THE FILMS

THIS YEAR

NCFF 2022 will screen a selection of international short films, features and documentaries from over fifteen countries while also hosting over two dozen filmmakers to participate in Q&A’s, panel discussions, and parties over the three-day weekend. Films will screen at the newly renovated historic Nevada Theatre, The Onyx Theatre, and outdoors at Pioneer Park Bandshell in Nevada City.

This year’s opening night selection is “The Unknown Country” directed by Morrisa Maltz and starring Lily Gladstone. The film follows Tana (Gladstone) as she travels from the Midwest to the Texas-Mexico border following an invitation to reconnect with her estranged Oglala-Lakota family. During her largely solitary and surreal journey towards an unknown destination, Tana (Gladstone) navigates a post-2016 election social climate against a natural landscape encountering familiar faces and strangers along the way. The film has been hailed by Indiewire as “a stunning spiritual companion to Terrence Malick and ‘Nomadland’”.

Also screening at the festival include award-winning documentaries “Jack Has a Plan” directed by Bradley Berman about a man who wishes to die a happy man culminating in a permanent going-away party, “PASANG: In the Shadow of Everest” about Pasang Lhamu Sherpa’s inspiring journey to become the first Nepali woman to summit Everest in 1993, and “Your Friend, Memphis” about a young man with cerebral palsy, who is caught between the world’s expectations and his own ambitions. His story is an odyssey of dogged determination: a search for work, love, and freedom – no matter what.

This year’s slate of films introduces viewers to new places and people; where we learn about their families, customs, way of life, feelings and so much. This heartfelt, compelling selection of films connects us so intimately and beautifully to the human experience. It’s much needed after the last few years we’ve all been through.

2023 Official Selection List

A Real One

Dir. McKenzie Chinn

(USA, 16min)

Lauren and Keisha’s friendship is an “us against the world” type friendship. They’re 17 and live in a working class neighborhood on Chicago’s largely Black south side. Their friendship is tested when Lauren reveals a tightly-held secret to Keisha, and the two friends must take matters into their own hands in a landscape where the only thing they can truly count on is each other.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 3: Growth

Saturday June 24th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

A Shore Away (L'autre rive)

Gaëlle Graton

(Canada, 18min)

Newly employed in an emergency shelter for people experiencing homelessness, Genevieve is shocked to meet again with Camille, a young woman whom she believed to have successfully reinserted while being her social worker. *Shot in a real emergency shelter for homeless people in Montreal, QC, Canada.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 7: Silver Linings

Sunday June 25th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Ashkasha

Lara Maltz

(Argentina / Spain, 6min)

Ashkasha is a living being guided by curiosity. This causes her to lose her head and get trapped in the depths, where she is submerged on a discovery journey.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 6: Whimsy

Sunday June 25th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Bad Press

Rebecca Landsberry-Baker (Muscogee Creek), Joe Peeler

(USA, 1hr 38min)

When the Muscogee Nation suddenly begins censoring their free press, a rogue reporter fights to expose her government’s corruption in a historic battle that will have ramifications for all of Indian Country.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Feature Presentation

Showing with Cara Romero: Following the Light

Saturday June 24th at 4pm
The Onyx Theatre

The Basics of Love

Joshua Nathan

(USA, 18min)

After getting caught amidst a robbery on New Year’s Eve, Liz and Lefty, co-workers in the city sanitation department, are caught off-guard by feelings for one another that they didn’t know they had. Will they work up the courage to tell each other?

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 1: Empowerment

Friday June 23rd at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Being Michelle

Atin Mehra

(USA, 1hr 20min)

Being Michelle follows the astonishing journey of a deaf and disabled woman who survived incarceration and abuse under unimaginable circumstances by a system that refused to accommodate her needs as a deaf person with autism. Michelle’s trajectory changed when she met Kim Law, a blind volunteer life coach who teaches classes to people in prison. Today, outside of prison, Kim and Michelle are doing the difficult work of unraveling Michelle’s history, of telling the story of Michelle’s traumatic childhood and her adverse experiences in the criminal justice system. With the support of Kim, Michelle realizes her own voice and strength. Throughout the film, Michelle’s artwork provides her own depiction of the trauma she survived as well as a means to her recovery. Ultimately, Being Michelle is a story of redemption. It is about the bonds between women committed to thriving in a broken system, who are forging a path to healing that can only come through facing the truth and communicating it, together.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Feature Presentation

