2023 Short Films

A misguided father forces his unwilling son to spend a day with him learning to play the family pastime of baseball, a tradition that goes back further than he could ever imagine. With the help of an old family bat, both sides learn more about each other and what a father-son relationship truly means.

In the early 1960s, a budding soul music label brings in a savvy group of local teenage musicians to offer feedback and inspiration to its early signees.

Black Maria is a matriarchal story of brotherhood and bloodshed, a uniquely American tale of a multicultural coalition of misfits and castaways. Maria's family passes the precipice of violence with a powerful cartel that threatens not only Maria's organization and the stability of the community, but the principles they have long strived to enforce. While Michael and Porfirio seek to clean up the loose ends in their own house, they must also contend with rising emotional and mental health issues. Rosa attempts to bring stability to the organization, while Maria prepares for all-out war.

Insecure New Jersey bodybuilder Joey Rossi, aka Joey Muscles, starts doing steroids in a last ditch effort to go pro.

Two aging New England clammers bicker about how to live out their twilight years, with only one of the brothers willing to risk life and limb on a dream.

After the death of a friend, two nuns in their golden years contemplate what their future holds. One confession leads to another, and before they know it, they're embarking on an adventure.

Cape Cod is particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels. Dramatic flood impacts to Nantucket's historic downtown, its infrastructure, and the unique natural challenges to the area that are expected by the year 2050. The extensive Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge, owned and managed in parallel by the Trustees and the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, serves as a critical barrier beach ecosystem. The refuge creates Nantucket Harbor, provides amazing recreational exposure to wild and natural areas, and currently protects the historic downtown and harbor of Nantucket from larger storms and flooding. In this short documentary, the Trustees and the Nantucket Conservation Foundation explore the changing landscape of the Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge and its ecological, recreational, and cultural importance for the island of Nantucket. With the effects of climate change already threatening Coskata-Coatue, what can be done to protect this refuge on the edge?

After moving away from her childhood home on the remote island of Marado, South Korea, Jaeyoun finds herself plunged into a deep state of depression. Fearing that Jaeyoun might do herself harm, her aunt, a lifelong free diver and fisherwoman in a group known as a Haenyeo, invites her to return to her island roots. Hailing from six generations of Haenyeo before her, Jaeyoun travels back to visit her family and the all-female fishing community on Marado. To her surprise, she finds a connection to nature and her ancestors that saves her life. "Daughter of the Sea" is a story of courage, heritage and a journey to find peace and strength in the wildest of places.

** Virtual Viewing Only Available in Massachusetts ** A couple of irreverent old ladies meet on a routine day while waiting in line at the health clinic and make a life-changing discovery: by tampering with the pre-ordained death queue determined up above, they can delay their own doom. Instantaneously, they form a murderous pact and set out to not only ensure their own survival, but also to settle some old accounts with those that have overlooked or mistreated them. The bureaucratic catastrophe that they inflict upon Death quickly turns into a personal vendetta between them.

On his final night alive, a ramen chef befriends the Grim Reaper. Through a bowl of noodles, they discover what it means to be human.

Over 50 years ago, New York State assemblyman George Michaels cast a single vote that changed the course of American history and destroyed his political career. For the first time, Deciding Vote shares the story of how Michaels defied his conservative Catholic and Jewish constituents by casting the critical tie-breaking vote on a bill which legalized abortion in the state of New York, laying the groundwork for Roe v. Wade. The film is a moving tribute to a now-forgotten act of political courage.

Christopher and Sean, two dragon brothers, book a podcast through their agent - only to find that it's a poetry recital. They learn a few things, and then one big thing, as they perform.

Matina returns to the family’s summer home to clear out her late mother's things. As she goes through her belongings, she’s thrown back into the memories that linger in that place. She begins to unravel and embrace the grief as the past and present collide until she reaches a personal epiphany.

A dangerous encounter in an elevator challenges gender roles in a couple’s relationship.

