Saturday Narrative Shorts
Astonishing Little Feet
Maegan A Houang 9min United States
Maegan Houang is a writer/director based in Michigan and Los Angeles. She most recently served as a co-producer on The Sympathizer, wrote episodes for Counterpart and Shōgun, and co-wrote Justin Chon’s feature Jamojaya which premiered at Sundance 2023. She is currently writing Nekrokosm, Panos Cosmatos’ (Mandy) next feature. Maegan has also directed music videos for artists such as Mitski, Vagabon, Hana Vu, Charly Bliss and Skylar Spence. Her short film In Full Bloom starring Kieu Chinh (The Joy Luck Club) premiered on Short of the Week and played at various film festivals including Fantastic Film Festival, Atlanta, New Orleans, Nite Hawk, Indie Memphis, Hollyshorts and many others.
AntisemiteMichelle Bossy 13min United States
Seth, a college senior, is home for winter break. He’s spending a day relaxing and shopping on Fairfax Avenue when he’s suddenly confronted by an Orthodox Jewish man asking Seth if he’s Jewish. Seth’s chance encounter leads to a profound spiritual experience with life-changing implications.
Good Grief
Ash Blodgett 9min United States
In search of closure, a young woman attempts to spread her father’s ashes on a remote sea cliff but an unexpected encounter leads her to the only person who might just understand her grief.
Oddities Tyler Savage 15min United States
When a drugged-out duo attempts to rob an antique store, they realize the older woman running the shop isn’t as defenseless as she seems…
Toast
Doug Riggs 5min United States
An exercise in shutting down the frontal lobe during the writing process in hopes of catching lighting in a bottle, both in the written word and corresponding imagery.
Backlog
Jacqueline Elyse Rosenthal 18min United States The true story of a young collegiate woman who tried to find justice for three years for her shelved rape kit—only to become the key witness in the Senate hearing to end the rape kit backlog. Can she trust the system that betrayed her? In 2006, Mallory Newell (all names changed) was brutally assaulted and date-raped on her 21st birthday. The next day, she underwent a painful scientific 4-6 hour medical examination to collect clinical evidence. But because of the bureaucracy of the justice system, the police shelved her evidence and evaded her for almost two years, claiming the case to be “unwinnable.” But Mallory continued to help survivors, working at a rape treatment crisis center, where she is asked to advocate to end the Rape Kit Backlogs. Eventually, she finds insurmountable courage to become the key witness at the Senate Judiciary hearing in 2010.
A Mind Cannot Touch Geoffrey Prather 15min United States
A Mind Cannot Touch is a short film about loss and how one grieving mother will go to any lengths to bring her daughter back from the dead. The film asks, “What if you could bring a loved one back after their physical body has died?” and explores the moral implications of this hypothetical. A Mind Cannot Touch is a sci-fi drama about a mother, LEDA, who uses her expertise in neuroscience to bring her deceased daughter, AIRLIA, back from the grave as a sentient hologram—complete with Airlia’s memories and consciousness via mind uploading. Not wanting her daughter to know that she died, Leda decides to lie to Airlia and say she merely recovered from a long-term illness… but how long can she keep up this charade when her daughter will never again be able to grow, taste and touch? And what happens when Airlia discovers the truth? Will she even want that kind of life?
Shut Up & Fish
Raul Sanchez, Pasquel Gutierrez 13min United States “Shut Up & Fish”, by directing duo Cliqua, crafts evocative and bold coming-of-age vignettes on the trending Los Angeles Latino youth culture. The themes of the film’s immersion orbit social identity, belonging, and the emergence of authentic character.
Never Fuggedaboutit
Dustin Waldman 12 min United States
Amid the high anxiety of post-9/11 NYC, a struggling post-production house is hired to remove a shot of the twin towers from the intro to a hit TV show.