Friday June 23rd at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Accessibility:

ASL Interpretation

Best Friends on a Summer Hike

Mario Furloni

(USA, 9 min)

A cautionary tale. Two men take an uneasy hike on a Northern California coastal trail.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 4: Laughter

Saturday June 24th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Beyond the Fringe

Han Tang, Costanza Baj, Giulia Zanette

(Spain, 4 min)

A little paper figure’s journey of finding the strength to leave its home, the notebook where it was born, to explore the great world beyond.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 3: Growth

Saturday June 24th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

The Black Experience

Christian L. Scott

(USA, 5min)

Four aspiring black screenwriters find out the writing world may not be as inclusive as they’d hoped when they pitch their dream projects to a movie executive who is only interested in the “authentic black experience.”

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 2: Creativity

Friday June 23rd at 5:30pm
The Nevada Theatre

Board Budz

Delaney Yeager

(USA, 9 min)

BBFs Edie and Lana are sk8r chicks in their early 30’s who still live their lives the way they did in 2006. When Lana turns 32 and realizes she wants to start planning for her future, Edie regresses further into her childish identity. The movie mixes goofball humor with just a tinge of heart… and loads of rad skate tricks.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 4: Laughter

Saturday June 24th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

The Bond

Jahmil Eady

(USA, 15min)

Pregnant and incarcerated, Aria fights for her most precious connection against a system designed to isolate her.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 5: Generations

Sunday June 25th at 11:30am
The Nevada Theatre

Burger World

Maddie Brewer

(USA, 9 min)

Two co-workers at a derelict fast-food franchise accidentally discover a meat portal to another realm — a “burger” world, wherein they’re the only ones who can liberate an oppressed vegetable populace from the all-controlling hand of big meat.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 4: Laughter

Saturday June 24th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

The Cake

Carlos Novella

(Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 19min)

A confectioner prepares the cake for a party to which she hopes to be invited.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 2: Creativity

Friday June 23rd at 5:30pm
The Nevada Theatre

Canned

Steve Melone

(USA, 30 min)

Sherman Kinsley, Golden Bowl Studio’s laugh coordinator, is the conductor for the last group of canned laughter artists in show business. The band of overlooked misfits provide the laugh track for unkillable sitcom, “Love Me Please” — at least until the show’s producer decides to fire them. While the oddball crew reckons with their newfound unemployment, Sherman is not going to give up so easily. He rallies his team to make a last-ditch effort to keep their jobs. But will they triumph? Or will they have to embrace a life, after the laughter?

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 2: Creativity

Friday June 23rd at 5:30pm
The Nevada Theatre

Cara Romero: Following the Light

Kaela Waldstein

(USA, 27min)

An enrolled citizen of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, Cara Romero was raised between contrasting settings: the rural Chemehuevi reservation in Mojave Desert, CA and the urban sprawl of Houston, TX. Romero’s identity informs her photography, a blend of fine art and editorial photography, shaped by years of study and a visceral approach to representing Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultural memory, collective history, and lived experiences from a Native American female perspective. Following the Light explores Cara’s development as a photographer, delves into the Chemehuevi and California Indigenous history that informs her work, includes behind-the-scenes footage of Cara’s shoots, and features interviews with leading Indigenous artists: Cara herself, husband and famed Pueblo potter Diego Romero, collaborator and place-based artist Leah Mata Fragua (Northern Chumash), National Poet Laureate Joy Harjo (Mvskoke Nation), multidisciplinary artist Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota), and more. Original musical score by Jason Goodyear.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Feature Presentation

Showing with Bad Press

Saturday June 24th at 4pm
The Onyx Theatre

The Censor of Dreams

Léo Berne, Raphaël Rodriguez

(France, 18min)

Night after night, The Censor and his team mold Yoko’s memories into fantastical dreams. Tonight nothing happens as planned.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 6: Whimsy

Sunday June 25th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Chasin' Butterflies

Joshua Harding, Adam Hobbs, Matt Klug

(USA, 19min)

As a self-taught artist from a one-horse town in rural Alabama, Butch Anthony can’t be easily categorized; nor can his art. In this layered portrait, we meet the eccentric, playful, authentic, charming, and provocative man behind the drive-thru museum, trophy-covered Cadillac, and pontoon pirate ship known as Llatikcuf (read it backwards).

