spring 2019 OFFICIAL FESTIVAL PROGRAM

FRIDAY MARCH 22, 2019

07:00 PM . NARRATIVE SHORTS
I Killed Vincent
Director: Jean-Luc Blanchet. France. 14:04
Vincent Van Gogh's death was put down to suicide throughout the 20th century. Following an investigation in 2011 a new version of the facts was unveiled. This beautiful film shows what might have been Vincent's last day.

Radio Moon
Director: Pierre GAFFIÉ. Colombes, Paris, France. 17:09
Sibyl is night radio host. Her own personal life is in turmoil
and she's decided to leave Luke, but the desperate call from Michel makes her change her mind.

The Creeping Ritual
Director: Patrick Connolly. Los Angeles, CA, USA. 18:30
A Hollywood douchebag wants fresh coconut water in the shell before his yoga class. He can't find it, has a mental breakdown, and comes face to face with the devil.

Department of Procreation
Director: Kelsey Anonsen. New Orleans, LA, USA. 12:00
In a near future, where resources have dwindled and couples must apply to have children, Jen and Phil interview for their permit to procreate.

The Program
Director: Michael Elliott Dennis. Boston, MA, USA. 14:00
A down and out store clerk discovers a series of self-help videotapes.

DOCUMENTARY
Black Star
Director: Akira Chan. New York, NY, USA. 37:14
Jon Butcher’s first person narration in his quest of creation for his tribute to artists that the world has lost to addiction.

09:05 PM INTERMISSION
09:15 PM. EXPERIMENTAL AND NARRATIVE SHORTS.
The Cost of Living
Directors: Pamela Falkenberg and Jack Cochran. Austin, TX, USA. 21:53
Filmmakers Pamela Falkenberg and Jack Cochran reunite to deliver a visual cultural anecdote that is both a personal film an a ride down memory lane based on Jack's poems and a box full Polaroid stills.

White Walls
Director: Alessandro Sedda and Annalisa Ciacco.
Bologna, Italy. 14:55
A dissonant chant of a man forced to live inside himself. He faces the world, but finds nothing but himself. He tries to take a step in any direction, but he always stays in the same spot. He screams about his condition, but his scream is an end in itself.

Red Sweater
Director: Uygar Tanrikulu. Istambul, Turkey. 8:19
Mert is a university student hiding his sexual orientation from the rest of the world. One night, Mert goes out as cross dresser and walks at the streets then enters a bar.

Bittersweet
Director: Daniel Iskander. Sydney, Australia. 5:54
A depressed poet muses over his toxic relationship with his mental illness.

10:45 PM. INTERMISSION
10:55 PM. NARRATIVE SHORTS.
Outside Thoughts
Director:

Plastic Bag
Director:

Be The Best You
Director: Josh Opper. Germantown, MD, USA. 15:57
Trying to find his own self-worth, an office worker turns to a self-help program.

Springtime Rest
Director: Yannis Zafiris. Athens, Greece. 15:00
A young man goes on a journey to meet his grandmother.
Yet, when he arrives at her house, she is absent.


Reflection
Director: Eloise Frammery. Brooklyn, NY, USA. 15:00
The story of a woman who desperately wants to get all the attention on her. Seeing her own reflection is the only thing that keeps her alive.


Witches of Wonder
Director: John Gigrich. Saint Paul, MN, USA. 6:33
Two young witches must figure out how to rescue their younger sister after they accidentally send her back in time.


Spooksbury
Director: Jon Tewksbury. Saskatchewan, Canada. 18:00
An awkward ghoul attempts to host his own late-night creature feature program.
SATURDAY MARCH 23, 2019.
06:00 PM. MUSIC VIDEOS, ANIMATED SHORTS and EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS I.


MUSIC VIDEOS 19:44
Innocent - Cocordion
Director: Matt Sparks. Flushing, NY, USA. 2:50
Lead Singer Mitch is stuck in an endless loop with masked figures.


The Camera's On
Director: Robbie Genet. Agoura Hills, CA, USA. 3:59
From the album Gleams by Robbie Gennet. An intense and surprising commentary on the state of surveillance and of the death of patriarchy.


In The Fog
Director: Matthew Takata Shepherd, Naomi Takata Shepherd. Portland, OR, USA. 7:53
Vioulet falls through time and space as they struggle with the dark presence of Kei through song and dance in this exploration of duality.


Station Girl
Director: Vasilios Papaioannu and Emma Piper-Burket. Syracuse, NY, USA. 5:02
Music video for Leo Crandall's Station Girl included in the album The Art of Swimming.