Sining brings his American boyfriend, Patrick, back to China to visit his family. After Sining inadvertently comes out to them, the family changes their attitude towards Patrick, except for Sining’s 7-year-old nephew, Naonao. This film features the filmmaker’s real-life family members playing themselves.

In an attempt to finally process a traumatic sexual experience, Max hires a sex worker to recreate the scene, but things don't go according to plan.

The sudden death of Ruth’s beloved hamster reveals a decaying marriage with her curmudgeonly wife, Connie. Ruth must either accept the death of things or keep spinning the wheel.

At a late night eatery, Farida shows her friend traditional Egyptian food. When Farida witnesses a sexual assault, she confronts the situation and everyone else. To her surprise, things are not as clear as she thought. No one is on her side, including the victim.

Disconsolate over the death of her child, Aidy skips grief counseling and enters a pub on a freezing London evening. Her melancholic night is interrupted by Stella, an eager but ill-equipped stranger intent on helping Aidy. After Aidy refuses her help, Stella tries to leave, but then collapses from a seizure brought on by her brain cancer. Aidy helps Stella up and the two women sit together, able to connect over their shared grief.

A couple mourning the loss of their child grieve in different ways. Ben, who’s lost all sense of self and his grasp on reality, decides to take fate into his own hands to keep their daughter's memories alive - away from his wife Carol - at their holiday home. When Carol can't get hold of Ben and he doesn't show up for counseling, she takes the trip to see him in person. When she discovers his methods, the moral compass swings mighty wild.

When a prison guard is murdered on the job, his replacement and an inmate form an unlikely relationship with life-altering ramifications. This film is based on the real life story of Philadelphia native Terrance Lewis, who served 21 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.

Jack and Sam is a poignant documentary about two Holocaust survivors who became very close friends while in a concentration camp together and are miraculously reunited after 80 years. Now in their late 90s, they are spending what precious time they have left rekindling their friendship. This heartwarming story explores the enduring power of connection and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity.

A portrait of Ilegvak, the Yupik fur hunter and artist.

Estranged black sheep Olivia Chu reunites with her family by crashing her mother’s funeral. Unprepared but determined to say something, she unintentionally recites an offbeat story her mother once told her, leaving her dutiful older siblings scrambling to save face in front of funeral guests. Competing eulogies ensue, painting a larger picture of each of the siblings in relation to each other and the complex woman they've come together to honor.

Manō follows a tiger shark through time cuts spanning hundreds of millions of years, from the creation of the Hawaiian islands, through the first Polynesian settlers, Ancient Hawaiians, Western contact, World War II’s Pearl Harbor attack, the 60s/70s surf/tourist/Waikiki construction explosion, and modern day commercial fishing and shark finning. The film explores the effects of pollution, climate change, illegal commercial fishing, shark finning, and their devastating results. There is a strong cultural bond between sharks and many Hawaiians families, in which these animals are revered, loved like family, and in need of protection.

A quiet bus ride turns into an aural nightmare for a book-reading commuter. Every stop the bus fills with people and sounds, becoming a chaotic cacophony of joy to everyone but her. Only when the bus finally reaches her seaside stop does she find escape, slipping back into the watery silence of her natural habitat, where we discover she is not the average commuter. Misophonia's richly layered and textured world transcends the humble reused materials it’s made from. Filmed with live-performed puppetry on a multiplane stage, puppets made from pizza boxes elegantly move through cityscapes of vintage papers and painted cellophane, immersed in an ever-building atmosphere of sound. Misophonia is a 9 minute film by The Stringpullers Puppet Company, written and directed by Linda Wingerter, commissioned by Heather Henson’s Handmade Puppet Dreams Film Series.

Sonya is a super-busy, sought-after model, and dating doesn't really fit into her lifestyle. However, a one night stand with a clumsy but considerate man changes her perspective.