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 2: Creativity

Friday June 23rd at 5:30pm
The Nevada Theatre

Chicken Stories

Jonathan Pickett

(USA, 17min)

On a start-up farm outside Oakland, various chicken flocks surmount daily obstacles while the newbie farmers attempt to Google their way to help.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 1: Empowerment

Friday June 23rd at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Cold & Sara

Brenna Power

(USA, 11min)

When Emmy’s sister endlessly searches for the “right” way to deal with Emmy’s deep mourning over her best friend’s death, she learns just how uncomfortable the grieving process can be. This short is a book-ended, unbroken 10 minute interaction between (actual!) sisters trying to navigate a relationship tried by unshared grief.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 7: Silver Linings

Sunday June 25th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Cuxball

Dave Paige

(USA, 12min)

Sam finds something in the dirt.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 4: Laughter

Saturday June 24th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

The Dads

Luchina Fisher

(USA, 10min)

Six dads gather in rural Oklahoma for a weekend fishing trip. As the men cast their rods into the river, share their catch over dinner, and swap stories beside the bonfire, we learn what has brought them to this scenic idyll: the love for their trans and LGBTQ children, their fears for their kids’ safety, and the urgency to fight for the ground on which they all stand. The Dads is a quiet meditation on fatherhood, brotherhood, and manhood amid the changing American landscape.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 3: Growth

Saturday June 24th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

The Debutante

Elizabeth Hobbs

(UK, 8min)

A spirited young woman persuades a hyena from London Zoo to take her place at a dinner dance being held in her honor.

Please Note: this film contains a flashing effect that may affect photosensitive viewers

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 4: Laughter

Saturday June 24th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Displaced

Gil Cates Jr

(USA, 27min)

Displaced is a heartbreaking story about the Kovalchuk family, who were among the first refugees to arrive in America after fleeing Ukraine at the start of the Russian invasion. The film follows three generations of the close-knit family through their first days and weeks in Southern California after traveling through six countries and two continents. In exile, they grapple with their identities and grieve for their beloved war-torn homeland. As they search for housing and try to rebuild the sense of security their children have lost, the family must reimagine their entire futures.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 5: Generations

Sunday June 25th at 11:30am
The Nevada Theatre

Enlightened (Les Éveillées)

Nina Bouchaud Cheval

(France, 30min)

Zoe, a lonely teenager, escapes a painful family life by spending time with a community of travelers. When her father suddenly dies, France, a rebellious young gypsy, takes her on the road to organize a traditional gypsy wake.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 7: Silver Linings

Sunday June 25th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

The Family Circus

Andrew Fitzgerald

(USA, 18min)

A Vietnamese-American family’s plan to cover up a drunk driving accident begins to unravel when their emotional baggage spills out in front of the police

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 5: Generations

Sunday June 25th at 11:30am
The Nevada Theatre

The Feeling of Being Close to You

Ash Goh Hua

(Singapore/USA, 12min)

The Feeling of Being Close to You (靠近你的感觉) documents an attempt at healing the trauma of touch between mother and child. Driven by a pure desire for intimacy, the filmmaker and their mother talk openly for the first time about the intergenerational trauma and abuse within their lives. Present day phone conversations are juxtaposed with archival VHS footage, creating a connection between the past and a re-write for the future.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 3: Growth

Saturday June 24th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Flightpath

David Grabias

(USA, 26min)

Flightpath is a meditation on death and mourning through the eyes of a wildlife researcher. When Sarah loses her boyfriend in a plane crash, she dives into a project studying bird mortality for a wind turbine company in the California desert. Working at night all alone for over a year, she comes to terms with her grief through her relationship with her tracking dogs as they catalog remains.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 7: Silver Linings

Sunday June 25th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Friday Night BLind

Scott Krahn, Robb Fischer

(USA, 13min)

It’s another Friday night at Burnham Bowl. Strikes, spares, gutter balls. With no shortage of trash talking and victory dancing. But the group that’s making all the noise isn’t just another bowling league. The Milwaukee Beer Barrels Blind Bowling League is an eclectic mix of visually impaired and sighted bowlers with a simple focus: making friends, having fun, taking life one frame at a time. Friday Night Blind is the warm, quirky, inspiring story of three visually impaired bowling friends and the way they roll.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 1: Empowerment

Friday June 23rd at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Gold and mud

Conor Dooley

(USA, 9min)

A sprawling story of love and loss, as reflected on a single face. Tiny pieces that, when cobbled together, hint at a much larger picture. The larger picture being a woman’s life. Observed through the decades. Centuries, even. You know. A comedy. Starring Ana Fabrega (HBO’s Los Espookys).

