PRESENTED BY THE ARTISTS FORUM STREAMING NOW - JAN 3, 2021 - New York City
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PRESENTED BY THE ARTISTS FORUM
STREAMING NOW - JAN 3, 2021
New York City
WELCOME! Welcome to THE ARTISTS FORUM FESTIVAL OF THE MOVING IMAGE: 2020! (#theartistsforumfilmfest). The festival returns for its fifth year with new, innovative programming. Originally scheduled from October 16 - November 14, 2020, our 2020 festival screenings have been extended until January 3, 2021. This years festival will showcase 42 short films, created by independent filmmakers originating from 16 countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chi- na, France, Iran, Italy, Japan, South Korea, North Macedonia, Philippines, Serbia, United Kingdom, and the United States. In addition to its traditional genres, this year’s festival will also feature a special themed category: New York Stories. View our 2020 Official Trailer The festival has been divided into four programs: PROGRAM I: Search for Belonging PROGRAM II: Agent(s) of Chaos PROGRAM III: Tales of the Heart PROGRAM IV: Acute Stress Response Read about each program on the proceeding pages. View our 2020 Sneak Peek For the first time, our festival is screening exclusively online! Tickets are available for all four programs on Vimeo. Each program can be purchased seperately for $4.99 or view the entire festival for $14.99 (a 25% discount). Vimeo is accessible on cross-platform devices including iOS/Android, Apple TV, Roku, and Chromecast. We encourage everyone to “#discoveryourself” by exploring new interests through the art of cinema. For complete festival information: theartistsforum.org The 2020 Closing Night Awards Ceremony can be viewed online. Check out our list of Nominees & Winners. THE ARTISTS FORUM INC., now in its 22nd year, is a New York City based non-profit arts service organization specializing in events, juried competitions, and media for artists. Its FESTIVAL OF THE MOVING IMAGE is the organization’s flagship program, and provides an unparalleled platform for emerging and mid-career filmmakers to share their stories with the world’s creative, media, and film communities. Join the conversation - Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Vimeo, and YouTube: @theartistsforum. Thank you for supporting THE ARTISTS FORUM. Enjoy the festival!
PROGRAM I: SEARCH FOR BELONGING
Extended to January 3, 2021
9 Films - 113 mins
In our first program, festival
filmmakers present stories with
characters seeking solace, family,
or a home to call their own. They
embrace their curiosities and pas-
sions by running to or away from
obstacles in their lives in hopes of
a happier outcome.
View Sneak Peek
Bambiland - 19:59 mins (2019)
Writer/Director: Danilo Stanimirovic (Serbia)
NARRATIVE (Student) - Strahinja, an acting
school grad, works as a clown in a kid’s ground.
Bambiland, a big amusement park in his home-
town, is now an abandoned, creepy place and
represent a metaphor for his generation in Serbia.
A Letter To Myself At 16 - 3:05 mins (2019)
Writer/Director: Claire Tankersley (US)
ANIMATION - I was sexually assaulted by a close
friend at a party in high school. Five years later,
there is so much that I wish I’d known when I
woke up the next morning.
Keep Me - 14:58 mins (2020)
Writer/Director: Evan Cutler Wattles (US)
NARRATIVE - A one night stand becomes far more
intimate than either participant could have predict-
ed when ulterior motives and old scars come to
light. World Premiere
PROGRAM I: SEARCH FOR BELONGING
Some Things Stay The Same - 3:57 mins (2020)
Writer/Director: Hiroshi Shafer (Japan)
MUSIC VIDEO - Music video created for the
band My Favorite Things for their song “Stay a
Little While.” A snail travels a great distance to
see the lover. World Premiere
Cloud Gazing - 7:30 mins (2019)
Writer/Director: Dianne Diep (Australia/US)
NEW YORK STORIES - After her umpteenth
move in NYC, a woman and her best friend em-
bark on a journey through imagination to a place
of child-like wonder. East Coast Premiere
Bananas Girl - 6:56 mins (2020)
Writer/Director: Shayna Connelly (US)
DOCUMENTARY - Seven year old Bananas Girl
asserts her independence, perfects the art of
the nonsequitur and navigates the boundaries
between herself and her mom.
Musician - 19:35 mins (2020)
Writer/Director: Mohsen Mehri Darouei (Iran)
NARRATIVE - Mahmoud is a very short man
who wishes he could play an upright bass. But the
instrument is too big for him.
