CECIL COLLEGE | ONE SEAHAWK DRIVE, NORTH EAST MD 21901 | BOX OFFICE: (410) 287-1037
2021 FILM FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Thursday, November 4th
Block 1: 6pm – 7:17pm (click here to purchase tickets)
Thursday Night Featured Presentation
Cowgirls and Indians (2020) - Runtime: 1 Hour, 17 Minutes | Director: Kate Davis
Retired cowgirl Callie attends the funeral of a former lover on an Indian reservation. She meets his family and goes on a crazy adventure to learn what happened to her friend and their relationship.
Block 2: 8 – 10pm (click here to purchase tickets)
Covid-19: An international crisis expressed through film
All This Is Somehow True - Runtime: 7 Minutes | Producer: Joe Kramer | Location: Baltimore, MD
A sick patient enters a waiting room seeking medical help, but help never comes. A reflection on the fear and dread that defined the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic's spread. Created in quarantine in May 2020. Filmed, performed and edited by two filmmakers from Baltimore, MD, USA. Sound design was created using freesound.org. Directed, Written, Edited, and Performed by Joseph Kraemer, Cinematography by Chung-Wei Huang
The New World: Variations on Stay-Home Activities - Runtime: 2 Minutes | Director: Ning Hong | Country of Origin: China
In 2020, most residents on the planet were forced to live indoors for days and months due to the epidemic, which has influenced our usual work and life to some extent. In this isolation, people tend to create ways of self-entertainment and take limited exercise at home. As a result, a large amount of ordinary people emerged on the Internet and started to show the interesting bits of living indoors in their own way. They straddled the differences in time and space, and built vast webs of data in live form, in which they connected and influenced each other.
The Story of Coronavirus - Runtime: 4 Minutes | Director: Yoni Goodman
This animated film was developed in response to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 with Yoni Goodman, in collaboration with CDC, IFRC, and UNICEF. Making visible the coronavirus helps people see and understand how it spreads and how to protect themselves and others -- both in the community and at home with a sick family member.
(https://globalhealthmedia.org)
The Coronavirus (a parody-documentary about COVID-19) - Runtime: 3 Minutes | Director: Hermes Mangialardo | Country of Origin: Italy
What does coronavirus look like? who passed it from bats to humans? how did he leave the Chinese borders? Doc-parody on the world epidemic ... If you want to know everything but everything about Covid-19 and how to fight it here is the definitive (semi-serious) guide... by italian point of view!
Without Film - Runtime: 34 Minutes | Director: Zahra Mirrza | Country of Origin: Azerbaijan
The young director has finished writing the script and is preparing to make his first film. However, the director, whose opportunities are not so wide, will face difficulties. While he was filming, a COVID-19 pandemic broke out.
My Favorite Things - Runtime: 58 Minutes | Director: Daniele Tullio | Country of Origin: Italy
“My Favorite Things” is an intimate and universal documentary. A story in which both the artists and the people they can mirror each other. The Hastag #iorestoacasa does not have moved only the professionals of the sector but also all those who wanted to exploit this time to find a creativity out of the ordinary. This which appears innovative and extraordinary for the most part of the population is instead an occasion for discouragement and denunciation by those who practice art as a profession. The coronavirus has apparently reduced the social gap in the share time and habits, uses and customs, but has the disparity linked to rights and work awards.
(https://www.instagram.com/myfavoritethings_documentary/)
Parrot - Runtime: 9 Minutes | Director: Alexander Willks | Country of Origin: United Kingdom
An isolated young woman phones an ex-partner seeking advice and closure. "Parrot" was a film conceived and created during the Coronavirus lockdown period in the UK. Made in three weeks in April, the film was made over a call on Facebook and set to domestic shots taken from the apartment the director was staying in. The film was inspired by the melancholy that isolation generates and aims to explore the need for reassurance that that people find themselves confronted with when separated from the ones they love.
Earth Is Home - Runtime: 8 Minutes | Director: Noomen Noomen | Country of Origin: Tunisia
Coronavirus has spread around the world until the period of global quarantine that allowed people around the world to stay at home and then go back in time 1920 about the forgotten Spanish flu whose victims were most affected by COVID-19 in the end we learned that the coronavirus has no limits in Our world, Earth is becoming less polluted and we need to protect it because Earth is our home.
