LIFE OF THE PARTY

FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 5:00 PM

CAMELOT 1, 93 MINUTES

Wild nights and poignant moments abound in these stories dedicated to the memorable times we gather to celebrate.

Blond Night

Canada, Gabrielle Demers, 17 min.

Victor is unhappy in his housing for autistic adults. To avoid the Friday disco, he goes out for a walk in the neighborhood where he meets a young sex worker.

Gertrude and Yvan Party Hard

France, Louise Groult, 9 min.

Bored at a party, Gertrude meets Yvan. They test each other, provoke each other, until the meeting takes an absurd and bloody turn.

When You Left Me on That Boulevard

USA, Kayla Abuda Galang, 13 min.

Teenager Ly and her cousins get high before a boisterous family Thanksgiving at their auntie’s house in southeast San Diego in 2006.

NIGHTS TO REMEMBER FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 5:30 PM CAMELOT 2, 92 MINUTES

A collection of nocturnal tales featuring startling intrigue and the beginning and end of romances that can only happen at night.

An Avocado Pit

Portugal, Ary Zara, 18 min.

Larissa, a trans woman, and Cláudio, a cis man, meet one night in the streets of Lisbon. They dance their differences away until morning light in challenge, in surprise, in awe and in recognition.

Underdog

France, David Arlsanian, 21 min.

On a winter night, Mirko, a 23-year-old student, only has a few hours to pay his rent or he will be evicted. Moonlighting as a delivery man, he must deliver as many as orders as possible to pay off his debt.

The Kids Are Alright

FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 6:00 PM

CAMELOT 3, 90 MINUTES

Told through the eyes of children, these moving and perceptive live-action, documentary and animated stories offer distinctly wise perspectives on the world of being a kid.

Closing Dynasty

USA, Lloyd Lee Choi, 17 min.

On a school day, a 7-year-old hustles strangers for money on the streets of New York City.

Death to the Bikini!

Canada, Justine Gauthier, 16 min.

Lili, 10-year-old, rebels when her parents force her to wear a bikini top, even though she has always swam topless.

Good Girls Club: A Virginity Odyssey

Greece, Dimitris Tsakaleas, Lida Vartzioti, 17 min.

It’s the senior year of high school for two best friends on a serious mission: Tonight they will lose their virginity! Nothing goes according to plan and the two must accept that their odyssey is a small step for mankind and a giant step for their womanhood.

Happy Rakhi

USA, Ragini Bhasin, 10 min.

A feisty 9-year-old Indian girl’s relationship with her brothers is tested when she starts her period during their festive celebration of Raksha Bandhan.

More Than Friends

Israel, Omri Laron, 17 min.

Billie finds a love letter that her 11-year-old son Elisha wrote to a boy. Terrified of her son becoming a joke in his class or having his heart broken, Billie crashes a birthday party to keep an eye on him.

The Phone Booth

Germany, Lukas März, Kilian Bohnensack, 10 min.

Tom wants to throw a surprise birthday party for his crush, Anna, but the space is too small, the venue’s rules are too absurd, and Anna is far too difficult to impress. A film about great ambitions in confined spaces.

Incognito

India, Ravi Muppa, 25 min. A lonely motel receptionist makes an extra buck by selling hidden camera footage of his unsuspecting guests on the internet. While filming a young female guest, he realizes she is at risk of being trafficked and faces a crisis of conscience.

It Happened One Night at Melody Lanes

USA, Alex Fofonoff, 11 min. When an angry, young man travels to New York City seeking retribution for the predator who assaulted his sister, he confronts his own toxic masculinity and begins to question the very idea of revenge.

Me & Aydarous

Saudi Arabia, Sara Balghonaim, 8 min. A gutsy Saudi young woman sneaks off for a date only to butt heads with her chaperoning chauffeur.

Mucho, Mucho Amor

USA, Mariano Dongo, 9 min. Elizabeth, a dishwasher, hears about a staff party.

Honolulu

USA, Maya Tanaka, 14 min.

On a Hawai’ian vacation with her aloof father and elegant grandmother, 12 year old Yuki battles bright red sunburns and family scuffles that manage to leave behind deep scars.

