A Lovely Family

Camella meets her boyfriend’s parents for the first time.

Runtime

7:45

Director Biography – Pat Battistini

An award winning writer, director, and producer who brings over thirty years of experience to the set, Pat started his career in Chicago working in front of the camera.

Since taking over behind the camera duties, he takes pride in his on-set relationships and communication with actors. His actors have received stage and screen nominations and awards.

With his writing, directing, and producing, Pat has earned a reputation for developing and creating unique and wonderful stories. His fourteen short films have garnered him awards across the board.

Known as a team player, no job is too small for Pat to see through from start to finish. His creative eye for detail and positive, jovial personality has earned the trust of many producers, cast, and crew who continue to want to work with him.

Alienated

Alienated is a dark sci-fi coming-of-age story about a troubled teenage girl who discovers a strange, greenish-blue growth on her shoulder at a high school party. What begins as an embarrassing secret soon unravels into a terrifying revelation: she is an alien hybrid, the product of a covert extraterrestrial breeding program. As her powers awaken, she is forced to confront not only her fractured sense of identity but the chilling reason she’s always felt like she didn’t belong.

Runtime

12:14

Director Biography – Tamara Hernandez

Tamara Hernandez is a Canadian-born writer and director of Nicaraguan and Irish descent whose work blends science fiction, surrealism, and dark comedy to explore themes of alienation, female identity, and transformation.

Her films have screened at Sundance and Cannes, and she won Best Narrative Feature at SXSW. She has created narrative films and documentaries alongside notable collaborators, including Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, Cheech Marin, Jeri Ryan, and Jim O’Heir.

She founded Productive Playhouse, an educational production company and AI data service, as well as Oasis Trilingual Community School, an elementary school that teaches Mandarin, Spanish, and English through immersive instruction. At Oasis, she served as the school’s principal and film teacher, integrating storytelling, global culture, and creativity into the educational curriculum.

She recently directed four new shorts: Alienated, Adelaida, The Secret Life of Secretaries, and Happily Never After. Tamara is the mother of two teenagers and three dogs.

Director Statement

Alienated was born from a dream that refused to let me go. That dream sent me spiraling into years of UFO research and down a rabbit hole I never expected to go down.

The film explores the disconnect between how we appear to others and who we really are. The story follows Luna, a teen who feels like she doesn’t belong—until she discovers she’s literally an alien. It’s a coming-of-age tale that mixes magical realism, sci-fi, and dramedy, because adolescence itself is equal parts surreal, terrifying, and ridiculous. This theme of hidden identity also resonates with the film’s female minority lead, whose complexities defy easy labels. I shot with low, off-kilter angles and a bold, eclectic soundtrack to mirror that disorientation.

Making the film was its own adventure. We filmed the dream scene on a pirate ship I found on an Airbnb rental, shooting it out in the ocean. It sounded like a great idea until the waves hit, and half the crew got seasick and had to vomit over the rails between takes. The seals, however, loved it and gave us priceless added production value.

I hope that misfits of all ages—those who’ve been told they are “too much” or “not enough” find healing in Luna’s journey. This film is my reminder: you belong.

Alienated!

“Alienated!” follows our protagonist, an skittish, orange lizard-like alien named Gary, as his home is attacked by large purple monsters.

After the glass that keeps them safe from the outside world is cracked, Gary is mistaken for the maintenance guy who will fix the dome and save them all. He is promptly thrown out of the dome, and with no chance to explain the confusion, he realizes that he is now stuck outside with the very creatures they all fear.

Hijinks ensue as Gary runs for his life and attempts to survive in an unfamiliar wilderness and travels further and further away from home.

Runtime

3:15

Director Biography – Andrew Erbskorn

Hi! My name is Andrew Erbskorn, and I am a 2D Animator and Story Artist from Aiken, South Carolina. Animation has always been a centerpoint in my life, and a big source of escapism. So, in every project I work on, I try to incorporate a little bit of what made me love animation into the piece. Shows like Gravity Falls, Scooby Doo, Avatar: the Last Airbender, and more inspired me to pursue this craft, and shows like Invincible, Amphibia, The Owl House, etc. continue to keep me motivated to continue that dream. During the production of Alienated! I wore a few hats, including Storyboarder, Concept Artist, Character Designer, Animatic Editor, 2D Animator, and of course Director. When I’m not working in the depths of Montgomery Hall at SCAD Savannah, I love hosting game nights for my friends and making the most of my free time by spending it with those closest to me!

