Episode VII
The 2015 occurred from 12-14 November at The Ware Center, Zoetropolis Film & Art, and The Elks Lodge in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
We presented 48 Official Selections from five categories (drama, comedy, animation, documentary and horror, 40 mins or less.)
Mike Lombardo of Reel Splatter Productions hosted the presentation of the Official Selections for Horror. Brian Keene's Fast Zombies Suck! was included as a Special Selection.
The 2015 Official Selections
GRAND PRIZE & Best Drama
Carne de Gaviota (Seagull Meat)
by Felipe Espinosa
Spain | Drama | 25m
Roberto, Susana and Marc shipwrecked in a desert beach located somewhere in the world. The beach won't only be witness of a physical survival, their relationship will bring them to subsist emotionally and to discover who they are.
Best Animation
Atomic Robo Last Stop by Joseph Krzemienski
Atomic Robo and his team of Action Scientists are dispatched to intercept a strange anomaly detected in an abandoned Soviet weapons depot. It's a race against time to find the source before it falls into the exo-suited grip of Nazi super scientist, Helsingard. USA | 12m
Best Comedy
The Moving Picture Co. 1914 by Mark Kirkland
One hundred years ago in a long forgotten movie studio Ellen, a silent era actress, seeks work in a studio where everything goes wrong. USA | 22m
Best Horror
Invaders by Jason Kupfer
A pair of home invaders consider their potential character choices just prior to their planned invasion. USA | 6m
Honorable Mention
No Child by Rob Underhill
A film about growing up, and the power of growing together. It explores our inner passions, becoming inspired to be responsible, and the ability in us all to overcome our disadvantages... and our demons.
USA | Drama | 40m
Best Documentary & Best Home Grown
Man With Puppet by Alexander Monelli
Enter a world of puppets, musical theater, and some quirky magic in this little character piece. A short documentary telling the story of Robert Brock and his Hole In The Wall Puppet Theatre in Lancaster, PA. 9 m
Best Actor - Mitsuru Hirata
Shabu-Shabu Spirit by Aki Isoyama
Keita meets his girlfriend’s family and her father tests to see whether this man is worthy of his daughter. Trying to reduce the distance between them, her mother prepares a single nabe (cooking pot) for the shabu-shabu meal. Japan | 11m
Foster brothers, Mark and Tom set out on a mission to break the world record for Longest Distance Travelled in a Two-Person Costume. As they travel by foot from Toronto to Venice Beach, California in a two-person donkey costume, they will push their physical, mental and emotional limits to the test.
An experimental animated 3D short film exploring themes of addiction, pain, need and the desire for that which, while pleasant at first, may come to harm us. We follow a fleshy creature in an aqueous environment.
ANOTHER LOVE depicts the efforts to avoid a necessary separation. A pregnant married woman (Maria Ruiz) struggles to tell a much older man (Nigel Barber) that their affair is over. Soon this unnatural situation forces her to face the truth.
The line between dreams and reality is blurred when a young woman in charge of two children is haunted by mysterious entities.
For aging gangster Vic, a ride with his upstart protege becomes a twisted game of cat and mouse when both killers discover the other has been keeping a deadly secret.
A dark comedy about one kid in desperate need of a job.
A friend’s enthusiasm about her new boyfriend causes Ally Kent to revisit her own relationship with Frank Brown, the love of her life.
A girl is pushing a fish in a water filled cart across a dark plain. The cart is leaking, and mysterious beings are attracted to the struggle. What awaits in the abyss?
An accidental encounter between two exes at Grand Central station. Will it wind up being a chance for them to get back together, a chance for closure, or a chance for Jenna to be hurt all over again?
When Jolene finds a wallet in her dance studio she discovers that its owner may not be the man he appears to be.
Reflection on childhood memories and fears motivated this animation to consider reciprocity of species and the beast within.
A semi-fictional tale showcasing the adaptive nature of love which corresponds to the ever transforming city of Dubai.
A young activist in the Libyan civil society who gets abducted, jailed, and tortured for talking on a TV channel about human rights in Libyan prisons.
Two detectives investigate a bizarre ritualistic killing.
Life feels slow at the age of nine. Time is regular, but it feels that it runs at different speeds. The desire for time-travel is common to all of us as humans.
Pitted between the beliefs of his parents and his brother's marriage, Dan struggles between rejecting his best friend and remembering the greater image.
A $10 bill and the people and lives of those it encounters. A character study of both.
Those who sin must be saved from their sins.
The story of a high school boy that would do anything in order to get the girl that he truly loves --even if that means destroying the life he used to know.
A post-apocalyptic tale of a blind photographer who lives in a dark room with the memories of his wife and love.
A fanciful relationship with a beautiful seeker leads a young man, John, down a dark and unexpected path. John is guided by a man who ostensibly tries to help him, yet requests of him devotion to a life which may result in the death of John’s world.
On a dark, stormy night, a brave little boy decides to find out who is knocking on his door... his closet door.
A documentary about St. Andreas Church in the city of Kerman, Iran.
Two women put together an End-Of-Summer Bucket List, complete with snake wrangling and serenades of bad '90s pop.
A heart warming story of a lonely young man's increasingly creative attempts to attract the attention of the girl of his dreams. A gentle film of hope and optimism.
A young man lays dying, his anger, addiction, and resentment is forced to the surface as his mother displays the depths to which she'll go for the love of her child.
A group of reality show "stars" are locked in a house to film the newest season of a Big Brother-esque reality show. Then they start dying. It's Big Brother meets Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None." Except funny.
An emotional journey into a country suddenly entering the modern world after being sealed off from the international community for 50 years.
A depressed young woman who cannot bring herself to leave her apartment. She gradually loses contact not just with the outside world, but with reality itself.
An anti-war film about The Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). Two soldiers on opposite sides find themselves sharing the horror of the conflict for a few hours and planting a seed of brotherhood.
An estranged father tries to reconcile with his three daughters on the day of their mother's funeral after years of domestic violence.
John, a recently unemployed 55-year old, waits feverishly for an interview with Remi. What he does not know is that Remi wants to end his work day quickly.
Confusion arises when Sally believes her new roommate is a vampire.
We all love, we all deal with loss; and we all find any way we can to cope. A short film about love, loss and friendship.
A young showman visits a new town and struggles to fit in. Seagulls follows him as he attempts to bond with a group of local boys. Explores how cultural bonds are deeply ingrained and are never far from the surface.
The inner world of a photographer and his personal crises crash into a country experiencing exceptional circumstances. A structure that suggests multiple levels of reading and meditation.
Mime, Mummy and Grim Reaper are trick-or-treaters working the neighborhood, filling their bags with candy. It's Halloween as usual until they come to the old house with no lights on.
Best friends David and Wani are saving to open their own butcher shop, but before they can realise their dream the arrival of a new worker tests the bonds of their friendship.