A Bad Idea Gone Wrong
Jason Headley
Narrative Features :: Magnolia
A comedy about two would-be thieves who accidentally arm the alarm system and have to break out of the house they just broke into. When they discover an unexpected housesitter,...
ACORN and the Firestorm
Reuben Atlas, Sam Pollard
Documentary Features :: Voices
When ACORN, America’s largest grassroots community organizing group, became a major player in the 2008 presidential election, big businesses, Republicans and right-wing activists were threatened. They found unexpected allies in...
Anti-Porno
Sion Sono
Narrative Features :: Convulsions
Japanese punk auteur Sion Sono returns to Convulsions (TAG, Cuc '15) with a subversively feminist ode to Nikkatsu's "Roman Porno" movies, the major studio's softcore sensations of the 1970s. A...
Automatic at Sea
Matthew Lessner
Narrative Features :: Vanguard
On a whim, Eve (young Swedish traveler) accepts an invitation from Peter (wealthy heir) to vacation on his family’s private island off the coast of New England. As a series...
Baby Baby Shorts: Cinekink
Various
Shorts Blocks :: Shorties
Cake // Anne Hu :: Eliza tries to explore her sexuality within her marriage with her husband Thomas by surprise ordering a female sex robot for them to share. But the sexbot...
Barn Door Shorts: Southern Stories
Various
Shorts Blocks :: Shorties
August // Caitlyn Greene :: Deep in Louisiana's swampland, a woman wakes from a fever dream where it has been August for 16 years. Crick in the Holler // Ursula Ellis :: During West...
Beefy Baby Shorts: Canadian
Shorts Blocks :: Shorties
Lolz-ita // Katie Boland :: A naive but internet savvy 22 year old navigates the reality of her boring, small town Canadian life juxtaposed with the fantasy of her provocative and powerful...
Bernard and Huey
Dan Mirvish
Narrative Features :: Magnolia
Unlikely old friends, Huey arrives on Bernard’s doorstep after 25 years apart. Bernard falls for Huey’s estranged daughter Zelda. Meanwhile, Huey tries to seduce various women in Bernard’s life. At...
Black Beach/White Beach: A Tale of Two Beaches
Ricky Kelly
Documentary Features :: Voices
In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, two national motorcycle festivals are held over the weeks around the Memorial Day holiday. One festival is primarily white, the other is predominantly black. While...
Blackwrap Shorts: Multiple Surrealities
Various
Shorts Blocks :: Shorties
Emmy // Hannah Cheesman :: An iPhone-obsessed gym rat is momentarily released from her monotonous existence after a Robaxacet overdose calls into question her front of normalcy, inviting her to connect with...
Cabbage Head Shorts: Animation
Various
Shorts Blocks :: Shorties
Meeting MacGuffin // Catya Plate :: Meeting MacGuffin is the sequel to the multi-award-winning animated stop-motion film "Hanging By A Thread" (2013), the second in a trilogy of animated short...
China Ball Shorts: Global Perspectives
Various
Shorts Blocks :: Shorties
Stopgap in Stop Motion // Stephen Featherstone :: Photographs of performers in an inclusive dance company come to life. The individual artists dance out of the photos and across table tops until the...
Covered Wagon Shorts: Drama
Shorts Blocks :: Shorties
Mrs. Drake // Caitlin FitzGerald :: It takes courage and strength to raise a child but it's constant doubt that consumes a parent. “Mrs. Drake” will touch a nerve with anyone...
Dr. Brinks & Dr. Brinks
Josh Crockett
Narrative Features :: Magnolia
After husband and wife aid workers, Dr. Brinks and Dr. Brinks, die in a plane crash, their grown children are reunited for the first time in years. It takes days...
Edison Shorts: Portraits
Various
Shorts Blocks :: Shorties
Still Sophie // Caroline Knight :: Four and a half years ago, young talent Sophia Salveson’s life changed forever. Doctors said she may never walk again, may never talk again...may never perform again....
Everything Beautiful is Far Away
Pete Ohs, Andrea Sission
Narrative Features :: Vanguard
A sci-fi fable about a lonely man, his robot companion, and a determined young woman hiking across a desert planet looking for a mythical lake. A story about the longing...
Forbidden Games: The Justin Fashanu Story
Jon Carey, Adam Darke
Documentary Features :: Magnolia
In 1980, Justin Fashanu overcame tremendous obstacles, and began a meteoric rise to fame by becoming the best soccer player in the UK, leading a generation of black footballers through...
