alexa - Dir. Rebecca Demeter

Best Iowa Made Short

Nominees

Layaway - Dir. Kaitlyn T. Busbee

Essential Essence - Dir. Patrick Boberg

Friendly Faces (Pilot) - Dir. Keaton Marshall Fuller

How Do You Ask Consent of a Microbe? Questioning Coexistence in the Anthropocene at the Gowanus Canal - Dir. John Richard

Willing to Grow - Dir. Patrick Lussenhop, Jason Smith, Fred Ebong, Young Creatives, Charlie/Hannah Hall, Kelsey Bigelow

Winner: Layaway - Dir. Kaitlyn T. Busbee

Best Foreign-Language Short

Nominees

A Crab in the Pool - Dir. Alexandra Myotte, Jean-Sébastien Hamel

The Road of Our Fathers - Bruno Palma

Transylvanie - Rodrigue Huart

Nobody - Dir. Job, Joris & Marieke

Diaphony - Mirjam Debets, Selle Sellink

Winner: Nobody - Dir. Job, Joris & Marieke

Best Burlington Made Film

Nominees

A Reflectionary Tale - Bret Royer, Tony Miller, Abe Kershner, Ashlyn James

Life in Color - Dir. Kendra Gauge Hefner

Finding the Gallows - Dir. Russ Fry

North Hill School - Dir. Russ Fry

Winner: A Reflectionary Tale - Bret Royer, Tony Miller, Abe Kershner, Ashlyn James

Best Student Short

Nominees

What Does Watermelon Taste Like - Dir. Zhongzixia Yao

Layaway - Dir. Kaitlyn T. Busbee

Blue Hour - Dir. J.D. Shields

Remember, Broken Crayons Colour Too - Dirs. Urša Kastelic, Shannet Clemmings

OMG - Iris Zhao

Winner: Blue Hour - Dir. J.D. Shields

The Andrew Wassom Award for Best Short Screenplay

Nominees

Not Sold in Stores - Written by Anita C George

Almost Human - Written by Bernhard Riedhammer

Before The Flood - Written by Alexander Dingeman

SNAPPED - Written by BRANDON M HOWELL

A Man Walks Into A Bar - Written by Robert Barhite

Rhino Rickey's Fantastical Bowl-A-Rama - Written by Sean Patrick Leonard

Fishbowl - Written by Alessandra Bautze

People in A Box - Written by M.r. Fitzgerald

Spin Cycle - Written by Molly Franklin

Productivity - Written by Alex Videtto

Winner: Spin Cycle - Written by Molly Franklin

Director's Award for Best Performance

Winner: Sarah Rodenbaugh in Hangman

Audience Choice Award

Winner: Layaway - Dir. Kaitlyn T. Busbee

Best of the Fest

Nominees

Tennis, Oranges - Dir. Sean Pecknold

Hello Stranger - Dir. Amélie Hardy

Transylvanie - Dir. Rodrigue Huart

A Crab in the Pool - Dir. Alexandra Myotte, Jean-Sébastien Hamel

Blue Hour - Dir. J.D. Shields

Winner: Tennis, Oranges - Dir. Sean Pecknold

SNAFF-FAQ

2O24 FILM BLOCK LINEUP

Thursday, July 11 - 2PM – Film Block 1

Dignity
Director: Pat Battistini
Dramatic Shorts
25 min.
United States
"Dignity" is a love story between a woman and her family. However, the family's strength is tested when a moral decision must be made.

Gentle Wind
Directors: Marta Arjona, Maite Blasco
Documentary Shorts
8 min.
Spain
A young student becomes frustrated by realizing that she knows the names of many battles and fronts of the Spanish Civil War but knows little about the feelings and emotions of those who lived through the conflict. This leads her to continue researching and discovering the "War Ballads" that will take her on a personal journey that she will want to share with the world.

Heirloom
Director: Michael McCallum
Horror Shorts
7 min.
United States
A con man will do anything to get a valued necklace away from it’s owner and to his buyer. But there’s more to the heirloom than he knows.

Lethia
Director: Melinda Winhold
Dramatic Shorts
7 min.
United States
A college student, Lethia finds herself on a very quiet, empty campus, but why?

Madame
Director: Kerry Muir
Horror Shorts
8 min.
United States
Part Grimm’s fairy tale, part tone-poem, & part Borgesian riddle, "MADAME" tells the story of a young girl's miseducation at the hands of her dubious, criminally-minded foster mother.

