Synopsis

Chicago’s own McKenzie Chinn stars as a struggling artist, navigating work and romance in the Windy City. When her boyfriend asks her to drop everything and move cross-country, she soon discovers that she might be the biggest obstacle to her own happiness. Featuring a revelatory central performance, Olympia is a sensitive look at the challenges of embracing adulthood.

Synopsis

Tensions flare between 30 year-old Nadine and her boyfriend Karim as they go to elaborate means to dispose of their used condom before her parents return home. The different cultural expectations imposed on the two become apparent, bringing unspoken conflicts to the surface.

This film screens as part of the Dramatic Shorts: Talk To Me program.

Synopsis

From unforgettable chance encounters to complex lifelong relationships, these powerful films from visionary auteurs explore the depth of human connections, the transcendent nature of shared language, and the ways life’s twists and turns can strengthen — or challenge — those bonds. Featuring works by Adebukola Bodunrin, Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan, Tara Shehata, Rúnar Rúnarsson, and Alkis Papastathopoulos.

In We Are Not Alone (Canada, United States), a young Nigerian immigrant enlists the help of a stranger to communicate with an extraterrestrial vessel approaching Earth that promises to take her away from a lonely world. A man who lives in the forest may be the cause of a series of disasters plaguing a small village in Vox Humana (Philippines, United States, Singapore). Alone with You (Lewahdena) (Egypt) explores the weight of cultural expectations on an Egyptian couple in their thirties. A lonely man struggles to hide his alcohol addiction during an important reunion with an estranged loved one in O (Iceland, Sweden). And in Honeymoon (Greece, France, Cyprus), a road trip is troubled by transphobic violence against two best friends, and the fluctuating emotions between them.

Synopsis

A dedicated security guard in Beirut finds his assignment of guarding a waterfront construction site much more difficult than he thought. Delightful and romantic, this surrealist comedy gives us a glimpse into the ups and downs of a man who dares to dream beyond his reality.

This film screens as part of the Comedic Shorts: Doing the Most program.

Synopsis

Unbound obsessions and delusional desires fuel these hilarious shorts that embody the essence of “fake it ‘til you make it!” From the delightfully heartwarming to the absolutely bonkers, these films remind us to dream big, live large, and leave it all on the field. Featuring works by Natalia García Agraz, Isabel Perry, Adam Yates, Stéphanie Bélanger, Luisa Arraes, Chris Cole, and Wissam Charaf.

In Passarinho (Mexico), two teenage best friends devise a plan to meet their dreamy idol, a superstar Brazilian soccer player. But things change when one of them gets their first period at the game. Fishbowl (United States) captures the joy and futility of trying to relive one’s youth when an unlikely pair of twentysomethings spend a summer weekend doing whatever it takes to forget their exes — and also keep a goldfish alive. Lumen (Canada) takes “the customer is always right” to new heights when an isolated woman discovers that her Facebook Marketplace order has been canceled. A wealthy matriarch’s important work dinner is thrown into disarray when her housekeeper doesn’t show up in Dadá (Dependências) (Brazil). Out of options, a grandson tries to save his hospitalized grandmother’s life with a freestyle rap, and finds himself joined by a handful of unlikely participants in Terminally Ill (United States). And a dedicated security guard finds his assignment guarding a waterfront construction site to be much more difficult than he thought in If the Sun Drowned into an Ocean of Clouds (Et si le soleil plongeait dans l’océan des nues) (France, Lebanon).