ANIMATED SHORTS
Lily Goes Fishing
Director: The Bum Family. Calgary, Alberta, Canada. 7:52
Lilly, a giant orange monster, embarks on an adventure at a lakeside fishing camp with her friend Fluffle.


Astray
Director: Kyle Sharpe. Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. 4:39
Curiosity killed the cat.


Futureworld
Director: Christopher Angus. Petersfield,
Manitoba, Canada. 7:00
A quirky journey through recent time to an ethos of futurity, which explores the potential ramifications of technology on human beings while leaving us with choices.


Attack on Mutania
Director: Luke Alexander. Chatanooga, TN, USA. 15:08
Planet Mutania is under attack from cyber toads in search of a magic crystal. Can Herb the Alien Mutant and Spice the Cyber Toad band together and save the universe?


AI Something
Director: Jon Sargent. Colorado Springs, CO, USA. 6:23
In the future, Artificial Intelligence has become self aware. Hunted by fearful humans, two AI hide and argue.


EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS I.
Exit Strategy #2
Director: Kym McDaniel. Shorewood, WI, USA. 5:18
I seek treatment for a head injury and a memory is triggered from years earlier. In resistance to my past ways of coping, I release this stored body memory.


Emanations
Director: Martin Long. Denver, CO, USA. 5:56
This film depicts a process of mimicry, destruction, and recombination that distills form out of void.


Desire On The Surface of the Skin
Director: Sunny Stanila. Montreal, Canada. 2:42
An abstract visual poem exploring desire and touch. The images focus on the viscosity of ink staining paper, flowing and troubling the clarity of water.


The Stream VII
Director: Hiroya Sakurai. Otsu City,
Shiga Prefecture, Japan. 5:56
In the man-made waterways of rice paddies water must follow artificial rules, giving rise to a new form of beauty. Professor Sakurai is a return filmmaker from DUFF Fall 2018 with The Stream VIII.


Roots Grown Together
Director: Hart Ginsburg. Chicago, IL, USA. 10:00
The city and its inhabitants flow together and interact with each other in an unexpected and magical way.


07:40 PM. INTERMISSION
07:50 PM. NARRATIVE SHORTS AND DOCUMENTARIES.


Art and Style: Mona Lucero
Director: Michael Lauter, Denver, CO. 21:51
An intimate portrait of American fashion designer Mona Lucero. Director Michael Lauter is a Denver native and a DUFF return filmmaker. His groundbreaking 16mm feature film Persistence of Division, which featured early digital sound technology was DUFF's opening film on its first edition in November 1997.


Platforms
Director: Kayla Arendts. Agoura Hills, CA.
CU Boulder Student. 8:00
A young woman comes to college to pursue her passion of dancing, despite her orthodox religious parents' disapproval, and finds the importance of self-reliance.
Happy Birthday, Rachel Confrancisco
Director: Rachel Confrancisco. Wyckoff, NJ, USA. 8:56
Welcome to the hottest party of freshman year! Rachel Confrancisco has always been self-conscious. On her 18th birthday and her first day of college she radically demands to exist. Rachel is unruly as she tries to control her roller coaster of a day.


Talia
Director: Rozzi Osterman. 26:42
Talia is a charming and introverted young lady with Asperger's -high functioning autism spectrum disorder. She discovered a passion for acting and is devoted to her craft. This documentary follows her as she develops her acting skills for her career and life.


The Automaton
Director: W. Alex Reeves. Los Angeles, CA, USA. 22:10
In 1897, a young widow returns to the family farm where she discovers her late husband's attempt at building a primitive sentient machine and develops a curious bond with it.
The Way You Saw Me
Director: John Sylva. Los Angeles, CA, USA. 6:15
Cindy, alone, grieves the War's end. After her husband Tom returns, her only companion, Barbara, withdraws. As fantasy meets reality, Cindy slips away...the past her only reprieve.


09:30 PM. INTERMISSION
09:40 PM. SHORT FILMS AND FEATURE FILM


SHORT FILMS 44:26
MAGA!
Director: Bron Theron. Los Angeles, CA, USA. 6:55
MAGA! The story of an extreme Republican and an extreme Democrat arguing their day away at work.
Unfortunately their day jobs are as hit men.


Over Night
Director: Kendall Christianson. Washburn, ND, USA. 11:57
A married couple encounters deadly horrors and find themselves struggling to survive a frightening night.


Handle With Care
Director: Nate Jones. Belle Plaine. KS, USA. 6:33
An ex-con is taken hostage by an old pen-pal who is ready to ink one last letter... in blood.