The Patrolman
Director: Søren Viuf
Dramatic Shorts
16 min.
United States
It’s another slow day for the Nebraska Highway Patrol. After the friendly fire death of his brother, veteran patrolman FRANKIE has been struggling to avoid burnout on the job. One day, as he breaks in his new partner TERRY, all hell breaks loose at the local roadhouse and Frankie ends up in a high-speed pursuit of a stolen police cruiser on a stretch of highway near the S. Dakota state line. With the radio, Frankie is able to talk to the perp, only to find out that it’s his dead brother Billy… or is it?
As they approach the State Line, Frank can go no further, legally or emotionally. He must make a decision - Duty or Family?

Plastics
Director: Kip Calendine
Dramatic Shorts
7 min.
United States
On her way to a job interview for a plastic pollution non-profit, a woman's inner monologue laments society's failure to be more environmentally responsible until an unexpected event changes everything and forces her to get quiet with her own conscience.

Teodoro
Director: Esteban Roel
Comedy Shorts
21 min.
Spain
It is the morning after Valentine's Day.
Sole is being accused of the alleged sexual abuse of Teodoro, her teddy bear. Graciela, her maid and friend, is the one who reported her to the police.
Agents Justi and Roque must find out what happened in Sole's house the night before and which of the two women is really responsable since Graciela has also become a suspect.
But the plot thickens with the tug-of-war between the two women.

Thursday, July 11 - 6PM - Film Block 2

Consequences
Director: Eric Brown
Dramatic Shorts
1 min.
United States
Bruised, cut and bloody, Lizbeth must face the consequences of her actions.

Dumb in an Elevator
Director: Joe Territo
Comedy Shorts
2 min.
United States
Two strangers share an awkward moment in an elevator.

Essential Essence
Director: Patrick Boberg
Comedy Shorts
8 min.
United States
A team of salespeople experience a new, wild product that takes them on a transformative ride.

Magnificent Beings
Director: Rob Tiffin
Documentary Shorts
8 min.
United States
On an afternoon walk, Rob wanders into a secret world.

Safety State
Director: Jeanette L. Buck
Dramatic Shorts
16 min.
United States
In the dystopian near future, a gay and a lesbian couple form an unlikely friendship as they flee the midwest for safety in New England.
As rights are being rolled back and travel bans are going into effect, Shay and Quincy decide to leave their home in Ohio and travel East to a safety state where it is safe and legal to be queer. They meet up with another couple, Jacob and Michael, so together they can pose as straight married couples. Quincy takes an instant dislike to her new "husband", Jacob, as she resents depending on the men and pretending to be straight. As they face different threats on their journey, they form an unlikely friendship.

The Stone Carver
Director: Jeff Blankenship
Dramatic Shorts
17 min.
United States
The struggle of a grieving man as he tries to return to normalcy after the death of his wife.

The Thing I Have To Do In That Place
Director: Jacob Shelton
Horror Shorts
7 min.
United States
Estelle is a guarded young woman whose romantic life collides with her unsettling routine when she introduces her partner, Jonathan, to the gruesome burden that brings her deep into the woods week after week.

Threads of Fate
Directors: Benjamin Schmidt, Alannah Swenka
Horror Shorts
10 min.
United States
Threads of Fate was made for the 2023 Horror 48 Hour Competition in Des Moines.

UNSUSPECTED
Director: Jeffrey Blair Rodriguez
Horror Shorts
4 min.
United States
An up-and-coming fighter is thrown off guard when an unsuspecting home intruder attempts to overpower a group of friends.

What Does Watermelon Taste Like (子丑寅卯)
Director: Zhongzixia Yao
Sci-Fi / Fantasy Shorts
24 min.
Germany
Emigrant Jin's journey home is derailed by a cancelled flight and increasing loneliness, while an unexpected connection with a mysterious wolf-dog takes him into a surreal experience.

Thursday, July 11 - 8PM - Film Block 3

Christmas, Every Day
Director: Faye Tsakas
Documentary Shorts
14 min.
United States
"Christmas, Every Day" gives a slice-of-life glimpse of preteen influencers Peyton and Lyla Wesson, ages 11 and 12, as they perform for their online fans under their mother’s watchful guidance. Shot in a series of highly composed, locked-off takes, the film examines everyday cultural practice under late stage capitalism, juxtaposing rural life with the patina of the virtual world. As Peyton and Lyla shift between performance and reality, ideas of self-presentation as empowerment, female confidence, and self-branding come to the fore. 

Daedric - Mortal (Official Music Video)
Directors: Robert McCoy, Clayton Reese Schroeder
Music Videos
3 min.
United States
Official music video for Daedric - Mortal

Everybody's Losing their Marbles
Director: Axel Schoreisz
Comedy Shorts
4 min.
Canada
A group playing Hungry Hippos threatens each other as shocking revelations surface.

