2022 PROGRAM & RESULTS

Director:  Nate Boyer

DIFF Rating: PG-13

DIFF Notes/theme:  Sports Drama, Military, PTSD

Synopsis: Executive produced by Sylvester Stallone, “MVP” is based on the true story of the formation of Merging Vets & Players, which Boyer co-founded with Jay Glazer with the aim of empowering and connecting combat veterans and former professional athletes, providing them with a new team to assist with transition to civilian life and promote personal development.

DATE: SAT, September 24th
TIME: 1900-2100 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Em Johnson

DIFF Rating: PG-13

DIFF Notes/Theme:  Drama

Synopsis: A young circus performer, Poppy Valentine, is stuck under the harsh demands of her father and their community’s expectations. But while on a quick night out to let loose and have some fun with her friends, she finds herself captivated by small-town America, which then forces her to question everything.

DATE: SUN, September 25th
TIME: 1430-1630 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Graysorn Thavatt

DIFF Rating: PG-13

DIFF Notes/Theme:  Drama

Synopsis: A mother of two with a sketchy past earns her keep by washing windows at traffic lights, hoping to earn back the custody of her kids. After promising her daughter a birthday party, she fights the social services and break the rules to keep her word.

Director: Erwann Marshall

DIFF Rating: PG-13

DIFF Notes/Theme:  Drama

Synopsis: In the near future, a politician fresh off an electoral loss escapes to his family’s summer lake house. His vacation is disrupted by the appearance of his first love, who has just returned from a 20-year space voyage and hasn’t aged a day.

DATE: SUN, September 25th
TIME: 1000-1200 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: John Gray

DIFF Rating: PG-13

DIFF Notes/Theme:  Drama

Synopsis: All is not what it seems when a father and son have a violent confrontation on Christmas Eve.

DATE: SAT, September 24th
TIME: 1215-1415 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Daniel Merlot

DIFF Rating: R (graphic violence, language)

DIFF Notes/Theme:  Music, Experimental, Otherworldly

Synopsis: A blood thirsty Princess hunts down the last of the Indigo Elders for the immortal elixir inside his heart that will grant her the power to reign over the Kingdom for an Eternity!

Director: Roberto Gutiérrez del Álamo

DIFF Rating: PG-13+

DIFF Notes/Theme: Thriller

Synopsis: A mother slips a note through what used to be her child’s bedroom door. And someone, or something, answers from the other side.

DATE: SAT, September 24th
TIME: 1900-2100 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Ted-Hardy Carnac

DIFF Rating: PG-13

DIFF Notes/Theme:  Foreign Language Film, Drama

Synopsis: Emilie is struggling. After many unsuccessful interviews, the lively but clumsy 30 year-old finds herself under social pressure and fears to lose her home. Her hopes are high when she is called in for a new interview, but in this future society that plays by different rules, nothing goes as planned.

DATE: SUN, September 25th
TIME: 1000-1200 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Directors: Lee Anthony Smith, Gregory J. Bradley

DIFF Rating: NR

DIFF Notes/Theme: Industry

Synopsis: Two-Time-Academy-Award_Winning producer/writer, Albert S. Ruddy, tells the lively story of how he broke into the entertainment business and produced some of the most iconic motion pictures and TV shows of all time, including THE GODFATHER, MILLION DOLLAR BABY, THE LONGEST YARD, CANNONBALL RUN and HOGAN’S HEROES.

DATE: SUN, September 25th
TIME: 1900-2100 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Justin Stokes

DIFF Rating: NR

DIFF Notes/Theme: Historical

Synopsis: The life of motorcycle World Champion Ernst Degner and his incredible 1961 escape from Communist East Germany, changing the motor industry forever.

Directors: Chris Hite, Dennis Ford

DIFF Rating: NR

DIFF Notes/Theme: Historical, True Events

Synopsis: A combination of hurricane-force winds and the snapping of an electrical pole starts the Honda Canyon Fire on Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, early in the morning of December 20, 1977. Over a thousand people consisting of professional firemen and military personnel fight the fire. Outlier winds would increase to over a hundred miles per hour, making the firefight almost impossible.

