Screening IV

Friday, June 15, 3:30 – 6 pm

St. Thomas Preservation Hall

(in order of screening -- some film synopses have not yet been added to this page)
 

Oh Sweet and Mighty Dream of Freakish Joy

Jeff, a young accountant, has never had a dream. He finally has one during a nap at work. It involves a wobbly looking woman who screams in Japanese, a large red bird and classical music playing in the background. Being his first dream, Jeff is convinced that it is a premonition of the future, and that the woman just might be the love of his life. He goes out into the world to find clues that will lead him to his literal 'dream woman.' There's one catch, however: he's already promised to take his grandma out of the home for a day trip, and she's not the cooperating type. His adventure takes him all over the city and back again, meeting a multitude of characters with their own dreams - or a lack thereof. With Jeff running into all sorts of problems during his seemingly impossible and hopeless task, it looks like he's heading in all the wrong directions. However, each move he makes sets into motion a sequence of events that will culminate where he least expects it...

Producer: Alysia Maschak

Director: Ashley Slater

Simon Fraser University

Learning How To Love

Learning How To Love tells the story of a teenage girl trapped by addiction, cutting, and depression. It explores her journey and follows her search for hope and healing. It is her story of learning how to love herself. We are called to reach out to those who are suffering in the world, and be the hands that stop their wounds from bleeding. There is a message of hope and an end to suffering.

Producer: Jill Schaeffer

Director: Derek Armitage

Southern Adventist University

Regarding Next: Project Utopia

The film documents the evolution and culmination of a collaborative performance-based new media production by Lynn Book and her Wild Ideas class at XX (Erin look at original form – wording cut off on copy)

Producer/Director: Sam Smartt

Wake Forest University

Twilight Rain

Secrets abound as a husband and wife seek to hold on to the relationship they love. The truest form of love is sacrifice.

Director: Mitch Lusas

Regent University

A Disability in Society

In the United States alone, millions of Americans live with disabilities in the midst of a changing society. Among them, people with severe developmental disabilities comprise at least 10 million. In these cases, assimilation into society becomes increasingly difficult. Although these cases are numerous, Americans ignore them and are often shunned, hidden, or blatantly ignored by mainstream society. However, a human who lives with serious health problems and faces atypical mental or physical challenges is by no means a lesser human. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live with a disability, heavily dependent on the assistance of others? George Mason University student Joshua Vaile set out to answer this question. With the help of his brother, a volunteer for mentally disabled children, Vaile has produced and documented an experiment in film that provides a unique and revealing glance at what it might be like to live with a severe disability in today's society. The Vaile brothers have captured real people who confirm what many try to deny. How do you respond to people living with developmental disabilities, people who are often objects of discrimination? For some, A Disability in Society may be the mirror you need in order to face yourself.

Producer/Director: Joshua Vaile

George Mason University

The Life of Miles, Jr

Director: John Mario Marchioni

The World, Naked as a Jaybird

The World, Naked as a Jaybird is a stop motion animated short that uses absurdist black comedy to illustrate the destructive nature of humanity. The story revolves around a young girl named Edith who accidentally survives a massive atomic bombing. Left alone with her entire world destroyed, she goes on a journey to seek humanity, comfort and a new home. Instead, she finds melancholy, solace and several snails all going the opposite direction. Using the whimsy of collage-style animation to perpetrate an inherently dark subject matter, The World, Naked as a Jaybird blends various genres to attempt to illustrate a fraction of the strength and darkness in all of us.

Producer/Director: Tiina Treasure

University of Central Florida

Take a Sip

When the lights go out at Wembly’s fine art gallery, a mischievous dragon painting comes to life.

Director: Rachel Woodhouse

University of North Carolina – Greensboro

Winter Sea
Producer/Director: Erika Tasini

UCLA

Kilroy Was Here

In France, during WWII, a stranded American pilot hangs helplessly from his parachute, tangled in a massive tree, where he is soon discovered by a group of orphaned children.

Producer: Laura Marciniak

Director: Charlie Boyles

North Carolina School of the Arts-School of Filmmaking

You Are NOT Special

Director: Jonathan Parris

Middle Tennessee State University

City Stage at Level 5

Quake

Director: Peter Shanel

American Film Institute

Penny

A young man wakes up outside after a night he does not remember. He discovers clues as to the whereabouts of Penny, the girl he was with the night before but who is mysteriously missing. These clues lead him to remember the events of the past night.

Producer/Director: Andrew Kightlinger

Augustana College

Bottle Tree
A young man overwhelmed by pain from the loss of his mother, journeys into the underworld as he tries to free himself from his parlaying grief.

Producer/Director: Edward Tyndall

University of North Carolina – Greensboro

The Metal Wings

A college student must convince her genius brother to use his invention – a pair of rocket-propelled metal wings – to aid in her search for a missing girl.

Producer/Director: Lee Fanning

University of Alabama

Ghost Busted

A woman living alone hires a “professional” ghost hunter to investigate her haunted house, but all is not what it seems!

Director: Vance Null

Peoria High School (AZ)

Protest

This piece is a short documentary dealing with an on-campus anti-abortion rally that quickly becomes heated. A right wing Christian group shows up with signs, and the students rally to show their discontent. The situation worsens when it becomes apparent that many members of the Christian organization were under the age of 15, some even as young as seven, holding up disgusting images of aborted fetuses, in the middle of the afternoon instead of being at school. The piece quickly went from being about abortion, to being about children. How much is too much, too early?

Director: Erin Zerbe

Virginia Commonwealth University

Growing Old Disgracefully

Gerald, a resident in an oppressive retirement home, discovers life is still there to be lived. Consuela, a sprightly older and sensual woman, moves in, and is not quite ready to be put on the shelf. Consuela takes Gerald out for a day of fun and romance. But will these two be able to sneak back in undetected by the tyrannical nurse who rules the home?

Producer: Michael Flores

Director: Edward Osei-Gyimah

University of Southern California

Sustainable Table: What's on Your Plate?

Sustainable Table is a feature documentary that takes an unadulterated look into the food you eat. What’s on your plate? Where does it come from? What effects does it have on the environment and your body? What can you do to help? There are many questions about the sustainability of our current agricultural practices. This film tries to find some of the answers to problems that we face today and will face tomorrow.

Producer/Director: Mischa Hedges

Chapman University

Surrealism

Director: Brooks Cruzen

Cypress Creek High School