ComVida-20 - Runtime: 3 Minutes | Director: Ana Cavazzana | Country of Origin: Portugal
ComVida-20 is a short film poetically but truly depicting CoVid-19 pandemic. It makes us reflecting about who we are and who we will be from now on. The title is a Portuguese wordplay: «ComVida» is similar to «CoVid» meaning, simultaneously, «With Life» and «Invite». With life we are invited to stay alive!
Friday, November 5th
Block 3: 6pm – 7:45pm (click here to purchase tickets)
Friday Night Featured Presentation
Small Town Wisconsin (2020) - Runtime: 1 Hour, 45 Minutes | Director: Niels Mueller
Wayne Stobierski is the most fun-loving, hardest-living party animal in Rhinelander, Wisconsin (population 7,798). Just ask his favorite wingman, Tyler, who’s seen it all, lived it all, loved it all. Only problem? Tyler is Wayne’s nine year old son. When Wayne learns the devastating news that he is losing shared custody and that his beloved wingman will be moving far away, he plans a special weekend for his son to remember him by –– a trip to the big city of their dreams Milwaukee, Wisconsin (population 592,025). Poor Wayne. The moment he’s out of his small town comfort zone, he finds his plans spinning comically out of control. When Wayne passes out drunk before he can find a hotel room, his best friend and chaperone, Chuck, decides to take the gang to Wayne’s estranged sister Alicia’s house.
Wayne is none too happy to wake up and find himself in the middle of an unscheduled family reunion. But there’s nothing quite like family to help find levity in heartache. Surrounded by love -- some of it tough, all of it genuine -- Wayne finds himself facing down his demons, all while showing his son the most spectacular time of his life. (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5157426/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt)
Saturday, November 6th
Block 4: 10:30a – 12:30pm (click here to purchase tickets)
Documentary Shorts
Shi Fu Paul - Runtime: 7 Minutes | Director: Pearl Sweeney | Location: Timonium, MD
"Shi Fu Paul" follows the life and teachings of Paul Jakubowski, a Kung Fu instructor and co-owner of US Martial Arts Academy Ltd., as he awards his newest generation of martial artists their black belts and shares his own journey and philosophies on teaching.
The First Inning - Runtime: 13 Minutes | Director: Allie Sheedy | Location: Towson, MD
The documentary is about a baseball league that is wide spread across America that plays the sport using 1864 rules. Witch means old uniforms, old Style bats and most notably no gloves. During this documentary we will meet different teams that play in the state of Maryland, find out their roots and follow all of them as they play at the biggest tournament in the country, Gettysburg. There we will meet
the competition and find out how widespread this version of the game is.
August - Runtime: 7 Minutes (Director: Emmanuel Hernandez)
First Chair - Runtime: 5 Minutes | Director: Jovan Brooks | Location: Upper Marlboro, MD
Originally a student production by Jovan Brooks, this short documentary follows young prodigious Towson University violinist, Gabrielle Stanback, as she tells her story.
In or Out - Runtime: 8 Minutes | Director: Venkat Sai Akash Pamarthy | Location: Upper Marlboro, MD
The project is about homelessness and the housing problem. This story explores the struggles of two homeless individuals living on the streets of Washington D.C. One trying to get back on his feet and move into permanent housing while the other lost hope on housing as he is registered as a sex offender.
Teddy - Runtime: 6 Minutes (Director: Emmanuel Hernandez)
Short documentary on painter Edgar Teddy Paredes
Alexa - Runtime: 6 Minutes | Director: Alexa Range
A comedic and reflective documentary expressing the struggles of being named Alexa in a society where the Amazon Echo has come into existence.
Gentrification - Runtime: 6 Minutes (Director: Emmanuel Hernandez)
A young woman reflects on how gentrification has changed her neighborhood and wiped out the people who have worked there and lived there for years.
A United Nations Experience - Runtime: 7 Minutes (Director: Malinalli Perez)
A young woman lends insight on her sister's experience of traveling to New York City and attending one of the biggest indigenous United Nations conferences and how it changed her sister's life. As a 16-year-old participant in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues with her school, she soon realized that many indigenous communities across the globe face a lot of similar obstacles and challenges within their communities.