DATE: SUN, September 25th
TIME: 1215-1415 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Mijie Li

DIFF Rating: Sensitive Content: Viewer Discretion Advised

DIFF Notes/Theme: Foreign Language Film, Sensitive subject matter (dog rescue/livestock)

Synopsis: Yang, an idealistic school teacher turned animal rescuer, is on a mission to stop the slaughtering of dogs in provinces where canine consumption is glorified as a cultural tradition. While a contentious animal protection law makes its way through the courts, she investigates with steely determination why countless pets nationwide are disappearing from their homes.

DATE: SAT, September 24th
TIME: 1215-1415 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Carolyn Saul

DIFF Rating: NR

DIFF Notes/Theme: Nostalgia, Relational

Synopsis: When the once familiar streets and buildings of the place you grew up in become something else, how do you reconcile your relationship with that place? What happens to your sense of ‘home’? “this bond i and Bondi” is a rumination on memories, change and a very special place.

DATE: SAT, September 24th
TIME: 1215-1415 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Iván Zamora

DIFF Rating: NR

DIFF Notes/Theme: Foreign Language Film, Cultural Sustainability

Synopsis: The film is a portrait of the daily life of Maseual and Tutunakú people of the Sierra Norte. Describes the diversity of work that maintains and sustains families and communities, narrates one of the most important activities; care and preservation of meliponas bees, an endemic species at risk, very important in the biodiversity of the territory and the health of the people.

DATE: SUN, September 25th
TIME: 1900-2100 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Stacey Souther

DIFF Rating: NR

DIFF Notes/Theme: Biography, Humanity, Actress

Synopsis: VALERIE is a documentary about legendary actress Valerie Perrine. From her Academy Nominated role as ‘Honey Bruce’ in LENNY, to her iconic role as ‘Eve Teschmacher’ in the original SUPERMAN, to her ongoing battle with Parkinson’s Disease – Valerie has been an inspiration for women, fellow actors and the the public at large.

Directors: Yain Joel, Rodriguez, Alvardo

DIFF Rating: NR

DIFF Notes/Theme: Foreign Language Film. Sensitive subject matter (struggle, survival, gender violence)

Synopsis: There is an uncountable amount of horror stories in Mexico around gender violence, and machismo. This is just a sample that is presented to our eyes through characters who tried to avoid that their story would end with a femicide. “We were all going to be queens” is a story of survival, but also of struggle, against institutions, and against men who insist on treating women as second-rate human beings

DATE: SUN, September 25th
TIME: 1215-1415 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Dennis Tae Wook Kim

DIFF Rating: NR

DIFF Notes/Theme: Experimental

Synopsis: An experimental animated short following a lone traveler as he ventures through a vast landscape inspired by the spatial solitude of Iceland. Along the way he finds large monuments that pay tribute to a personal body of sculptures and paintings from the artist’s past.

DATE: SUN, September 25th
TIME: 1645-1745 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Step C

DIFF Rating: NR

DIFF Notes/Theme:

Synopsis: This short film depicts the author’s fear of changes and distortions. How do you face these feelings in the past, present and in the future? It is as though the soul is broken into infinite pieces, but as long as we can survive, the Depths of night passes eventually.

DATE: SUN, September 25th
TIME: 1645-1745 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Farnoosh Abeo

DIFF Rating: NR

DIFF Notes/Theme:

Synopsis: In the land occupied with the sprayers army, no one has the right to grow any kind of plants either in public or private.
So many of the people and soldiers do not even know how dose a plant grows or look like, until one day one of the soldiers finds a seed buried deep down in the dust and his curiosity is just the beginning of something extraordinary, something big, something revolutionary.

Director: Nic Gregory

DIFF Rating: NR

DIFF Notes/Theme:

Synopsis: The journey of a lightning bolt from sky to ground highlights the saying “life flashes before your eyes”.