Director Statement

From the start, I saw Alienated as my way to steal like an artist, while also growing as an one. Throughout my years at SCAD, I have seen countless short films, and with each of them something sticks out to me. Sometimes I see things that maybe didn’t work for me for one reason or another, and sometimes I see things I really like. Whatever the case, I learned from all of these shorts. With some I took note of aspects that were super important to me, and with others I took note of the pitfalls I would want to avoid in my own work. Alienated was always meant to be a project that accumulates all of the things I personally find important in a short film, and now that production has wrapped, I can say confidently that I feel my team and I accomplished this.
Alienated never was meant to be particularly thought provoking. I know, kind of a strange thing to say right out the gate. But, what I mean by that is that for this short film I didn’t want to tie my team down to a specific theme or personal story. I didn’t want viewers to leave being confused or thinking we were preaching to them. Above all, I wanted to spend my senior year of college making something I am genuinely proud of, something that pushes my skills past what I thought was possible; something that leaves viewers impressed and entertained with smiles on their faces, and I wanted to do so with my friends. I’m so happy to say I feel confident we have done just that.
My inspiration for Alienated came simply from the fact that I grew up watching shows and movies having to do with aliens and monsters (ex. Ben 10, Pokémon, Gravity Falls, etc.) As a kid, I had so much fun watching those shows, they were the reason I even realized animation is a career in the first place! Sometimes, watching them was almost like a form of escapism. I felt motivated to tell this story because I want to give audiences this same feeling of fun and escapism that I felt as a kid watching those shows. Alienated was a great way to push myself as an artist, by trying out different mediums, programs, and ways of working, and a large part of this learning comes from my team members, Delaney, Ryan, Kaylee, Jalen, Meghan, Annie, Ashley, and Sydney, who are all much more talented than I could have ever hoped for. Alienated is the most collaborative project I have ever worked on. The final product is almost completely different from my original pitch, and I would have it no other way! This is a project that I view as full circle, because it’s the type of animation that would have inspired me as a kid, and I got to do it with 9 of my friends.

Archibald Wallace and the Whisky Theory

This documentary from the 1972 Agricultural Archives investigates the peculiar discoveries of farmer Archibald Wallace. Scientific breakthrough of the century, or quantum fluke? You decide.

Runtime

4:55

Director Biography – Brian Pennington

Brian brings a creative vision to the Star Wipe Films team, with an emphasis on directing, editing, and visual effects. Brian is also an accomplished musician, having written and performed scores for many of the films in the Star Wipe Films collection.

Be There

Nick, singer-songwriter, hits a crossroad when his beloved grandmother passes away. Entrusted with the responsibility of transporting her ashes to New Jersey for the funeral service, he is unexpectedly presented with a life-changing opportunity. Torn between his aspirations, Nick faces the ultimate decision on the day of the funeral: to stand by his family in their time of need or seize the moment that could define his career and shape his future.

Runtime

17:31

Director Biography – Matthew Mahoney

Matthew Mahoney is a filmmaker based in the Tri-State Area. After graduating from Pratt Institute in 2018, he continued his career in film/t.v as a production assistant on hits including Godfather of Harlem, Pokerface, and The Walking Dead. Matthew recently joined the Directors Guild of America and plans to pursue his goal to become a successful 1st Assistant Director/Creative Producer.

Big Wins

A grieving singer on the brink of giving up her dream audition finds unexpected courage in a voicemail from her late father.

Runtime

13:01

Director Biography – Samson Temitope Binutu

Samson Binutu is a Nigerian-American cinematographer and director from Maryland. He is known for his dreamy aesthetic and his affinity for abstraction, challenging visual norms by creating pieces that encourage contemplation and reflection. His study of photography and music has greatly influenced his approach to detail and storytelling.

His work is driven by a deep curiosity about people—their emotions, their stories, the moments that shape them. Through intimate storytelling and visually immersive concepts, he seeks to capture the quiet, unspoken beauty of human connection. Whether it’s a fleeting glance, a shared silence, or the weight of a single decision, Samson’s approach invites audiences to not just see, but to feel.

The diversity of his work spans from commercials and music videos to independent projects such as short films.