North American Premiere
Susanna - 11:26 mins (2018)
Writers/Director: Oksana Mirzoyan (US)
NARRATIVE - In an isolated religious community,
a pregnant woman desperate to escape abusive
conditions stages a crime. To be found guilty
means life outside the gate - a risk she is willing
to take to be free. East Coast Premiere
Better Than Neil Armstrong - 20:00 mins (2018)
Writer/Director: Alireza Ghasemi (Iran)
NARRATIVE - Four kids start their journey to
the moon with the mission of finding a mysterious
place called The Redland but the gates of Red-
land are being guarded by a mischievous
snake. New York State Premiere
PROGRAM II: AGENT(S) OF CHAOS
Extended to January 3, 2021
10 Films - 121 mins
The title says it all: Stories of bro-
ken political promises, espionage,
sex trafficking, sexual assault, tox-
ic masculinity, murder, and geno-
cide sum up this block of work.
Messages from these filmmakers
should be kept in mind before
stuffing the ballot box this year.
View Sneak Peek
Realize Your Dreams - 3:02 mins (2019)
Writers/Director: Katie Colosimo (US)
EXPERIMENTAL - A personal and political retro-
spection of American values. World Premiere
Limbo - 17:20 mins (2019)
Writer/Director: Anthony Von Seck (Canada)
NARRATIVE - An intelligence operative
meets up with a conspiracy theorist to retrieve his
lost notebook. New York State Premiere
Echo - 7:07 mins (2020)
Writer/Director: Barzan Rostami (Iran)
ANIMATION - Echo is an animated story about
wildlife, environmental abuse, and its conse-
quences on the human race. East Coast Premiere
Me Llamo Jesus - 8:28 mins (2019)
Writers/Director: Cherie Song (US)
MUSIC VIDEO - After his father dies, a Mexican
immigrant teen must put his college dreams on
hold and take his father’s job at a horse ranch. He
soon discovers how much his father sacrificed for
their family. East Coast Premiere
PROGRAM II: AGENT(S) OF CHAOS
Barbie Dream House - 4:38 mins (2018)
Writer/Director: Susan Kouguell (US)
EXPERIMENTAL - A response to my former
employer, Harvey Weinstein, and to all the others.
Kaddish - 14:28 mins (2019)
Writer/Director: Razid Season (Bangladesh)
NARRATIVE - The emotional journey of a young
Ashkenazim who attempts to visit his mother’s
grave on the anniversary of her death during the
holocaust.
Crazy - 3:30 mins (2019)
Writer: J-Key, Director: Lee Milby (US)
MUSIC VIDEO - A young man wakes up in a mys-
terious warehouse with blood on his face and no
memory of how he got there.Stalked by nefarious
entities, he slowly remembers his fate and the
nightmare begins again.
Soledad - 9:49 mins (2020)
Writer/Director: Carlos Renaso (US)
NEW YORK STORIES (NARRATIVE) - After
arriving in the United States from a Caribbean
Island, Soledad makes a phone call to her older
sister where she learns her marriage may be a lie.
World Premiere
Waithood - 21:48 mins (2019)
Writer/Director: Louisiana Mees (Belgium)
NARRATIVE (STUDENT) - Five youngsters seek
entertainment in luxurious Airbnb’s that one of
them is cleaning for a meager fee. They look out
over a city in turmoil, daydreaming about
a world of possibilities. New York State Premiere
The Turnaround - 27:51 mins (2019)
Writer: Cuete Yesca, Director: Jahmal J. Holland
(US) NARRATIVE - Brothers B and Jay battle
habits of a hard upbringing when deciding to
leave gangster life. Now overwhelmed, B suffers
panic attacks and must find courage to get help
or be trapped in a gangster image.
PROGRAM III: TALES OF THE HEART
Extended to January 3, 2021
12 Films - 117 mins
In this program, our filmmakers
present multiple facets of the love
story: Stories of love, desire, as
well as feelings of loneliness and
betrayal.
View Sneak Peek
For While - 1:05 mins (2019)
Writer/Director: Jess Irish (US)
NEW YORK STORIES - Inspired by Emma
Lazarus’s famed poem welcoming immigrants to
the United States, this experimental video short
captures small moments of humanity within
the quotidian carriage of the NYC subway.
Remember/Tomorrow - 24:39 mins (2019)
Writer: Ari Veach, Director: Ari Veach & Ryan
Shuler (US) NEW YORK STORIES (NARRATIVE)
Two lovers embark on a journey across time and
space. Through a dream-like perception of reality,
they navigate within alternate possibilities of how
their lives may unfold.