DATE: SUN, September 25th
TIME: 1645-1745 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Jonathan Pepe

DIFF Rating: NR

DIFF Notes/Theme:

Synopsis: Basin of Attraction presents itself as a fake wild-life documentary. The film questions the sacred relationship to objects and the different statuses conferred on them throughout their lives. Precious objects – votive offerings from the National Etruscan Museum in Villa Giulia – ornaments from churches or Roman sculptures, as well as contemporary detritus come together and evolve together in a kind of amniotic fluid.

DATE: SUN, September 25th
TIME: 1645-1745 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Oksana Bronevitskaia

DIFF Rating: NR

DIFF Notes/Theme:

Synopsis: The musician is in a hurry to perform his part.

DATE: SUN, September 25th
TIME: 1645-1745 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Peter Dippel

DIFF Rating: NR

Category: Short Documentary

Synopsis: Rethinking routines. Breaking with habits. Exploring new paths. “More than a route” is a documentary about finding a way to protect what we love: It follows top climber and ecologist Lena Müller on her new approach to mountain sports. Ecopoint is climbing car free, so Lena sets out with her gravel bike to get to her dream trad routes.

DATE: SAT, September 24th
TIME: 1645-1845 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Thiago Dadalt

DIFF Rating: NR

Category: Feature Documentary

Synopsis: “Beyond” follows Tamara Mark, a once rising Broadway/Hollywood star, to a full-time single mother of two nonverbal autistic adults, fighting for her dream to build a community for those alike to live better and safer.

DATE: SAT, September 24th
TIME: 1645-1845 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Directors: Marisa Cohen, Peter Issac Alexander

DIFF Rating: PG-13

Category: Feature Animation

Synopsis: Set in 19th century London, Baden, and New York City, The Cloaked Realm is an adaptation and re-imagining of two of history’s greatest but now forgotten science fiction stories from over 100 years ago, “Moxon’s Master” and “The Ablest Man in the World.”

DATE: SUN, September 25th
TIME: 1645-1845 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Directors: Multiple

DIFF Rating: PG-13

Category: Short Narrative

The Verdict Director Dora Jung
SCRAP Director Jamie O’Rourke
Estrellas Del Desierto Director Katherina Harder
Diell Director Rain Nikolla
Static Space Directors John Klein, Kate Black-Spence
Black Creek Trail Director Soma Helmi

DATE: SAT, September 24th
TIME: 1430-1630 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Valeria Dana

DIFF Rating: NR

Category: Short Documentary, Foreign Language Film

Synopsis: Renowned and defiant Argentine swimmer Enriqueta Duarte (91) is still as vital as she was in her best years. As she swims, she remembers her past accomplishments, her moments of glory and Enrique, the love she could never be with due to moral mandates.

DATE: SAT, September 24th
TIME: 1900-2100 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Frank Carmine Zarrillo

DIFF Rating: NR

Category: Feature Documentary

Synopsis: The inventor of Jelly Belly Jelly Beans, David Klein is giving away a candy factory in a nationwide gold ticket treasure hunt.

DATE: SAT, September 24th
TIME: 1900-2100 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Dan Braga

DIFF Rating: PG

Category: Short Narrative

Synopsis: With a haunted past, a man returns to a place of dear memories.

DATE: SUN, September 25th
TIME: 1215-1415 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: John Gray

DIFF Rating: PG-13

Category: Short Narrative

Synopsis: What seems like a simple assignment for a spy to keep tabs on an Iranian defector becomes a more complicated game of cat and mouse in the streets of Paris.

DATE: SUN, September 25th
TIME: 1215-1415 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA

Director: Ari Frenkel

DIFF Rating: PG-13

Category: Short Narrative

Synopsis: With the help of his new self help book and his dog/therapist, Ari (American Crime Story, All Rise, Silicon Valley) must navigate his life, his past, and the challenges of creativity in today’s world. Told through multiple mediums, “How to Live” is an exploration of one man’s all-too-familiar artistic journey and the lessons he must learn in order to accomplish his goals.

DATE: SUN, September 25th
TIME: 1215-1415 + Filmmaker Q&A
LOCATION: AMC, The Grove LA