Author: chicagofilmfestival

Showcase of the best FILMS in the world today.

Audience Award Winners:
Best Short Form Short Film: MI NINA/MY LITTLE GIRL
Best Long Form Short Film: THE EXCHANGE
Best Cinematography: VELA
Best Sound & Music: THE TUNNEL: INTERVIEW WITH A MONSTER
Best Direction: THE OAXACAN FIGHTER
Best Performances: MARIMACHA

Watch the Audience Feedback Video for each film:

VELA, 15min., Canada, Drama/Horror
Directed by Esteban Powell
Young Xime hopes to restore her family by arranging a Día de Los Muertos altar – meanwhile a looming presence closes in.

https://www.instagram.com/vela_shortfilm/

WATCH HERE – The audience feedback video of the film!

MI NINA/MY LITTLE GIRL, 7min., USA, Experimental
Directed by Emanuel Loarca
Laura takes us by the hand on a moving journey through time with her mother. You experience how love overcomes suffering and builds lasting memories that give meaning to life and strengthen the soul.

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WATCH HERE – The audience feedback video of the film!

MARIMACHA, 10min., USA, Drama
Directed by Cami Cruz Thomas
When an illicit pic outs the daughter of two conservative Black/Afro-Panamanians on their way to a family wedding they must finally confront the elephant in the room and decide who gets to dictate the terms of love in and outside the family.

WATCH HERE – The audience feedback video of the film!

THE OAXACAN FIGHTER, 16min., USA
Directed by Edwin G Li
We follow the Journey of a Oaxacan MMA fighter as he prepares to enter the cage.

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WATCH HERE – The audience feedback video of the film!

THE TUNNEL: INTERVIEW WITH A MONSTER, 24min., USA
Directed by David Llauger Meiselman
Dr. Larry Levin, a convicted serial killer is brought to a black ops rendition site where he is to be “interviewed” by two government agents for his past crimes only to realize that some chupacabras have come to join them.

http://www.boricuafilms.com/https://www.instagram.com/boricuafilms

WATCH HERE – The audience feedback video of the film!

THE EXCHANGE, 24min,. Puerto Rico, Drama
Directed by Marco Berger
Mateo and Lucas, best friends, go out to party in a hot summer night. Mateo meets Lucia, and Lucia commits an act that will change their lives. From there, Mateo and Lucas will begin a search, both physical and personal.

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http://elintercambio.movie/
https://facebook.com/elintercambiofilm
https://twitter.com/el_inter_cambio
https://instagram.com/elintercambiofilm

WATCH HERE – The audience feedback video of the film!

In the late 1960s college freshman David and high school junior Jimmy discover a new understanding of their friendship. Although they must keep their feelings for each other hidden, they enjoy the developing closeness until an indiscretion threatens to ruin everything.

Narrator: Val Cole
David: Geoff Mays
Jimmy: Sean Ballantyne
Shirley: Hannah Ehman
Romeo: Steve Rizzo
Juliet: Kyana Teresa

Showcase of the best FILMS in the world today.

Audience Award Winners:
Best Feature Film: OCEAN CITY MONSTER BUILDING
Best Short Film: RECEDING
Best Cinematography: RARE LAND
Best Performances: A TASTE OF CHINA
Best Direction: RECOBA
Best Student Film: THE HIVE

Watch the Audience Feedback Video for each film:

OCEAN CITY MONSTER BUILDING, 90min., USA, Crime/Mystery
Directed by Chris Lane
The year is 1984, in a small sleepy town in upstate New York. The former mayor of the city is found dead on the backseat of his car with a local 15 year old girl. In the aftermath, his wife of 30 years and his adopted daughter have to make sense of this difficult situation, while a detective from out of town is sent in to try to solve the case together with local law enforcement.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20200868/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt

WATCH HERE – The audience feedback video of the film!

THE HIVE, 10min., USA, Drama
Directed by Marco Esteban Delgado (14 year old filmmaker)
Two orphaned siblings try to take down a hypnotizing VR platform and discover a surprising secret on the way.

WATCH HERE – The audience feedback video of the film!

RECOBA, 9min., USA, Drama
Directed by Alvaro Guzman Bastida
Josué, a Honduran man going through his first New York winter, struggles to stay afloat in the US, where the immigration and labor systems have stacked the cards against him, while keeping the connection with his wife and son.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21106276/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

WATCH HERE – The audience feedback video of the film!

