BLOCK CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING FILMS:
_____________________
AUSENTE (USA)
UTAH PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: Inspired by the tens of thousands of disappearances that have plagued Colombia since the 1950s, AUSENTE follows a young woman as she walks home alone through the untamed darkness of rural South America. To stave off the eerie silence, she sings an old melody to herself, only to discover that an unseen someone…or something…has decided to sing along. As their duet unspools into a life-or-death struggle, it soon becomes clear that in this unending wilderness, there is more than one breed of monster to fear.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Mild Language
DIRECTOR: Juan Felipe
AWARDS NOMINATIONS (1): Best Micro Short
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: Colombian-born Director-Producer Juan Felipe is based in New York and travels around the US, to direct / produce short films, music videos, and narrative commercials for global corporations. As part of his work with Vayner Productions (of Gary Vaynerchuk), he has created content for Shell, Miracle Whip, Clean & Clear, Listerine, GE, Johnny Walker, Samsung, Dentyne, Stella Artois, Budweiser and more. Juan Felipe also co-founded First Threshold, creating video campaigns for startups, making passion projects come to life, and developing both short and feature film scripts.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM:
TRAILER: N/A
_____________________
BOYS’ CLUB (USA)
UTAH PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: A deteriorating sex addict spots a sex doll outside of his underground apocalypse bunker.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Language, Strong Language, Sensuality, Adult Content
AWARDS NOMINATIONS (1): Best Student Short
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: Troy DeWinne is a director and writer from San Antonio, Texas who graduated from Northwest Vista College with an associate degree in digital video and cinema production. He’s continuing his film career at The University of Texas at Austin for a bachelor degree in Radio-Television-Film. He has worked on a number of productions, most notably Who We Were Before, a feature film in Summer 2016 as a 1st and 2nd assistant camera, gaffer, and grip. Troy is currently in the film festival circuit for his dark comedy Boys’ Club and is working on a proof-of-concept rotoscope animation for his television show Luther and The Boy.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM:
TRAILER: N/A
_____________________
EVSTRONGER (SPAIN)
UTAH/REGIONAL PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: Marta and David are a couple politically committed and somewhat anti-capitalist. They try to do things right, like everyone else, being consistent with their values. In spite of it, the parents of Marta have given them a practical piece of furniture of a well-known Scandinavian brand that they must mount themselves. However the “Evströnger” assembly manual will order them to do something else … Will they follow the instructions to the letter? Or, on the contrary, will they escape from the diabolical capitalist loop that grips us all …?
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence
DIRECTOR: Silvia Conesa
AWARDS NOMINATIONS: N/A
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: I was born in the 80’s. Thanks to my four older brothers I learned about music, movies and culture from that time. From “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” to “The Cure”, through “BladeRunner” or “Alien”. Summers spent in the family home with literally dozens of cousins and relatives and… there was a video camera! It was inevitable we started fool around with the camera and from there crazy productions came out as “La gran Patatada” (“The big potatoish”, short movie like the “the Fly” but with a man transformed in a potato), “Bambo” (kind of Turkish “First Blood”, but with my city flavor) or “El señor Roca, diario de un superheroe” (“Lord WC, diary of a superhero”, a man acquire super powers in a toilet, allowing him to travel through the sewer system). As I warned you, very 80’s style. My creativity restlessness arose in several phases: playing electric guitar, sing in Rock bands or join theatre groups. But what really focused me on the path of movie-making was my first time at Sitges International Film Festival in 1999. Since then, for me is a must-go date.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM:
TRAILER: N/A
_____________________
FEVER (USA)
UTAH/REGIONAL PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: A dark supernatural presence stalks a sick little girl and her skeptical mother.
RATINGS GUIDE: Intense Images
DIRECTOR: Brian Rosenthal
AWARDS NOMINATIONS (1): Best Sound – Short
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: Born and raised in New York, writer/director Brian Karl Rosenthal cut his filmmaking teeth shooting on S-VHS camcorders in High School and editing deck-to-deck. Film school consisted of hands-on experience, staying up way past his bedtime to watch MonsterVision with Joe Bob, and late-night deep dives into the special features of countless DVD’s. In 2013, at the height of the DSLR revolution, he tried his hand at YouTube, creating a viral hit in the infamous and critically acclaimed fanfilm, “Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness”. Since then, Rosenthal has created and released several more viral short films to the combined tune of over 20 million views, while developing a handful of original feature film projects.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM:
TRAILER:
_____________________
GUT FEELING (USA)
UTAH PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: Two scientists toss logic, reason, and the scientific method to the wind in favor of a “gut feeling” that their seemingly dangerous experiment will work. What could go wrong?
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Nudity, Language, Strong Sexuality, Adult Content
DIRECTOR: nesto
AWARDS NOMINATIONS: N/A
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: nesto is a writer and director. His work has been shown on outlets including Comedy Central, NPR, Vice, Billboard, and Blumhouse.com as well as film festivals around the world. His latest short film “Gut Feeling” has played at notable film festivals including the London Short Film Fest, Athens International Film Festival and the Portland International Film Festival.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM:
TRAILER: N/A
_____________________
HEAR ME (FINLAND)
UTAH/REGIONAL PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: A lonely young woman trying to escape her demons in the cold and dark Finland where no one else can hear her expect herself.
