“Please refer to schedule section for further details”
BAGHEERA (INDIA)
Set on the unruly outskirts of Mumbai, Bagheera is the determined leader of an Indian Girl Scout troop, teaching her girls everything from first aid to snake handling. After a troop meeting one evening, Bagheera is abducted by a brutal assailant, Kaka (Uncle). He drives her to a run-down dairy, dumps her in an electrified cage and a twisted psychological battle ensues. However, Bagheera is named after the Black Panther of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book and when the Empress of the Jungle is forced to take out her claws, things don’t go well for her opponents. Using her scouting skills, Bagheera outwits Kaka and exacts a scorching retribution. Highlighting the vulnerability of women in societies across the world, Bagheera reminds us that bravery and resourcefulness are powerful tools.
Christopher R. Watson | Director |
Christopher R. Watson | Writer |
Christopher R. Watson, Sakar Raut | Producer |
Temptation Of Saint Francis (USA)
Two ill matched garden statues fall in love in this animated exploration of the battle between spiritual enlightenment and physical desires that we all go through. An imaginative take on what happens in your garden when you’re not looking.
Johnnie Semerad | Director |
Johnnie Semerad | Writer |
Carey Gattyan | Producer |
Dara Semerad | Producer |
Play (POLLAND)
A man consumed by guilt because he did not dare to defend his mother, plays the role of a murderer and forces his ten-year-old self to face his original trauma…
Piotr Sulkowski | Director |
Piotr Sulkowski | Writer |
Film Fiction Adrian Pawłowski | Producer |
MILK (CANADA)
In this family drama, a Russian immigrant couple do all they can to provide help to their daughter while facing their differences.
Samiramis Kia | Director |
Samiramis Kia | Writer |
Samiramis Kia | Producer |
Sultan Ridwan | Sound |
Siddharta Devalla, Samiramis Kia | Editor |
Florian Flossmann | Sound |
Nanna Janssen | Art Direction |
Silke Schmelzer | Costume Design |
Anacronte (Argentina)
Anacronte and the Sorcerers of Evil, without any emotion and fulfilling their destiny, they put to test humanity’s happiness in a struggle that, in short, has each of us as winners and losers.
Raúl Koler | Director |
Emiliano Sette | Director |
Raúl Koler | Writer |
Sabrina Pace | Writer |
Emiliano Sette | Producer |
Yashira Jordán | Producer |
Francisco Zamudio | Producer |
Nelson Luty | Art Director |
Andrés Goldstein | Music |
Daniel Tarrab | Music |
Ezequiel Suarez Greck | Animation direction |
The Eternity of Paula (VENEZUELA)
Dayana Gauthier | Director |
Dayana Gauthier | Writer |
Lino Ocando | Writer |
Mireya Piñuela | Producer |
Luis Linarez | Producer |
TREASURE (VENEZUELA)
After finding a mysterious map, a man sets out on a journey
In search of what is most desirable, discovering unique situations and places… But will it really be
that treasure that he wants so much?
Miguel Quintero | Director |
Miguel Quintero | Writer |
Gerardo Quintero | Producer |
The Child (VENEZUELA)
One day in the Universe of the Child and Celia, his mother. How the decision to undertake a trip would transform their lives. Leaving their home, abandoning the person that they used to be or they could become. They are just 2 human beings in the immensity of creation. The future’s uncertain and the complicity and sadness will transform into hope and melancholy.
VALERIA VALENTINA BOLÍVAR | Director |
VALERIA VALENTINA BOLÍVAR | Writer |
VALERIA VALENTINA BOLÍVAR | Producer |
NO JILE (VENEZUELA)
An elderly man anchored to his homeland, has to struggle searching for water to survive. But today that is a losing battle. The old man is forced to leave his country, assuming all that this means, and become a climatic refugee.
