December 10 | 7 PM
The Brattle, 40 Brattle St. Cambridge, MA, USA
Awards, live screenings, & filmmaker Q&A featuring local and international shorts.
All films are presented in English or in their original language with English subtitles
The Brattle, 40 Brattle St. Cambridge, MA, USA
Awards, live screenings, & filmmaker Q&A featuring local and international shorts.
All films are presented in English or in their original language with English subtitles
Cut Me Summa Dat Noise - Cara Hagan, US, 6:11, Dance
Rosa - Rafaela Astudillo , US, 3:17, Experimental
Moving Room - Gyani Pradhan Wong Ah Sui, US, 16:59, Experimental
Chora - Ao Wei, UK, 8:05, Animated
The Streetlight - Sophia Parella, US, 6:48, Drama
Gab - Hogan Seidel, US, 3:14, Experimental
Cold Feet - Anna Vecellio, US, 7:53, Horror
Anniversary - Stephanie Ibarra, Anna Torzullo, US, 3:50, Music Video
Gina Kamentsky’s Pinocchio in 70mm -Gina Kamentsky, US, 3:12, Animated, Experimental
Beep test - Nina Zehri, Pakistan/US, 9:00, Drama, Horror
Sails of Sorrow - Artemisia Refle, Austria, 10:30, Comedy
Tan/Vatan - Homa Sarabi, Meenakshi Garodia, US, 7:34, Experimental
Into the Emerald Sea - Asuka Lin, Japan, 20:14, Drama
Rosa - Rafaela Astudillo , US, 3:17, Experimental
Moving Room - Gyani Pradhan Wong Ah Sui, US, 16:59, Experimental
Chora - Ao Wei, UK, 8:05, Animated
The Streetlight - Sophia Parella, US, 6:48, Drama
Gab - Hogan Seidel, US, 3:14, Experimental
Cold Feet - Anna Vecellio, US, 7:53, Horror
Anniversary - Stephanie Ibarra, Anna Torzullo, US, 3:50, Music Video
Gina Kamentsky’s Pinocchio in 70mm -Gina Kamentsky, US, 3:12, Animated, Experimental
Beep test - Nina Zehri, Pakistan/US, 9:00, Drama, Horror
Sails of Sorrow - Artemisia Refle, Austria, 10:30, Comedy
Tan/Vatan - Homa Sarabi, Meenakshi Garodia, US, 7:34, Experimental
Into the Emerald Sea - Asuka Lin, Japan, 20:14, Drama
Cut Me Summa Dat Noise
Dir. Cara Hagan
Cut Me Summa Dat Noise is a film that celebrates the rhythms of everyday life through the eyes of a neighborhood matriarch who sets the tone for a new day with the beat of her own heart. As the neighborhood comes to life, people of all ages unite in a joyous cacophony of sound that illuminates the connections between them as members of a vibrant and diverse community in rhythm.
Cara Hagan (She/They) is a mover, maker, writer, curator, champion of just communities, and a dreamer. She believes in the power of art to upend the laws of time and physics, a necessary occurrence in pursuit of liberation. In their work, no object or outcome is sacred; but the ritual to get there is. Hagan’s newest short film, “Cut Me Summa Dat Noise,” is set to premiere in early 2025 having been completed in the fall of 2024. Other recent work has included, "were we birds?,” an immersive, site-specific dance work commissioned as part of the 90th anniversary season of the American Dance Festival. Hagan is author of the book, Screendance from Film to Festival: Celebration and Curatorial practice, published in 2022 by McFarland. Her most recent scholarly article, Dancing For Laughs: Signifyin(g) Bodies and the Black American Sitcom was published in a special issue of the Cultural Studies Journal and was awarded the 2024 Gertrude Lippincott Award for best English-Language article from the Dance Studies Association. Cara works as Associate Professor and Program Director for the MFA in Contemporary Theatre Performance.
Dir. Cara Hagan
Cut Me Summa Dat Noise is a film that celebrates the rhythms of everyday life through the eyes of a neighborhood matriarch who sets the tone for a new day with the beat of her own heart. As the neighborhood comes to life, people of all ages unite in a joyous cacophony of sound that illuminates the connections between them as members of a vibrant and diverse community in rhythm.