BHC- 4:32 mins (2019)
Writer/Director: Moira Fett (US)
MUSIC VIDEO - In this one-shot music video for
Jeremy Stern’s BHC (Bank Car Heist), we find
ourselves drawn into the lives of four strangers
via their NYC apartment windows.
East Coast Premiere
Above The Angel - 6:17 mins (2019)
Writer/Director: Julian Olariu (France)
EXPERIMENTAL - A chronicle of a communist
afternoon: The evocation of a father’s 1970s trip
to Paris - his broken dreams, search for light and
a present he will not see.
PROGRAM III: TALES OF THE HEART
Align - 7:22 mins (2020)
Writer/Director: R.E. Wolfe (UK)
EXPERIMENTAL - A conceptual dance film that
presents two radically different dance forms: ballet
and pole dance… There is more that connects us
than divides us.
Songs for My Right Side - 26:46 mins (2020)
Writer/Director: Jeffrey C. Wray (US)
NARRATIVE - Rodger Smith is a flawed man in
pain who is trying to make things right in his life.
Only music can soothe his troubled soul.
East Coast Premiere
Ernest Messages - 16:00 mins (2019)
Writer: Maisa Chiang
Director: Cinder Chou & Ryan T. Perry (US)
NEW YORK STORIES - A 40-year-old comes
home from a great date and tries to leave the
perfect voicemail.
Red Flags - 7:59 mins (2020)
Writer: Ben Weiss, Director: Tess Goldwyn (US)
NEW YORK STORIES (NARRATIVE) - Lauren
and Nico weren’t expecting much from a Bumble
date. When they hit it off, it was almost too per-
fect. A darkly comic take on politics trickling down
to millennial dating. New York City Premiere
Carnival Daydream - 2:17 mins (2019)
Writer/Director: Kristyna Archer (US)
COMEDY - An ode to first experiences around
ones pre-teen crush. East Coast Premiere
Extinction Rebellion NYC - 6:00 mins (2020)
Writer/Director: Alexia Oldini & Steven Gray (Italy/
US) NEW YORK STORIES - Extinction Rebellion
NYC is a political short film featuring non-violent
direct actions undertaken by the climate justice
movement during Summer and Fall of 2019.
PROGRAM III: TALES OF THE HEART
A Touch on the Edge - 6:58 mins (2019)
Writer/Directors: Yige Seleny Xie (China)
NARRATIVE (Student) - A coming-of-age short
film centered around an 8 year old boy struggling
with his father’s relationship while growing up in a
single-family home that forces him to be
independent. US Premiere
Slow Jam Girl - 4:39 mins (2019)
Writer/Director: Jack Quint (US)
MUSIC VIDEO - Throwback video parodies: The
self-absorption of pop stars and playboys. A song
about a girl, with no girls in it.
PROGRAM IV: ACUTE STRESS RESPONSE
Extended to January 3, 2021
11 Films - 120 mins
In our final program, the stress of
living in our modern world trig-
gersthe ‘fight or flight’ response to
the extreme: panic, bitter angst,
road rage, fantasy, escapism, and
parallel timelines.
View Sneak Peek
Quarantine - 00:58 mins (2020)
Writers/Director: Margarita Mapa (Philippines)
ANIMATION (Student) - The relaxing nature of
quarantine grows droning and anxiety-inducing as
the days begin to blend together.
PROGRAM IV: ACUTE STRESS RESPONSE
Alone Together - 7:30 mins (2020)
Writer/Director: David Giardina (US)
MUSIC VIDEO - During the COVID-19 lockdown,
a New York City crooner gets a call to travel back
in time to perform at a swanky Manhattan night-
club in 1932. World Premiere
Fantasy Killer - 3:21 mins (2019)
Writers: Ivan Anderson
Director: Ivan Anderson & John Marty (US)
MUSIC VIDEO - A music video that’s the sensory
equivalent of taking video game drugs.
Horn - 8:00 mins (2018)
Writer/Director: Ghasideh Golmakani (Iran)
COMEDY - A businesswoman tries to find a place
to park her car to be on time for an important work
appointment. Men are disturbing her in the streets
of Tehran but she finds a solution to conclude the
business too.
The Stream X - 6:54 mins (2019)
Writer/Director: Hiroya Sakurai (Japan)
EXPERIMENTAL - In the man-made waterways
of rice paddies, water must follow artificial rules.
Nature is made abstract, giving rise to distinctly
new forms of beauty - a ballet of sound & motion
via algae and water. New York State Premiere
It’s Look Sunshine - 24:15 mins (2020)
Writer/Director: Seunghwan Kim (Korea)
NARRATIVE - Young-eun, lives with her mother,
a haenyo diver, in fishing village on Jeju Island.