Óbito
Director: Fernando Amador
Horror Shorts
15 min.
Spain
Eugenia & Mauricio, a young couple who, due to an economic downturn, see their relationship in jeopardy. Everything changes when Mrs. Lian, owner of the Chinese restaurant where Eugenia works, He offers her €50,000 in exchange for marrying Huang, his late son. Despite the unusual situation, he ends up accepting the macabre proposal, with unexpected consequences.

The Road of our Fathers
Director: bruno palma
Documentary Shorts
29 min.
Italy
The story of Our Fathers’ Roads centers around a family of farmers who live in Montella in the Monti Picentini in the province of Avellino, cattle ranchers suspended between past and present.

Safe
Director: Josema Roig
Horror Shorts
10 min.
United States
Somewhere in the US a family hears an unsettling bump in the night.

Shannon Is Strange
Directors: Don Hessell, Alan LaFave
Comedy Shorts
17 min.
United States
A phone call sends Shannon through a labyrinth on her way to an epic showdown with the elusive Jack. Will she succeed or fail at her quest? What we know for sure is that Shannon Is Strange.
Embark on a Bowie-inspired odyssey that celebrates deep tracks, eclectic friends, playful diversions, and the underdog in a small town.

Take Me To A Lake
Director: Kyle Numann
Music Videos
5 min.
United States
Take Me To A Lake is a secular hymn, by way of ballad turned rock barnstormer turned ambient waterscape. Written mostly at Radnor Lake State Park, under the influence of science and poetic naturalism, the theme centers around states, and the journey into and out of being. The conservation of matter, the persistence of energy, myth-making, social influence, form and formlessness and of course, lakes.

Friday, July 12 - 2PM - Film Block 1

A Christmas Surprise
Director: Mike Ray
Horror Shorts
4 min.
United States
Christina is used to celebrating Christmas every year without her husband & father of their child. This holiday season they are about to get an unexpected surprise under their Christmas tree.

Genesis
Director: Dillon Jacobson
Dramatic Shorts
7 min.
United States
An immersive soundscape conceptualizing the Judeo-Christian God's creation of the world.

Have Faith
Director: Zach Neumann
Dramatic Shorts
24 min.
United States
A musical short film about a young woman from a Christian home struggling to decide whether to tell her parents about her crisis of faith. She meets a chorus of her personal demons, her personal angel, and finally the devil herself, before finally choosing whether to tell her parents the truth.

Hey Alexa
Director: Rebecca Demeter
Comedy Shorts, Sci-Fi / Fantasy Shorts
10 min.
United States
Alexa is helpful, she's funny, she's kind, she's a friend, who is she? A day in her life.

Prata Neptunia
Director: Asa Crowe
Comedy Shorts
5 min.
United States
A mysterious sect of seals attempts to perform a ritual.

Romantics & Rebels
Director: Braxten Jones
Music Videos
15 min.
United States
On a night out, a shy young woman warms up to the potential of a new relationship. However, the memory of her past seems to divert her attention in the present elsewhere.

Sunflower Episode 101- Duality
Director: Derek Smith
Dramatic Shorts
11 min.
When a serial killer with no clear motive or pattern realizes he’s being pursued by a former police detective, a deadly game of cat and mouse begins and anything can happen.

To Witness Death
Director: Carrsan T. Morrissey
Horror Shorts
8 min.
When a door-to-door salesperson becomes the prime suspect after witnessing a crime, the truth becomes murkier than anyone could have imagined.

Vanished in Ohio
Directors: Tatalovic, B. R., Ochwat, Deborah
Documentary Shorts
14 min.
United States
"Vanished in Ohio" explores the problem of missing women in Ohio, sex trafficking and mainstream media coverage.

Friday, July 12 - 6PM - Film Block 2

The Anix - Spit You Out (Official Music Video)
Director: Brandon Spencer Smith
Music Videos
3 min.
United States
Official music video for The Anix - Spit You Out

BLOODY FURY
Director: INCONSTANT JORDAN
Sci-Fi / Fantasy Shorts
23 min.
France, Spain
In the Far West, the fur trade is raging! Bloody Furry, one of the last red wolves, decides to avenge his exterminated family. But is revenge the best solution to find the way to redemption?

Charlie
Director: Max Hofer
Comedy Shorts
5 min.
United States
A man bites off more than he can chew when he decides to help his neighbor in need.

The Hammer
Director: Eric Brown
Dramatic Shorts
5 min.
United States
A man pushed to the breaking point when he can't let go of the past. 