Ukraine 1942. Twelve-year-old violinist Mitka plays in a Ukrainian restaurant with pianist Yegor. Nobody knows that Mitka is part of a Jewish partisan movement. When an opportunity arises to execute an attack on SS officers in the restaurant, Mitka puts his only friend Yegor at the risk of death.

The dust of war keeps the eyes sleepless. Night brings peace and sleep to all the people in the broken town. Only the eyes of the mother of the missing child will not close. Night must trick her into sleeping in order to save her soul.

“Ballet is woman,” George Balanchine famously declared, but in the modern ballet world, women so rarely have the opportunity to take authorship. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘈𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘉𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 explores one female-led company’s program to help flip the script in writing the future of ballet and provide dancers with a unique opportunity to try their hands at choreography and consider careers in the dance world.

When three of Cuba’s most celebrated dancers leave the national company to form their own trio, the mandate to execute rises. Meanwhile, they’ve given up the resources that supported them. Under the weight of their departure, they struggle and demand more of themselves and each other. In that tension, their creative capabilities rise and their relationships strengthen. Part documentary, part performance, OtroLado is a behind-the-scenes-look as they test the boundaries of contemporary dance, friendship, and art.

On Chef Antonia’s birthday, her estranged mother pays a surprise visit to the restaurant. Struggling with feeling abandoned by her Mum when her twin brother died ten years ago, Antonia imagines her brother urging them to reconcile.

Casey, an Asian-American tomboy coming of age on Army bases, prepares for picture day at her new school, forcing her to decide what she's willing to sacrifice in order to fit in.

Boatbuilder and Marine Carpenter Tom Townsend has crafted a life in Mystic, CT building, restoring, and providing expert care to a fleet of wooden classics, both old and new. Tom clears his calendar and the floor of his shop to take on a major challenge: the restoration of CIRRUS, a 1930 Herreshoff Fishers Island 31, a boat much beloved on the coast of Maine.

A 9-year-old girl discovers that her favorite sweatshirt is a hand-me-down.

Kory turns back to street-fighting to raise cash for his daughters' music school against his better judgement and the love of his life's wishes. Seeking guidance from family, he tries to figure out where his focus should lie.

Meg, professional teacher's pet and amateur harpist, decides to stage a full musical reenactment of the shooting that took place at her high school 10 years ago.

Safe as Houses tells the story of Aggie, a woman with Down syndrome living independently in a small community estate. Free-running kids play on the green outside her house: a stage at the centre of sitting room windows. Of all the children that gather here, Aggie has warmed to Lucy who plays alone and unnoticed. It’s a hot, sticky summer’s day when Aggie finds young Lucy upset outside her door and invites her inside to cheer her up. They dance, they play, they laugh before their fun reveals the underlying issue of why Lucy doesn’t want to return home. Aggie’s intentions are muddled with everyone’s preconceptions. And so begins a showdown between furious parents and the judging onlookers.

An ambivalent mother resolves her struggle with the all-consuming nature of motherhood by making a startling choice on a family beach trip.

An organic Farmer in Maine sets out to transform the prison food system. Seeds of Change captures the intersecting stories of lifelong farmer Mark McBrine and several incarcerated men as they harvest their own meals from a five-acre prison garden unlike any other.

Penny has her share of demons, and she’s about to take on one more. Despite her inability to play, Penny has big dreams of becoming the world’s greatest axe player. After stealing one from an antique shop, she decides to break it in at the local punk bar she frequents. Things don't go very well, and Penny ends up face down in the alley after being thrown out by the owner. A dark presence approaches her with a proposition: Penny gives up three souls, and all her dreams come true.

Three friends escape to a secluded Kentucky lakehouse for a weekend of debauchery, boats, and bourbon in hopes of reconnecting and re-upping their online clout. Kim is the Planner, Frank is the Party, and Yani is…the Bummer. Her short-lived marriage ended almost a year ago and the fallout is still bleakly defining her vibe. Kim and Frank hope this weekend getaway can shake her out of her rut. The day turns dark when all three of them mysteriously black out and lose an entire afternoon. They come to, bloodied and disturbed by the lack of explanation. But for them, the most terrifying discovery is the slew of stories they’ve posted to social media.

