SHORT TAKES 2
NOCHE NOIR
Directed by Marissa Chibás
Written by Marissa Chibás
USA, 2026, 12 minutes 25 seconds
A cryptic message — You are being framed. Run for your life. — thrusts a woman into a surreal noir dreamscape, where time folds in on itself, strangers speak and move in riddles, and escape may mean losing who she is… or becoming someone else entirely.
Q&A with filmmakers after all shorts have screened
RESEARCH HER
Directed by Beau Classen
Written by Beau Classen
USA, 2025, 7 minutes 29 seconds
A sociology grad student invites an “alpha male” influencer on a date, only for him to realize he’s the subject of her research. Research Her explores urgent contemporary issues like toxic masculinity and incel culture, but through the lens of empowerment rather than victimization.
Q&A with filmmakers after all shorts have screened
LEGAME MATERNO (Maternal Bond)
Directed by Simone Arrighi
Written by Simone Arrighi
Italy, 2025, 18 minutes 45 seconds
Silvia lives in a small mountain village with her son and a two-month-old calf, where she grows and sells vegetables. After reporting her husband for domestic violence and animal abuse, she unexpectedly comes face to face with her tormentor.
Q&A with filmmakers after all shorts have screened
BEFORE WE CROAK
Directed by Pamela D. Torrance
Written by Pamela D. Torrance
USA, 2025, 16 minutes 30 second
A World War II veteran with dementia reunites with his old war buddies to relive the glory days in a new uniform for a new fight.
Q&A with filmmakers after all shorts have screened
CONFIDENTIAL INFORMANT
Directed by Ting Li Tsai
Written by Ting Li Tsai
USA, 2024, 11 minutes 30 seconds
The Commonality of Tyranny is a psychological drama set in a studio sound stage about a film crew. The production was a film about the White Terror, where a young woman named Fei is interrogated by a conflicted officer torn between his duty and his conscience. Outside the set, the film's writer Mei, and director Lin grapple with the portrayal of this moral conflict, reflecting on the pressures of censorship and artistic integrity. The story explores the tension between personal morality and political
obligation, ultimately revealing the deep emotional and ethical struggles of those living under authoritarian rule.
Q&A with filmmakers after all shorts have screened
COMMITTED
Directed by Monica Raymund
Written by Lisa Cordileone
USA, 2025, 13 minutes 14 seconds
During the Lavender Scare, government files were created to track individuals deemed to have “weak morals.” Lists were made. Suspected gays were on those lists. Black and Native Americans were on those lists. Intellectuals. Feminists. This family was on those lists. The family's matriarch is hunted down by an underground government unit the night of their son's Birthday party, exposing her family to more than her perpetrators bargained for.
Q&A with filmmakers after all shorts have screened
JOHNNY MAC
Directed by Courtney King
Written by Courtney King
USA, 2025, 6 minutes 34 seconds
After spending over 500 hours at “The Pile”, FDNY firefighter John McNamara must fight a systemic coverup of widespread 9/11 related illnesses and cancers to get treatment and support for fellow first responders while waging his own war against stage 4 cancer to stay alive for his wife and infant son.
Q&A with filmmakers after all shorts have screened
GHOSTED
Directed by Benjamin Vigil
Written by Benjamin Vigil
USA, 2026, 8 minutes 32 seconds
A Horror Comedy about a college student who falls in love with a ghost that haunts his house, which becomes fatal on Halloween night.
Q&A with filmmakers after all shorts have screened