Custody

Based on a true story set in Pittsburgh in 1973, a nine-year-old visits with his businessman grandfather to show him a Hall-of-Famer’s autograph on his baseball glove, but the pleasant visit takes a real-world turn when the boy leaves without his glove and returns unexpectedly

Runtime

11:24

Director Biography – Michael C. Ivey

Michael C. Ivey is more than just an award-winning filmmaker with numerous credits. He’s created widely recognized work for the Greater Richmond Partnership as their Vice President of Marketing and Communications, and he also serves on the board of the Virginia Production Alliance.

Dark Aces

Down to his last dose of an ass-kicking, street-brawling super drug, a Wall Street hotshot gets way in over his head single-handedly facing off against a steady onslaught of underworld goons and thugs.

Runtime

9:27

Director Biography – Alex Gavin

Alex Gavin was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. He discovered his passion for filmmaking after watching the Evil Dead trilogy and being inspired by it’s inventiveness, imagination, and personality. From there he set out to explore the possibilities of cinema when observed through the personal and authentically singular, while at the same time making movies at home and focusing on it as a vocation. Making shorts, spec commercials, and proof of concept trailers whenever he could, ultimately this culminated in Alex’s latest short film, the action-thriller Dark Aces.

Director Statement

With Dark Aces, Alex hopes to find and enthrall an audience with its exciting and tense action!

DUMMY

A workout dummy who has been subjected to horrors, finds out that there is more to life than just being slapped around.

Directed by

Erick McCoy, Tayler Brianne

Runtime

7:05

Exploring the Frame

An animated exploration of space and framing for NYU’s Film & TV Essentials.

Runtime

0:45

Director Biography

Andy Espinoza is a writer, director, and producer based in Winchester, Virginia. He is best known for the short films, The Showdown, and Lamentation.

As a storyteller, Andy’s focus is to make an impact with every frame. He seeks to explore the stories of underrepresented communities through subversive concepts, a strong thematic voice, and a unique narrative style.

A member of Women in Film & Video (WIFV), Andy directed the short Cinderella’s Gift, for WIFV’s Filmmakers’ Challenge, winning first place. He also collaborated with WIFV in Washington D.C.’s 48 Hour Film Project, where they received the Team Spirit Award.

Currently, Andy produces and directs films through their production company, Arte Pictures LLC. Their most recent shorts, Screech!! and The Prowl is set to release later this year.

Final First Edition

When Rich Horn uncovers one of the greatest finds in comic book history, he begins a cross-country quest to meticulously reproduce the origin story of one of the biggest franchises in pop culture.

Runtime

10:09

Director Biography – Wes Sterrs

IS AN EMMY-NOMINATED FILMMAKER

BASED ON THE NORTHEASTERN ATLANTIC COAST.

HIS LAST NAME IS PRONOUNCED LIKE “STEERS”

Director Statement

Within moments of meeting Rich Horn, it was clear to us that his mission—to meticulously recreate the first issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1—was more than an act of nostalgia. It was a dedicated celebration of artistry and the enduring legacy of the TMNT franchise. Rich’s project is, at its heart, an attempt to recreate a sensory experience: offering comic book lovers the chance to own a replica that looks, feels, and smells (yes, smells) indistinguishable from an original work of art. Is it forgery, or the ultimate expression of fandom?

We saw in Rich’s story an opportunity to reflect his meticulous intent. To bring this escapade to life, we embraced a hybrid of docu-fiction, drawing inspiration from the gritty tension of 70s action-thrillers like All the President’s Men and Sorcerer, paired with wall-to-wall Robert Altman-style mega-zooms. The result is a film as obsessive and layered as the man—and the cargo—that inspired it.

Ghostbusters: Don’t Make Me Laugh

A rookie sees if he has what it takes on his first call.

Runtime

28:30

Director Biography – Veronica Victor

Veronica Victor is a writer and director out of Richmond Virginia. A graduate of the Shepherd University film program, this is her debut project. Inspired by her time volunteering for the charity group “Ghostbusters, Virginia” she wanted to use her talents to create the ultimate Ghostbusters fan film.

Director Statement

I wanted to create an original project that honors both my love of classic cinema as well as Ghostbusters.

Hide

From the Academy Award winning team behind “Curfew.” Still reeling from an incredible loss, a father (Shakey Graves) and daughter cling to a bedtime routine keeping them safe in a town where an unfathomable horror visits its inhabitants night after night.