CAROLINA DAVILA | Director |
CAROLINA DAVILA | Writer |
NO STINGRAY PIE FOR DINNER TONIGHT (VENEZUELA)
Felix the fisherman goes after Chucho the stingray in an intense underwater persecution that only comes to an end when they are both buried by garbage that is dumped by a passing ship. This experience forces Felix to reflect on the polluted ocean that sustain his living
BRAULIO RODRIGUEZ | Director |
BRAULIO RODRIGUEZ | Writer |
BRAULIO RODRIGUEZ | Producer |
Cafe Irani Chai (INDIA)
This award winning documentary is about the Irani Chaiwala of Hindustan (Tea Vendors of Iran in India) who migrated from Iran and made India especially Mumbai their base.
Bun maska (Bread & Butter) and Irani chai (Irani Tea) – the combination makes most of us Mumbaikars (Mumbai, India inhabitants) nostalgic. Whether over a college project or serious political discussion at an Irani cafe, all have dunked butter slathered buns in sweet chai and eaten pocket-friendly meals. The city, once replete with hundreds of Irani cafes, now has only a handful remaining. Cafe Irani Chaii that has opened a new home in Mahim and is pumping life back into the Irani cafe culture, Cafe Irani Chaii manages to transport you to a different era. If not for the people using mobile phones, it’s quite easy to believe you’ve used a time-machine.
The documentary by filmmaker Dr Mansoor Showghi Yezdi showcases how the Iranis have kept the Irani cafe culture alive to maintain the friendly ties between Iran and India. The double ‘I’s in the title of Cafe Irani Chaii stand for India and Iran and the brotherhood and love shared with ‘India Iran as Bhai Bhai’ or brothers.
Dr. Mansoor Showghi Yezdi | Director |
Dr, Mansoor Showghi Yezdi | Writer |
SWAP – 30 min (CANADA)
John and Boris, two computer scientists lock horns as they speed track their revolutionary mind swapping app.
Andre Gaumond | Director |
Andre Gaumond | Writer |
Andre Gaumond | Producer |
Danny Rossner | Producer |
Bedhab (INDIA)
A jingle composer is visited by God of Death who offers him a unique proposition to die and is left alone by his girl friend will he survive or succumb to god of death’s plan.
AKASH GOILA | Director | DUM DUM DUMROO, DARK BREW |
AKASH GOILA | Writer | |
AKASH GOILA, AASHISH SACHDEVA | Producer |
The Man Behind The White Guitar (Brazil)
A spectrum of people, voices, and textures, “The Man Behind the White Guitar” is a film about the musical life of Brazilian guitarist José Pires de Almeida Neto. His music and energy have been behind major world musicians, including Harry Belafonte and Steve Winwood, as well as Brazilian greats, Flora Purim and Airto Moreira. His diverse musical journey from Brazil to the United States and England and deep life challenges have taught him the values of loyalty, devotion, and positive vision that speak through his sounds and performing spirit. He’s touched the lives of the most unsuspecting fans worldwide.
Richard Michael | Director |
Richard Michael | Writer |
Barbara McVeigh | Writer |
Margot Van Riper | Writer |
Jose Pires de Almeida Neto | Writer |
Barbara McVeigh | Producer |
SkyPaths (KENYA)
Skypaths – a 4 part documentary series – ( Presented here as 4 parts in a Doc Feature Format – each part is 30 minutes for single entries in short film contests) directed & filmed by American Kire Godal, follows Swedish / Danish conservationist & writer Natasha Illum Berg as she retraces her pioneering conservationist and natural history filmmaker Swedish grandfather Bengt Berg’s 4 most important wildlife film expeditions 100 years after him. From Sweden, to Ethiopia, Tanzania, India & Nepal – a lens into the past is opened and a parallel adventure story begins.
Kire Godal | Director |
Kire Godal | Writer |
Natasha Illum Berg | Writer |
Jake Seal | Producer |
Erik Godal | Producer |
The Day Dreams (INDIA)
Day dreams never turn to reality. But sometimes it helps people to accept the harsh reality of life.
Bikram Hazarika is an eight years old boy residing with his mother on a breached embankment of Dhansiri river. His father died of a boat accident while saving a small boy. People liked him for his bravery and honesty. Bikram aspires to study in a good school. It’s his dream.
