SPECIAL PRESENTATION
THE INVENTOR (1:29:00)
Director: Jim Capobianco & Pierre-Luc Granjon
France/Ireland/United States • 2023
The insatiably curious and headstrong inventor/artist Leonardo da Vinci leaves Italy to join the French court where he can freely experiment, invent flying contraptions and incredible machines, and study the human body. Joined in his adventure by the audacious Princess Marguerite de Navarre, Leonardo attempts to uncover the answer to the ultimate question: "What is the meaning of life?" Featuring the voices of Stephen Fry, Daisy Ridley, Marion Cotillard, Gauthier Battoue and Matt Berry, and directed by the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of "Ratatouille," Jim Capobianco.
ANIMATION
BEYOND (0:03:10)
Director: Raquel Salvatella de Prada
United States • 2023
The history, in animated form, of Taiwan's White Terror, possibly the darkest period in Taiwan.
ON THE STREETS OF WILLOUGHBY (0:14:26)
Director: Travis Sheflin
United States • 2023
Washed-up detective Frank Falcon takes on the case of a missing boy, in this animated puppet Noir.
PLAYING AROUND (0:07:05)
Director: Mia Albanese
United States • 2024
A student film from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
THE FOREST OF THE HONEY BEES (0:19:59)
Director: Erwan Le Gal
France • 2024
Isabelle is a violinist-beekeeper on Ouessant Island, protecting her bees and inspiring her daughter with stories and the legend about honeybees.
THE LAST SET (0:07:20)
Director: Aisling Conroy
Ireland • 2023
In the space between life and death, a man's spirit is given one last chance to dance.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
CLIMBING INTO LIFE (0:52:27)
Director: Melissa J. Davey
United States • 2024
Dierdre Wolownick is the oldest woman to ascend El Capitan in Yosemite. Never an athlete, she began running and climbing out of curiosity. Dierdre proves that we are never too old to try something new.
DEFECTORS (1:23:47)
Director: Hyun Kyung Kim
Republic of Korea • 2023
An emotional and personal portrayal of the impact of the Korean War on several generations while revealing the weight it still exerts to this day.
ON THEIR FIRST TRI (0:51:29)
Director: Ed Foster
United States • 2024
The story of one of the oldest triathlons in the world. Through interviews with eight of the participants and archival photographs of the race, viewers are taken back to Wrightsville Beach, NC in 1979 when a group of endurance athletes decided to put on their own Ironman contest.
OUR MOVEMENT STARTS HERE (1:22:02)
Directors: John Rash & Melanie Ho
United States • 2024
The story of a rural community that inspired an international environmental justice movement by fighting the state of North Carolina's toxic landfill.
THE ARCHITECTS OF HOPE: THE FIRST STEPS IN REBUILDING UKRAINE (1:12:15)
Director: Paul Thomas
United Kingdom • 2024
As Russia continues to destroy Ukranian cities, Ukraine's leading architects are already building upwards, and advanced buildings are rising again as symbols of hope. Follow leading Ukranian architects as they independently spearhead a range of crucial war-related projects.
THE CIGARETTE SURFBOARD (1:33:07)
Director: Ben Judkins
United States • 2024
An impassioned surfer creates a functional surfboard with 10,000 littered cigarette butts collected from California beaches, sparking ocean stewardship and becoming the symbol of a grassroots campaign to hold Big Tobacco accountable for their toxic, plastic waste.
ULTIMATE CITIZENS (0:52:22)
Director: Francine Strickwerda
United States • 2023
As a guidance counselor in Seattle, Jamshid's best work takes place out of the building and on a playing field with "his kids," the children of refugees and immigrants. He is the first to show that "love wins" on the field, off the field, at home with family, or bolding forging a new community, in a new country.
NARRATIVE FEATURE
MY LITTLE RENAISSANCE GIRL (1:15:39)
Directors: Amy Heller Zimmerman & Bethany Berg
United States • 2023
As Amy contemplates motherhood, she faces her Body Dysmorphia and increasingly strained relationships with her boyfriend and friends. After a self-deprecating sketch she wrote for her comedy troupe misfires, Amy is sent down into a surreal, Renaissance fanfare-filled path.