Here In There
Director: Chris T Anthony
Sci-Fi / Fantasy Shorts
12 min.
United States
Caught in limbo in the afterlife, Zeke does NOT know he's dead, and he keeps repeating the same afterlife loop, trying to escape & find his lost Love... 

Hope Lost
Director: Thomas C Baker
Dramatic Shorts
12 min.
United States
A man’s battles with his inner demons takes him on a journey of discovery to find hope.

Life in Color
Director: Kendra Gauge Hefner
Documentary Shorts
5 min.
United States
A documentary about tattoo artist Rebecca Eldredge.

Lil Caso - Life Over Money
Director: Jacob Warner
Music Videos
3 min.
Music video for Lil Caso's “Life Over Money”

North Hill School
Director: Russ Fry
Documentary Shorts
14 min.
United States
Free public education was first offered in Burlington, Iowa when North Hill School was opened in 1850. Learn its history and follow the school lives of the students from the early 1940s.

A Terrible Place
Directors: Victor Sanchez-beato, Simarro Lozano
Horror Shorts
8 min.
Spain
A girl and her imaginary friend, a girl dressed as a rabbit, argue in front of a sinister module. Inside the module is a mysterious man who wants to harm the girl.

Wheel of Death
Director: Patrick Boberg
Horror Shorts
8 min.
United States
After getting lost in a corn maze, Five friends are lured to an odd barn emitting an odd sound only to find themselves trapped, playing a series of games that are life and death.

Friday, July 12 - 8PM - Film Block 3

Blue Hour
Director: J.D Shields
Dramatic Shorts
16 min.
United States
Two personal journeys intersect when a struggling young photographer is hired for a cheap last minute portrait gig. The unfolding photo session, while transient, leaves an indelible mark on both women.

Essenger - Sanctum Eternal (Official Music Video)
Director: Jeff Simpson
Music Videos
4 min.
United States
Official music video for Essenger - Sanctum Eternal

Nocturne
Director: Wenrui Zhao
Dramatic Shorts
20 min.
United States
A young Latin-American boy, seeking acceptance from a local gang, forms an unexpected bond with a solitary, wheelchair-bound elder in a lifeless house, leading to a dreamy and transformative journey of freedom and identity.

OMG Music Video
Director: Iris Zhao
Music Videos
3 min.
Hong Kong
A young female artist is trying to evolve her aesthetic. Little does she know that change is much harder than she thinks…

The Other Me /Another Me
Director: Pilar Calvo
Dramatic Shorts
4 min.
Spain
During years in complete isolation and loneliness caring for her sick mother, Lucía develops dissociative identity disorder, creating two personalities in her mind.

P@ssword Pr0blems
Director: Mitch Daniel McCallson
Comedy Shorts
6 min.
United States
Isaac tries to login to his computer.

REMEMBER, BROKEN CRAYONS COLOUR TOO
Directors: Urša Kastelic, Shannet Clemmings
Documentary Shorts
13 min.
France, Switzerland
Shannet's voice echoes in the darkness. She is lost. The night scenery of a modern city opens up. She remembers it was a sunny summer day. As she wanders the empty streets, memories begin to haunt her. The cold concrete and a threatening stream of thoughts pull Shannet into an endless tunnel. Trapped in the horrifying reminiscences, the noise transforms into music. She is playing the violin; she is alive. It is a sunny summer day. Shannet finds herself in front of a motionless carousel, waiting. She smiles as her friends join her. Together with them, Shannet stands still in silence.

Transylvanie
Director: Rodrigue Huart
Horror Shorts
15 min.
France
Ewa is a 10-year-old girl living in a high building in a quiet town. She's an odd, lonely child and for good reason: she's convinced of being a vampire. Fascinated by Hugo, 15, she dreams of turning him into a vampire too, so that she can overcome her loneliness. When Ewa opens up to him, she gets bullied by teenagers from the neighborhood. Hurt in her body and soul, she's ready to act in the creepiest, sickest ways to prove her identity to the world.

Trapped
Directors: Sam Cutler-Kreutz, David Cutler-Kreutz
Dramatic Shorts
15 min.
United States
A high school janitor runs into a set of unexpected obstacles.

Saturday, July 13 - 11AM - Film Block 1 - Saturday Morning Cartoons

1976: Search for Life
Director: Tess Martin
Animation Shorts
11 min.
Netherlands, United Kingdom
A new father visits the hometown of his mother in 1976, accompanied by his wife and baby. At the same time, the NASA Viking lander is sending the first images back to Earth from the surface of another planet. Using the father’s travel journal as a guide, and re-contextualizing archival footage and photographs, this film explores our yearning to bridge the gap: the gap between parents and children, between points in space and between the present and the past.