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 4: Laughter

Saturday June 24th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Good Condition

Frank Mosley

(USA, 9min)

Barry’s starting over.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 7: Silver Linings

Sunday June 25th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Happy Birthgay

Niv Manzur

(Israel, 16min)

Mom throws her son a grandiose surprise BirthGay party, celebrating a year of his coming out of the closet.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 4: Laughter

Saturday June 24th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Honolulu

Maya Tanaka

(USA, 15min)

Flaming lobsters and menstruation woes plague 12-year-old Yuki’s doomed Hawaiian beach vacation.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 3: Growth

Saturday June 24th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Hummingbirds

Silvia Del Carmen Castaños, Estefanía “Beba” Contreras

(USA, 1hr 18min)

In this late-night summer self-portrait, best friends Silvia and Beba make magic of everyday moments coming of age on the Texas-Mexico border.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Feature Presentation

Showing with When You Left Me On That Boulevard

Sunday June 25th at 4pm
The Onyx Theatre

Hundreds of Beavers

Mike Cheslik

(USA, 1hr 48min)

In this 19th century, no dialogue, supernatural winter epic, a drunken applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become North America’s greatest fur trapper by defeating hundreds of beavers.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Feature Presentation

Saturday June 24th at 9:30pm
The Nevada Theatre

I Cheated

Ben Escobar

(USA, 9min)

“Yo he sido infiel,” Spanish for “I cheated,” is whispered as the premise of a father’s attempt to rebuild a relationship with his son. Shrouded by the shadows of a blue hour on a fishing dock, the two navigate their lasting shame and grudges in an effort to reacquaint as the best friends they once were.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 7: Silver Linings

Sunday June 25th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

I Have No Tears, and I Must Cry

Luis Fernando Puente

(USA, 13min)

Maria Luisa is ready to escape immigration limbo, but when her green card interview takes an unexpected turn, she faces the anxiety of losing the life she had planned.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 1: Empowerment

Friday June 23rd at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Ice Merchants

João Gonzalez

(Portugal, 14min)

Every day, a father and his son jump with a parachute from their vertiginous cold house, attached to a cliff, to go to the village on the ground, far away where they sell the ice they produce daily.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 5: Generations

Sunday June 25th at 11:30am
The Nevada Theatre

Instinct

Teresa Ochagavía

(Spain, 13min)

Celia is a ballet dancer. She lands the main role of the play “The Nutcracker” after a hard casting process. Not only did she receive this good news but she also discovers she is pregnant. Her partner, Alvaro, dreams about being a father, however, this is not compatible with Celia’s career right now.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 2: Creativity

Friday June 23rd at 5:30pm
The Nevada Theatre

The Iron Giant

Brad Bird

(USA, 1hr 27min)

A young boy befriends a monster in the heartwarming animated feature The Iron Giant. Nine-year-old Hogarth Hughes, who is always on the lookout for mutant aliens, hears stories of a UFO that crashed into the sea and finds a huge, metal-eating robot with an insatiable curiosity and equally insatiable appetite. But the extraterrestrial’s presence unleashes a wave of Cold War paranoia that threatens to engulf the town unless Hogarth and his 50-foot friend can stop it. In times like these, you really find out what your friends are made of…sometimes it’s metal, if your best buddy’s The Iron Giant.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Movies under the pines feature

Friday June 23rd at 8:30pm
Pioneer Park Bandshell – Gates at 7:30pm

Keep/Delete

Kryzz Gautier

(USA, 19min)

In a future world where memories are handled like computer files, two lovers decide to undergo a procedure and have their entire relationship wiped from their brains.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 6: Whimsy

Sunday June 25th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Liturgy of Anti-Tank Obstacles

Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk

(Ukraine 12min)

In this portrait of a country facing total war, sculpture artists known for religious statues retrain to build anti-tank obstacles.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 1: Empowerment

Friday June 23rd at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Louder Than You Think

Jed I. Rosenberg

(USA, 1hr 30min)