As the brutal Chicago winter draws near, Deirdre, Helen and Jennefer—avid open water swimmers—make a pact to continue through the snow and ice as the pandemic rages on. This intense commitment becomes their salvation from lockdown and helps alleviate each of their personal struggles. Initially just acquaintances, Swimming Through follows their friendship as it coalesces around their commitment to the daily ritual of swimming at sunrise in Lake Michigan.

An elderly widow lives in a lonely, grey world until she adopts a big, lovable dog who brings love and colour back into her life.

The Arctic Halocline tells the story of the groundbreaking discoveries made by an international research program that has been monitoring the state of the Arctic Ocean continuously for the past 20 years; it is a crucial reminder that environmental and social justice are heavily intertwined.

Pregnant and incarcerated, Aria fights for her most precious connection against a system designed to isolate her.

Among the tall buildings of the city, the lonely guard hides a beautiful field that no one knows, and meets an egret there. But the expansion of the city never stops, and one day the field is destroyed. The egret escapes without a trace, and the man begins to see mysterious illusion.

It’s the near future after total environmental collapse. The oceans are dead; pollution clouds the sky. In the wreckage of former industry, a fisherman struggles to sustain himself and his daughter. His net catches only plastic refuse and animal carcasses. One bleak morning, after another failed fishing expedition, the fisherman makes a surprise discovery: a mermaid, washed ashore. She’s tangled in a net, terrified, and struggling to breathe. Desperate and lonely, he brings her back to the decrepit building he calls a home, makes her dinner, and introduces her to his daughter. They then all gather around the table, to eat. The fisherman, the daughter, and the mermaid…to an extent.

Olive, a terminally ill teen, simply wants her ashes spread with her late mother’s. However, Olive’s father wants her to be buried in a Selfie Casket - a product that allows the deceased to keep posting to their social medias from beyond the grave.

A Roxbury iconoclast whose work defined hip-hop’s golden age, Rob ‘ProBlak’ Gibbs made his name with murals but became a legend by giving a voice to the unheard.

The Orb is a sci-fi satire on society's dependence and blind love of technology and the need to make our lives easier through consumerism and modernization. The farcical take on contemporary suburban relationships is represented by a gullible husband who has purchased a product that he doesn’t understand and his rational wife who is skeptical of his newly bought oddity.

During the pandemic quarantine, a misophonia sufferer is stuck in his small apartment with his noisy wife. As he struggles to maintain his sanity and make it through, the power of music becomes his saving grace. Through a strange synchronization, he discovers a path to redemption.

A young girl is forced to pick between a violin and a cello only to discover the right instrument for her is something entirely out of the ordinary.

Cosmo the Chameleon doesn't fit in with the other animals. No matter how hard he tries, he just can't seem to find his place in the jungle. Everything changes when he meets another chameleon who shows him how to live by his own true colors.

The Storm Chaser is a labor-of-love short film project from writer/director Jack Pirie. The film follows storm-chasing legend Thomas Traversa as he embarks on a perilous journey in search of a mythical storm, the likes of which the world has never witnessed. A genre-blurring documentary about the profound encounters between humans and nature at its extremes and the harmony that can be found within.

Mwanito’s been living in a big-game park for eight years. The only people he knows are his father, his brother, an uncle, and a servant. He’s been told that the rest of the world is dead, that all roads are sad, and that they wait for an apology from God.

A troubled young babysitter and an absent father must decide how to deal with his wife's death, his children, and their own responsibilities. While Jared tries to isolate himself from the responsibilities of fatherhood, Olivia weighs the trajectory of her music career against the lives of two innocent children. The film explores the demoralizing and shocking decisions of two messy humans sharing a night of irresponsible grief. A portrait of imperfect people trying to breakthrough their hidden wounds to find redemption and heal.

