As the Dust SettlesDeep in the Nevada desert, 50,000 people met up at an event called Burning Man. Twelve people captured their experience of this profound social experiment about creation, destruction, and finding equal value in both. A hard look in the mirror, made them confront their fatal flaws. For one week, life accelerates to light speed, and as the dust settles you realize you are alive. |
Box ElderBox elder bugs are loud, scary looking, and dependent on group swarming. Yet, they’re also completely harmless. Using this metaphor to address a generation, Box Elder is an unapologetic portrait of a youth movement at odds with its own ambivalence, exposing a generation defined by privilege, potential, and self-induced paralysis. The film follows four best friends through their last years of college. Dependant on their parents financially, they take turns postponing responsibility, avoiding accountability, and looking for someone or something to substantiate their lives. It’s a collegiate love letter. |
Eloquent GraffitiDuring the first few hours of the new year, Nicolette and Henry, embark on a late-night journey to the airport. Henry is meeting his estranged girlfriend there, while Nicolette is leaving the city for good. These two individuals, together, but very much alone, find in each other a person who sees them as they truly are, and an understanding of what it takes to make a change. |
For Thousands of MilesFor Thousands of Miles is a documentary about the shift in perspective after traveling alone by bicycle from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic ocean. Sharing people’s motivations to leave everything behind, and to understand what they each take away from their overwhelming and painful journeys. |
Harmony and MeJessica has broken up with Harmony, and she has moved on. Harmony has not. He’s hung up on how he could have done things differently. His family is tired of hearing about her; his friends can’t see what he saw in her in the first place; and his co-workers hit on her at the office Christmas party. The 30-year-old is at a crossroads, consumed with regret, and looks to his nearest and dearest for solace. Finding none, he decides instead to try and convince a woman who now barely acknowledges his existence to want him around again. |
Heart of NowDevastated by her boyfriend’s sudden withdrawal from their relationship, a young woman with a profound longing for a sense of family descends into a physical and mental spiral that thrusts her back to the emotional wounds cut a decade ago. Using the screenplay as a guide, the filmmakers and principal cast collaborated to organically shape the characters, endeavoring to explore the story “in the moment” through guided improvisations. |
In Memory Of My FatherBoasting a top-notch ensemble cast, including Jeremy Sisto and Judy Greer, In Memory of My Father is an unfeigned plunge into second generation Hollywood royalty. Three brothers attempt to come to terms with their own quandaries, flaws, and failings amidst a bribe-driven documentation of their retired film producer father’s wake. A portrait of a self-proclaimed (somewhat justifiable) legend conveyed by the observation of his resulting, equally confused offspring on the day of his death. |
In Search OfInSearchOf is an unconventional drama where one hasty decision can force good people into severe circumstances. Desire will change everything. Zeke Zelker’s twisted tale of people searching for love, power, revenge, family, belonging and sex unfolds. Michael Rady leads this dynamic ensemble cast into the dark depths of human desire as a ruthless womanizer with a hidden agenda. An intense, spectacular, at times funny story, Zelker pulls no punches as he takes you through a world where a cheating wife, an OB-Gyn, an unsatisfied girlfriend, a high school virgin, a stripper and a prostitute will do anything to get what they want. |
Kids Go Free to Fun Fun TimeElephant Dreams Pictures’ first feature film Kids Go Free to Fun Fun Time follows an ever-evolving couple through the bustling masses of Tokyo, the tropical hills and crystal blue beaches of Taiwan; and after globetrotting their way into the art infested streets of Berlin, they discover a desire for an eternal life on the move and head deep into the forest and leave behind all of humanity. Kids Go Free to Fun Fun Time’s unique structure and story will be shot over the course of three and a half years. This time period will be followed in order to truly understand the people and culture in each location and to allow Elephant Dreams Pictures’ dynamic community of artists to achieve their greatest work to date. |