Louder Than You Think is an up-close cinematic walkabout through the life of Gary Young, the original (and highly unlikely) drummer of indie rock royalty Pavement. His booze and drugs-fueled antics (on-stage handstands, gifting vegetables to fans) and haphazard production methods (accidentally helping launch the lo-fi aesthetic) were both a driving force of the band’s early rise and the cause of his eventual crash landing. Leaving a wake of joy and/or destruction at every turn, Gary teeters the thin line between free-form self-expression and chaotic self-destruction. Thirty years on with scoliosis, blood clots, and a shriveled liver, Gary is still drumming with no regrets. Note: no puppets were harmed in the making of this film.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Feature Presentation

Saturday June 24th at 7pm
The Nevada Theatre

Memories of Youth

Nathan Flores (he/him)

(Canada, 3min)

As they grapple with the complexities of mental health and trauma in a digital age that often feels isolating and overwhelming, a young person embarks on a surreal journey of self-discovery, navigating the raw and poignant truths of adolescence in an attempt to find their place in the world.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 3: Growth

Saturday June 24th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Metal Belt

Blackhorse Lowe

(USA, 13min)

A Peyote Western set in 1860’s New Mexico territory, Metal Belt recounts a story about the American Indian slave trade in the southwest and one Navajo woman’s fight for freedom and her spiritual journey home.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 1: Empowerment

Friday June 23rd at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Mine Mine Mine

Duncan Ragg

(Australia, 20min)

A bed-bound man reflects on his childhood with Peter Pan, and how sometimes everyone grows up without you.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 6: Whimsy

Sunday June 25th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Municipal Relaxation Module

Matthew Rankin

(Canada, 6min)

Ken has a great idea for a bench.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 4: Laughter

Saturday June 24th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Mutt

Vuk Lungulov-Klotz

(USA, 1hr 27min)

Within the space of 24 hours, Feña, a trans man, is swept through the extremes of human emotion when people who seemed to disappear when he transitioned are suddenly back in his life.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Feature Presentation

Sunday June 25th at 4:30pm
The Nevada Theatre

Now I'm in the Kitchen

Yana Pan

(China, 5min)

Filmmaker Yana Pan reflects on her mother and her independence while cooking her favorite dish.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 5: Generations

Sunday June 25th at 11:30am
The Nevada Theatre

Out of Water

Madi Stine

(USA, 13min)

When a disenchanted mermaid-for-hire is mistaken for a real mermaid, she plays along to disastrous consequences.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 6: Whimsy

Sunday June 25th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Paper Planes

Michael Glover Smith, Alyssa Thordarson

(USA, 17min)

A woman with agoraphobia and the Airbnb guest across the hall strike up a correspondence that becomes something more for the holidays.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 3: Growth

Saturday June 24th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Parker

Catherine Hoffman, Sharon Liese

(USA, 13min)

A decision delayed for decades allows three generations of a Kansas City family to finally unify when they do something that countless African Americans before them could not do — choose their own last name.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 1: Empowerment

Friday June 23rd at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Picture Day

Kelly Pike

(USA, 15min)

Casey, an Asian-American tomboy coming of age on Army bases, prepares for picture day at her new school, deciding what she’s willing to sacrifice in order to fit in.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 3: Growth

Saturday June 24th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Pivot Pals

Doron Drew Feldman

(USA, 19min)

An uptight boy attempts to derail his mom’s relationship with her man-child boyfriend after reluctantly agreeing to spend the day with him.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 5: Generations

Sunday June 25th at 11:30am
The Nevada Theatre

Plan C

Tracy Droz Tragos

(USA, 1hr 33min)

A determined group of blue state advocates, midwives, and doctors have been networking to increase access to abortion pills in the United States outside of a clinic setting, regardless of where you live. In 2014, Francine, a social scientist based in Los Angeles, and her partners launched PLAN C for the purpose of spreading the word about how and where to buy abortion pills online. This is the story of that work between 2020 and the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022: the pipelines they built, the access they expanded, the criticism they faced, the hope they have for the future.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Feature Presentation

Saturday June 24th at 4:30pm
The Nevada Theatre

The Runner

Amar Chebib

(Canada, 17min)

After suffering from suicidal depression, Darius Sam, a 20-year-old from Lower Nicola First Nation, finds running as a catalyst for transformation. Within a matter of months, he attempts a 100-mile ultramarathon in subzero temperatures to raise awareness for addiction and mental health issues in his community.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 3: Growth

Saturday June 24th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Sandwich Cat

David Fidalgo

(Spain, 10min)

David lives alone with his kitty, Sandwich Cat. It seemed like an ordinary day, but an unexpected visit will lead him to a crucial reflection to humanity.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 4: Laughter

Saturday June 24th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Scrapper

Charlotte Regan

(UK, 84min)

In this vibrant and inventive father-daughter comedy, Georgie (Lola Campbell) is a dreamy 12-year-old girl who lives alone in her London flat, filling it with magic after the death of her mother. Out of nowhere, her estranged father Jason (Harris Dickinson) arrives and forces her to confront reality. Uninterested in this sudden new parental figure, Georgie is stubbornly resistant to his efforts. As they adjust to their new circumstances, Georgie and Jason find that both father and daughter still have a lot of growing up to do.