On the other hand, in spite of being a poor fish seller, Bikram’s mother Anima is a dignified lady. But Bikram wants his mother to quit this trade and start a grocery instead. Anima can’t realize her son’s dream as she is not rich enough to do so.
After a couple of assaults form the elderly persons, little Bikram realizes that he can’t fulfill his dream and decides to take up his father’s trade.
Hem Chandra Borah | Director |
Hem Chandra Borah | Writer |
Hem Chandra Borah | Producer |
MARQUET-PLACE (BELGIUM)
Three little stories about the evolution of our sensual behavior influenced by technological advances. A young woman passes a short time, feeding playfully the male attention she gets in a boarding room.
The plot development of each story changes with the zeitgeist of each generation.
Annick Christiaens | Director |
Annick Christiaens | Writer |
Wim & Julian Coryn / WIld Cherries Pictures | Producer |
Young & Naive (USA)
Preferring the company of none, Robin searches to find out why all her beautiful and successful friends are single. She uncovered one of the biggest secrets in the world…Child Sexual Abuse.
The eloquent words of Robin’s journey to face her past begin a tidal wave of healing hearts at Poet’s Jazz House….just somewhere to go in the midst of searching your soul. A poetry lounge where spilling your heart is art and searching your soul is mandatory to get in the door. Young & Naive delves deep into the mind a of the poet; creating a masterful work of art in this remarkable and profoundly affecting story; as seen through the eyes of a spoken word artist spitting the powerful intensity of truth.
We can save our children, we can change the world! Young & Naive is the First in a series of Poetry-Films designed to Heal the Soul and Educate Minds.
Tuesday Conner | Director | |
Phil Tyler | Director | Demonics |
Tuesday Conner | Writer | |
Lynne Conner | Producer/td> | Raising Kings |
Rodney Conner | Producer/td> | |
Phil Tyler | Producer/td> | Demonics |
Tuesday Conner | Producer/td> |
Sex, Drugs & Bicycles (THE NETHERLANDS)
‘Sex, Drugs & Bicycles’ takes a look at Dutch social democracy and answers the question: is having month-long double paid vacations, no fear of homelessness, and universal healthcare the nightmare we’ve been warned about?
Jonathan Blank | Director |
Jonathan Blank | Producer |
Jonathan Blank | Writer |
Million Loves in Me (HONG KONG)
Inspired by a true story and a headline case in Hong Kong, MILLION LOVES IN ME follows the story of a wealthy mother and daughter who suffer from the psychological issues of obsessive- compulsive disorders, and their controversial private lives are exposed to the public through a charge of their animal hoarding behavior by the police. The topic of animal hoarding, to our knowledge, has not been shot into a movie in cinematic history.
The story begins when Katy, the 45-year old daughter, is charged with animal cruelty after the police discovers more than a hundred dogs and cats being hoarded at her apartment. Following her trial at the court, the abnormal lives of Katy and her mother are unveiled. Behind their weird appearances, the mother and daughter live an extremely well-off life, with an uncontrollable urge to shop excessively for clothes, handbags and pets. They are despised and disliked by people wherever they go. Their unusual behavior arouses the attention of their neighborhood reporter who starts to investigate into their lives. After he finds out about the animal hoarding situation at their apartment, he discloses the matter to the public for the sake of justice. However, after seeing Katy being caught by the police and devastated by the intense public criticism, he begins to doubt the morality of his own actions…
Sampson YUEN | Director |
Tiong Wooi LIM | Writer |
John Y | Writer |
Jeremy Tan | Writer |
Jeremy Tan | Writer |
Kenny CHAN | Producer |
John Y | Producer |
The Messenger * Hermes Remembers (Canada)
Note: Paul William Roberts who plays Hermes Sr. and my partner Byron Ayanoglu a Greek from Istanbul, of the past 38 yrs, who plays Zeus, have recently passed away this past summer. May Lord Byron Ayanoglu and Paul William Roberts RIP!
“””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
Hermes, the most human-like of all the Olympian gods, is now old. On this day he remembers himself as a younger transgendered man, irrepressible but needy of his father Zeus and his aunt Aphrodite. He roams the world, on a quest for love and self-validation. He misbehaves it’s true, but this is not a cautionary tale, he is after all a god and can do as he pleases.