Cara Hagan (She/They) is a mover, maker, writer, curator, champion of just communities, and a dreamer. She believes in the power of art to upend the laws of time and physics, a necessary occurrence in pursuit of liberation. In their work, no object or outcome is sacred; but the ritual to get there is. Hagan’s newest short film, “Cut Me Summa Dat Noise,” is set to premiere in early 2025 having been completed in the fall of 2024. Other recent work has included, "were we birds?,” an immersive, site-specific dance work commissioned as part of the 90th anniversary season of the American Dance Festival. Hagan is author of the book, Screendance from Film to Festival: Celebration and Curatorial practice, published in 2022 by McFarland. Her most recent scholarly article, Dancing For Laughs: Signifyin(g) Bodies and the Black American Sitcom was published in a special issue of the Cultural Studies Journal and was awarded the 2024 Gertrude Lippincott Award for best English-Language article from the Dance Studies Association. Cara works as Associate Professor and Program Director for the MFA in Contemporary Theatre Performance.
Rosa
Dir. Rafaela Astudillo
This short experimental film was created to preserve memory as an art form. The narrative follows through memories from my great-grandmother Rosa, who suffers from senile dementia. The conservation of memories is an essential part in finding my own and my family’s identity.
My art is my voice; it tells my experience as a human in this world, it voices those close to me, and it helps me build my identity. My work speaks about the experiences of the communities that I am part of. One of my main focuses is giving a platform to those who cannot advocate for themselves, are simply not recognized, or have suffered different forms of erasure. My art also shows viewers new ways of using materials that are not centered around monetary influence, therefore, recycling materials is an essential part of my artistic process. Currently a Junior in college pursuing a bachelor in Fine Arts with a minor in Cinema Studies.
Dir. Rafaela Astudillo
This short experimental film was created to preserve memory as an art form. The narrative follows through memories from my great-grandmother Rosa, who suffers from senile dementia. The conservation of memories is an essential part in finding my own and my family’s identity.
My art is my voice; it tells my experience as a human in this world, it voices those close to me, and it helps me build my identity. My work speaks about the experiences of the communities that I am part of. One of my main focuses is giving a platform to those who cannot advocate for themselves, are simply not recognized, or have suffered different forms of erasure. My art also shows viewers new ways of using materials that are not centered around monetary influence, therefore, recycling materials is an essential part of my artistic process. Currently a Junior in college pursuing a bachelor in Fine Arts with a minor in Cinema Studies.
Moving Room
Dir. Gyani Pradhan Wong Ah Sui
Karma, an international high school student from Sikkim struggles to fit in and hold onto his cultural identity when he is stuck at home for the day with his host sibling, Alex. Alex pressures Karma to smoke as the pair watch TV and embark on a spiritual adventure before things take a turn for the worse. Karma must choose between being accepted in a new cultural setting while remaining true to himself.
Gyani Pradhan Wong Ah Sui is a filmmaker, photographer and visual artist born and raised in Sikkim, India and Mauritius. At the age of 15 they left their friends and family in Sikkim to study in the United States. As they grew into adulthood away from home, they also gradually began to experience an untethering from their cultural roots and the notable absence of something intangible when they did return. Their work in both film and photography has been shaped by this, dealing with the themes of liminal anguish and diasporic melancholia. Each piece is an attempt to synthesize their relationship with the places they have called home and the soil under their feet. They attended Clark University, Worcester, MA, where they received their Bachelor in Arts in Screen Studies and they currently work as a freelance filmmaker based in Worcester.
Dir. Gyani Pradhan Wong Ah Sui
Karma, an international high school student from Sikkim struggles to fit in and hold onto his cultural identity when he is stuck at home for the day with his host sibling, Alex. Alex pressures Karma to smoke as the pair watch TV and embark on a spiritual adventure before things take a turn for the worse. Karma must choose between being accepted in a new cultural setting while remaining true to himself.
Gyani Pradhan Wong Ah Sui is a filmmaker, photographer and visual artist born and raised in Sikkim, India and Mauritius. At the age of 15 they left their friends and family in Sikkim to study in the United States. As they grew into adulthood away from home, they also gradually began to experience an untethering from their cultural roots and the notable absence of something intangible when they did return. Their work in both film and photography has been shaped by this, dealing with the themes of liminal anguish and diasporic melancholia. Each piece is an attempt to synthesize their relationship with the places they have called home and the soil under their feet. They attended Clark University, Worcester, MA, where they received their Bachelor in Arts in Screen Studies and they currently work as a freelance filmmaker based in Worcester.