Runtime

16:04

Director Biography – Brenden Hubbard

Brenden Hubbard, also known as BEAR, is a multifaceted talent acclaimed for his work as a filmmaker, writer, and producer. With a career spanning over a decade, Hubbard has played integral roles in managing productions and orchestrating successful festival runs for numerous films since 2012.

Among his notable projects is his collaboration with Fuzzy Logic Pictures on the Academy Award winning short film “Curfew” and its subsequent feature adaptation, “Before I Disappear” (IFC Films), which garnered widespread recognition. Over the years, Hubbard has lent his expertise to over 70 other short and feature films, including the critically acclaimed “Oh Lucy!”, which clinched the prestigious Jury Award: International Fiction at the Sundance Film Festival in 2015. Additionally, his contributions extend to noteworthy selections such as “Cul-De-Sac” at the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Icelandic festival darling “Everything in the End”.

Hubbard’s journey into the world of storytelling and production was influenced by his educational background in audio engineering at Temple University. His creative endeavors have not been limited to the realm of film, as he has also made significant contributions to the music industry, touring internationally with renowned acts such as Paul Anka, Shakey Graves and Dr. Dog.

Adding another feather to his cap, Hubbard made his directing debut with the compelling project “The Helping Hand”, showcasing his diverse talents and innovative vision.

In addition to his accomplishments in film and music, Hubbard has also ventured into the realm of podcasting, producing scripted fiction and unscripted podcasts for Criminal Content. Notable among these projects are “American Hostage”, starring Jon Hamm, and “The Foxes of Hydesville”, starring Carey Mulligan and McKenna Grace, which have further solidified his reputation as a visionary producer across various mediums.

HK Miniaturized

A little look around the big city of Hong Kong

Runtime

2:50

Directed by

Ted Hogeman

Invasion ’53

A man-eating alien crashes a suburban cocktail party.

Runtime

10:00

Director Danielle Weinberg Biography

Danielle Weinberg won The Script Lab’s 2024 Free Screenplay Contest, placing first out of more than 15,000 submissions. Previously, she worked in development for Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (STAR TREK, FRINGE) and Orlando Jones. She recently sold an original feature screenplay and is currently in development on several independent features as a multi-hyphenate. Her influences include Steve Martin, Mel Brooks, and Steven Spielberg. INVASION ‘53 is her directorial debut.

Director Statement

At my first meeting with our star, Jeffrey Combs, he called INVASION ’53 “a Twilight Zone haiku.” That’s a great description of what we set out to make. This short film is a sendup of the sometimes scary, sometimes campy, but always delightful sci-fi flicks of the 1950s. I set this picture during a suburban cocktail party, incorporating as many ‘50s sci-fi tropes as possible. My hope is that when the lights come down and the projector turns on, the audience is transported back to the heyday of sci-fi films and is thoroughly entertained by our Twilight Zone haiku.

—Danielle Weinberg

Kaiju Kid

A little boy plays kaiju to terrorize his sister but things get real when she exacts her revenge.

Runtime

8:07

Director Biography – Rusteen Honardoost

Rusteen Honardoost is an Iranian American writer born in the Bay Area and raised in front of the TV. Forsaking a career in the tech industry, he moved to Los Angeles to tell stories about people on the margins of society trying to change the world in ways both big and small. He has written for the Peabody- and Emmy-award winning Apple TV+ series “Stillwater.” His pilot “Ramona” was a finalist for the ATX-Blacklist Writing Program and was called “dark and frank and funny” by writer/director Jason Reitman. His pilot “Down & Out in Tehrangeles” was selected for the Blacklist’s 2024 MuslimList and as a semifinalist for the 2024 NBC TV Writers Program. His short film “Kaiju Kid” has played at the Cleveland Film Festival and at San Diego Comic Con. Rusteen is repped by 831 Entertainment.

Director Statement

I vividly remember watching “Godzilla vs Gigan” in which the two titular kaiju duke it out in an amusement park. The miniature buildings around them looked like toys, and after the movie was finished I started daydreaming about what a stop motion kaiju film would look like. But then reality set in and I had to come to grips with the fact that no studio would ever give me the budget to make such a film a reality.