Algis Kemezys | Director |
Jorge Luis Borges | Writer |
Paul William Roberts | Writer |
Byron Ayanoglu | Writer |
Algis Kemezys | Writer |
Byron Ayanoglu | Producer |
Wendy Grean | Producer |
Dan & Rebecca Terrible | Producer |
TURNING (Sweden)
Voices in a crowd stir violent emotions, microaggressions bring up past traumas. Then a turning shifts the emotional landscape…
A short animated film about the emotional impact of homo- bi- and transphobia on young people, and how support and community can help us grow.
Linnéa Haviland | Director |
Linnéa Haviland | Writer |
Linnéa Haviland | Producer |
Andersen and the Jinn (The Netherlands)
Experience the First of One Thousand and One Nights
Young, adventurous writer Hans Christian Andersen is out of ideas and in a hurry to catch the train home when he meets the beautiful yet dangerous Princess Scheherazade of the tales of One Thousand and One Nights. He is inspired to save her from being killed by the angry sultan, and thus begins the affair between Andersen and the Princess… Can stories heal souls and perhaps change the world?
Rogier van Beeck Calkoen | Director | The Storykeeper (Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival Nominee | ||
Salva Rubio | Writer | Deep (Joya, Spanish oscar nominee 2018) | ||
Ken Appledorn | Key Cast | “Hans Christian Andersen” | The Extraordinary Tale of the Times Table, The Imposter | |
Nuria Fergó | Key Cast | “Scherezade” | Love in Difficult Times | |
Smith | Key Cast | “Emeka” | Maniac Tales, Nigerian stories | |
Steven Bratter | Producer | Demolition man, Motorama, Seven and a Match | ||
Ana Gamiz | Producer | Seis y medio |
Desibands (INDIA)
Desibands deals with the vanishing tribe of musicians and singers who were known to perform at marriages in Punjab and Rajasthan. The film shows how titillating performances by dancing girls have sounded the death knell for such performers, pushing them to the margins of society.
Sukhwinder Singh | Director |
Sukhwinder Singh | Writer |
Sukhwinder Singh | Producer |
Boxman (IRAN)
In search of success, a reporter is making a film about a teenager who lives in a wooden box. At end, the reporter changes his mind about making the film and is drawn to the teenager’s world.
Manouchehr Teimourzadeh | Director |
Manouchehr Teimourzadeh | Writer |
Alireza Barazandeh | Producer |
Shunyata (the void) (INDIA)
Madhur works as a hitman for a gang in Mumbai. He leads a bleak existence and a life full of regrets. He is friendly with a kid who lives on the street. Madhur sees this kid getting into crime and decides to intervene to give the kid a chance he never had.
Chintan Sarda | Director |
Pragaash Band (song of silence) (INDIA)
Three young Indian Kashmiri Muslim girls,full of hopes and ambitions,embark on a journey of music and discover the harsh reality of the world they live in.
Janmejay singh | Director |
Janmejay singh | Writer |
Marijuanafilms pvt. ltd. | Producer |
Bagli Talkies (INDIA)
It’s a love story of an old man with his cinema hall which was built with blood, sweat and all his heart. It is his undying passion which makes him not to compromise with time, a time which is all against him and he has to fight this battle all alone. Can he defeat the time?
Aniruddha Sharma | Director |
Aniruddha Sharma | Writer |
Pawan Jaiswal | Producer |
TARA-The Journey of Love & Passion (INDIA)
Merely a few hundred kilometers away from the hustle and bustle of the fanatically fast paced Mumbai city lies the deceptively sleepy village of Tanda. A village girl Tara seems to be content with her confined life, very much in love with her liquor maker husband. But, when the beautiful protagonist’s seemingly mundane existence parts ways to reveal the unspoken realities of exploitation and darkness enveloping the village, she leads the villagers in their quest for survival, only to realise that she is up against something she may not be prepared to fight against prejudice. The young woman who bravely stood up for the whole community finds herself cruelly alienated in her most vulnerable moment.
