Submissions are now closed; the program is nearly ready. Our team has spent the past month mulling over 600+ submissions from over fifty countries and compiled our favorites into four days of programming.
Each program runs 70-85 minutes long and features narrative and experimental films of all genres, including personal essays, music and dance videos, films recorded entirely on laptop screens, phones, or, inversely, by analog means, and more…
Without further ado:
Opening Night: Culture
Image From: Slaughter (dir. Saman Hosseinpuor) (Iran) (Online Premiere)
How accurate is the narrative you have been dealt? These films embody the spirit of the festival by negotiating selfhood relative to structures of identification. They take us to local cultures and social spaces, creatively challenging pre-existing contexts in search for individual motivation.
Centerpiece: Connection
Image From: Dog Report (dir. Porcelain Bomb) (USA)
These films exemplify the universal desire to connect. Romanticized successes, foreboding failures, and the constantly changing dichotomy between physical and digital connectivity all coalesce in this shape-shifting approach to our role and influence on our ecosystems.
Closing Night: Covid
Image From: Together (dir. Laine EllioTt) (USA) (World Premiere)
Our world has changed immeasurably in a short number of months. Not all of the films in our Closing Night program were made during quarantine, but they do all present various perspectives on isolation, sickness, and the hopes and anxieties attached to the vague future. You are not alone.
Special Presentation: Ghost of the Golden Groves
Image From: Ghost of the Golden Grove (dir. Aniket Dutta & Roshni Sen) (India) (Online Premiere)
“Strange incidents occur in the heart of ‘Shonajhuri’ Forest in rural Bengal…” This debut feature from India connects past to present spiritually, politically, and culturally, synthesizing localized and global traumas with the ever-changing film landscape into a timeless tribute to the art of the past.
Make sure to follow our Twitter and Instagram for more updates and sneak previews! We will be announcing the full schedule and program very soon!