ONE PUSH UP (USA) BY ALEXANDER BICKFORD

Synopsis: Witness the miraculous results of this life-changing workout routine! Running time: 00:01:34.

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JELLYBRAINS (USA) BY MICHAEL KLING

Synopsis: Analog occult obsession. Running time: 00:05:05.

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FIREBIRD (USA) BY CARLEY BYERS

Trailer

Synopsis: When Nora, a seamstress and aspiring pointe dancer, starts taking notes for the company’s first cast soloist, she is confronted with the reality of ballet’s physical and emotional demands. Running time: 00:15:00.

About the director: Carley Byers is a Boston-based filmmaker specializing in producing and directing. Her love of storytelling began with dance and theatre. These passions translate into her films through her theatrical visual style and sensitivity when working with performers. Carley graduated with a BFA in film/video production from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2021. She has worked on industry commercial sets as well as student and independent film projects. She strives to produce films rooted in authenticity in hopes of inspiring others through the power of the moving image.

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BEAR HUG (USA) BY DARIA LUGINA

Synopsis: A young child wakes from a nightmare, only to confront the very real scariness of the adult world. Running time: 00:02:01.

About the director: Daria Lugina graduated with a BFA in Painting and BA in English from Boston University in 2019. She spends her workdays as an administrator at Harvard University and her nights and weekends exploring the world of animation. Bear Hug is her first film.

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LINNEA'S BRAIN (USA) BY AL CROCKETT

Synopsis: Documentary profile of Linnea Herzog, professional neuroscientist and aspiring rock musician. Filmed in Lowell and in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Running time: 00:05:00.

Selections/awards: Gothamite Monthly Film Awards (Best Student Film of the Month Dec 2021), Paris Play FF (Best Documentary Short), London Movie Awards (Best Student Film March 2022).

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I LOVE YOU DON'T LEAVE ME (USA) BY ALEX LEOMBRUNO

Trailer

Synopsis: An absurdist drama following the endless torment experienced by a young woman dealing with an eating disorder. As she tries to cope with obsessive tendencies and routines, Ghillie, a looming swamp monster, follows close behind. Ghillie is the most prominent thing in Morgan’s life — that is, until she meets a strange neighbor while out jogging and invites her over for dinner. What ensues is a stressful encounter for Morgan as she tries to fight past the thoughts of Ghillie. Running time: 00:15:41.

About the director: Alex Leombruno is a queer filmmaker and musician from suburban Massachusetts. Her body of work explores autobiographical themes of queerness, mental-illness, and adolescence. Through narrative and experimental films, Alex creates worlds and characters rich with vulnerability and emotion.

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END OF WORLD FANTASIES (USA) BY EMILY DEFOREST

Synopsis: An animated poem written at the beginning of the pandemic and the end of pregnancy. Running time: 00:03:03.

About the director: Emily DeForest is an actress and filmmaker based in Brooklyn. Her work tends to focus on motherhood and unconscious life.

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NANCY (USA) BY CARLO ANG

Trailer

Synopsis: Told entirely through voicemail messages saved by her daughter over the span of ten-plus years, Nancy is a short story about a mother’s unconditional (and occasionally overbearing) love for her child—as showcased through the lens of one particularly unique matriarch. Running time: 00:04:31.

About the director: Carlo Ang is a filmmaker based in Boston. A lifelong skateboarder and self-taught videographer and editor, his passion for filmmaking was originally influenced by the skate videos he watched growing up in the Bay Area. Inspired by their distinct and humorous style, his creative approach is lighthearted, playful, and authentic. Carlo spent the last decade in NYC, honing his professional video skills at Warby Parker, where he was solely responsible for directing, filming, and editing the brand’s digital video content. He is currently pursuing his MFA in Film and Media Art at Emerson College.

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PASTEL SLOUGH (SOUTH KOREA) BY KIHA AHN

Synopsis: We all have the urge to fit in, to smudge the world on our face so we can fit in, to camouflage. You say to yourself that you'll always be there within, underneath that superficial world. But one day you wash off the blotches of society — you slough them off of your skin — and all you see in the mirror is your smudged self. But what's that? How does it feel more like you? Running time: 00:02:22.

About the director: Kiha Ahn is a young artist and filmmaker who practices "vuja de", the act of finding new perspectives on ordinaries of life and art. He studies Writing, Film, and Media Art at Walnut Hill School for the Arts.

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IN BLOOM (USA) BY K. M. MUNGENAST

Synopsis: Lily longs to turn her romantic dreams into a reality while taking shelter with her traveling companion, May, amid a snowy 1890s Utah frontier. Running time: 00:15:52.

Selections/awards: Snow Leopard IFF (Best LGBTQ+ Film), Gasparilla IFF, Almería Western FF, Black Box FF (Best Celluloid Narrative).

About the director: K. M. Mungenast is a trans feminine screenwriter, director, and producer. In 2021, Mungenast graduated from the University of Tampa College of Arts and Letters with a BFA in Film and Media Arts. Her undergraduate thesis, In Bloom is her undergraduate thesis.

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BASKETART COURT (USA) BY XRAY AIMS

Synopsis: Performance artist, Xray Aims, transforms a Covid-abandoned basketball court into an expansive outdoor installation. The work, which came to them in a dream, culminates in the durational creation of a sculptural weaving that spans one backboard to the other, as dog walkers, neighbors, sport players, and passersby, are invited to dialog about the work. These encounters are underscored by the unique soundscape of Covid: birds, wind, and a busy hospital next door. As the artist ties square knots of the raw material, bicycle inner tubes, Aims also weaves human relationships, to forge meaningful connections in the face of so much disconnection. Running time: 00:03:27.

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PONY BOYS (USA) BY ERIC STANGE

Synopsis: Summer, 1967. Two young Massachusetts brothers set off on an improbable journey with their family pet, a Shetland pony named King. Tony and Jeff are desperate to visit Expo ’67 in Montreal – the largest World’s Fair ever. But their parents can’t take them. Then Mom comes up with the solution: hitch King to a pony cart and drive 350 miles to Expo '67 – on their own – at 5 m.p.h.! The journey becomes the adventure of a lifetime. Running time: 00:24:49.

About the director: Eric Stange is an award-winning independent documentary film producer, director and writer who specializes in current affairs as well as cultural and social history. Recent public television credits include 'Murder At Harvard ' for PBS American Experience. He has been a research fellow at the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard University.

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