SENDERO (1:39:53)
Director: Michael Flores
United States • 2022
After losing his wife Gina in a school shooting, Sol desperately tries to hold onto her memory by taking to the open road, a big dream they both shared. Lost and in search for answers along his own personal odyssey, Sol realizes through helping others and rediscovering lessons from his Mestizo heritage that his true path has been laid before him all along.
THE KEEPER (1:41:08)
Directors: Angus Benfield & Kendall Bryant Jr.
United States • 2024
The true story of a special group of military veteran hikers who help "The Keeper," an Army veteran battling depression, PTSD and suicidal tendencies, as he attempts to hike the Appalachian Trail while carrying 363 military name tapes on a mission to prevent Veteran suicide.
SHORT DOCUMENTARY
A SEAT AT THE TABLE (0:13:38)
Directors: Sophia Abolfathi & Rob Bailey
United States • 2023
Food, health and nutrition divide two sides of a town in Gainesville, Florida. How the movement to bring Black culture, history and knowledge back to the table is healing the community.
BEARING WITNESS: A NAME & A VOICE (0:29:25)
Director: Dina Jane Rudick
United States • 2023
An intimate exploration of the lives and convictions of four extraordinary newspaper reporters. The film illuminates the profound motivations that fuel their work, as well as the indelible stories that continue to resonate within them, in hopes of compelling viewers to transcend the superficial label of "The Media" and, instead, embrace a deeper appreciation for the individuals who propel it forward.
DESIGNED BY DISASTER (0:26:49)
Director: James 'Q' Martin
United States • 2024
A deeply personal and inspiring story about Danny, a compassionate climber who faces a life-changing ordeal in the Dolomites. Danny is propelled to invent a revolutionary type of crampon, transforming the outdoor industry but also marking his journey of self-discovery and resilience.
NEER(ING) PERFECTION (0:16:31)
Director: Cole Gibson
United States • 2023
After a life-altering injury in college led to an end to her basketball dreams, art changed DeNeer Davis' livelihood, starting her on a journey of self-realization and healing through self-guided spirituality. This is Davis' transformation from violence and drug abuse to someone bettering her community through art, education and kindness.
ORIGIN: CREATORS OF THE CAROLINAS (0:24:51)
Director: Parker Roth
United States • 2024
Generations in the making, experience stories of origin from a tenth-generation potter who discovers his craft, a painter who uncovers lineage through his art, and a sculpture artist who generates legacy in everything she creates.
SCHOOL OF FISH (0:19:03)
Directors: Colin Arisman & Oliver Sutro
United States • 2023
An intimate portrait inside one family's seasonal salmon rituals and their connection to the Bristol Bay Guide Academy, where local youth are empowered through flyfishing to serve as guides and conservationists. Can the next generation step up to defend the most prolific salmon run left on earth?
THE FENTANYL PROJECT (0:26:00)
Director: KT Curran
United States • 2024
A short documentary about the illegal fentanyl abuse in Sarasota/Manatee counties in Florida.
YOUR CADENZA (0:23:57)
Director: Chen Zheng
United States • 2023
The journey of a Ukrainian violinist who is teaching in a non-profit music education program in Winston Salem, North Carolina. While teaching students how to play violin from a very basic level, Ms. Alex is also studying nursing due to an injury caused by an assault incident.
SHORT NARRATIVE
175 (0:21:50)
Director: Kasra Karimi
United Kingdom • 2024
Inspired by true events, Ruth and Juliet are waiting for the British Parliament to legalize same-sex marriage so they can get married. But Juliet suffers from a terminal illness and does not have long to live. They are racing against time.
ARE YOU HERE? (0:28:20)
Directors: Jordan Stephenson & Kunal Bhardwaj
United States • 2024
During a camping trip, a Boy grapples with his memories of a Girl and their past relationship while his Friend tries to pull him to the present.