Chora
Dir. Ao Wei
I have created a world called "Chora", a world of pre-linguistic order, a maternal space where "Chora" is both a living being with changing emotions and an architectural body with its own order.
The world actually suggests the circulation and flow of energy within the female reproductive system，a raw female power.
Ao Wei (China,1999) ,Space designer, Animation director and Visual artist. Bachelor's Degree from China Academy of Art in 2020 and Distinction Master's Degree from London College of Art in 2023.
Dir. Ao Wei
I have created a world called "Chora", a world of pre-linguistic order, a maternal space where "Chora" is both a living being with changing emotions and an architectural body with its own order.
The world actually suggests the circulation and flow of energy within the female reproductive system，a raw female power.
Ao Wei (China,1999) ,Space designer, Animation director and Visual artist. Bachelor's Degree from China Academy of Art in 2020 and Distinction Master's Degree from London College of Art in 2023.
The Streetlight
Dir. Sophia Parella
A man gains a deeper understanding of purpose after helping a talking streetlight through its existential crisis.
Sophia Parella is a writer/director inspired by quiet, dark spaces, where the eyes strain to see. Where an intent stare in the dark finds indistinct outlines grow fuzzy and begin to shift. Her stories focus on inanimate objects, houses, and places alive with emotional energy from the past.
Dir. Sophia Parella
A man gains a deeper understanding of purpose after helping a talking streetlight through its existential crisis.
Sophia Parella is a writer/director inspired by quiet, dark spaces, where the eyes strain to see. Where an intent stare in the dark finds indistinct outlines grow fuzzy and begin to shift. Her stories focus on inanimate objects, houses, and places alive with emotional energy from the past.
Gab
Dir. Hogan Seidel
This piece continues my exploration of nature alongside significant queer individuals in my life. Filmed across various forests, arboretums, and gardens in Seattle and Vancouver with artist and friend Gabby Follett, this film employs intricate visual layering, hand-processed film, and biofeedback sound to delve into themes of queer ecology. The work celebrates the beauty of non-hierarchical, non-binary, and non-human-centric ways of experiencing queerness in and as part of nature.
Born and raised in the American South, Hogan Seidel is an interdisciplinary artist with a creative presence in Boston and Seattle. Their moving image art has been featured in prestigious festivals, including Alchemy, Analogica, Onion City, and Istanbul Experimental. Their work has been shown at museums and galleries such as the Belvedere Contemporary Art Museum, The Boston Center for the Arts, Cyber Arts New Media Gallery, Fountain Street Gallery, Gallery 263, and the Clemente. Hogan has received funding and support for their work from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Collective Futures, and the United States Artists Grant. They are a recent alum of the Studios at MASS MoCA Artist Residency.
Dir. Hogan Seidel
This piece continues my exploration of nature alongside significant queer individuals in my life. Filmed across various forests, arboretums, and gardens in Seattle and Vancouver with artist and friend Gabby Follett, this film employs intricate visual layering, hand-processed film, and biofeedback sound to delve into themes of queer ecology. The work celebrates the beauty of non-hierarchical, non-binary, and non-human-centric ways of experiencing queerness in and as part of nature.
Born and raised in the American South, Hogan Seidel is an interdisciplinary artist with a creative presence in Boston and Seattle. Their moving image art has been featured in prestigious festivals, including Alchemy, Analogica, Onion City, and Istanbul Experimental. Their work has been shown at museums and galleries such as the Belvedere Contemporary Art Museum, The Boston Center for the Arts, Cyber Arts New Media Gallery, Fountain Street Gallery, Gallery 263, and the Clemente. Hogan has received funding and support for their work from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Collective Futures, and the United States Artists Grant. They are a recent alum of the Studios at MASS MoCA Artist Residency.
Cold Feet
Dir. Anna Vecellio
A woman struggling with intimacy invites her girlfriend over for a sleepover, only to discover there's something much scarier than emotional availability lurking under her bed.
Anna Vecellio is a queer, southern filmmaker whose work explores the nature of identity through a genre lens. She is a Nicholl semi-finalist and an alum of the Film Independent Episodic Lab - where she received an Alfred P. Sloan Grant. She was also awarded the 2022 AFI Writers Room Ready Award. Cold Feet is her directorial debut.
