Pioneer – 15mins – USA
Director: David Lowery
A father tells his little boy the most epic bedtime story ever.

Oops – 10mins – USA
Director: Chris Beckman
A lucid, seamless voyage through the Internet’s infinite repository of throwaway social documentation via YouTube’s clumsiest videographers.

Andy and Zach – 10mins – USA
Director: Nick Paley
When Zach decides to move out, his roommate Andy tries to start a new life without his best friend.

The Wind is Blowing On My Street – 15mins – Iran
Director: Saba Riazi
A young girl in Tehran gets left on the street with no head scarf and must interact with a neighbor in an environment where her mishap equals trouble.

The External World – 15mins – Germany/Ireland
Director: David O’Reilly
A boy learns to play the piano.

Bob and The Trees – 28mins – USA
Director: Diego Ongaro
The daily life of Bob, a fifty years old logger, who has a soft spot for golf and hardcore rap.

ABOVE THE KNEE
Greg Atkins

Jack’s restrictive suit-and-tie career has never quite fit. As he summons the courage to dress for the job he wants—not the one he has—he risks forever changing how his co-workers (and his wife) will view him. Director Greg Atkins tackles sexual politics and workplace relationships with a deft comedic touch.

Country: Canada
Year: 2010
Language: English
Runtime: 14 min.

FLAWED
Andrea Dorfman

“Why would you want to see yourself as ordinary when you can be extraordinary?” Personal musings on self-esteem and a long-distance relationship with a plastic surgeon are punctuated by Andrea Dorfman’s animated illustrations. Her colourful drawings keep the tone light and balance her philosophical storytelling about the moral implications of changing one’s physical self to suit others or accepting yourself as you are.

Country: Canada
Year: 2010
Language: English
Runtime: 12 min.

Les fleurs de l’âge (LITTLE FLOWERS)
Vincent Biron

Selling ice cream, smoking pot, falling in love, wrangling with family: it’s just another summer day for a regular group of school kids. Drawing his young characters with heart and humour, Vincent Biron expertly captures the boredom, excitement and transformative moments that define the lazy summer months.

Country: Canada
Year: 2010
Language: French
Runtime: 18 min.

MARIUS BORODINE
Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais

Inventor Marius Borodine is on the brink of completing his masterwork when something goes terribly awry. Interviewing Borodine’s friends, families and fellow scientists, the film speculates as to whether the catastrophe was, in fact, a part of the invention. Was Borodine a mad scientist or a prophetic genius? Hoss-Desmarais’ inventive mockumentary is as fascinating and mercurial as its eccentric subject.

Country: Canada
Year: 2010
Language: French
Runtime: 16 min.

LIPSETT DIARIES (Les Journaux de Lipsett)
Theodore Ushev

Deconstructing the biographical remnants of an avant-garde visionary, this animated documentary depicts the turbulent life of Arthur Lipsett as a rich palimpsest of text, images, and narration by Xavier Dolan as the voice of the young Lipsett.

Country: Canada
Year: 2010
Language: English available
Runtime: 14 min.

THE LEGEND OF BEAVER DAM
Jerome Sable

Have you heard of Stumpy Sam? If not, you should. And what better way than through song and dance? This musical horror comedy follows an unlikely hero – nerdy Danny Zigwitz – at a summer camp listening to fireside stories. An inspired performance by Sean Cullen as a camp counselor makes this little-known legend one to remember.

Film Credits
Country: Canada
Year: 2010
Language: English
Runtime: 12 min.

The World of Film Festivals

Jim Jacob
Drama/Comedy • 0:04:51 • U.S./Int’l

This film shares interesting facts and ideas about film festivals. Included is the business of film festival prizes and festival sponsors, an exploration of types of films and venues, and suggestions of how modern technology affects the film festival experience.

A man, home alone, is terrorized by girl scouts selling “delicious” cookies.

Follow the wave of emotions that overcome a spoon sitting at a table and watching his fellow utensils being used.

Trapped in a rut, a husband and wife find inspiration to revive their stale marriage in a 1980′s movie, but find that what is glamorous and sexy on film is complicated and maybe a little dangerous in real life. Somewhere between the pratfalls and mess of attempting to recreate scenes from the film, however, they find themselves reconnecting and falling in love again.