A Lonely Place For DyingIn 1972, the conflict in Vietnam continues. The creeping threat of communism grips the nation in fear. In an abandoned prison on the US/Mexican border, KGB mole Nikolai Dzerzhinsky waits for his contact from the Washington Post. He holds explosive evidence against the CIA, information he will trade for asylum in the United States. Special Agent Robert Harper’s orders are clear: take the documents from Dzerzhinsky and kill him. |
On The Road With JudasWriter/director JJ Lask adapted his darkly comic satire On the Road With Judas from his best-selling 2002 novel of the same name. Set in the early 1990s, the story follows a seemingly conservative New York businessman (Napoleon Dynamite’s Aaron Ruell) who moonlights as a cutthroat computer thief. Lask employs an eclectic combination of formal elements in his creation of the film, including fictional narrative, pseudo-documentary, and several additional storytelling modes. Leo Fitzpatrick, Kevin Corrigan and Eddie Kaye Thomas co-star. |
Play With FireThe sun begins to rise but for some the night is still going. The hum from the smelter takes over the morning radiance. Then the shift change gauges and the town rises. This is the suicide hour. Set in the gutters of an industrial town, ‘Play With Fire’ follows the unsettling life of Christian. His best friend, Joel - a flailing megalomaniac - pushes him into a corner by getting him involved in a scheme crossing the wrong people. The love of his life, Melody, gives him the chance to start over by leaving town with her. This is where Christian’s story of twisted loyalty, love and loss begins. |
The Red MachineHow do you steal something without stealing it? In 1935, professional thief Eddie Doyle is forced to help an icy Navy officer named Coburn break into the Washington DC apartment of a Japanese military attaché, dismantle a top-secret code machine, analyze it, then reassemble it without anyone knowing they’ve been there. Eddie is a brilliant thief, but he’s never tackled a job this big. Coburn was once a legendary spy, but after a notorious mission in Tokyo, he mysteriously shut himself down and ever since has accepted only the most isolated, menial assignments. As the caper unfolds, the two men begin to wonder, why them? Who’s really behind their mission? And can they trust each other enough to survive all the double-crosses coming their way? [official site] |
Registered Sex OffenderA registered sex offender discovers that the only thing worse than being sent to prison for his crime is trying to reintegrate into society once he’s released in this darkly comic tale starring Gabriel McIver, Kristin Tucker and Kevin Corrigan. |
SverigeA new series of short films about growth, change, comfort and exile. The story revolves around a young man studying in Uppsala, Sweden. In his journey, the man begins to explore new elements of everyday life. Heavily inspired by Krzysztof Kie?lowski’s The Decalogue, Sverige brings some universal truth to simple day tasks. |
UnsettledDuring the Gaza withdrawal, three young Israelis are forced from their homes, two soldiers are sent to evict them, and one activist tries to help her country avoid a war. UNSETTLED is the story of a generation on the front lines of a nation’s battle against itself. |
What’s Up LovelyIn the dead of night, a recently unemployed insomniac wanders the streets of New York discovering a city beyond her wildest imagination. Luci loses her job and times are tougher than ever. Unable to sleep, she begins an after-hours journey embarking on a series of strange encounters as she wanders the dark metropolis. During one unforgettable night, Luci comes face to face with her innermost fears and desires as she tries to find her way back home. Based on a concept by Jenn Dees and Gary King, WHAT’S UP LOVELY is a drama about the struggle to survive the city while battling the enemy within ourselves. |
White KnucklesJulie, a sweet, subdued career housewife seems perfectly content in her life with her record player, houseplants, cooking despite her irritable husband of 40 years whose hobbies are sleeping and/or watching tv on the couch. Provoked into a sudden state of fear – Julie’s once innocent eyes now become watchful and suspicious, and her perception of reality makes a dark shift. Her husband William is both the unsuspecting victim faced with his mortality; and the self-loathing villain guilty of bad decisions and haunting karma. Between them is an escalating WAR. |
You Wont Miss MeA kaleidoscopic film portrait of Shelly Brown, a twenty-three-year-old alienated urban misfit recently released from a psychiatric hospital. Starring Stella Schnabel, featuring Rene Ricard and introducing other notable New York personalities, the film gives pathos to the frenzy of the youthful desire for acceptance. Shot in a variety of styles and formats, YOU WONT MISS ME mixes non-actors with professionals, verité with staging, order with abstraction, to paint an evocative picture of a contemporary rebel. |
