Powerful films making strong statements comprise this collection of dramatic shorts.
In this program
Broken Bird
Directed by
Rachel Harrison Gordon
U.S.
2020
10 minutes
English
Birdie, a biracial girl raised by her Jewish mom, spends a rare visitation day with her father while preparing for her bat mitzvah.
Program
Circus Person
Directed by
Britt Lower
U.S.
2020
17 minutes
English
Inspired by the woman her fiancé left her for, a grieving painter joins a one-ring circus to reclaim her forgotten wildness.
Program
Class
Directed by
Enzo Cellucci & Ash McNair
U.S.
2020
18 minutes
English
When Max attends his first-ever acting class, he soon discovers that the lines between class and cult begin to blur.
Program
It's Nothing
Directed by
Anna Maguire
U.K.
2019
16 minutes
English
Encouraged by an impossibly perfect girl, a recent graduate who has returned to her parents’ house obsessively starts to dig a hole and heads further down a path of self-destruction.
Program
Josiah
Directed by
Kyle Laursen
U.S.
2019
20 minutes
English
Best of Fest Short. A Black actor auditions for a part in a period television series.
Program
Post Rock
Directed by
Jason Affolder
U.S.
2020
13 minutes
English
Tensions erupt between the members of a struggling rock band after the best show of their cross-country tour.
Program
The Speech
Directed by
Haohao Yan
U.S.
2019
25 minutes
Chinese
When Beijing goes under lockdown during the SARS outbreak in 2003, three 8-year-old girls inside a private boarding school have to find a way to make sense of the world.
Program