Four years later, I’ve become a part of an organization called Hollywood Labor, a group of rank-and-file entertainment workers dedicated to bringing progressive change to our industry. The WGA-SAG strikes are in full swing, and we’re running an initiative called the Snacklist, which raised over $90,000 to bring food, water and supplies. We had a dedicated team of volunteers who were making deliveries to the picket lines every day, one of whom turned out to be Cami Kwan, a founder and partner of Apartment D, a stop motion animation studio in Burbank. Hearing this, I instantly had a flash of realization that maybe this dream project could actually happen, and for the next 10 months, Cami and I worked to bring Kaiju Kid to reality.

Born out of the chaos of the strikes, Kaiju Kid exists because I realized that I didn’t need to wait for any megacorporation to tell me this film deserves to exist. And now I’m proud to share the culmination of our team’s work with you. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Live Long

On the day of her mom’s funeral, Mandy’s brother bails and her father sets up camp in his man-chair – seeking solace in his favorite television show.

Unknowingly guided by the spirit of her mother, Mandy must figure out how to connect with her father before sadness consumes him and she loses him to the furniture forever.

Runtime

12:49

Director Biography – Noelle P. Wilson

NOELLE P. WILSON (she/her) is an award-winning filmmaker and actor born in Brooklyn and based in Queens.

Her success as a storyteller is rooted in her ability to balance the technical and the tender – marrying decades of filmmaking skills with an ability to emotionally connect with the characters and experiences in each and every story.

Noelle earned an MFA program in TV writing from Stony Brook University, under Artistic Director Christine Vachon of Killer Films.

Scripts written and co-written by Noelle have won multiple awards including Best Original TV Pilot at the North Fork TV Festival, Best Pilot at the NYCTV Fest and the Tangerine Fellowship at Stowe Story Labs.

Noelle’s directing projects include the award-winning short film TILLIE (Best Short: Eau Claire International Film Festival), THE HOPEFUL YARD (Best Director/Best Short NYLIFF) and LIVE LONG – a recent recipient of a PANO Network Development Grant and winner Best Drama at PopCon International Film Festival.

As an actor, Noelle can be seen on TV shows such as Law & Order: SVU (NBC), The Knick (Cinemax), Ray Donovan (Showtime), Chicago Med (NBC) and FBI: Most Wanted (CBS).

www.noellepwilson.com
www.livelongshortfilm.com

Director Statement

By far the most challenging project I’ve made to date, Live Long is rooted in my pursuit to build stories around characters who defy society’s unrealistic standards.

A love letter to my late mother, and inspired by my dad and brother – lifelong Star Trek fans – it’s my hope that this short film will encourage audiences to find their own ways of connecting and communicating after an immense loss.

The idea first came to me during pandemic. I was spending a lot of time walking in a neighborhood near my apartment in Forest Hills known as the Gardens. It was there that I first noticed a number of house that had ivy growing up the sides and I had a thought… what if the ivy is the spirit of someone who used to live in that house… returning to give those who still reside inside a giant hug?

Everyone who read the script said to me “you have to make this!”

So okay…
The spirit of a dead mom returns as moving ivy…
Dad is turning into the furniture….
I just finished grad school, I’m broke and my unions are on strike.
How on earth am I going to make this????
::Enter Freak Out Mode::

Luckily, I spent a year talking to anyone who would listen and eventually I put together a team of collaborators, including incredible puppeteers from the world of Jim Henson, SFX and VFX artists, production and costume designers – not to mention an incredible cast including a Tony Winner (pinch me please!) – who would help bring my unique vision to life.

A vision that physicalizes the otherwise invisible emotions of grieving.

In truth, I was eighteen years old when my mom died and it was me who entered such a deep place of depression that I became part of the furniture for about six months.

In the two decades since emerging from my emotional coma, I’ve come to learn a lot about grieving – my biggest takeaways being that no two people grief the same and there is hope for people to find connection in grief. Which is what I hope this film represents.

Thank you.

Lupe Q and the Galactic Corn Cake

Lupe doesn’t care about her abuela’s cooking lessons, she just wants to rock with her badass punk band. But when Lupe finds herself battling an alien monster with her band, her abuela’s lessons will remind her that punk rock is more than just loud music, and connecting with her Latin roots may just save their lives.

Logline:
Aliens. Punk Rock. Corn Cakes. In space, only grandma’s latin cooking will save you.