MAMA - Runtime: 10 Minutes (Director: Mackenna Mondo)
My children in America's hands. The tragic deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd have rocked the American nation, and left three mothers without their child. A child they carried for nine months. A child that is their own flesh, blood, and love. A new revolution is upon us. Hear from three black mothers who tell of their hopes and fear for their black children entering a discriminative America. Whitney Pirtle, a sociologist professor at UC Merced, who has two sons with her husband who also works in education. Sam, she works in the education field. And finally, Arkesha, who is a city bus driver.
Music Is My Life - Runtime: 26 Minutes (Director: Alex Djordjevic)
Out of a population of roughly 2,500 Roma people in Vladincin Han (Southeastern Serbia), less than 10 are currently employed. Even with help from several charitable organizations, this culture of unemployment is slow to improve. Many of the youth in this community will face a future of collecting recyclables, working odd jobs, or living off social welfare. While there is a growing emphasis for education among many of the families, music has always played an important role in the community when there was no other way to earn a living. Children are raised to appreciate music and many seem to be born with a natural ability to perform. Families who manage to earn income through performing are often able to reach a higher standard of living. I tried to document the people and places of this region and the role music has played in shaping their communities over the centuries. I was especially interested in how music helped shape the lives of the youth, how and why they were drawn to the instruments they played, and what they hope to achieve in the future.
Deep Blue Something: Breakfast at Tiffany’s - Runtime: 8 Minutes (Producer: Cornon J. Kedro)
In 1995 American independent music band Deep Blue Something released their first single (and first music video) Breakfast at Tiffany's. The song became immediately the international worldwide hit, when topped as #1 the UK Singles Charts and peaked at TOP 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The single achieved the highest platinum-record status with more than 600 000 certified sales only in the United Kingdom. That's a film story of the song by Deep Blue Something's personal point of view almost 25 years later, when this band has been still performing Breakfast at Tiffany's live on their 2019-20 European Tour.
Born Amish - Runtime: 9 Minutes (Director: Frost Martin)
An Amish family in Maine lives life off the grid and on the land, making the most of daylight. Hearing from the voices of Maine, Amish community members, they give us an inside look at their lifestyle and particular sect.
Lunch Break: 12:30 - 1:30pm
Block 5: 1:30pm – 3:30pm (click here to purchase tickets)
Local Filmmaker Shorts #1
MADRUGADA - Runtime: 35 Minutes (Producer: Matthew Martinez, Location: Newark, DE)
Story Produced and Directed by Allegra DiNetta Written for the screen, Cinematography and Edited by Matthew Martinez
Last Chance - Runtime: 40 Minutes (Director: Emmanuel Hernandez)
Queso - Runtime: 8 Minutes | Director: Jimmy McDonald | Location: Baltimore, MD
A young man goes on a wild, intergalactic adventure after running out of chips for his queso.
Draw - Runtime: 4 Minutes | Director: Andrew Chi Nguyen | Location: Richmond, Virginia
Two western gunslingers face off in a daring, ill-thoughtout duel.
Distance Between - Runtime: 2 Minutes | Director: Isa Phillips | Location: North East, MD
Based on the social observations of a young girl, living in the United States during the year 2020. "I wanted to do this micro short because I feel like no one hears us. I don't want to give too much away. I hope people after watching it will keep thinking about what they watched. I hope I can make a mark on you.
The Luck - Runtime: 4 Minutes (Director: Robert Mitchell)
Music video with global traverse and message of hope. Music by CINEMATIK.
Mixed Bag - Runtime: 19 Minutes (Producer: Evan Carrington, Location: Woodstock, MD)
Mixed Bag is a story about an actor that earnestly seeks to find inspiration to keep pursuing his craft, and finds a it by reconnecting with his past film roles.
