Author: chicagofilmfestival

Dimitri was born in Brazil and immigrated with his family to California during his teenage years. After spending 10+ years as a Motion Designer, where he has worked for some of the top studios in New York, he decided to venture into Cinematography and Directing. Dimitri felt it was time to return to what once inspired him to get started exploring animation and graphic design in the first place which was music videos and film. He spent quite a few years working just behind the camera as DP before venturing out to direct his own projects, which include a few award winning music videos, commercials and short films.

Director Statement

We wanted to explore a journey into the unknown on this experimental short using the desert as our backdrop for intense moments of introspective insight about what are the things that really matter for us at the end. We hope you enjoy this experience as much as we enjoyed making it. Thank you! Dimitri + Rosália.

After wandering through the desert a man must realize what are the important things in his life in order to survive the arid desert in moments of deep reflection triggered by his own survival.

I think everybody is concerned by this subject. Humans are not respecting nature and animal. I don’t say that hunting is bad, I just think that the way human torture animals and doesn’t respect nature by trapping and everything that is related to this must change. It can also be seen on a metaphorical way by showing there’s always consequences when you don’t respect nature. Exactly like it has been done with native people and climate changes.

By not respecting nature, an accident will be inevitable and that day, mother nature will only wildly observe.

Calum Macdiarmid is an artist and director who began working life at MTV as an illustrator before moving into film and commercials and film, he is represented but Curtis Brown in the UK and WME in the US

The incredible (true) story of a young dancer’s kidnap and subsequent escape from two criminals who wanted to learn how to dance.

Set in Italy, it follows a little girl, the eponymous Lea, whose crush on her guitar teacher has become the most significant part of her life and world—which is confined to the country house where she lives with her mother, her father uncaring and absent. It is viper season, and they love the river that Lea frequents. Lea’s mother copes with a strained marriage and the questions that it prompts from her daughter. And the one that threatens to finally tip over the precarious balance—Lea has a crush on her guitar teacher, who she discovers is involved with her mother. Lea’s relationship with her mother is not quite easy. Dealing with a crush which is obviously all-consuming for one so young, Lea is almost always moping. With her failing marriage, a secret affair, and a daughter she is raising alone, Lea’s mother too has a lot on her plate.

News & Reviews

• “Indieshorts Magazine Review”Indieshortshttps://www.indieshortsmag.com/reviews/2021/06/lea-growin

Watch the AUDIENCE FEEDBACK VIDEO NOW:

LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS, 87min., Documentary
Directed by Daniel Gartzke

A hidden epidemic affects nearly ten percent of the American population daily and for those it grasps, hope can seem like a distant dream.

In a message of hope, the film provides an opportunity of support to so many who may be struggling through difficult mental health conditions; and by means of storytelling will offer a platform for education, discussion, and healing of one of the most common diagnosis in our country. By combining the expertise of Neurologists, Psychologists, and other experts, with the experiences of Survivors and their families, Light in the Darkness will reintroduce PTS to the national conversation at a time when trauma and mental health are meant to take center stage.

THE PROTEST PROJECT, 4min., USA, Video
Directed by William Morris

A look at television new media’s coverage of the COVID 19 pandemic and the George Floyd killing during lockdown.

Showcase of the best SHORT FILMS in the world today.

AUDIENCE AWARD WINNERS:
Best Film: NO TRICKS
Best Performances: FRESHMAN YEAR
Best Direction: POLLY
Best Cinematography: STRAWBERRY SMOOTHIE
Best Sound & Music: TAKE THE VAX

Theme of night: Life

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Videos:

NO TRICKS, 11min., USA, Drama

FRESHMAN YEAR, 6min., USA, Drama

POLLY, 17min., USA, Drama

TAKE THE VAX, 16min., USA, Drama

STRAWBERRY SMOOTHIE, 9min., USA, Drama