Clowns
Director: Matthew Hickney. Los Angeles, CA, USA. 13:50
Emily is on a date gone wrong, then supernatural clowns show up. She must now teach them a lesson they won't forget.
Out Of Shape
Director: Zaim Hirani. Winter Park, FL, USA. 5:11
A pipe-wielding masked killer stalks a runner but is too out of shape to catch him, so the runner decides to train him into shape.


FEATURE FILM
Forgery
Director: Calvin Shepherd.
Fort Collins, CO, USA. 01:30:00
Andrew, a quiet, shy college student, is thrown into a world of crime when his roommate learns he has a special talent-- forging signatures.
SUNDAY MARCH 24, 2019.
06:00 PM. DOCUMENTARIES
Colorful Stories
Director: Tanya Ishikawa. Montrose, CO, USA. 28:25
Stories of racial oppression, public safety, health disparity, political engagement and elder abuse told through experiences of tribulation, courage and triumph, as shared by Carlotta Walls LaNier, Ollie Marie Phason, Rhonda Jackson, Rhonda Fields, and Rosalind "Bee" Harris for the Colorful Stories Luncheon.


Post Election Works
Director: Kate Haug. San Francisco, CA, USA. 16:50
Combining a philosophical framework of Walter Benjamin with her present day production of political ephemera, the filmmaker/artist examines a circular nature of history and her identity as it evolves within the context of contemporary politics.


206 Carlton
Director: Sylvia Nowak. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 14:04
Meet Ernst Zundel, a former resident of 206 Carlton Street in Toronto, and internationally infamous Holocaust denier. From this downtown Victorian townhouse he spread hate materials that found their way to the hands of hateful groups around the world.


Blame Yourselves If No One Comes
Director: Gustav Egerstedt. Enskede, Sweden. 12:00
We follow a man with an idea to create a film. He is convinced that his idea is so brilliant. This sends him on a journey of hope and despair. This is that film.


07:50 PM. INTERMISSION

08:00 PM. NARRATIVE AND EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS

NARRATIVE SHORTS
Empty Skies
Director: Wenting Deng, Luke Fisher.
Burbank, CA, USA. 18:32
A boy and his new friend hunt their village’s last sparrow for a reward to save his sick Grandma during Communist China’s Great Leap Forward (1958-1961).

Tankman
Director: Robert Peters. Tucson, AZ, USA. 14:40
All that is known of the iconic man who stopped a line of tanks at the Tienanmen Square massacre of June 4, 1989 are the brief images we have seen on TV. This is what he might have went through that day 30 years ago.

Little Beeri's March
Director: John Griesemer. New Hampshire, USA. 25:00
A nomad family profiting from war, until it comes for them.

Origin
Director: David Parella. Austin, TX. USA. 13:00
An astronaut from an interstellar colony returns to Earth to discover why they lost contact.

The Funeral Dancer
Director: Natalie McMahon. Berlin, Germany. 9:00
The story of “Jazz”, a funeral entertainer, one of the best paid jobs in a world. Funerals are a status symbol and an obligation to entertain friends, family and coworkers alike.

EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS 2

A Peculiar Week In My Dream Journal, May 1973
Director: Ryan Betschart. San Diego, CA, USA. 6:17
An ode to the Beast; who was felt strongly during the 1970s, when Americans had idle time for metaphysical inquiry. A feedback loop of failed promises and lies.


Two
Director: Vasilios Papaioannu. Syracuse, NY, USA. 8:04
Two filmmakers set out to create an audio archive and ends as an archive of the possibilities hibernating in each moment.

I Don't Know When The Armageddon Is
Director: Casey Puccini. Chicago, IL, USA. 6:30
An aural and visual treat served up by the Puccini Family against the ethereal beauty and serenity of summer in upstate NY, USA.

Drawn Curtains
Director: Marfisia Bel. Los Angeles, CA, USA. 12:44
Jeanne checks into a hotel. A man watches her from another hotel window. She finds herself enthralled with him and seeking him out.

Gloom // Bloom
Director: Etienne Perrone. Paris, France. 9:36
The world like I knew it was gone. Everything was dry, lean, harsh and collapsing. Only seeing traces
of old habits remaining in ruins.


09:55 PM. INTERMISSION


09:40 PM. FEATURE FILM


Crisp Lips

Director: Madison Bounds. Niwot, CO, USA. 01:23:00

A cold sore epidemic sends the employees of a dystopian restaurant into inescapable chaos.