A Crab in the Pool
Directors: Alexandra Myotte, Jean-Sébastien Hamel
Animation Shorts
11 min.
Canada
In a run-down neighborhood, Zoe and her little brother Theo are left to fend for themselves. A young adolescent, Zoe is a ball of anger haunted by an intimate terror. Theo, still a child, flees reality into a fantastical world. During a scorching summer day, the two children will have to burst the abscess of their relationship so as not to lose each other.

Bug Diner
Director: Phoebe Jane Hart
Animation Shorts
7 min.
United States
A dissatisfied marriage, a secret crush, and workplace fantasies come to a head in a diner run by a mole with a hot ass.

The Chicken Wing Apocalypse
Director: MIKE MACHIAN
Animation Shorts
2 min.
Mike had a dream about the end of the world.
Another Mike thought that would make a great film.
Thirteen years later he got around to making it. 

CHOPSTICK
Director: Leah X Rathe
Animation Shorts
3 min.
United States
A chopstick, adopted from one country and raised in one filled with forks, goes on a journey of self discovery and identity

Coot
Director: Marlies van der Wel
Animation Shorts
2 min.
A coot and a ferry skipper peacefully coexist along a city river. Their harmony is disrupted when a new bridge emerges, causing the skipper to lose all his passengers overnight.
Fortunately, the bird, typically engrossed in nest-building, unexpectedly becomes the link that revitalizes the ferry’s purpose.
Marlies encapsulated the essence of community unity within a vibrant two-minute animation.

Crumble
Directors: Max Peterse, Eileen Boeijkens
Animation Shorts
2 min.
Netherlands
In a dying world, an anxious stone tries to cling frenetically to the place so familiar to it. As the world crumbles, the other nature spirits decide to leave. The stone watches how they throw themselves off the cliff of their world, into the unknown. The stone declares them fools. No one to get him away from his safe place! Eventually, the stone is the only one left as the world decays around him, lonely and alone. The situation soon becomes dangerous and untenable; the stone has almost nothing left to hold on to! Suddenly the stone hears some faint sounds in the distance. Might the other spirits still be alive? He finally decides to pry himself loose from his fear of the unknown and take the leap. The new world he finds himself in is raw, but offers new possibilities. Together with the forest spirits, the stone begins to build an unknown future, free of fear.

Diaphony
Directors: Mirjam Debets, Selle Sellink
Animation Shorts
7 min.
Netherlands
Diaphony is a short animation documentary (6”) in which three characters, who seem to have very few similarities, invite you into their world while listening to music that has been comforting to them during the pandemic.

Drawn Out
Director: Iskander Mos
Animation Shorts
2 min.
Yara (13) a shy artist with a special gift for drawing discovers her creations hold remarkable power, inspiring her to stand up against her tyrannical teacher.

Hunky Dory
Director: Steven Vander Meer
Music Videos
6 min.
United States
Hunky Dory juxtaposes scenes of animal life with images of human existence, observing the quirky and unexpected ways in which we are similar. The meticulously hand-drawn animation is a visual smorgasbord, moving and morphing in perfect time to the banjo music of Béla Fleck and his bandmates in My Bluegrass Heart.

Love on the Edge
Director: Anselm Oettel, Patty Stenger
Animation Shorts
2 min.
When Gina suspects that her lover is seeing someone else, she draws attention with a very risky climb with which she not only puts herself in danger. For a moment, it looks as if this will help her win her lover back. But love will not be forced. 

A New Challenger
Director: Vinh Hong Nguyen
Animation Shorts
3 min.
United States
A young boy tries to escape the hostile environment of his home by immersing himself into a video-game.

Nobody
Director: Job, Joris & Marieke
Animation Shorts
9 min.
When the obsessive Instagrammer Florian takes too many selfies he becomes transparent and has to struggle to keep his beloved followers.

Sfumato #2 - Political Asylum
Director: Jim Middleton
Animation Shorts
4 min.
United States
The 230 year history of the US Capitol is reviewed in 230 animated seconds. 

Tennis, Oranges
Director: Sean Pecknold
Animation Shorts
11 min.
United States
A robotic vacuum suffering from burnout quits its job at a hospital and sets out to find community and a greater purpose on a quiet street where two lonely rabbits are stuck in perpetual loops.

Truth Detector
Director: William Reliford
Animation Shorts
6 min.
United States
A high school science teacher finds a device that changes his life forever.

Saturday, July 13 - 3PM - Film Block 2

Bro Moon
Director: Serena Fath
Horror Shorts
11 min.
United States
A horror/comedy about man vs. nature... vs. woman.