Hell for Bread is the winner of the 2011 Heartland Best Animation Short

When an innocent piece of bread is sent down to Hell through a toaster, he must battle his way through the nine bagels of Hell and ultimately the Devil himself (in the form of an oven). Will he escape?

A look at friendships online and what it means to be a friend.

When a guy walks into a bar, the Old West gets a new twist.

A whimsical examination of the ritual of making soup.

A horny pregnant woman tries to get her uninterested husband to have sex.

Single, in her thirties and experiencing an extended romantic drought this lady decides she needs to broaden her ideas of who might make a suitable boyfriend. Once offended by her grandmother’s advice to “overlook a little” – she feels desperate times call for desperate measures. But – just how desperate is she? Bathing and the Single Girl is an irreverent & raw comedic look at some of the pitfalls of dating men you can talk yourself into rather than waiting for one you cannot talk yourself out of.

Last Days of Shaniko

Laura DeBar
Drama/Comedy • 0:30:00 • Heartland

They heyday as World War II ended had all but passed over the small town of Shaniko, Oregon. Range wars, fights over fresh water and a plague has turned this once thriving center of commerce into a ghost town. Haunted by the town’s troubled past and by her own personal demons, a woman finds reason for hope in Wade, a mysterious cowboy drifter. They fall for each other, but one day Wade learns something he was never meant to hear – a secret that could tear their new relationship apart.

A woman recounts her mother’s lessons on crossing the street and the mutability of matter through the example of road kill. Based on a memory of the artist, the animation depicts her mother’s traffic warning and illuminates the nature of death. This warning serves as an education in the physical nature of death, as something both transformative and strangely comforting in is tangibility. Various 2D computer animation techniques are employed.

Mac Robinson is a classic film noir detective. One day he calls in a woman named Sophie Striker for questioning. He realizes that he is in love with this mysterious woman, but the feeling is not mutual. Sophie is perplexed by Mac. He appears to be ignoring her, but Mac and the audience know that he is actually carrying on a conversation. The problem is, this conversation is with himself and in his head. Mac is narrating his own life. In an attempt to get over Sophie’s rejection, Mac goes to a bar. Here he meets his old rival, Frank Jennings. The two have a battle that climaxes with Mac learning a lesson that he can apply to his troubles with Sophie.

An uninspired youth joins a gym to prove his mother wrong, but doubts himself after he realizes who the trainer is. www.haymakerthemovie.com

What’s the worst secret you ever had to tell? A relationship is at the breaking point when both partners have a secret to confess.

Baby is the winner of the 2011 U.S./Int’l Best Narrative Short and Best of Fest Short awards

A young woman intervenes when she witnesses men mugging a girl. Now one of them won’t leave her alone.

Stuffer

Nathan Crooker
Narrative • 0:19:45 • U.S./Int’l

A female sergeant returns to her husband and daughter from the front lines of Afghanistan for fear that they will foreclose on their home. But she is coming home with a secret.

This story depicts an inner-city girl’s journey through a harsh landscape, on a mysterious and ultimately inspiring mission. Shot entirely in the West Bottoms, Kansas City, Missouri.

An undercover officer becomes the person he is pretending to be.

This MFA thesis film is set in late 1940′s San Francisco and was shot by student filmmakers from the Academy of Art University. A traveling salesman mixes business with pleasure. Hung over and confused after a period of celebration and debauchery, he is barely able to peel his face off the pillow to answer the phone. A mysterious woman entices him to come out into the night, and he agrees to a rendezvous at an all-night club. Descending back into the world of delights, he is soon caught off guard, and rather than being met with a beautiful woman, he encounters two goons with their own agenda. His mind racing to determine who has set him up, Don now has an even more pressing matter at hand, how to escape the determined thugs who have kidnapped him and taken him for a ride on this dark desert highway.

A man arrives at a discotheque confused and without purpose. After he spots Irene, he realizes that while he watches her, he experiences unique and indescribable feelings. The young man will predict a succession of events that gradually become true.

