Category: Chicago Short Film

Director Biography – Rayka Zehtabchi (OURS TO TELL)

Rayka Zehtabchi is a 25-year-old Oscar winning Iranian-American director based in Los Angeles. Her directorial debut, Madaran, is an Iranian language short that won Jury awards at top film festivals and qualified for the 89th Academy Awards in 2016.

Rayka’s Oscar winning short documentary, Period. End of Sentence. can be seen on Netflix worldwide, and is about a group of village women in Northern India who start a sanitary pad-making business in an effort to improve feminine hygiene and de-stigmatize menstruation. Along with the film’s release, Rayka helped co-found the non-profit “The Pad Project” to fight the stigma of menstruation and improve feminine hygiene worldwide.

Future projects include a short documentary on the Special Olympics, a narrative feature film based on her family’s experience immigrating from Iran to the United States in the 1990s, as well as a feature documentary further expanding on the topic of menstruation worldwide.

Rayka’s passion is telling human stories that bring awareness and action to little-known social causes. In both documentary and narrative, she brings a naturalistic approach to her storytelling, striving for honesty and intimacy on screen.

Short Film: OURS TO TELL, 17min., USA, Documentary

Without shame and without fear “Ours to Tell” depicts four people who share their stories and walk in their truth. By owning the lives they choose, what unfolds is an unfiltered and poetic demonstration of how the right to access abortion acts as a dynamic turning point in an individual’s journey to freedom and self love. Each with different perspectives and experiences, the film’s subjects — Brittany, Hannah, Nick and Ylonda — take us inside their worlds, their families, their souls and boldly illustrate the beauty and power of bodily autonomy. As we watch, listen and love each storyteller, we also bear witness to a chilling reality: The fundamental freedom to own our body and future has never been more uncertain than it is today.

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Director Biography: Carlos Douglas Jr. (KENYA’S SYMPHONY)

(Carlos Douglas Jr

Carlos Douglas Jr is an animator & director/producer of Kenya’s Symphony. He is a spring 2020 graduate of Columbia College Chicago under the Interactive Arts and Media program, earning his Bachelor of Arts in Traditional Animation. He acted as the president of the Columbia College Chicago Animation Association (CCCAA), a prominent student organization at the college intended to expand curriculum beyond the classroom experience, preparing and opening opportunities for animation students in the industry. In addition to directing and producing Kenya’s Symphony, he is the producer on the upcoming 2020 animated short, Buster and Jamson as part of the Animation Production Studio course at Columbia.

Born and raised in Chicagoland, Carlos began creating art at a very young age and continued his study of the arts into adulthood. Carlos studied for years under the teachings of Nikki Kutansky, a long-time arts instructor at the Center for Visual & Performing Arts in Munster, Indiana before enrolling at Columbia College Chicago. During his tenure in Nikki’s class, his interest in animation and motion picture arts was realized. Some of his past accolades include creating the character design of “Little Rocky” on musician Rocky Kramer’s music video, Rock Star, storyboarding for live-action films produced at Columbia College Chicago, and organizing the 2020 digital Storyreel Showcase at Columbia.

Kenya’s Symphony is a 2-D animated short produced and directed by Carlos, with music composed by Michael Van Bodegom Smith (“Beyond The Door”, “Me and Myself”, “Teacher of the Year”). This project was inspired by Carlos’ employment as an usher for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and his passion for film and orchestral music. This film was completed over the course of three semesters with no budget. His plan was to produce a film primarily driven by visuals and music. The score was recorded by a 60-piece orchestra and combined with a sound mix for a sonic experience without dialogue. Kenya’s Symphony had its premiere screening at the Big Teeth Small Shorts Festival in Chicago, Illinois, winning the “People’s Choice” Award in the Small Shorts category.

Carlos has a goal of producing and directing animated content with narrative. Television and film provide a great outlet for stories to be shared. Post-graduation, he plans to find his place among the animation community and continue to create animated content for the screen.
Director Statement

Kenya’s Symphony was completed with no budget, only with the resources that were available at my disposal, along with my collaborators. Kenya’s Symphony tells the story of a young girl coming to appreciate an art form less traveled by a modern generation. Diving even deeper, this is the story of a person being placed in an unfamiliar situation and being changed by the experience; this change happens not by force, but by chance. By giving the symphony a chance, she finds enchantment in the unfamiliar.

Despite everything and everyone looking different, Kenya becomes one of the insiders in this fantastic turn of events. I hope that this film can be viewed by people both young and old so that they can have some fun watching Kenya’s chaotic energy be transformed into something positive. I also hope that they take away this valuable piece of wisdom with them. Give things a try and experience a whole new side of yourself!