RECEDING, 16min., USA, Drama
Directed by Renee Garcia
Sophia, is an 8-years-old girl suffering from Alopecia, where she can have sudden hair loss or a receding hair line. She gets bullied by other kids for her hair condition, but then surprises her mom, Mary when she asks permission to try-out for cheerleading which unexpectedly builds bravery and confidence in her.

https://www.instagram.com/sophianesterova2023/?next=%2F

WATCH HERE – The audience feedback video of the film!

A TASTE OF CHINA, 15min., USA, Drama
Directed by Adam Chhour
A Chinese American immigrant couple arrives in America in 1999 to start a new life. They open a Chinese take-out in Philadelphia where they encounter new challenges to their lives. Aspirations and hopes that once pushed them to open the restaurant are set aside when they have a son and work to provide a better life for him. The mother eventually passes away from cancer, leaving the father and son to operate the restaurant on their own. The cultural and generational gap prevent them from forming a typical father and son relationship, but this does not hide from the commonalities they share in life.

https://instagram.com/atasteofchina_film

WATCH HERE – The audience feedback video of the film!

RARE LAND, 37min., USA, Drama
Directed by Efthimis Hatzis
Rare Land is an emotional journey of discovery from darkness into the light. On a beautiful summer day, Alexandros and his brother bike along a pier in a remote seaside village in Greece. As he bikes precariously close to the edge, Alexandros feels a strange dizziness and tumbles into the sea. He has felt this way before but it is becoming more frequent. His parents take him to one doctor after another to find out what is happening to their son. They feel frustrated and helpless. Then one day an American doctor practicing in Greece diagnoses his condition – Alexandros has a rare disease, Alpha Mannosidosis.

WATCH HERE – The audience feedback video of the film!

This is a snapshot into the moment one Japanese-American family is forced from their home to live in an internment camp during World War Two, and what happens when one family member refuses to leave.

CAST LIST:

Narrator: Val Cole
Canon: Sean Ballantyne
Joseph: Steve Rizzo
Miyoko: Hannah Ehman
Butch/Scout: Shawn Devlin
Keisuke: Allan Michael Brunet

Showcase of the best FILMS in the world today.

Audience Award Winners:
Best Drama Short Film: WHY WE LEAVE
Best Performances: RESTLESS
Best Sound & Music: ONE DATE
Best Direction: MAN ALIVE
Best Student Film: STROKE OF LUCK
Best Cinematography: IT’S ONLY ME

Watch the Audience Feedback Video for each film:

STROKE OF LUCK, 9min., USA, Drama/Comedy/Fantasy
Directed by Seraphine Terryberry
A young woman in her 20’s deals with her father having a stroke and being hospitalized, by escaping into her imagination and pretending she’s in movie scenes.

https://www.seraphineterryberry.com/
https://www.instagram.com/sissi_tea/

WATCH HERE – The audience feedback video of the film!

WHY WE LEAVE, 13min., USA, Drama
Directed by Anastasios Ketsios
Why We Leave is a dramatic narrative about a married couple struggling to connect with each other after the suicide of their son.

http://www.pushstopfilms.com/https://www.instagram.com/pushstop_films_/

WATCH HERE – The audience feedback video of the film!

ONE DATE, 6min., USA, Drama
Directed by Andrew ‘King Bach’ Bachelor
One date can lead to love or disaster.

WATCH HERE – The audience feedback video of the film!

MAN ALIVE, 9min. , USA, Drama
Directed by Jim Menza
A group of individuals are working out the changing world in a local dive bar.

https://www.instagram.com/milknosefilms/

WATCH HERE – The audience feedback video of the film!

RESTLESS, 15min., Canada, Drama/Thriller
Directed by Dhun Sharma
A sex worker is coerced into a situation that gradually becomes more violent.

https://www.instagram.com/sharma.dhun/

WATCH HERE – The audience feedback video of the film!

IT’S ONLY ME, 6min,. UK, Drama/Comedy
Directed by Barbara Elbinger
A story about loneliness, confessions & knickers.

http://barbaraelbinger.com/

WATCH HERE – The audience feedback video of the film!