Missed The Last - Runtime: 5 Minutes (Producer: Scott Seisler, Location: Chesapeake City, MD)
Director - Bryan Santiago, Produced by Red Shark Productions - Scott Seisler and Christine Seisler
Afternoon Roundtable with Filmmakers: 3:30-4:30pm
Block 6: 4:30pm – 6:30pm (click here to purchase tickets)
International Short-form Narrative films
Transpersonal - Runtime: 5 Minutes | Director: Florencia Macarena Visconti | Country of Origin: Argentina
A deep feeling from the bowels, wants to leave but I just feel that I must resist. I can not give you my vulnerability because it is part of what illuminates and sustains me. Whenever I want to touch it, I can see the being I spawn. It is not something else, but my sex, my curiosity and adventure are generated from there. My animal being that touches, sniffs and gets carried away by that experience. When I manage to touch it or listen to it, I feel the need to discover who I am. But do not take it from me. I do not want to give you everything I am. Let me show you what I feel to be me, how life and the feeling of being a woman go through me. Woman who wants to unwrap her animal softness, circulating in blood that discharges the magma to merge into the primordial being, landing on land to encourage the mud of the body that is left to shudder to turn it into skin. To cross the recognition of the physical state that produces the body that feels, unloads and delivers.
Only that I want to keep it in my corporeal temporality.
Do not take it from me ... Do not take your breath away from the libertarian moan where my essential will is released.
Mom is Gone (Mama Se Fue) - Runtime: 15 Minutes | Director: Gonzalo Gutierrez Prado | Country of Origin: Peru
Camilo and Abel are reunited by the recent death of their mother and decide to spend the day at the beach of their childhood, Camilo proposes to go to the village for lunch, however, the endless walk will make memories flourish and with them claims.
https://tabernastudios.pe/portfolio-item/mama-se-fue/
The Fruitful - Runtime: 7 Minutes | Director: John Collins | Country of Origin: Ireland
An evocative mood piece, THE FRUITFUL glides gently from classic Georgian townscapes to the lush emerald landscapes of rural Ireland, reflecting one young lady’s inner turmoil as she struggles for restitution in the shadows of her recent past. Written and Directed by John Collins, THE FRUITFUL tests convention in a stunning blend of imagery and poetry, while narration is from Nóirín Ní Riain and music performed by Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin with Owen and Moley Ó Súilleabháin. THE FRUITFUL is a stark contemporary portrait which seeks to enchant the collective subconscious with an Irish recitation of an antique Asian anecdote which celebrates spirit over subjection.
Sonia Loves, Sonia Doesn’t - Runtime: 15 Minutes | Director: Natalia Beliaeva | Country of Origin: Slovakia
As her sixth birthday approaches, a girl is choosing some presents - not for herself, but for her favorite doll Sonia, who is waiting for her at the store.
Mirage - Runtime: 7 Minutes | Director: Robert Minassin | Country of Origin: Lebanon
Daring to search for something beyond what reality gives, a woman lies right where she was left. In a carousel of timelessness time, darkness chases light every day. We keep spinning around where time keeps moving forward. Our journey begins from our mother's womb and ends in mother nature.
Lowest Floor - Runtime: 14 Minutes | Director: Omidreza kheirkhah | Country of Origin: Islamic Republic of Iran
In a very beautiful space in the middle of the forest there is a hut where an old man and old woman live. It's yalda night and they are waiting for their children to have a nice night together. The old man complain that the children wont come but the old woman hopes they will. At the end of the film,children's voices are heard,but we will face a sad scene.
Fairies Don’t Die - Runtime: 11 minutes | Director: Ali | Country of Origin: Islamic Republic of Iran
Stopgap in Stop Motion - Runtime: 5 Minutes | Director: Stephen Featherstone | Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Photographs of performers in a disabled and non-disabled dance company come to life. The individual artists dance out of the photos and across table tops until the whole company meet and perform in unison. Completed in 2016, this is a promotional film for Stopgap Dance Company.
Life - Runtime: - Runtime: 4 Minutes | Director: Nenad Teofilovic | Country of Origin: Serbia
Life is a short story that foregrounds the issue of human existence.
Chasing Swipes - Runtime: 9 Minutes | Director: Namo Safideen | Country of Origin: Sweden
In an attempt to get over her ex-boyfriend, Vera starts using a dating app for the first time and tries to find herself in this newly discovered world.