Ginger Nation
Shawn Hitchins, Mitch Fillion
Documentary Features :: Vanguard
Redheads are hot. Television series such as Riverdale and CBC’s Anne are filling our screens with images of ginger glory. But gay Toronto comic Shawn Hitchins has made flame-haired world...
Holding Space (work-in-progress)
Rebecca Kenyon
Documentary Features :: Voices
“Talking about death doesn’t bring it closer, any more than talking about sex would make you pregnant” (Death Cafe flyer) Holding Space is an intimate observational documentary about death, told...
Infinity Baby
Bob Byington
Narrative Features :: Vanguard
Kieran Culkin, Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman, and more familiar faces star in this caustically funny, black-and-white comedy, set in an absurdist world where a corporation offers genetically modified babies that...
Jobe’z World (work-in-progress)
Michael M. Bilandic
Narrative Features :: Vanguard
Jobe, a mysterious middle-aged rollerblader, gets blamed for the drug overdose of a super famous A-list actor. Afraid and confused, he spends one bizarre evening skating across the streets of...
Joker Bug Shorts: Laughs
Shorts Blocks :: Shorties
Mixtape Marauders // Peter Edlund :: Mixtape Marauders follows two young burnouts, Patrick and Cheech, into a world of mindless day jobs, petty drug deals and wildly unconventional musical tastes. Kitty and...
Knife Skills
Thomas Lennon
Documentary Features :: Magnolia
What does it take to build a world-class French restaurant? What if the staff is almost entirely men and women just out of prison? What if most have never cooked...
Laura Gets a Cat
Michael Ferrell
Narrative Features :: Vanguard
Laura, an unemployed writer in New York City, has an unexciting boyfriend and two friends who seem to have achieved all their hopes and dreams. She copes by living mostly...
Let The Corpses Tan
Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani
Narrative Features :: Convulsions
A deliriously hypnotic, ultra-violent pastiche of retro Euro-crime thrillers, spaghetti westerns and giallo horror, this mind-blowingly stylized shoot-em-up from Belgian filmmaking team Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani shadows the kinky...
Liberation Day
Morten Traavik, Ugis Olte
Documentary Features :: Vanguard
Under the loving but firm guidance of an old fan turned director and cultural diplomat, and to the surprise of a whole world, the ex-Yugoslavian cult band Laibach becomes the...
Martini Shorts: Excellent
Various
Shorts Blocks :: Shorties
We The Creators: Matty P // Babacar Ndiaye :: “We The Creators” is a documentary series that examines the inner thoughts and processes of a select group of artists. Hold On // Christine...
Meat Axe Shorts: Convulsions
Shorts Blocks :: Convulsions
Great Choice // Robin Comisar :: A woman gets stuck in a Red Lobster commercial... and kids get shrimp, too! Creswick // Natalie Erika James :: Sam's fear of her childhood home is brought to light...
Mickey Moles Shorts: Love & Romance
Shorts Blocks :: Shorties
Pet Friendly // Catherine Licata :: When a couple's cat goes missing on a cross-country move, their relationship is tested. Pilgrims // Jonathan Guggenheim :: Adapted from the novel by Brad Land (Goat) and...
Midnighters
Julius Ramsay
Narrative Features :: Magnolia
While driving home on New Year's Eve, a married couple hits a stranger walking on a dark forest road. In a panic, they take the body home to sober up...
Mombo Combo Shorts: Dance
Various
Shorts Blocks :: Shorties
The Carefree Prophet // Stephone Levar Brown & Preston Andrew Patterson :: The Carefree Prophet is a film about what it is to be perceived as carefree in a world where the...
Motherland
Ramona S. Díaz
Documentary Features :: Voices
Motherland takes us into the heart of the planet’s busiest maternity hospital in one of the world’s poorest and most populous countries: the Philippines. The film’s viewer, like an unseen...
Mr. Roosevelt
Noël Wells
Narrative Features :: Magnolia
After a death in her family, struggling LA-based comedian Emily Martin returns to Austin. There she finds herself in the awkward position of staying with her ex and his new...
My Life as a Zucchini (Ma Vie De Courgette)
Claude Barras
Narrative Features :: Kidsalorus
Icare is a 9-year-old only living with his alcoholic mother, who calls him Zucchini. After an accident, he’s sent to a group home. He slowly becomes comfortable there and through...
No Dress Code Required (Etiqueta no rigurosa)
Cristina Herrera Borquez
Documentary Features :: Voices
In this up-to-the-minute documentary, No Dress Code Required tells the story of Victor and Fernando, who run a beauty salon in Baja California, Mexico. Known for beautifying Mexicali socialites, for...
