SHORT TAKES 1
GIVEN
Directed by Marissa Vaughan
Written by Glory Simon
USA, 2025, 14 minutes 42 seconds
When an encounter with her high school boyfriend, Eric, reveals life shaking news to Callie, a woman hiding out from life by working as a desert diner manager, she must decide if she will stay in her safety bubble or change a decision she made 25 years ago that will set her life on an unknown course.
Q&A with filmmakers after all shorts have screened
BURDEN
Directed by Hampus Svensson
Written by Hampus Svensson
Sweden, 2025, 11 minutes 40 seconds
Liv, a lone survivor in a post-apocalyptic world, makes her way through a desolate wasteland in search of her grand child. Her journey leads her to an old church where she expects to find answers.
Q&A with filmmakers after all shorts have screened
UNSANCTIONED BOUNTY
Directed by Grant Anderson Matthew
Written by Grant Anderson
USA, 2025, 19 minutes 33 seconds
Six years ago, Los Angeles police officer Simone Mystik helped put her boyfriend, Cedric Brown, behind bars, leading to his 20-year sentence. The fallout cost Simone her career, but she rebuilt her life as a skilled fugitive enforcement agent, dedicated to raising their son, Donovan—a child Cedric doesn’t know exists.
Q&A with filmmakers after all shorts have screened
HOLLYWOOD REX
Directed by Lauren Clinton Clark
Written by Lauren Clinton Clark
USA, 2025, 15 minutes 25 seconds
After a chaotic gig gets her band kicked out of a bar, punk bassist Rex is blamed by their manager for holding them back. Left behind when the band mistakenly leaves without her, Rex embarks on an eventful trek through the streets of Hollywood.
Q&A with filmmakers after all shorts have screened
LIGHT BUNNY
Directed by Valerian Zamel
Written by valerian Zamel
USA, 2025, 15 minutes
Six months after her son’s death, a grieving mother receives a late night phone call from a voice claiming to be him, speaking from an “in between” place. As the conversation grows darker, she is forced to confront the depths of grief, memory, and the fragile line between reality and deception.
Q&A with filmmakers after all shorts have screened
GRIND
Directed by Mark Apicella
Written by Mark Apicella
USA, 2025, 15 minutes 50 seconds
When John, an aspiring sneaker designer in East Los Angeles, gets the opportunity of his life to be featured in his idol’s pop-up shop, his best friend and business partner tries to pull him down his own divergent path as he promises John’s shoe design to a gang.
Q&A with filmmakers after all shorts have screened
7 MINUTES
Directed byBryce Thomas Powell
Written by Bryce Thomas Powell
USA, 2025, 10 minutes 10 seconds
A group of strangers find themselves trapped in a convenience store with a dying generator, forced to confront their deepest fears as they battle both the darkness within and the creatures that lurk in the darkness outside.
Q&A with filmmakers after all shorts have screened
EAT, PREY...LOVE
Directed by Ben Kuker
Written by Ben Kyler
USA, 2025, 16 minutes 29 seconds
A cannibal's dark secret is revealed when his wife unexpectedly returns home early from her business trip. While he is preoccupied with the fallout of his marriage, his victim uses this opportunity to escape.
Q&A with filmmakers after all shorts have screened