Leaf Man
Director: Kevin Ackley
Sci-Fi / Fantasy Shorts
20 min.
United States
Leaf Man is a metaphysical monster movie following a man's odyssey through a world of organic existential transformations. With momentum from a powerful shoegaze score, this wordless short film uses surreal and strange dual-roled characters to dance through the boundary between ourselves, our surroundings, and each other, in the search for a meaningful life. 

Left for Dead
Director: Tab Ballis
Music Videos
4 min.
United States
Singer songwriter Laura McLean evokes the dark soul of a Southern coastal town rocked by a horrific hate crime, in her original song for the documentary film Park View, "Left for Dead." 

Lightbulb
Director: Hannah Meyer
Comedy Shorts
15 min.
When a maintenance worker attempts to change a lightbulb, he must confront the enemies of his past military life in order to survive another evening on the night shift.

The Magic Ticket
Director: Yelena V. Krivosheyeva
Dramatic Shorts
15 min.
United States
A homeless female veteran, Penny, is camping outside of a fancy restaurant on Christmas eve when a kind stranger donates her a gift card to go inside and get a hot meal. After struggling to get a seat, she is finally able to order dinner when an angry patron calls the police.
When the cops try to escort Penny out, it triggers her trauma.

The Ticket
Director: Joel William Kellen
Comedy Shorts
3 min.
United States
After receiving a winning lottery ticket, a young man is kidnapped into handing over his prize.

Willing to Grow
Directors: Patrick Lussenhop, Jason Smith, Fred Ebong, Young Creatives, Charlie/Hannah Hall, Kelsey Bigelow
Dramatic Shorts
32 min.
"Willing to Grow" is a poetic exploration of forgiveness, hurt, and healing through a series of interconnected vignettes. Written by Caleb "The Negro Artist" Rainey, this film presents 8 powerful poems, each delving into themes of romantic turmoil, misogynoir, and the aftermath of sexual assault.
With a unique approach, a different director takes the helm for each pair of vignettes, infusing their own style and vision into the storytelling. Through visual poetry and evocative imagery, the film captures the raw emotions of the human experience.

Saturday, July 13 - 7PM - Film Block 3

Beyond Unbroken - The Madness (Official Music Video)
Director: Monte Bryan Money
Music Videos
4 min.
Official music video for Beyond Unbroken - The Madness 

Hangman
Director: Megan Brotherton
Dramatic Shorts
15 min.
United States
A recently widowed woman works through the complexities of grief with the help of friends, strangers and Tupperware. 

Hello Stranger
Director: Amélie Hardy
Documentary Shorts
17 min.
Canada
Between loads of laundry at the corner laundromat, Cooper shares the tumultuous story of her gender reassignment journey. 

How Do You Ask Consent of a Microbe? Questioning Coexistence in the Anthropocene at the Gowanus Canal
Director: John A Richard
Documentary Shorts
10 min.
United States
SCOPE Collective members Heather Parrish, Elizabeth Henaff, Léonard Roussel, Seth Wenger, and movement artist, Nola Smith, respond artistically to the unique biome that has formed in the toxic waters of the Gowanus Canal through their collaborative installation and performance work, "Precipitate". 

Inheritance
Director: Benjamin Schmidt
Horror Shorts
30 min.
United States
While sorting through the belongings of his deceased estranged uncle, John discovers some dark secrets and realizes he may have inherited more than he bargained for.

Meat Puppet
Director: EROS VLAHOS
Comedy Shorts
12 min.
United Kingdom
On the day he promised his girlfriend he’d grow up, a man-child inadvertently traps himself inside a puppet.

Saturday, July 13 - 9PM - Film Block 4 - SNAFFter Dark

Apotemnofilia
Director: Jano Pita
Horror Shorts
10 min.
Spain
It is opening night, the theater is crowded and Clara, the leading actress, refuses to leave her dressing room. Something inside her is keeping her from leaving, something she will have to face.

Beach Logs Kill
Director: Haley Z. Boston
Horror Shorts
10 min.
United States
BEACH LOGS KILL is a surrealist daydream-slash-nightmare set in the heightened reality of a teen girl’s mind – a girl who has a burning crush on the school’s celebrated star quarterback, also a girl. The film is a hallucinogenic exploration of the age-old question that frequently complicates a young queer person’s life – do I want to be them, or be inside of them? The answer is not so cut-and-dry, and neither is life, and neither is this film.

Dream Creep
Director: Carlos A.F. Lopez
13 min.
United States
A couple awakens in the night to sounds emanating from an unlikely orifice. 