Runtime

4:23

Director Biography – Javier Badillo

Javier Badillo is a Leo nominated, Venezuelan-Canadian writer, director and producer. After a career as a musician and 2D animator, Javier found a natural fit in independent film. Since 2008, his short films have been selected and won awards at numerous festivals including Chicago Children’s Film Festival, Cinéfest Sudbury, Flickers’ Rhode Island, and Reelworld, among many others.

In 2022, Javier released his first feature film, the war drama ROADS OF ITHRIYAH, receiving five Leo Award nominations including best picture, best directing, best lead actor, and best script, winning for best sound. It was nominated as Best Canadian Film at RIFFA.

Javier is currently preparing to shoot his second feature film, the Latinx punk rock, sci-fi action comedy LUPE Q AND THE GALACTIC EARWORMS. The project received financial support from Telefilm, CreativeBC, Shaw Rocket Fund, CMF, and New Dawn (Nederlands Filmfond).

————————————————

Director Statement

Punk rock. Disenfranchised BIPOC teens. Creepy space aliens. Queer young romance. It’s the underdog-buddy-comedy-space opera I’ve been waiting to tell ever since I was an angsty Latin American kid shrieking into a mic and cranking my guitar amp to 11.

In the late nineties, as a Venezuelan teen coming of age in Southeast Asia, I had already grown up on four continents, uprooted into a cornucopia of places and cultures. I developed an abiding fascination with faraway worlds–and an intimate knowledge of the power of DIY punk culture to build bridges across language and cultures. When I fell in love with filmmaking it was just a matter of time before I mixed punk rock into my own films.

One last thing. To me, characters make the movie. And I’ve always loved movies where the characters are thrown into unbelievable adventures. The one thing that was missing in those amazing stories I watched growing up: diversity of representation, including my own Latin identity. Now that I create the characters that populate my films, it’s where my work begins.

Mom

A woman on her deathbed uses her remaining strength to perform a simple act of motherly love.

Runtime

5:00

Director Biography – Rick Barnwell

Rick Barnwell is a filmmaker from Baltimore, MD. As a director and cinematographer, he specializes in music videos and visual storytelling. ‘Mom’ is his first narrative film.

Director Statement

‘Mom’ is a thank-you to the quiet sacrifice mothers make for their children, and it’s about one woman’s agency in the final moments of life. I thought that nothing would speak more to parental sacrifice than choosing to use the last bit of strength on such a simple act of care. “Mom” is about that final act of mother love.

More Dead Than Living

A bitter, cranky widow is visited by Death, who lets him know that his time is up. He’s ready and happy to die but not without having one last “magic” adventure with his estranged daughter, whom he never got it right with.

Runtime

17:30

Director Biography – JT Doran

In my first act, I was a poor kid, from the hood’, with a single-mother, sick parent, and on paper, headed for a hard-knock life. But I took an unexpected and unpredictable U-turn and become the person I wasn’t meant to be.

As a child, the movies grabbed me with a clutch one feels once in a lifetime. Here, I escaped reality and yet understood more and more about reality and people with each film. As I grew up, film, the theater, stories, all of them felt like magic, felt like home and a hybrid university and gym that existed to sharpen and shape my soul, my mind, character, values and creative muscles. In between films, it was home, Queens, NYC – the people, the cultures, the experiences, the possibilities, the pains, the grit people need to persevere through this thing called “life” here – that embedded in me deep curiosity, empathy, survive and strive instincts, and a visceral awe of humanity and story.

Armed with a distinctive diversity of experiences-lived and lessons learned via dear Mom Rosaleen, Queens, sports, the streets, unreal faces and places, and film, I managed to transcend the block (and avoid jail and that life) make things, get an education, meet, befriend, partner and work with incredible people, artists and storytellers (don’t wanna name drop unless Alain makes me!) and exist in this, my act 2, with the faith that nurture trumps (fuck him!) nature and we can be the people we wish to be, not the people we are meant to be.

Director Statement

I had made a series of shorts about my hometown, Queens, New York and knew that the final film would be about Flushing, which is where I’m from, where my heart calls home, where my family and friends are and where I’m constantly reminded of who I am and what really matters.

I was inspired. Flushing would be the pinnacle of this series. But what was the story? I had none!

The story had to be about Chinese culture and death. I knew that. And I had lots of experience with both – I have Chinese family, I basically grew up Chinese and sadly, Death has taken some dear people of mine. I had a tingling feeling that this perhaps would be a parent-child story but I couldn’t crack the story. That is, until I came across an article about Queens being home to more dead people than living people. When I heard that I knew I finally cracked the story.