Short Film: KENYA’S SYMPHONY, 5min., USA, Animation/Drama

Kenya, A bold five-year old girl, reluctantly ends up in her first symphony concert with her mother. As the conductor lays a downbeat and the orchestra begins to play, Kenya’s patience wears thin. To entertain herself, the bold young girl pulls out a straw and begins to reign havoc in the auditorium with spitballs. Against her mother’s pleading, Kenya continues to behave in disobedience.

Kenya ultimately wins the higher ground and takes one final shot with her straw in hand; suddenly, a sour music note is produced in place of a spitball. To Kenya’s surprise, her straw has become a musical instrument, imitating the oboe soloist’s instrument on stage. She cautiously gives the straw another try, and more music notes emanate out the other end! Enchanted by the sounds of music, Kenya’s imagination soars with the whimsical melody in a colorful epiphany. After the piece’s conclusion, Kenya is triumphantly escorted out of the symphony hall as the newest (and youngest) patron of the orchestra.

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Director Biography – Brian Sutow, Jessie Mills (FALL TO FAME)

BRIAN SUTOW is an LA-based playwright, director, screenwriter, and a Helen Hayes Award winning producer. His first feature film, Vengeance, is currently being packaged by Myriad Pictures. He is a former Kennedy Center Playwright in Residence and O’Neill Visiting Playwriting Fellow. Selected plays include Between Us (co-written with Emmy Award winner Ashley Nicole Black of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee), Vengeance (GreenHouse National New Play Winner), and Peril on the Red Planet (commissioned by NASA). His work as a screenwriter includes dozens of commercials, the original comedy pilot A Bowl of Cherries (finalist in the 2006 Chicago Comedy TV Pilot Competition), the short film The SunnySide Singers (prod. First Team Productions), the commissioned pilot The Vamps (Cartoon Network/Adult Swim), the documentary series ReDiscovering Oklahoma! (Kenan Foundation), as well as many web-series.

JESSIE MILLS is a professor of theatre at Pomona College and a professional director. She directs, adapts, and devises theatre, opera and film throughout national and international venues, including the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina; The Lincoln Center & The Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York; The Goodman Theatre & The Grant Park Orchestra in Chicago; and The Sala Beckett Institute in Barcelona, Spain (co-directing with Neil LaBute). She holds graduate degrees in direction from Carnegie Mellon University and performance theory from Northwestern University. Beyond her work as a director, her scholarship and publications center around ensemble-theatre and comedy-as-community.

Short Film: FALL TO FAME, 9min., USA, Relationship/Drama

Following his first Grammy nomination, a young, gay rockstar is confronted with the painful price of his ambition.

  • Project Type:Short
  • Genres:Narrative
  • Runtime:9 minutes
  • Completion Date:October 8, 2019
  • Production Budget:8,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:United States
  • Country of Filming:United States
  • Language:English
  • Film Color:Color

Director Biography – Josiah Holroyd (COLLAPSE)

Josiah Holroyd is a 19-year-old kid from a small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He started doing film work in his sophomore year of high school and got his own camera towards the end of his junior year. Since then he’s been doing professional work for clients in his hometown. He recently started college at Columbia College Chicago to pursue his dreams of being a feature film director.

Director Statement

Hey guys! I’ve had this film idea for a while and I decided to do it as my final project for my pilot film classes. It was super fun to do and I appreciate the hard-working people who helped me pull it off! Please enjoy!

Short Film: COLLAPSE, 6min., USA, Thriller/Drama

Kyle, a 17-year-old with PTSD goes through a rough therapy session talking about his friends who he witnessed get murdered. During the therapy session, the therapist pushes a little too hard into Kyle’s head and finds himself revealing that Kyle is indeed the murderer of his best friends.

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Short Film : TRANSMIGRATIONS, 6min., USA, Experimental/Drama

Shot over Lake Michigan near Chicago, this film is an expression of my engagement with line and the contrapuntal movement of multiple lines in music and imagery. The visual lines here are traces of the motion of air and lake traffic against the apparent motion of the stars and moon.

The forces guiding the lines of the paths of airplanes, boats, the interacting lines in music, the hand of the artist, are physics, history, genetics, culture, and the idiosyncrasies of the traveler’s own imagination and requirements. These urgent lines of human intent are drawn over the steady motion of celestial objects guided only by physics.

The music, composed by William Harper and conducted by Gudmundur Emilsson with the Latvian Radio Choir is also a construction of lines. The vocal music is created from text and melody first written down sometime during the 5th to 9th centuries. It is a prayer for peace and mercy. In this film, It is our voices seeking relief from the relentless restlessness of our endeavors.

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Short Film: ANNA, 15min., Ukraine, History/Drama

Cannes Official Selection 19′ – Living in war-torn Eastern Ukraine, Anna is an aging single mother who is desperate for a change. Lured by a radio advertisement, she goes to party with a group of American men who are touring the country, searching for love. Nominated for a short Palme d’Or, TIFF, AFI Fest + dozens of selections and awards. Currently, BAFTA shortlisted. BIFA award for Best British Short Film.

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