Give It Back - Runtime: 15 Minutes | Director: Ruchama Ehrenhalt | Country of Origin: Isreal
Olivia just moved to Israel from New York. Throughout her first day of school in the 6th grade she tries to survive, navigating through the new country she just landed in, her new school and new peers, unsure where she will end up at the end of the day.
Vincent Before Noon - Runtime: 17 Minutes | Director: Guillaume Mainguet | Country of Origin: France
A father pays his son a visit after years of conflict and turns up in the middle of his house move. The son Vincent reacts violently to that intrusion. Emotionally weakened, the father involuntarily reveals the true reason of his visit, which revives the tension between them. Within a few minutes, the anger, the memories and the crossed looks move the two men deeply.
The First Day - Runtime: 10 Minutes | Director: David Barco | Country of Origin: Spain
Maribel, while preparing breakfast, discusses with her mother. She is tired of her orders in the form of advice when caring for her son, Jaime. Maribel looks perfectly capable of doing it and, in some way, feels somewhat tense because of the difficulty of the moment. Today is the first day of Jaime, and the child must get used to a new place.
Block 7: 7pm – 9:10pm (click here to purchase tickets)
Local Filmmaker Shorts #2
The Game of Life - Runtime: 15 Minutes (Producer: Evan Carrington, Location: Woodstock, MD)
"The Game of Life" is a dramatic film that deals with a young woman who after losing her job, and having to rush her younger sister to the hospital, at the end of her hope. She starts to lose hope and faith until she has a chance meeting with a stranger at a coffee shop.
Purple Hearts - Runtime: 4 Minutes | Producer: Amy L. Moreland | Location: Glen Burnie, MD
A war-torn soldier tries to buy a girl a drink.
Do You Have ICE? - Runtime: 7 Minutes | Producer: Dan Verkman | Location: North Bethesda, MD
Director: Donald Imm. Producers: Donald Imm, Dan Verkman
Lasting Effects - Runtime: 10 Minutes | Director: Benjamin Bagrowski | Location: Rising Sun, MD
A man attempts to survive in a post-apocalyptic world, one of many individuals called "scavengers", who explore the wastelands scavenging for useful materials from the old world, that might make theirs brighter.
Medina, The Elephant Ballerina - Runtime: 7 Minutes | Director: Kevin Hogan | Location: Reistertown, MD
Bored with her life in the jungle, Medina the elephant determines that she will become a Ballerina. However, her physiology, and skills, are standing in her way... A Short Film by Award-Winning Animated Talk Studios.
Forever Red - Runtime: 16 Minutes | Director: Garrett Adams | Location:
Two American ex-spies have left their experiences during the cold war behind them. However, the fragile normality in life that they manage to establish is broken when one of the ex-spies seeks out the other more than 40 years later. Upon reuniting, old feelings resurface and a dark secret from their past is brought to light.
The Perfect Student Film - Runtime: 13 Minutes | Director: Jarred King
Max Judd, a film student inspiring to be a director, sleeps in after a long night of trying to write his script. As his alarm clock
rings, a bat suddenly slams on the clock. Max is shocked awake and sees a man in tux holding the bat that destroyed the clock.
The man claims that he is Max's "Filming God Mother", a being sent to aspiring directors to teach them how to excel in their
field. He claims he will do this by making Max's life "the perfect film". Max is persistently reluctant to accept Stanley and
throughout the day, Stanley "directs" Max's life in the ways he sees fit for a perfect film.
Human Seeds - Runtime: 2 Minutes | Producer: Benjamin Bagrowski | Location: Rising Sun, MD
Benjamin currently attends Rising Sun High School as a Senior, and has made several short films over the past several years. He is currently 17 years old, and lives in the Cecil County area, and has hopes for producing more short films over the next year.
My Empty Space - Runtime: 14 Minutes | Producer: B. Anthony | Location: Capital Height, MD
When Travis learns that his mother has sold their family home , he has to let go of what was and move on with his life.⠀
The Day Bingo Died - Runtime: 17 Minutes | Director: Samuel White
Two siblings descend into madness after they euthanize the family dog. How will we remember the ones we've lost? Will we remember them for the joy they brought us or the misery? And what does the answer say about us?