Ordinary Days
Jordan Canning, Renuka Jeyapalan, Kris Booth
Narrative Features :: Vanguard
The five days following the disappearance of Cara Cook, a bright, athletic college student, play out from three perspectives in this suspenseful mystery/drama. First, Cara’s parents try to learn what...
Pancake Box Shorts: Spoons n’ Sports
Various
Shorts Blocks :: Shorties
All Skate, Everybody Skate // Nicole Triche :: a portrait of a woman in her late seventies who has known hard times and met them with head-on with grit and an extraordinary work ethic...
Pig’s Nose Shorts: Membranes
Various
Shorts Blocks :: Shorties
Clammerhead // Natalie Taylor :: Clammerhead and other North Carolina fishermen like him combat cheap shellfish imports from other states and an unpredictable demand, which keep the prices for oysters and clams...
Porcupine Lake
Ingrid Veninger
Narrative Features :: Magnolia
Porcupine Lake is a story of bravery and the secret life of girls set in Northern Ontario during a hot and hazy summertime when adulthood has not yet arrived, but...
Princess Cyd
Stephen Cone
Narrative Features :: Magnolia
Eager to escape life with her depressive single father, 16-year-old athlete Cyd Loughlin visits her novelist aunt in Chicago over the summer. While there, she falls for a girl in...
Purple Dreams
Joanne Hock
Documentary Features :: Magnolia
Follow six at-risk black high school students on a powerful three-year journey of transformation in a racially biased city. They struggle with homelessness, low-income neighborhoods, and gang-related violence, but are...
Rebels On Pointe
Bobbi Jo Hart
Documentary Features :: Voices
Rebels on Pointe is the first-ever, cinema verite documentary film celebrating Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo -- the all male, drag ballet company founded over 40 years ago on...
Secret Screening
What will our annual Secret Screening be? Your only hint: "Impressive, expressive and transgressive, this profane hurricane will entertain your brain!" (adults only. Director Q&A to follow)
Seeds of Struggle (work-in-progress)
Dennis Terry
Documentary Features :: Works-in-Progress
This film highlights the struggle faced by the SF East Bay food justice movement within the black community.
She’s Got a Plan
Fatima Washington, Corey Johnson
Narrative Features :: Magnolia
She’s Got a Plan is a dramatic comedy about Isis Angelo, an aspiring writer-director, who struggles to make her mark in Hollywood while trying to stay honest to the bigger...
Signature Move
Jennifer Reeder
Narrative Features :: Vanguard
A new romance with Alma forces Zaynab to confront her relationship with her recently widowed mother who escapes to TV dramas and finding her daughter a husband. In this coming-of-age...
Sky Panel Shorts: Documents and Debts
Various
Shorts Blocks :: Shorties
Swipe // Chance Saller :: "Addiction is only a transaction away" SWIPE attempts to show how the convenience of a credit card can lead to a larger problem. This movie will show...
Snowy Bing Bongs Across the North Star Combat Zone
Alex Huston Fischer, Rachel Wolther
Narrative Features :: Vanguard
As bizarre, hilarious and unstoppable as its showcase trio (The Cocoon Central Dance Team's Tallie Medel, Sunita Mani and Eleanor Pienta), this comedic puzzler is an illogical sketch show, a...
Spectrum Shorts: Queer
Various
Shorts Blocks :: Shorties
Imago // Liz Cardenas Franke :: The courageous, life-altering decision to never let anyone bully him again – not even his own father – leads a 15-year-old gay teen to embrace...
The Definites
Hannah Cheesman, Mackenzie Donaldson
Narrative Features :: Vanguard
A woman leaves her husband-to-be and instead weds her own wild desire when she flies away to a libidinous, party-filled weekend at Art Basel in Miami. Short Before the...
The Endless
Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead
Narrative Features :: Magnolia
Two brothers return to the cult they fled from years ago to discover that the group's beliefs may be more sane than they once thought. Short Before the Feature: Chip...
The Eyeslicer Roadshow Presented in Smell-O-Vision
Dan Schoenbrun
Narrative Features :: Vanguard
The Eyeslicer is a mind-melting new TV show that will slice, dice, then mince your eyeballs into delicious ceviche. Each episode plays like a handcrafted mixtape blending boundary-pushing short form...
The Light of The Moon
Jessica M. Thompson
Narrative Features :: Magnolia
After her world is irrevocably changed, a successful New York City architect struggles to regain intimacy and control in her life. Short Before the Feature: Jawbreaker // JT Fritsch :: A...