MAKE ME A PIZZA
Director: Talia Shea Levin
Comedy Shorts
12 min.
United States
A woman tells a pizza delivery guy she can't pay for the pizza she ordered. But can the sex she offers instead of currency possibly equate to the true value of a pizza? Is there anything that can be worthy of pizza, aside from what the market has decided? Together the two decide that their only option is to become the pizza object themselves, to make each other into pizza, in order to become free.

Pit Stop
Director: David A. Flores
Horror Shorts
6 min.
United States
A prisoner and guard are stranded and out of gas, but they're not alone. 

SHÉ (SNAKE)
Director: Renee Zhan
Horror Shorts
16 min.
United Kingdom
Fei Li is the top violinist in her elite youth orchestra. When another Chinese violinist arrives to challenge her place, Fei’s internalized racism and anxieties grow to take monstrous physical form. They whisper to her, urging her to be the best, no matter the cost.

THAT ONE FREIND PART 2 THE SLEEP OVER
Director: Demetrius Harris
Comedy Shorts
13 min.
That one friend is back but this time he hasn't learned to pay his light bill on time so now he is with out lights and is staying over at his friends flat, but his friend has laid some ground rules that should teach him how to keep his hands off what dose not belong to him ,.....but dose that one friend ever really learn? 

The Thaw
Directors: Sarah Wisner, Sean Temple
Horror Shorts
16 min.
United States
In 19th century Vermont, a young woman's parents drink sleeping tea in order to survive the harsh winter, but an early thaw leads to horrifying results. 

Three Baths
Director: Rafael De Leon Jr.
Horror Shorts
7 min.
United States
A spiritualist instructs Loreen to give her distraught younger sister, Rosa, three baths to get rid of a malevolent spirit that appears to be moving closer and closer to her.

We Joined A Cult
Director: Chris McInroy
Horror Shorts
4 min.
United States
The story of two friends who just wanted to play kickball. 

Who Calls
Director: J.A Villalobos
Horror Shorts
5 min.
Spain
In the middle of the night, a stranger knocks on the door of the house asking for help.
The couple that resides inside will have to choose whether or not to open the door.

Sunday, July 14 - 12PM - Film Block 1

The Accelerators: Brains, Braids, & Bots
Director: Leah X Rathe
Documentary Shorts
23 min.
United States
The Accelerators, an all girls First Robotics team from Cass Lake-Bena High School in Cass Lake, MN, compete in their 10th season, striving to make it to State for the first time in their school's history. 

The Curmudgeon Factory
Director: Joshua M Thomas
Comedy Shorts
17 min.
United States
An old-timer asks himself if he has anything left to give. He finds the answer…in The Curmudgeon Factory. 

Dwight in Denmark
Director: Cris Anderson
Documentary Shorts
27 min.
United States
Dwight in Denmark: Saving Tunes from Extinction is a film about an easy-to-ignore old man from rural Iowa who is a culture hero. Dwight Lamb has been an important and influential old time folk fiddler and Danish button accordion player in the American midwest for decades, but now he is significant in Denmark, also. The film is a feel-good story about music, dance, friendship, community, history, and the power of memory. Featuring stellar folk musicians. Filmed in Iowa, South Dakota, Missouri, Wisconsin, Washington, D.C., and Denmark.

Friendly Faces (Pilot)
Director: Keaton Marshall Fuller
Comedy Shorts
10 min.
United States
A pair of unlikely friends set out to launch a rent-a-friend service and tackle their first client, which sends them on a shopping trip for the perfect coffin!

Meeting Michael vol2
Directors: Frank Boyd, Brittany Benedict
Dramatic Shorts
14 min.
United States
The stranger returns to instill hope in a small midwestern town. 

Through the Lens of Mourning
Director: Sarah Gaudoin
Dramatic Shorts
14 min.
United States
Seasoned wedding photographer Glen grew tired of the over-saturated wedding photography market, and found a new niche in "the moments that truly matter...the last." A curious documentary crew follows him over the course of several funeral photography gigs, witnessing him handle newcomer rivals and difficult employee conversations with the graciousness and diplomacy that only a wizened portrait photographer possesses.

Sunday, July 14 - 2PM - Film Block 2

The D Word
Director: James Watjen
Horror Shorts
5 min.
United States
"In 'The D Word,' a severely mentally distressed man, rejected by his wife, spirals into an affair, grappling with his fractured sanity. As he navigates the complexities of acceptance and rejection, his subconscious connection to Frankenstein's monster emerges, symbolized by the haunting mask he carries, blurring the line between fractured relationships and the monstrous echoes within."

Finding the Gallows
Director: Russ Fry
Documentary Shorts
07 min.
United States
The Hodges were hanged in Burlington, Iowa Territory in 1845. The location of the execution was lost to time - until now. 