A group of friends decide to take a trip to the beach on the last day of the summer, but when their car won't start, they are forced to take their vacation in their car.

This heartfelt and beautifully shot short-form documentary explores the laying of “Stolpersteine” memorial stones honoring Holocaust victims, installed in front of the homes along the central canals in Amsterdam. A central theme of this film is the power and importance of remembrance. In the Jewish tradition, as long as a person is remembered, they continue to live. The central canal area of Amsterdam is recognized as one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the world. Even in times of joy and celebration, we are urged to momentarily acknowledge tragedy in both the past and the present. These stones serve to provide a small tear of sorrow next to the grand and historic architecture of the canals. This film encourages us to recall the neighbors, friends, grandparents, mothers, fathers, children, and babies who were the victims of hate and intolerance. The film is a visually gorgeous, poetic, and uplifting meditation on art, encounter, and remembrance.

Trundle is a goblin-like creature who sweats a borscht so delicious that it has made the Atlantis Delicatessen world famous. As a result, he's confined to the basement by the deli's owner, Mr. Murray. But when Trundle hears that a Regular wants to meet the chef, he hatches a plan to waylay Mr. Murray and achieve his one true dream - working the deli counter and showing his face to his customers.

A couple has begun physically splitting into many different versions of themselves and must investigate an uncomfortable mutation that has arisen.

Eastern Canada’s most successful 1960s Indigenous art collective was nearly forgotten by the Canadian arts establishment until, half a century later, a major gallery exhibition celebrates its unique visual style and voice. The Micmac Indian Craftsmen (MIC) studio in 1960s New Brunswick forever changed the landscape of modern Indigenous art in the Atlantic provinces. This film is a celebration of the rich history surrounding these unsung artists from Elsipogtog and their era-defining works. Beaverbrook art Gallery co-curators Emma Hassencahl-Perley and John Leroux and First Nation elders and artists including Percy Sacobie, Tara Francis, and Jordan Bennett provide context forming the backbone of Wabanaki Modern. This film explores the art, the key players and how their works impacted the next generation of Indigenous artists, and how their story reflects the challenges of Indigenous life in postwar Canada.

A casting director gets hit with some bad news while helping her eccentric neighbor tape a Wheel of Fortune audition. Tensions are high, nerves are shot, and it's awkward as hell.

An Asian-Canadian mother of two restores a rusty family wok, and in so doing reconnects with her cultural roots.

Evocative, magical, suspended in a mythic world of woodland folklore where animals are predominant and the planet moves to encircle the ecosystem in a constant tranquil accord, Yellowstone 88 - Song of Fire tells the story of the devastating fires that engulfed the park for five months of 1988 until winter snows and rain quelled the inferno and ended the destruction – or did they? In dual tones of fiery reds, purples, yellows, and oranges set against a dark, burning backdrop of damaged, diseased and drought-ridden trees, dry lightning sparks a fire that rages like an avenging angel until its crusade is complete. We see the many animals that live in the park – bears, bison, elk, deer, ground squirrels, foxes, and coyotes. We see trees and scrub and plant life. We see mountains and rivers and valleys. We see dawn and dusk and the dark night skies that reveal the magnificent nebula in the galaxy above. These sculpted two-dimensional animals - part spirit and part real - flee the fire to quickly reach a place of safety, if they can. Some go to water, some go underground. Eventually a white winter snow of intense severity covers the scorched earth where now nothing edible can grow, and fauna, exhausted from the fire and weakened by hunger, starve to death in search of food. Bleak and desolate, the starry cosmos turns from one season to the next and the next. As the land rests and renews, life begins again like the primordial spring. Flora grows in abundance, nourished by the fallen ashes of destruction, and animals and birds return in strength to once again reclaim their birthright. And so the story is as much about evolution as loss and the spirit that resides in such an ancient forest.