BLOCK CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING FILMS:
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ASPARAGUS TIPS (UK/FRANCE)
UTAH PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: A dinner party kicks off with the last guest to arrive, the oddly named Asparagus Tips. Upon introducing herself we soon gather that her name comes from her asparagus hands. After the starter doesn’t go according to plan she steps up to the plate, literally, and offers her tips for the party. A delicious delight that everyone wants more of, mostly at the disadvantage of poor Asparagus Tips.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Adult Content
DIRECTOR: Sam Bailey
AWARDS NOMINATIONS (1): Best Micro Short
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: Sam is an award winning film and theatre director from London with experience in proper-belly-laugh comedy – the kind that makes you snort milk out of your nose, even when not drinking milk. After completing an art foundation at Wimbledon School of Art, he trained in direction at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama where he co-founded and continues to direct for Parrot in the Tank theatre company. Sam was invited back to RCSSD to lecture, as well as lead a course in devised theatre soon after graduating, before heading to Paris to continue training at École Philippe Gaulier. Whilst working as the video director for Tim Crouch’s collaboration with international clown troupe Spymonkey (The Complete Deaths), he was invited to direct comedy Graeme of Thrones. The show had a month long sell-out run at the Leicester Square Theatre before embarking on a tour of the UK, Australia, New Zealand, America and Canada, before a run in London’s West End. Asparagus Tips is his first film collaboration with renowned comedian and writer John-Luke Roberts, whom he has worked with numerous times before on theatrical shows.
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AVA IN THE END (USA)
UTAH PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: After tripping over her dog and dying, a young woman wakes up in a virtual purgatory and waits for her mind to be downloaded into a new body.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence
AWARDS NOMINATIONS (3): Best Sci-Fi Short, Best Director – Short, Best Actress – Short
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: Ursula Ellis is an LA-based director & writer and recent Columbia University MFA film grad. An Army brat with Appalachian roots, she was born in Germany, raised all over the US, and educated in Chicago and New York. While her work traverses genre and tone, she is drawn to specific worlds and character-driven stories. She has written, directed, and produced many short films, screening at festivals like Denver, Woodstock, Indie Memphis, Cucalorus, Los Angeles, and Clermont-Ferrand, and premiering online via Seed&Spark and NoBudge. Her award-winning MFA thesis, CRICK IN THE HOLLER, received an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Production Grant. Her feature and episodic scripts have been recognized by institutions including the Academy Nicholls Fellowship, Sundance Institute, and Tribeca Film Institute, and her one-hour pilot script, WAR IS KIND, was awarded the Lisa Rubin Award for Best Drama Teleplay and Faculty Selects at the 2019 Columbia University Film Festival.
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CRAP-MAN (JAPAN)
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: On a peaceful riverside, a woman walks with her baby. A street ripper gazes into them. Who will save the family? It’s… CRAP-MAN!
RATINGS GUIDE: Adult Content
DIRECTOR: Hikaru TSUKUDA
AWARDS NOMINATIONS: N/A
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: Born in 1984, living in Osaka, Japan.
Graduated from the Faculty of Economics, Kyoto University. Have been directing over 20 comedy short films. Now preparing for the first feature film. Roger Corman of Osaka.
A member of “TETSUDON(The world’s craziest anthology comedy film project)”.
Let all the children boogie!
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FIVE COURSE MEAL (CANADA)
SYNOPSIS: Mark and Jenny agree to take part in a mysterious experiment for money. Things get exceptionally messy.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Nudity
DIRECTOR: James Cadden
AWARDS NOMINATIONS (2): Best Comedy Short, Best Makeup – Short
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: James Cadden is an independent filmmaker from the western Canadian city of Edmonton. His passion and talent has led to him working on projects across a variety of genres and budgets. James’ inspiration for filmmaking comes from the challenge to create something from nothing. This challenge has continually motivated James to push his abilities harder and further in search of the next horizon to overcome. Since 2011, James has developed a successful career as corporate videographer, photographer and motion graphics artist. James now works to expand his reach once again, with purposeful steps into the world of commercial and narrative film work. He now seeks to create unique, entertaining and memorable genre film works that feature a strong practical effects focus.