Dir. Anna Vecellio
A woman struggling with intimacy invites her girlfriend over for a sleepover, only to discover there's something much scarier than emotional availability lurking under her bed.
Anna Vecellio is a queer, southern filmmaker whose work explores the nature of identity through a genre lens. She is a Nicholl semi-finalist and an alum of the Film Independent Episodic Lab - where she received an Alfred P. Sloan Grant. She was also awarded the 2022 AFI Writers Room Ready Award. Cold Feet is her directorial debut.
Anniversary - Stephanie Ibarra, Anna Torzullo, US, 3:50, Music Video
Catskill based, Camp Saint Helene, cast a love spell in this 1970s camp-horror-prom music video.
Catskill based, Camp Saint Helene, cast a love spell in this 1970s camp-horror-prom music video.
Gina Kamentsky’s Pinocchio in 70mm
Dir. Gina Kamentsky
Pinocchio felt a longing deep within him. Someday, he would become a real girl and live a life beyond the confines of make-believe.
Gina Kamentsky is an experimental animator and sound artist based in Providence Rhode Island. Her anxious and joyful short films blast out at twenty-four frames per second searing eyeballs and sending waves of buzz and crackle into the ether.
Over her three decade career she’s progressed through numerous forms including painting, drawing and collaging on film, Rotoscope, Musique concrète, sound collage, stop motion and Pixilation.
Kamentsky’s films have screened at festivals nationally and worldwide including Ottawa International Animation Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Annecy International Animated Film Festival and Animator Festival in Poznań Poland.
Dir. Gina Kamentsky
Pinocchio felt a longing deep within him. Someday, he would become a real girl and live a life beyond the confines of make-believe.
Gina Kamentsky is an experimental animator and sound artist based in Providence Rhode Island. Her anxious and joyful short films blast out at twenty-four frames per second searing eyeballs and sending waves of buzz and crackle into the ether.
Over her three decade career she’s progressed through numerous forms including painting, drawing and collaging on film, Rotoscope, Musique concrète, sound collage, stop motion and Pixilation.
Kamentsky’s films have screened at festivals nationally and worldwide including Ottawa International Animation Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Annecy International Animated Film Festival and Animator Festival in Poznań Poland.
Beep Test
Dir. Nina Zehri
An overworked soccer player gives her all in a grueling beep test, only to find that impressing the coach is harder than she thought, as the coach's focus shifts to recruiting new talent and her place on the team becomes uncertain.
Nina Zehri is a director, editor and cinematographer currently based in Boston, MA. Born and raised in Pakistan, she has dedicated her efforts to creating impactful documentaries and narrative films that focus on climate change, women empowerment and social injustices. One of her recent achievements includes the selection of her short film "In Terram" at the Salem Film Festival. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Film and Media Art at Emerson College.
Dir. Nina Zehri
An overworked soccer player gives her all in a grueling beep test, only to find that impressing the coach is harder than she thought, as the coach's focus shifts to recruiting new talent and her place on the team becomes uncertain.
Nina Zehri is a director, editor and cinematographer currently based in Boston, MA. Born and raised in Pakistan, she has dedicated her efforts to creating impactful documentaries and narrative films that focus on climate change, women empowerment and social injustices. One of her recent achievements includes the selection of her short film "In Terram" at the Salem Film Festival. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Film and Media Art at Emerson College.
Sails of Sorrow
Dir. Artemisia Refle
A small group of family members has gathered for a funeral reception to bid a final farewell to Heinzi, the departed patriarch of the family. Expectations and worldviews of family members collide, leading to exchanges of trivialities and moments of rudeness, gradually thinning the table. Where has everyone disappeared to? A reflection on the wordlessness that accompanies grief.
Artemisia Refle was born in Munich in 1992 and grew up in Austria. She studied painting under the guidance of Professor Thomas Hartmann at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nürnberg. Following her graduation as a master's student, she relocated to Vienna, where she is presently immersed in the study of screenwriting and directing at Filmakademie Wien.
Dir. Artemisia Refle
A small group of family members has gathered for a funeral reception to bid a final farewell to Heinzi, the departed patriarch of the family. Expectations and worldviews of family members collide, leading to exchanges of trivialities and moments of rudeness, gradually thinning the table. Where has everyone disappeared to? A reflection on the wordlessness that accompanies grief.