The Misogynists
Onur Tukel
Narrative Features :: Magnolia
A satirical dark comedy about two Trump supporters celebrating in a hotel room on election night. Short Before the Feature: DIE BRÜCKE ÜBER DEN FLUSS// Jadwiga Kowalska :: A man on a bridge,...
The Power of Glove
Andrew Austin, Adam Ward
Documentary Features :: Magnolia
"The Power of Glove" is a documentary chronicling the history & legacy of the notoriously "bad" Nintendo Power Glove, the first mass-marketed gesture-based video game controller. Released by Mattel in...
The Road Movie
Dmitrii Kalashnikov
Narrative Features :: Convulsions
Buckle up for Opening Night of Cucalorus (and "Convulsions") with Dmitrii Kalashnikov's jaw-dropping documentary, which will run you over with absurdist wonders, shocking comedy, and creeping existential dread. Curated entirely...
The Strange Ones
Christopher Radcliff, Lauren Wolkstein
Narrative Features :: Vanguard
Mysterious events surround two travelers as they make their way across a remote American landscape. On the surface all seems normal, but what appears to be a simple vacation soon...
This My Favorite Mural
Michael Arcos
Shorties
NC Premiere. An amateur German female filmmaker becomes infatuated with a tire shop's mural. She decides to attempt to find the artist who painted the mural and makes her first...
This Taco Truck Kills Fascists (work-in-progress)
Rodrigo Dorfman
Documentary Features :: Voices
New Orleans-based performance activist Jose Torres-Tama has a dream: to create a revolutionary Taco Truck Theatre with a simple message: “No guacamole for immigrant haters”. Inspired by Woody Guthrie’s motto: this machine...
Time of the Phoenix: The First Rainbow Coalition (work-in-progress)
Ray Santisteban
Documentary Features :: Works-in-Progress
Time of the Phoenix: The First Rainbow Coalition (working title), a feature-length documentary now in post-production, charts the history and enduring legacy of a largely forgotten but groundbreaking multi-ethnic coalition...
Torrey Pines
Clyde Petersen
Narrative Features :: Vanguard
A stop-motion animated, queer punk coming-of-age tale. Raised by a schizophrenic single mother, Petersen's life story unfolds in a series of baffling and hallucinated events. With a mother fueled by...
Tragedy Girls
Tyler MacIntyre
Narrative Features :: Convulsions :: Vanguard
Destined to become a cult favorite like HEATHERS or SCREAM, Tyler Macintyre's giddy, gory, wickedly clever horror-comedy for the Internet Age proves that "you can't make an omelet without killing...
True Conviction
Jamie Meltzer
Documentary Features :: Voices
There’s a new detective agency in Dallas, Texas, started by a group of exonerated men, with decades in prison served between them. They are looking to free innocent people still...
Tweenie Shorts: Youth
Various
Shorts Blocks :: Kidsalorus :: Shorties
Do the Scrub // Brad Lambert :: After a dirty day of play, the best way to get clean is to do the scrub! Animated music video featuring vocals by members of...
Unapologetic (work-in-progress)
Ashley Mills
Documentary Features :: Works-in-Progress
UNAPOLOGETIC captures a community of young Black women organizers confronting a Chicago administration complicit in state violence against its Black residents, with a focal point on campaigns to oust the...
Urban Vapor Shorts: Say What?
Various
Shorts Blocks :: Shorties
Let Go, Mother // Kelley Van Dilla :: While driving to an unknown destination, a son finally confronts his mother. Nothing a Little Soap and Water Can't Fix // Jennifer Proctor :: In films,...
What Lies Upstream
Cullen Hoback
Documentary Features :: Voices
In this detective story, filmmaker Cullen Hoback investigates the largest chemical drinking water contamination in a generation. But something is rotten in state and federal regulatory agencies, and through years...
While I Breathe, I Hope (work-in-progress)
Documentary Features :: Works-in-Progress
What does it mean to be young, Black, and Democrat in the South? WHILE I BREATHE, I HOPE unravels this question through the experiences of South Carolina politician Bakari Sellers....
Working In Protest
Michael Galinsky, Suki Hawley, David Beilinson
Documentary Features :: Voices
Made over 30 years, but all too timely, this immersive film covers the recent history of protest and activism in America. Told from the perspective of an observer rather than...
World of Tomorrow 1&2
Don Hertzfeldt
Narrative Features :: Vanguard
A little girl is taken on a mind-bending tour of her distant future.
You Only Live Once (work-in-progress)
Terrance Pitts
Works-in-Progress
While mass shootings and police-involved deaths in the US. make international news headlines, the epidemic levels of gun violence that kill thousands of Black and Latino people every year rarely...