Der Vater (The Father) (15:16 min., Canon 5D Mark 2)
Near the end of WWII, the vicious SS recruited every able man to fight on the
front lines in an attempt to push back the allies and further eradicate the Jews.
When Erich, a peaceful man and father of two, is recruited, tragic circumstance
befalls him as he is ordered to kill two Jewish children. Now he must decide
between murdering the children or aiding their escape, knowing that doing so will
result in his own death.
Filmmaker: James T. Moore - San Antonio, Texas
James T. Moore has taken special interest in the action genre, having directed
four short films that encompass shootouts, car chases and bank robberies.
Heavily influenced by the works of Michael Mann and Martin Scorsese, he is
striving to create his own artistic vision within the realm of action drama. In the
past year, James has moved from Texas to Los Angeles and is currently a
production executive for the production/management company, Generate LA, in
addition to forming his own company, Shift Point Productions, which has
produced music videos, commercials, and most recently a pilot for the Food
Network. James is prepping his debut feature film with plans to shoot back home
in Texas.
Katrina's Son (15:00 min., Canon EOS 7D)
After losing his grandmother during Hurricane Katrina, a young boy travels to
San Antonio, TX to find his mother, who abandoned him years earlier.
Filmmaker: Ya'Ke Smith - Fort Worth, Texas.
Ya'Ke Smith has made a name for himself as a filmmaker with a veracious style
of storytelling that takes an unflinching look at issues facing today's society. His
films have won awards at over 40 film festivals, including the Cannes
International Film Festival, the American Black Film Festival, and they have
played on HBO, Showtime and BET. He is also the recipient of a Directors Guild
of America Student Film Award, a regional Student Academy Award, and an
HBO Short Film Award. Ya'Ke graduated with his Master's of Fine Arts degree
from the University of Texas at Austin's film program and is currently an Assistant
Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. He is currently fundraising for
his debut feature which he plans to shoot in the near future in Texas.
www.exodusfilmworks.com
Love Bug (6:00 min., Hi-Def)
Turtle wants to ask Maddy to the elementary school dance. But can he work up
the guts?
Filmmaker: Kat Candler - Austin, Texas
Kat Candler has written, produced, and directed several short films and two
feature films, cicadas and jumping off bridges. Her films have screened at
SXSW, Slamdance, Los Angeles Film Festival, The National Institutes of Health,
The Carter Center, IFC.com, and PBS. Her scripts have placed as a finalist in the
2002 Chesterfield Fellowship Competition, Semi-Finalist in the 2002 Sundance
Screenwriter's Lab, as participants in IFP Market's Emerging Narrative and won
Grand Prize at the 2005 Rhode Island International Screenplay Competition.
Candler's upcoming third feature as director, The Spider in the Bathtub, cowritten with Chris Mass (Chalk), is in development at LAF Studios with Victoria
Fredrick and Terrence Howard to produce. Candler's teen thriller screenplay,
Love Me, is set up at Dolphin Entertainment. Candler currently teaches as a
Lecturer in the film program at the University of Texas at Austin.
www.candlerproductions.com
Filmmaker: Mnemosyne Rising (20:08 min., 35mm)
Set to return to Earth, a deep-space transmitter pilot begins to experience
unusual flashbacks while in orbit around a newly-discovered moon.
Miguel Alvarez - Austin, Texas
A native of San Antonio, Miguel Alvarez holds degrees in both engineering and
filmmaking. He has received awards from the Directors Guild of America,
Panavision's Emerging Filmmaker program, the National Hispanic Foundation for
the Arts, the Hamptons International Film Festival, and the Texas Filmmakers
Production Fund for his previous short films, Tadpoles, Veterans, and KID. His
just-completed short film, Mnemosyne Rising, was also a Texas Filmmaker
Production Fund grant recipient and a recent award winner at the 2010 Cine Las
Americas Film Festival. He has resided in Austin for the last ten years and is
currently writing his first feature, Atlantic City. estebandido.com
The Natural Order Of Things (31:49 min., RED ONE/4K)
A story about fathers and sons, of luck and fate.
Filmmaker: Van Blumreich - Houston, Texas
Van Alan Blumreich is an independent filmmaker hailing from Houston, TX.
Through his Vantage Point Productions he has written, produced, and directed
music videos for notable artists such as Better Than Ezra, Copeland, The
Presidents of the U.S.A, Regina Belle, and more, for U.S record labels Warner
Music, Universal Music, and EMI. He has also been on the NBC Today Show
production team during the past two Olympic Games in Beijing, China and
Vancouver, Canada. Van has a passion for storytelling and hopes to move an
audience with strong character pieces, and although his subject matters may
seem dark and depressing, he assures you that he himself is quite a happy
person. www.vabvideo.com
Never Do This (2:15 min., Hi-Def)
A series of shorts depicting things that should never be done.
Filmmaker: Scott Rice - Austin, Texas
Scott Rice's short films account for more than 250 film festival screenings and 85
awards. He is an Addy Award-winning director of national commercials,
screenwriter and periodic lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin. Rice
recently wrote, produced and directed two web series for Sony Pictures and MTV
Networks. His work has been seen on Comedy Central, Showtime and PBS.
scottricefilms.com
Dog Ghost (13:00 min)
Nine year old Helen goes searching for her lost dog, which she believes is on an
islandnear her home.
Filmmaker: writer/director Cal Robertson - Stratford, CT,
DOG GHOST is set in writer/director Cal Robertson’s hometown, Stratford, CT,
and centers on an island, Charles Island, that has inspired Robertson’s
imagination since childhood, looking at it from the beach near his grandparent’s
house. Mysterious stories and images have been passed down to him through
the years and have been the subject of several of his films. The two lead actors
of the film, Helen and Eleanor Lefever, are both non-actors and sisters in real life.
They live on the same block the director grew up on.