Leonetty

USA, Logan Jackson, 11 min.

Leonetty Jones, a quiet, reserved 12-year-old black boy, is sent to live with his elderly grandmother in a small house in a rural neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana. Taking care of the household tasks and teased by the local boys over his dark skin complexion, he begins to evaluate the state of his life - all whilst trying to reconnect with his distant mother.

Little to Big

Sweden, Ellinor Hallin, Ellen Fiske, 20 min.

A much loved guinea pig has been put down. A first love has been lost. A little girl is carrying a terrible secret. These stories and more come through a Swedish helpline for young people who are in need of someone to listen.

Stranding

USA, Ben Kadie, 12 min.

Ten-year-old Theo finds solace in a mysterious beached whale while his parents plan their divorce.

THRILLS & CHILLS

FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 8:00 PM CAMELOT 1, 80 MINUTES

Buckle in for this hair-raising and unsettling series of disturbing genre shorts. From a trip to the woods by two young lovers that goes horribly wrong to a pining, deranged taxidermist to an epic allergy attack, expect some unforgettable and gross moments.

Death Snot

USA, Charlie Schwan, 8 min.

Seasonal allergies drive a man to the brink of insanity.

Diaspora

Canada, Tyler Mckenzie Evans, 16 min.

In a Black suburb, a couple begins to notice that their neighbors are disappearing and white people are moving in. They soon discover something much darker is happening.

Meantime

France, Guillaume Scaillet, 13 min.

While waiting for his girlfriend to join him in the calm and quiet countryside, city dweller Marc gradually falls prey to the assault of sounds not usually heard.

Nian USA, Michelle Krusiec, 6 min.

An Asian-American girl stands up to her racist bully armed with a Chinese Demon Mask and the Nian, a mythological creature that eats bad kids.

Black the Sea

Colombia, Juan David Mejía Vásquez, 16 min.

Arnaldo is a middle-aged bohemian musician barely surviving when his daughter visits asking for money, explaining that she is leaving their island community in search of better opportunities. Arnaldo begins to experience his own growing desire to seek new horizons.

Goose Egg

USA, Madeline Leshner, Zach Stone, 13 min.

After Tim is taken hostage by a pair of vengeful vagrants, he must find a way to get home and deliver his mom’s medication before her hallucinatory migraines eclipse her sense of reality.

La Pursé

Brazil, Gabriel Nóbrega, Lucas René, 10 min.

Mr. Badú, an octogenarian taxidermist of questionable taste, is madly in love with his neighbor, Mrs. Aurelia, a short-sighted wrinkly old lady who owns an ill-fated cat. Is this a love story? A comedy? Or an unusual horror story?

Nude

Canada, Olivier Labonté LeMoyne, 14 min.

An ordinary young couple find an isolated place to park their car and be intimate away from prying eyes. At least that’s what they believe... Deep in the forest, a scene of an unsettling encounter between sensuality and horror unfolds.

Face The Music

SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 11:00 AM CAMELOT 1, 93 MINUTES

A cinematic mixtape about the power of music to define our lives, in silly, unexpected and profound ways.

Fanatic

USA, Taran Killam, 16 min.

Charlie and Gerald reunite their failed 2000’s boy band for a competition whose prize money could remedy all of their financial woes. What could go wrong?

First Chair

USA, Ethan Montgomery, Luke Montgomery, 13 min. A clarinet player works to keep her spot in first chair when a new player joins the band.

Birdsong

UK, Omi Zola Gupta, Sparsh Ahuja, 17 min. Among the Hmong people of Laos the whistling tradition, a sonic experience between music and speech, is dying. Against the modern condition of urban life in Laos, three practitioners of this vanishing musical language offer a glimpse into the philosophical relationship between society and nature, and sound and reality.

Snail

Iran, Aminreza Alimohammadi, 14 min.

A mother will stop at nothing to make her young son’s dreams come true, even for just a moment.

VHS Tape Replaced

Saudi Arabia, Maha Al-Saati, 17 min.

In 1987, a young Saudi man tries to impress the girl of his dreams by recording a tape of himself mimicking her favorite pop artist.