After returning to the New Jersey projects on night with a crew of his friends, Markees, an African-American twenty-something, finds a drunken African man passed out in his building hallway. After ridiculing the man, the young men realize that the he is actually Kofo, Markees’ Nigerian-immigrant stepfather. Motivated by shame and the restraining order his mother has placed on his stepfather, Markees drags the unconscious man into his car to find him a more suitable place to sleep. But as the night wears on, tensions build and frustrations mount, forcing the situation toward a violent end. Can Markees reject the pressures of urban machismo and his own youthful pride before someone actually gets hurt?

1 – Set of three Jubilee promo pieces

2 – Prairie Storm – Don Maxwell / 1997
Classic Kansas City film shot in the Flint Hills during a passing thunder storm with a slightly eerie soundtrack that includes Native American chant.

3 – Ca-chinks – Andrew Harbeck / 1997
Two spiders and a light bulb – off or on – there is a solution.

4 – M(other) – Rossana Jeran / 1997
A visual study of a rarely explored side of the mother archetype.

5 – L . . . – Todd Norris / 1998
A boy’s conflict with his father has unintended consequences.

6 – Where’s Phil? – John McGrath / 1998
A single unbroken scene at a Westport coffee shop asks the question and provides the answer.

7 – W.A.H.M.O. – Gino Licata / 2001
Is this the future of medical care without reform?

8 – Prisoner of Love – Rich Ambler / 2002
A nice restaurant, romantic dinner, a break-up, and a camera.

9 – Bra-A Lingerie Tale – Sharon Chapman, Linda Wiedmaier, Terie Clement / 2002
Who knew that buying a bra could be such a moving experience? Men take note.

10 – Singing Bass – John Sjoblom / 2002
Friendship, love, insanity, murder – just ask the fish.

11 – Big Dog, Little Dog – Evan Hahl / 2004
Dark story of the impact of one act of violence generates others.

12 – World Builder – Bruce Branit / 2008
A virtual world for the woman he loves.

13 – Truth Blues – Mike Snell / 2009
A stylized look into a city and the ‘truths’ that can overwhelm the things we actually know.

Candy Apple Red

Todd Norris
Drama/Comedy • 0:14:40 • Heartland

Emily is an aspiring photographer in a failing relationship with a man. Her world changes when she meets Lisa, a massage therapist. Emily agrees to take portraits of Lisa, and the photo session becomes an experience that challenges Emily’s self-image and awakens her sexuality. Candy Apple Red features dynamic performances from Sharon Wright and Lisa Marie Evans, two relative newcomers to film acting. Emmy Award winning director Todd Norris took an improvisational approach with the actors, but created balanced, controlled compositions to counterpoint the organic feel of the story. The result is a seductive blend of realism and movie glamour.

It Was Like That is the winner of the 2011 Heartland Student AMC Theatres® Young Filmmaker Award

Anna, a shy 20-year old daydreamer, has her heart broken by her long-term boyfriend. She tries several ways of “getting over it” until she meets Lacey, a confident, outspoken lesbian who changes Anna’s outlook on life. This is a story about growing up, moving outside of set boundaries, experiencing new beginnings, and the catalysts that change our lives.

Does love conquer all? Through one brief phone conversation, Tu & Eu follows several star-crossed lovers around the world and explores the differences that have put their longtime love affair at a critical impasse. Based on actual events, this heartfelt story explores the daunting sacrifices people make in hopes of finding true love. Daniela Ruah (NCIS: Los Angeles) and Ato Essandoh (Blood Diamond, Hitch, Garden State) lead an international cast of co-stars, who include Benedita Pereira (Portugal), Jason Schuchman, Garrett Zuercher, Ian Anthony (USA), Ian Novick (Japan), Christiane Seidel (Germany), Ramona Zanolari-Barnes (Thailand), and many more.

6 lonely souls come together to save one of them from making a terrible mistake.

Smolarze is the winner of the 2011 U.S./Int’l Best Documentary Short

A tender observation of a couple of charcoal burners daily life, like a fairytale from a lost world, but without the happy ending of wealth and happiness.

A man and a woman float through space in a cramped ship filled with old photos, antique cameras, and toy robots. She’s unconscious for months, maybe years — and he’s alone. But something lures them to a nearby planet and starts waking the woman from h

Night Light

Curtis Carlson
Animation • 0:04:08 • U.S./Int’l

Grumpy lighthouse keeper Gregor and his dog Ivan are in for the night of their lives when they come under attack from a monstrous neighbor.