Winner: Sundance Grand Jury Award

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

FEATURE Presentation

Sunday June 25th at 2pm
The Nevada Theatre

Seed

Patricio Mosse

(Spain 15min)

Lorena returns home when her mother dies. Things are not as she remembered them and she is forced to spend a few days with her father, from whom she had been distanced for two years.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 5: Generations

Sunday June 25th at 11:30am
The Nevada Theatre

Slow Light

Katarzyna Kijek, Przemysław Adamski

(Poland / Portugal, 11min)

A boy who was born blind, suddenly at the age of seven sees a light. A medical examination reveals that his eyes are so dense that it takes seven years for the light to reach the retina and hence for the image to reach his consciousness.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 1: Empowerment

Friday June 23rd at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

The Sprayer

Farnoosh Abedi

(Iran, 9min)

In the land occupied with the sprayers army, no one has the right to grow any kind of plants either in public or private. So many of the people and soldiers do not even know how a plant grows or what it looks like, until one day one of the soldiers finds a seed buried deep down in the dust. His curiosity is just the beginning of something extraordinary, something big, something revolutionary.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 1: Empowerment

Friday June 23rd at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Spring Roll Dream

Mai Vu

(UK, 9min)

Linh is a Vietnamese single mother who has successfully forged a life for herself and her son in America. But when her father visits from Vietnam and insists on cooking the family a traditional Vietnamese meal, Linh is confronted with the past and culture she left behind and the question of where it belongs in her family’s new life.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 6: Whimsy

Sunday June 25th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Subject

Camilla Hall, Jennifer Tiexiera

(USA, 1hr 37min)

Subject explores the life-altering experience of sharing one’s life on screen through the participants of five acclaimed documentaries. As tens of millions of people consume documentaries in an unprecedented “golden era,” the film urges audiences to consider the impact on documentary participants – the good, the bad, and the complicated.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Feature with Panel

Saturday June 24th at 1pm
The Nevada Theatre

There are no ghosts

Nacho Solana

(Spain, 15min)

Andrea is a young woman with a special ability. When somebody feels a paranormal phenomenon at home, she is the only one who can clear it up. But on each visit Andrea always insists: There are no ghosts. Those are the echos of someone who was among us once.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 6: Whimsy

Sunday June 25th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

TikTok Challenged

Ivan Rome

(USA, 9min)

Claretha, a soap opera-loving grandmother, has always dreamed of being a star, and she’s finally got her chance. TIKTOK. She’s gonna go viral baby! BUT, she needs a little help from her grandson, Daryl, who didn’t plan to spend the day teaching his grandma how to do a TikTok dance. Will they be able to successfully make a TikTok? Maybe. Will their TikTok go viral? Who knows! But, watching the two of them struggle through this challenge together will be a fun ride filled with peach cobbler, Hollywood dreams, and a whole lot of funky dancing.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 2: Creativity

Friday June 23rd at 5:30pm
The Nevada Theatre

Time Bomb Y2K

Marley McDonald, Brian Becker

(USA, 1hr 20min)

As the year 2000 approached, rumblings started to spread outside of the world of computer engineers and into the mainstream consciousness about a ubiquitous error in computer code that would cause computers to reset during the transition from “1999” to “2000,” causing the world’s computerized systems to grind to a halt. This fully archival feature (no interviews, verité, etc.) documents the countdown to Y2K against the backdrop of the mass hysteria that infiltrated everything from politics to pop culture. Doomsday prepper communities started to proliferate and businesses popped up with products, books, and any way to make a quick buck off the looming disaster. Time Bomb Y2K is a wild ride through the final days of the ’90s and a compelling portrait of a turning point in the digital revolution. By examining this hingepoint between millennia, the film interrogates our ever-changing relationship to technology and each other.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Feature Presentation

Friday June 23rd at 4pm
The Onyx Theatre

Troy

Mike Donahue

(USA, 16min)