Ultimately, after a series of gut wrenching experiences, she has to make a choice… Based on disturbingly common realities of Indian villages, this powerful story of self-discovery transcends the original theme of tribal strife to raise a universal question—can you always choose freedom & self-respect over social acceptance? The journey of the extraordinary woman Tara in very difficult situations reveals the story of love and passion and how she deals with same.
Kumar Raj | Producer / Director |
Dr.Prof.Kishan Pawar | Writer |
Kumar Raj | Producer |
Sonam Raney | Producer |
Vadoba (INDIA)
Vadoba is a story about a school going kid (Kshitiya). Kshitiya in a precarious situation reaches a land which is not been visited by any of the villager……
What was that precarious situation which led him to that land?
Why any of the villagers have not visited that land so far?
What’s in store for Kshitiya’s future in that land?
Vishal Sawant | Director |
Vishal Sawant | Writer |
Buzzing Bee Films & Entertainment | Producer |
BROKEN SOULS (ZIMBABWE)
Priscilla Smith’s sanity is tested when she is separated from her beloved husband Adolph who is called for military service in Afghanistan. Left to raise their only child Sophia alone, Priscilla struggles with self-esteem issues and hopelessly uses prescription drugs to help her cope with the emptiness she feels in a community that has lost its men to war and prisons.
Sanelle Sibanda | Director |
Sanelle Sibanda | Writer |
Sanelle Sibanda | Producer |
What to Do about Climate Disruption? (USA)
In spite of much discussion of the problem for over a quarter of the century, observed temperatures and levels of carbon dioxide have only continued to increase. In this documentary, a wide variety of voices speak on the topic of what needs to be done about climate change, including those of congressmen and women speaking at town halls, of speakers at public events, of environmentalists being interviewed, and of experts appearing in other videos. The film explores avenues available for making progress, while capturing the passion of protesters and activists who understand the perils of maintaining business as usual.
Eric Simon | Director |
Eric Simon | Writer |
Eric Simon | Producer |
The Metamorphosis of a Bottle Cap (THE NETHERLANDS)
A seemingly complacent crab is suddenly called to action by mysterious intentions and a chance encounter with an elusive bottle cap.
This traditionally-made stop motion film is about the ‘Reuse’ of an object beyond its intended purpose and is a celebration of the creativity and ingenuity of local people in developing nations. This animated short highlights the concept that perceptions of what is ‘useful’ and what is ‘garbage’ depend on cultural values. The film emphasizes the important role that cross-cultural exposure plays in broadening perspectives and positively affecting lives. Created by a Canadian who lived and worked in East Africa from 2011-17, this narrative is based on real experiences.
A unique blend of approaches are employed including hand-made puppets and illustrations. Local African materials such as seeds, bark cloth, and other traditional fabrics are incorporated alongside re-purposed items such as discarded plastic bottles and other found objects. The choice of these materials and approaches reinforce the environmental and cultural themes of the film and further demonstrate the positive influence one culture can have on another.
Kathryn Jankowski | Director |
Kathryn Jankowski | Writer |
Tuesday Conner | Producer |
A Thousand Years of Love (MYNAMAR)
Wai Hnin and Ingyinn, two young girls in Burma, have a chance encounter and immediately are pulled together by a mutual attraction. Wai is of a volatile, emotional personality and Ingyinn and young and confused. Moreover, Ingyinn is already engaged to a man. But when the attraction between the two girls becomes very apparent, Ingyinn must make a decision while Wai must rein in her own highly volatile emotion.
M. Noe | Director |
M. Noe | Writer |
M. Noe | Producer |
LET’S SHARE THE MOON (INDIA)
Two children teach us the true meaning of friendship and togetherness in todays divided world in a colourful and musical film and musical film beautifully shot in Varanasi,India
Mayank Bokolia | Director |
Neeru Khera | Director |
Note: The above films are scheduled to be screened provided there is no last minute technical glitch with the video/audio/subtitles. Filmmakers/crew members who are available to address the Q&A Session get priority.