Friendly Faces: Episode 5- The Wishing Well
Director: Bruce James Bales
Dramatic Shorts
14 min.
United States
While meeting a client for his rent-a-friend service, Dean is brought face-to-face with his estranged sister.

Goodnight, Billy
Director: Daryl Hrdlicka
Horror Shorts
2 min.
United States
A little girl struggles with her night-time fears. 

High Contrast
Directors: Mason James Schnurstein, Braden Michael Vinson
Dramatic Shorts
5 min.
United States
An assassin is interrogated after a murder, leading him to his backstory involving a spy. The assassin attempts to kill the spy but is met with unexpected resistance as the spy's wife urges him to leave the dangerous profession. Despite a change in plans from his handler, the assassin remains determined and eliminates the spy. However, it's ultimately revealed that the spy was the interrogator all along and, in the end, was using said assassination as a means to escape his past as a spy.

Layaway
Director: Kaitlyn T. Busbee
Dramatic Shorts
13 min.
United States
Left by their mother to fend for themselves, two siblings in Iowa learn to live by their own code, until a choice becomes a secret that tests their trust in each other.

Limits
Director: Courtney Grawe
Dramatic Shorts
15 min.
United States
A getaway driver for a local crime ring decides to draw the line on his latest job, but his reckless behavior and disrespect for the boss leads to unforgiving consequences.

Missing
Director: Eric Brown
Dramatic Shorts
6 min.
United States
Where is Trudy? The question that Rick must answer if he is to get out of this interrogation. But is he prepared for the answers that are sure to come. 

A Reflectionary Tale
Directors: Bret Royer, Tony Miller, Ashlyn James, Abe Kershner
Comedy Shorts
3 min.
United States
There is something fishy going on between Frank and Franklin.

Weight by 8-bit Creeps
Director: David A Holcombe
Music Videos
3 min.
United States
A storm-tossed woman washes up on shore and through primitive dance, sheds the weight of her past and embraces the mystery of hope.

Weree
Director: Tal Amiran
Documentary Shorts
15 min.
Netherlands
Having fled the Liberian civil war, renowned self-taught artist Johnson Weree is seeking asylum in the Netherlands where he lives undocumented and without a fixed address. Haunted by the horrors of his past, he draws bright-coloured otherworldly portraits, whilst longing for a brighter future.

The Wolf
Director: M.r. Fitzgerald
Horror Shorts
23 min.
United States
A damaged vigilante returns to her old cult to rescue other prisoners and end the nightmares of her traumatic upbringing, but upon reuniting with a long lost childhood friend she must confront the aftermath of their cult leader's abuse once and for all.

2O24 SHORT SCREENPLAY FINALISTS

Thursday, July 11 - 4PM

Not Sold in Stores
Written by Anita C George
An overworked office manager gives herself a present.

Almost Human
Written by Bernhard Riedhammer
A man runs to the aid of an injured woman without realizing she might be part of something much bigger - and not quite who she claims she is.

Before The Flood
Written by Alexander Dingeman
At the dawn of civilization, a monster tries to find their place in the world.

Friday, July 12 - 4PM

SNAPPED
Written by BRANDON M HOWELL
Hospital security detains a surgeon after a procedure goes awry.

A Man Walks Into A Bar
Written by Robert Barhite
A middle-aged man looks back on the singular childhood event which tore apart his family and redefined his father/son relationship.

Rhino Rickey's Fantastical Bowl-A-Rama
Written by Sean Patrick Leonard
Bert has planned the perfect celebration for his daughter Mabel. Or has he?

Fishbowl
Written by Alessandra Bautze
This short film follows a Deaf woman trapped in a seemingly picture-perfect relationship with a hearing man. She speaks orally and hears with a cochlear implant, appeasing her husband, who does not know her preferred language of American Sign Language. When she finds out that her husband is being investigated for embezzlement, their relationship deteriorates. In a sci-fi/horror twist, when her husband finds himself transported to a mysterious interrogation room, unable to speak, she confronts him about not only stealing from his company, but also of stealing her capacity for self-determination in the name of paternalism. In this way, she finally asserts her language rights and reclaims her identity.

Saturday, July 13 - 5PM

People in A Box
Written by M.r. Fitzgerald
Artists and performers are trapped inside a mysterious theater where they are forced to perform in order to survive.

Spin Cycle
Written by Molly Franklin
During a late night encounter at a laundromat, Kyle confides his darkest secret to a stranger who wants to remain just that. This story begs the question, is trust our greatness weakness or is it the only thing that will propel us forward?

Productivity
Written by Alex Videtto
When a remote worker gets a new job, his invasive A.I. assistant disrupts his life.