Troy has loud sex. Troy has loud sex 24-7. Troy shares a wall with Thea and Charlie. Troy is ruining their lives… or is he saving them? A darkly comedic tale of New York neighbors, the ways in which we become interwoven with the lives of strangers, and the unexpected consequences of unasked-for intimacy.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 4: Laughter

Saturday June 24th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

The Vacation

Jarreau Carrillo

(USA, 10min)

In Flatbush, Brooklyn, four friends are stuck in their car after it breaks down on the way to the beach on the last day of the summer.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 7: Silver Linings

Sunday June 25th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Wheel

Honora Talbott

(USA, 9min)

Wheel is a character-driven comedy about a Wheel of Fortune audition in a less than ideal environment. A casting director gets hit with some bad news while helping her eccentric neighbor tape her Wheel of Fortune audition. Tensions are high, nerves are shot, and it’s awkward as hell.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 2: Creativity

Friday June 23rd at 5:30pm
The Nevada Theatre

When You Left Me On That Boulevard

Kayla Abuda Galang

(USA, 13min)

Teenager Ly and her cousins get high before a boisterous family Thanksgiving at their auntie’s house in southeast San Diego in 2006.

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Feature Presentation

Showing with Hummingbirds

Sunday June 25th at 4pm
The Onyx Theatre

THE FILMS

THIS YEAR

2023 Official Selection List

A Real One

Dir. McKenzie Chinn

(USA, 16min)

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 3: Growth

Saturday June 24th at 1pmThe Onyx Theatre

A Shore Away (L'autre rive)

Gaëlle Graton

(Canada, 18min)

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 7: Silver Linings

Sunday June 25th at 7pmThe Onyx Theatre

Ashkasha

Lara Maltz

(Argentina / Spain, 6min)

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 6: Whimsy

Sunday June 25th at 1pmThe Onyx Theatre

Bad Press

Rebecca Landsberry-Baker (Muscogee Creek), Joe Peeler

(USA, 1hr 38min)

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Feature Presentation

Showing with Cara Romero: Following the Light

Saturday June 24th at 4pmThe Onyx Theatre

The Basics of Love

Joshua Nathan

(USA, 18min)

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 1: Empowerment

Friday June 23rd at 1pmThe Onyx Theatre

Being Michelle

Atin Mehra

(USA, 1hr 20min)

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Feature Presentation

Friday June 23rd at 7pmThe Onyx Theatre

Accessibility:

ASL Interpretation

Best Friends on a Summer Hike

Mario Furloni

(USA, 9 min)

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 4: Laughter

Saturday June 24th at 7pmThe Onyx Theatre

Beyond the Fringe

Han Tang, Costanza Baj, Giulia Zanette

(Spain, 4 min)

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 3: Growth

Saturday June 24th at 1pmThe Onyx Theatre

The Black Experience

Christian L. Scott

(USA, 5min)

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 2: Creativity

Friday June 23rd at 5:30pmThe Nevada Theatre

Board Budz

Delaney Yeager

(USA, 9 min)

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 4: Laughter

Saturday June 24th at 7pmThe Onyx Theatre

The Bond

Jahmil Eady

(USA, 15min)

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 5: Generations

Sunday June 25th at 11:30amThe Nevada Theatre

Burger World

Maddie Brewer

(USA, 9 min)

PROGRAM & SHOWTIMES

Shorts 4: Laughter

Saturday June 24th at 7pmThe Onyx Theatre

The Cake

Carlos Novella

Saturday June 24th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Sunday June 25th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Sunday June 25th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Saturday June 24th at 4pm
The Onyx Theatre

Friday June 23rd at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Friday June 23rd at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Saturday June 24th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Saturday June 24th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Friday June 23rd at 5:30pm
The Nevada Theatre

Saturday June 24th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Sunday June 25th at 11:30am
The Nevada Theatre

Saturday June 24th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Friday June 23rd at 5:30pm
The Nevada Theatre

Friday June 23rd at 5:30pm
The Nevada Theatre

Saturday June 24th at 4pm
The Onyx Theatre

Sunday June 25th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Friday June 23rd at 5:30pm
The Nevada Theatre

Friday June 23rd at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Sunday June 25th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Saturday June 24th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Saturday June 24th at 1pm
The Onyx Theatre

Saturday June 24th at 7pm
The Onyx Theatre

Sunday June 25th at 11:30am
The Nevada Theatre