She learns eco-friendly photography from her
friend Seung-hwan, who is a beachcomber.PROGRAM IV: ACUTE STRESS RESPONSE
Night at the Museum - 5:58 mins (2020)
Writer/Director: Peter Meng (US)
EXPERIMENTAL - Explore the galleries after
hours when a strange surreal unrest haunts the
artwork within. Witness the paintings spring to life
as you slip into another dimension and tap into
the subconscious mind of the artist.
The Time in Between the Seconds - 26:09 mins
(2019) Writer/Director: Mark Clauburg (US)
NARRATIVE - Wendy’s recovery from a tragic
event leads her to make a selfless decision.
Sticker - 18:46 mins (2019)
Director: Georgi M. Unkovski (North Macedonia)
NARRATIVE - After an unsuccessful attempt to
renew his car registration, Dejan falls in a bureau-
cratic trap that tests his resolve to be a responsi-
ble father.
Kopacabana - 13:33 mins (2019)
Writer: Fausto Fawcett (Brazil)
Director: Marcos Bonisson & Khalil Charif (Brazil)
EXPERIMENTAL - Experimental film set in
Copacabana - an epicenter of intercultural, social,
and sensory experiences.
Broken Like - 2:00 mins (2019)
Writer: The IZM (US)
Director: Stephen Rutterford (UK)
DARK THEMES - Angst in a basement :
Music video for The IZM’s “Broken Like.”
New York City PremiereSPECIAL THANKS
2020 FESTIVAL JURY: FESTIVAL AMBASSADORS:
Ashley Gerst, Stephen Hilyard, Rebecca L. Hargrove, Michael Inge
Henry Kanegsberg, Cary Patrick Martin,
Djordje Radovanovich, David Ranghelli, FESTIVAL GRAPHIC DESIGN:
Jose Carlos Teixeira, Jonathan Ullman, Vaishali Kriplani
Amos White V, Viktor Witkowski
FESTIVAL INTERNS:
FESTIVAL DIRECTOR: Amos White V NYIT: Shiyao Wei, Vaishali Kriplani, Julie
Zhu, Jeffrey Daurio, Eduardo Flores
BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Navarro, Erick Soliz, Jake Marturella-
Amos White V, Henry S. Kanegsberg, Jaramillo The New School: Yancong Yin,
Glynette Bowers Brown Stephy Hsu, Irene Xu
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS: NYIT SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT:
Christopher JP Mitchell, Esq., Graduate Marketing Course Special
Djordje Radovanovich Project w/ Dr. Deborah Y. Cohn, Westbury
Campus: Theresa Abraham, *Momna
FESTIVAL SUPPORTERS: Arshad, *Claudia Cortes Artigas, *Josephine
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Axis, Smruthi Balasubramanian, Nicholas
Carianne Carleo-Evangelist and Fern Carranza, *Rafal Charkiewicz, Javier
Zimbalist at NYC & Company, Rick Kinsel Hidalgo, *Eduard Imanov, *Shana Joseph,
and Elizabeth Boylan at Vilcek Foundation, Rakesh Khanna, Zachary Kleinwaks, *Xin
Beverley Prentice-Thomas, Steve Smith, Liu, Germaine Nishimirwe, *Matthew Otto,
and Bernie Anderson at Dolby Laboratories, *James Parise, Thomas Philips, *Natalie
Rich Speziale at Manhattan Neighborhood Reyes, *Suyog Sanklecha, Xenia Torres,
Network, Ricky Bradford at Swag Pros/The *Wenye Zhao
Graphix Center, Vimeo *Recipients of THE ARTISTS FORUM Award for
Outstanding Student Contribution to Service Learning
MEDIA SPONSOR:
Danny Otten at LinkNYC UNIVERSITY PARTNERS:
NYIT: Dr. Birasnav Muthraj, Dr. Deborah Y.
Cohn, Ellie Schwartz, Luzia Ogureck, Amy
2020 FESTIVAL PARTNERS:
Jack Gao, Sarah Ren, and Hanyang Song Bravo, Jessica Boudouris The New School:
at Smart Cinema USA, Andy and Anna at Marisa LoBianco, Austin Cartagena, Kevin
Bukreev
Filmfreeway
FESTIVAL PARTNERS FESTIVAL FUNDING
Funded in part by a
grant from the NYC &
Company Foundation
#theartistsforumfilmfest
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THE ARTISTS FORUM is a NYC based non-profit organization specializing in events, juried competitions, and media for artists.
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