AS EASY AS CLOSING YOUR EYES (0:21:43)
Director: Parker Croft
United States • 2024
The story of a grieving mother who battles her addiction to a black-market drug that gives her life-like dreams about the son she lost. Presented by Academy Award nominee Abigail Breslin.
BORN THIS WAY (0:12:49)
Director: Sky Dexter
United States • 2024
A student film from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
CLOCKED OUT (0:14:32)
Director: Marco Greco
United States • 2024
A student film from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
DISCHARGE (0:14:17)
Director: Ryan Metcalf
United States • 2023
As his world begins to crumble around him, a troubled police detective, who has tried to ignore the effects from trauma he suffered, must finally confront his past in order to begin healing and reclaim his present.
GHOST HOTEL (0:29:01)
Director: Stanley Sievers
United States • 2024
A workplace buddy comedy set in a haunted hotel where the ghosts are commonplace, and the guests are psychotic. It is a fast-paced, half-scripted, half-improvised horror comedy pilot.
GOOD DAUGHTER (0:19:28)
Director: Rachel Annette Helson
United States • 2023
A small-time con artist rips off elderly dementia patients by pretending to be their daughter - before the con catches up with her. Starring Samantha Sloyan from "Midnight Mass" and "Grey's Anatomy."
LOST IN THE WAVES (0:38:39)
Directors: Joss Berlioux & Franck Marchand
France • 2024
Adam, a struggling writer, is returning to his family house for isolation, but has the unpleasant surprise to find his estranged stepsister Sophie already being there. Soon, their past resurfaces, awakening memories that should have remained forgotten.
LYRICAL (0:17:35)
Director: Carter M. Stewart
United States • 2024
A privileged, Black law student, trying to escape pressure from his dad, finds himself in a potential police violence situation with a group of adjudicated youth on probation, led by a talented spoken word artist.
MY BEST NUT (0:21:47)
Director: David Bradburn
United States • 2023
Jude isn't the life of the party; he is the party. But this is only after he's forced to spend his days in the hospital fighting cancer. Soon the patients around him look forward to seeing him as much as they don't look forward to their next round of treatment.
POWER (0:16:27)
Director: Emma Grosklos
United States • 2023
Nine months after her assault, Jane attends a therapy session. By opening up about the long-term mental and emotional repercussions this event has had on her, she learns to face her trauma in order to heal.
PUCKS IN DEEP (0:13:24)
Director: Emily Doran
United States • 2024
A student film from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
SISTER WIVES (0:28:56)
Director: Louisa Connolly-Burnham
United Kingdom • 2024
A multi-layered love story that tells the tale of young women living in a strict, fundamentalist polygamous society in 2003 Utah. A vital perspective of female friendship, allyship and exploration, as together they find courage to dream in tandem of a world beyond the walls.
THE BIG BOOK (0:19:43)
Director: Daniel Maggio
United States • 2023
Darwin works as a fraud surveillance investigator, spying on those with workers' comp claims to see if they are faking their injury or not. His strict code of conduct gets thrown for a loop when his next surveillance target is his own Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor.
THE GRIEF COUNSELOR (0:19:59)
Director: Bishen Sen
United States • 2024
An army veteran turned counselor must reconcile her grief or succumb to an addiction fueled existence meant to numb the guilt of lying to her husband.
THE LAST BUTTERLY (0:15:52)
Director: Sizhuo Li
United States • 2023
Xiaodie, a novelist, returns to the house where she lost her mother years ago. As her sister is dying, she comforts Lei, her niece, with stories of the Hmong Deity - 'Mother Butterfly' - and confronts her fear of the death of her loved ones.
THE SPACE BETWEEN (0:18:59)
Director: Luke Baker
United States • 2024
Two college students, who on the outside could not be more different from each other, happen to meet at a party and form a deep connection where they find self-discovery, forgiveness and hope for the future.