Dark comedy about a middle-aged Italian American grappling with a condition known as Intermittent Explosive Disorder, or IED, that causes him to spontaneously exhibit episodes of explosive rage. Fed up with his dependency on mood stabilizers, he decides to take a stab at self control on his own terms. When his newly-pregnant girlfriend threatens to tear up their lease if he goes through with it, he faces the choice of staying true to his convictions or sacrificing them to hold on to the woman he loves.

This character-driven crime drama explores the complex relationships between a black homicide detective and two young men — a suspect in a murder and his estranged son, recently returned from Iraq. The film delves into the issues of responsibility, guilt, and the hard decisions men make in their flawed attempts to fix, redeem, or save their own lives.

A 75-year-old Japanese man has been acting in adult videos for 15 years without telling his family.

In the midst of a blackout the night before his father’s funeral, Felipe arrives at his mother’s house after nine years away. There his mother, sister, aunt and maid are waiting with a dinner made especially for him. Although Felipe has come for only a brief moment, his mother and sister will draw him back to the house he once left behind.

Set in the 1950′s, newlyweds Judd and Jessica snap photographs of their honeymoon driving across the country. When the impulse to pick up a hitchhiker gets the better of them, they are forced into an extreme situation if they hope to continue down the road that lies ahead.

Katrina’s Son is the winner of the 2011 U.S./Int’l Narrative Short Honorable Mention

When a young boy loses his grandmother during Hurricane Katrina, he travels to San Antonio, Texas, in search of the mother who abandoned him years earlier.

Command and Control

Don Maxwell
Drama/Comedy • 0:18:33 • Heartland

Based on an Ambrose Bierce civil war short story of a captured spy.

A female film student, intrigued by a murder trial back home, travels from Kansas City to Iowa to document the trial of a farmer who kills his neighbor over farm ground. Instead, she documents her struggles to find her place between urban and rural communities.

A meditation on the fear that is driving the current doomsday prophecy mania: the fear of death and what comes after death.

On their rite of passage journey, life-long friends Chu’a and Kele set off into the forest unaware of an ancient being that awaits them in the dark – a creature that exists to determine the next king.

Inspired by Kansas native Mark Niu’s own travels to North Korea, JUCHE RULES is the story of a young journalist’s bizarre bus tour through the North Korean countryside. Absurd, shocking and terrifying, it’s a ride that will force all passengers to define for themselves the meaning of wrong and right.

Written and produced by Mark Niu, JUCHE RULES stars Roy Vongtama and Ryun Yu, and was directed by Kristina Romero.

Andre

Christopher Fernandez
Drama / Comedy • 0:11:00 • U.S. / Int’l

After a workplace affair, Andre falls in love with his boss, Lynne. When Lynne recommits herself to her husband, Andre is left emotionally damaged. His attempts to win Lynne back fail, and he is further hurt and alienated when she has him fired. He goes into work emotionally distraught and determined to exact his revenge on Lynne.

A group of worms wake up one morning to find themselves trapped in a young boy’s bait bucket.

This family has a problem, and in the next twelve hours, things will change irreversibly. Anything can happen between midnight and noon.

Exiled to the basement, a 1940s studio writer struggles with writer’s block and battles a cheeky typewriter, while trying to keep his sanity.

In the 1940s, a woman pursued through the city must elude shadowy figures who have claimed the souls of her friends and loved ones.

Two mates and fellow Vietnam veterans, Buck and Sam, have settled into a good life in a small town. They become aware of a dark undercurrent of domestic abuse and take decisive, if surprising action.

This fast-paced comedic short film follows an aspiring writer struggling with social distractions who finds inspiration during a wild night out. He create the story of the nutty redneck Buck Johnson, who cuts his sandwiches with an axe.

GAYKEITH is the outrageous short film written and directed by Leslie Hope based on the mostly true short story by Scott Edgecombe. Meet Scott: a 260 pound red-headed, fun-lovin’, bi-polar, hockey-playin’ sexual deviant who recently turned forty and who has spent the last 15 years living in Los Angeles, out of work and overweight. On a particularly lonely Christmas Eve, Scott decides the answer to all his problems may lie with in North Hollywood -with a man named Keith.