Artemisia Refle was born in Munich in 1992 and grew up in Austria. She studied painting under the guidance of Professor Thomas Hartmann at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nürnberg. Following her graduation as a master's student, she relocated to Vienna, where she is presently immersed in the study of screenwriting and directing at Filmakademie Wien.
Tan/Vatan
Dir. Homa Sarabi & Meenakshi Garodia
Tan/Vatan -Body/Homeland- is a collaborative experimental film. A conversation between two women and their intimate experiences of love and life. The film embodies a symbolic form borrowed from the origin cultures of the artists, in India and Iran. "Tan" and "Vatan" are mutual words in Hindi and Persian language, sharing the same meaning and pronunciation. Artists utilize the language, the medium, and their bodies to connect and visualize their experiences while engaging with the mechanical and physical expression of 16mm and handmade film.
Homa Sarabi is a filmmaker, educator, and programmer from Iran. She is a member of the Feminist Futurist collective, a LEF Flaherty Fellow, and a Mass Cultural Council grantee. Through moving image installations, non-fiction storytelling, and media arts Homa explores the spaces of physical and emotional distance and connection, history, and personal and collective memory. In addition to her independent curatorial practice, she collaborates with the RPM Film Festival as a programmer and serves as the shorts program director for Salem Film Fest.
Meenakshi is a multimedia artist, a storyteller, a writer/director and an experimental filmmaker working in digital, installation, and 16mm film. She has written and directed multiple well received plays and short films with an emphasis on women’s agency. Her work explores women’s lives within the patriarchy and the immigrant experience. In addition to exploring these themes, elements of nature: earth, water, and fire, are recurrent in her work. She has been an Affiliate Faculty at Emerson College where she is also a candidate for an MFA in Film and Media Arts. Meenakshi holds an MBA and previously worked in corporate strategy at a fortune 500 company.
Dir. Homa Sarabi & Meenakshi Garodia
Tan/Vatan -Body/Homeland- is a collaborative experimental film. A conversation between two women and their intimate experiences of love and life. The film embodies a symbolic form borrowed from the origin cultures of the artists, in India and Iran. "Tan" and "Vatan" are mutual words in Hindi and Persian language, sharing the same meaning and pronunciation. Artists utilize the language, the medium, and their bodies to connect and visualize their experiences while engaging with the mechanical and physical expression of 16mm and handmade film.
Homa Sarabi is a filmmaker, educator, and programmer from Iran. She is a member of the Feminist Futurist collective, a LEF Flaherty Fellow, and a Mass Cultural Council grantee. Through moving image installations, non-fiction storytelling, and media arts Homa explores the spaces of physical and emotional distance and connection, history, and personal and collective memory. In addition to her independent curatorial practice, she collaborates with the RPM Film Festival as a programmer and serves as the shorts program director for Salem Film Fest.
Meenakshi is a multimedia artist, a storyteller, a writer/director and an experimental filmmaker working in digital, installation, and 16mm film. She has written and directed multiple well received plays and short films with an emphasis on women’s agency. Her work explores women’s lives within the patriarchy and the immigrant experience. In addition to exploring these themes, elements of nature: earth, water, and fire, are recurrent in her work. She has been an Affiliate Faculty at Emerson College where she is also a candidate for an MFA in Film and Media Arts. Meenakshi holds an MBA and previously worked in corporate strategy at a fortune 500 company.
Into the Emerald Sea
Dir. Asuka Lin
Suzu returns to their hometown from the depths of the ocean, reuniting with their grandmother who has been reborn into a sea turtle. Witnessing the marks of time left in a home that once was, Suzu grapples with the guilt of their disappearance.
Asuka Lin is a Japanese-Taiwanese filmmaker currently in Los Angeles, and co-founder of Total Blur Films. Their work wanders from anarchic cyberpunk to meditative folktales, united by themes of yearning and conflicting realities.
Dir. Asuka Lin
Suzu returns to their hometown from the depths of the ocean, reuniting with their grandmother who has been reborn into a sea turtle. Witnessing the marks of time left in a home that once was, Suzu grapples with the guilt of their disappearance.
Asuka Lin is a Japanese-Taiwanese filmmaker currently in Los Angeles, and co-founder of Total Blur Films. Their work wanders from anarchic cyberpunk to meditative folktales, united by themes of yearning and conflicting realities.