RATINGS GUIDE: Adult Content
DIRECTOR: Jesse Haaja
AWARDS NOMINATIONS: N/A
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: Jesse Haaja is an multi-award winning director, producer and a writer. His first full length film Rendel was released 2017 and it was sold to over 60 countries. Haaja has a background in commercials as Graphic Designer and Art Director. In 2009 he founded the company Haaja & Arwo Design which grew to be the biggest advertising agency of the area in just a few years. Through the agency Haaja has directed and worked as writer, director, producer and DOP for several award-winning commercials and in 2015 was chosen as the young entrepreneur of the year.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM:
TRAILER: N/A
_____________________
LOBISOME (SPAIN)
UTAH PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: Jorge and Iván receive a simple assignment: steal a briefcase and deliver it to their client in the bathrooms of an airport. What they did not imagine is that the briefcase contains a thousand-year curse.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Language
DIRECTOR: Juan de Dios Garduño
AWARDS NOMINATIONS (2): Best Foreign Short, Best Makeup – Short
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: Juan de Dios Garduño, director and screenwriter, has seen how they adapt several of his works to feature film and short film. His novel “Extinction: And despite everything” became a feature film by Miguel Ángel Vivas, with Mathew Fox and Clara Lago as protagonists. He has worked with directors such as Nacho Vigilando or Tom Holland, the legendary director of “Noche de miedo” and the first film by Chucky. As a writer he won the Nocte award for the best horror novel published in 2010.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM:
TRAILER:
_____________________
MURDERABILIAC (USA)
WORLD PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: A strange murderabilia seller summons his buyer.
RATINGS GUIDE: Adult Content
AWARDS NOMINATIONS (2): Best Supporting Actress – Short, Best Production Design – Short
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: N/A
IMAGES FROM THE FILM:
TRAILER: N/A
_____________________
PUZZLE (SWITZERLAND)
UTAH PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: A young woman finds a strange piece of puzzle in her apartment.
RATINGS GUIDE: Intense Images
DIRECTOR: Vincenzo Aiello
AWARDS NOMINATIONS (1): Best Micro Short
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: Vincenzo Aiello was born in Geneva, Switzerland. He is an Italian/Swiss director and writer who began a correspondence Film School in Canada (Cinécours) when he was 26 before starting to make fictions for the Geneva Red Cross from 2013 to 2017. Then, he started to make independent movies.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM:
TRAILER: N/A
_____________________
SIPHON (USA)
UTAH/REGIONAL PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: After fleeing the scene of a hit and run involving a child, schoolteacher Gena Hayes is kidnapped by an unhinged scientist and connected to a terrifying machine designed to painfully harvest her stem cells.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Language, Strong Violence, Strong Language
DIRECTOR: Anthony DeNiro
AWARDS NOMINATIONS (1): Best Student Short
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: A beach boy from Sarasota, FL, Anthony was raised by a family of Cops, which is how he developed his dark sense of humor and appreciation of the macabre. He began performing onstage as a young child at the Asolo and Venice Theatre, and still performs by singing with his rock band, MOCK, which has its EP available on SoundCloud. As a 2018 graduate of The FSU College of Motion Picture Arts with an MFA in production, Anthony resides in LA, so he can live every day like a Van Halen music video.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM:
TRAILER:
_____________________
SNAGGLETOOTH (USA)
UTAH/REGIONAL PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: All Mary-Alice wants is a puppy… But first she needs to get something straight.
RATINGS GUIDE: All Audiences
DIRECTOR: Colin Bishopp
AWARDS NOMINATIONS: N/A
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: Colin Bishopp is a writer, filmmaker and advocate for expanded access to clean energy. His creative projects include the satirical website Poolitzer.org and the short film Snaggletooth. His first feature film, Tips for the Apocalypse, is in pre-production. Colin spent much of his career working in politics and government, first for members of Congress and most recently as a White House appointee in the Obama Administration. In 2016, Colin received a Fulbright to lead a seminar on clean energy finance at the University of Cape Town. Colin previously taught courses in philosophy and American culture at Wilbur Wright College and Benedictine University.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM:
TRAILER:
_____________________
THE DESECRATED (USA)
UTAH PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: A young morgue attendant encounters an unwelcome visitor.
RATINGS GUIDE: Intense Images, All Audiences
DIRECTOR: John Gray
AWARDS NOMINATIONS (1): Best Director – Short
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: John Gray is a New York based writer-director. He created the long running hit CBS series GHOST WHISPERER, as well as writing and directing many award winning and critically acclaimed movies for television, such as MARTIN AND LEWIS, starring Sean Hayes and Jeremy Northam, A PLACE FOR ANNIE with Sissy Spacek, HAVEN with Natasha Richardson and Anne Bancroft, and many others. He has also written and directed several studio and independent features, including the award winning WHITE IRISH DRINKERS, starring Stephen Lang and Karen Allen, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM:
TRAILER: N/A
_____________________
THE FRIEND (FRANCE)
USA PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: Strange things happen in Ellie’s house …
RATINGS GUIDE: Intense Images, All Audiences
DIRECTOR: Fabien Montagner
AWARDS NOMINATIONS: N/A
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: An editor since 2000. I’ve directed 4 short-movies before The Friend. A FilmQuest Alumni!
IMAGES FROM THE FILM:
TRAILER: N/A
_____________________
THE HIDEBEHIND (USA)
UTAH PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: Lost deep in the forest, a lone backpacker encounters a peculiar stranger.
RATINGS GUIDE: Intense Images, All Audiences
DIRECTOR: Parker Finn
AWARDS NOMINATIONS (1): Best Makeup – Short
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: Originally from Northern Ohio, Parker Finn became obsessed with cinema from a young age. He received an MFA from Chapman University, and now resides in Los Angeles, where he splits his time writing features and directing short films. If it’s frightening, unnerving, or makes him jump, he’s probably going to love it. If it’s Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, or Stephen King, he’s definitely going to love it.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM:
TRAILER: N/A