Last Chance - Runtime: 6 Minutes | Director: Joshua Mitchell | Location: Waldorf, MD
The story about five kids who are dealing with heavy issues that have resulted in almost being removed from school. Until their new guidance counselor saves them and teaches them that they have a lot more in common.
Trap Line - Runtime: 6 Minutes | Director: Molly Huey | Location: Warren, PA
Molly Huey & Olivia Nellis share their latest dance film, exploring confined space, building space, and being both predator and prey. Shot in Pennsylvania
Dance Until She Died - Runtime: 10 Minutes | Director: Tyler J. French | Location: Fenton, MI
An apprehensive painter confronts the added stress of living in isolation, and losing her trusted scapegoat- time.
Block 8: 9:30pm - 11:30pm (click here to purchase tickets)
Saturday Night Featured Presentation
Broken Down - Runtime: 1 Hour, 34 Minutes (Director: Jessy Cale Williamson)
Molly Huey & Olivia Nellis share their latest dance film, exploring confined space, building space, and being both predator and prey. Shot in Pennsylvania.
The Time Between Seconds - Runtime: 25 Minutes | Director: Mark Clauburg
Wendy's recovery from a tragic event leads her to make a selfless decision. https://greymachinefilms.com
Sunday, November 7th
Block 9: 10a – 12:30pm (click here to purchase tickets)
International Long Form Narrative
Excluded - Runtime: 1 Hour, 26 Minutes | Director: Hiwa Abbasi | Country of Origin: Sweden
Alan, a teacher from Iranian Kurdistan, having been exposed to have taught Kurdish kids their mother tongue - a major crime punished by death in Iran - immigrates to Sweden with his family. Alan has fought for his etnic identity, his wife Astéra wanted to keep her family safe. Now they got security in a country away from the loved ones, their identity down to a small circle. Having formed different principles and priorities makes two persons who have previously loved each other, disunite, dealing with the anxiety and insecurity of their new life in exile. Still, they need to pretend to be a united family as not to risk rejection of their application for residence permit.
Block 10: 1pm-2pm (click here to purchase tickets)
International Long Form Documentary
Which Homeland - Runtime: 52 Minutes | Director: Giaime Barducci & Luca Berardi | Country of Origin: Italy
"Which Homeland" tells the events that occurred in Cesena from the fall of Mussolini to the Liberation, through testimonies and archive images, stitched together from the story of the protagonist, Gianni Ravegnani, to recall another form of Resistance, the one personally experienced in the Strip of Gaza. Through an experimental style, the work also becomes an investigation of the mechanisms of making memory and its reconstruction.
Block 11: 2:30 - 4pm (click here to purchase tickets)
Sunday Afternoon Featured Presentation
Angels in Gangland - Runtime: 90 minutes (Producer: Rachel Barton, Location: Elkton, MD)
A Supernatural Gangster Comedy-Drama. Rachel was former head of the Western Region of the CT film commission that worked in conjunction with the CT film office bringing many films into CT to be produced. She has worked with location scouts for Sony and Columbia Studios. She has also hosted the Manhattan Short Film Festival in New Milford CT as chairman of the Film Commission. Rachel has appeared in several films and commercials. The latest as talent in the Cream of the Crop that was filmed locally in Elkton MD. Angel's in Gangland is Rachel's first film as director using a zoom format as a black box theatre concept experimenting with blending the two formats.
Block 12: 4:30pm - 6:30pm (click here to purchase tickets)
International and National Long Form Documentary
Dear Desert - Runtime: 45 Minutes (Director: Andre Abreu, Country of Origin: United Arab Emirates)
A group of cyclists attempt to become the fastest ever to cycle the UAE's 7 Emirates. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11908262/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt
Live Free. Skate Hard - Runtime: 1 Hour, 8 Minutes (Director, Legrand McMullen)
The most popular women's contact sport hidden in plain sight, this feature documentary explores the varied stories, rich culture and revolutionary space that is women's roller derby. Feel its powerful diverse spirit through the voices and action of Free State Roller Derby's teams- the Black-Eyed Suzies and Rock Villains.
legrandmcmullen.blogspot.com/
Awards & Thank You: 7pm