Once I read this fact the story just flowed – a widow visited by Death who actually wants to die and is happy to go, but before he leaves life behind he wants to have one last “magic” adventure with the daughter he never got it right with. The script wrote itself in record time and became full of themes, characters, and ideas that are innate to Chinese culture, Queens and all of us – this is a human spirit story. We all face death. We all lose people we love. We all wish for forgiveness. I was merely a vessel for this, as it came to me and I didn’t get in the way of it. “More Dead Than Living” wanted to come to life and be shared.

We bent rules and genres with this film, but it is full of guts. You will laugh, cry and get a unique slice of life and cinema in this film and we hope you enjoy what we worked so hard to make.

Thank you. Much Love.

Over My Dead Body

A bereaved widower gets the chance to speak to his late wife again using a costly reanimation procedure.

runntime

7:10

Directed by

Daniel Sadler, Erica Rowe

Pocket Change

When the power goes out at a roadside diner in the middle of nowhere, a mysterious drifter and his seemingly worthless quarter hold the key to saving everyone from a deadly threat. Starring Emmy-nominee Freddy Rodríguez (Six Feet Under).

Runtime

15:13

Director Biography – Tanner Mobley, Heston Roewe

Tanner Mobley is a veteran producer and film executive based in Los Angeles. In his tenure as Vice President of Development at Millennium Media, he oversaw the independent studio’s entire slate, working on over 75 produced films. His experience spans across all areas of the business including acquisitions, development, packaging, sales, and production. He is also a writer/director, with his MPI Original short film Pocket Change premiering at the Oscar-qualifying Indy Shorts Film Festival in July 2025.

Heston Roewe is a screenwriter, director, and editor based in West Hollywood. Over the last fifteen years, he’s written feature scripts for Millennium Media and the Moving Picture Institute. On the editing front, he’s collaborated with industry titans such as Netflix, Sony, and Happy Madison.

As a multi-award winner, Heston’s shelf is cluttered with Promax and Clios as well as a Golden Trailer nomination for editing. He also holds an FFA Iowa Farmer Degree for his… farming.

POCKET CHANGE is Heston’s co-directorial debut and boy is it a doozy!

PAUL POPE:THB
Paul Pope: THB is a documentary by award winning film director Joe Carabeo on the comic book artist and New York times best seller, Paul Pope, that reveals a rare glimpse into the process and mindset before the release of the first ever collection of his self published critically acclaimed book THB.

https://paulpope.com/
https://joecarabeo.com/

Runtime

19:20

Joe Carabeo Director Biography
Joe Carabeo is a northern Virginia based multi time award winning creative whose portfolio covers almost every exciting artistic medium. With a BFA in Photo and Film from VCU, Joe has become a sought after creative because of his unsuspecting fringe take and perspective. Joe has produced comic books (Roxy and Dean), films (Kira vs Everyone, Station 33) commercials, documentary, music, podcasts and film festivals (DC Shorts), and worked with brands from Showtime. ABC, Intel, DC Lottery, Apple +, Facebook, Under Armor, Red Cross, Elle, Ubisoft to Dell. Under his own media company, Joe adopted the moniker “Astray” as a metaphor for being creatively fearless, thus creating Astray Productions.

Sip

After finding herself living in a reality far different than the one she once imagined, a young woman reflects on her journey to motherhood and grieves the life she lost along the way

Runtime

16:55

Director Biography – Rachel Chelsea Foster

Rachel Chelsea Foster is a filmmaker, originally from southeast Pennsylvania, currently located in Bel Air, Maryland. She has spent the last decade working all across the country, primarily in the independent film market, giving her a lot of hands-on experience. Starting her career as an actress and writer, Rachel had the opportunity to co-direct a few improv shorts and a 48 hour project, which emboldened her to make her directorial debut with ‘Sip’. She spent the past year working with an incredible team to make a very personal film she is proud to share. In all things, she hopes to bring emotional meaning to audiences, glory to God and pieces of her own heart to the screen

Director Biography – Rachel Chelsea Foster

Star-Crossed

A beautiful young woman craving connection risks revealing her true nature—only to fall for the wrong man, igniting a night of passion, poor decisions, and consequences you can’t sweep under a rug.