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KELOID (USA)
UTAH PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: Libby donates a kidney to her fiancee, Dom. After he breaks off the engagement, she goes on a mission to get it back.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Language
DIRECTOR: Brendan Pollecutt
AWARDS NOMINATIONS (3): Best Comedy Short, Best Actress – Short, Best Supporting Actor – Shot
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: Brendan was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. He majored in acting, writing and directing at the University of the Witwatersrand. He began writing for Penguin Films in 1998 and eighteen years later has written over ninety episodes for eight different sitcoms for the company, including the very successful Stokvel, now in it’s ninth season. In 2003, Brendan was selected from thousands of entrants across the country to take part in Quickies, a film making competition broadcast on national TV. He went all the way to the last round and was the eventual runner up. A year later, Brendan wrote and produced his first feature film, Hey Boy, which was sold to DSTV Africa and distributed on that continent. Soon after, he wrote and directed the Sketch Show About Us, which picked up an Honorable Mention award at the Lucerne International Comedy Festival. In 2005, Brendan began splitting his time between Los Angeles and South Africa. In the United States, he worked as a freelance writer for various companies, including Image Line Productions. He was script editor for Guy Shalem on The Church of the Right Shoulder, a pilot developed with Jane Lynch in 2006. Back in South Africa, Brendan was brought in as Head Writer on two new sitcoms. With the success of these behind him, Brendan created his own show, Forced Love and after a very successful first season, oversaw a second season in 2015. In 2016 Brendan worked with Urban Brew on the award winning series Sober Companion. He is currently working on a feature script with Midnight Watch Productions.
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MY DINNER WITH WERNER (USA
UTAH/REGIONAL PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: Inspired by the real-life, insane (and sometimes deadly) ‘friendship’ between madman German filmmaker Werner Herzog and maniac German actor Klaus Kinski, MY DINNER WITH WERNER is a wildly bizarre and wacky comedy about a 1987 dinner date with an unsuspecting murder plot as the main dish.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Strong Violence, Language
DIRECTOR: Maverick Moore
AWARDS NOMINATIONS (4): Best Comedy Short, Best Screenplay – Short, Best Supporting Actress – Short, Best Score – Short
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: Maverick Moore is an award-winning filmmaker from Texas. His previous film, SHOTGUN, has won 18 awards (including several jury and audience awards for “Best Picture”), and has screened at over 60 film festivals worldwide (5 of which were Oscar-qualifying competitions), including the Palm Springs International ShortFest and the Nashville Film Festival, where SHOTGUN screened together with master filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard’s recent film, GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE.
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OPEN WIDE (UK)
UTAH PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: A trip to the dentist – with a happy ending.
RATINGS GUIDE: Adult Content, Strong Sexuality
DIRECTOR: Behnam Taheri, Gideon Beresford
AWARDS NOMINATIONS (1): Best Micro Short
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: Gideon Beresford and Behnam Taheri have been reluctantly directing films together since they met at the University of Westminster
(2010-2013). Gideon attended the university on a full scholarship. Behnam did not.
Their first film, ‘Dictate your style’, a spoof commercial for haircare brand BaByliss, was selected to open the Porsche International Commercial Awards in Bardenwuttenberg, Germany (2013).
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PROPER BRITISH SEX (USA)
UTAH/REGONAL PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: At the turn of the century, a lady constantly badgers her husband for sex until things get out of hand…
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Strong Violence, Sensuality, Strong Sexuality, Adult Content
AWARDS NOMINATIONS (1): Best Comedy Short
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: Shant Hamassian grew up in the rolling hills of Calabasas, California and attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He previously directed the SXSW horror short, “Night of the Slasher”, which played in over 190 film festivals including 6 OSCAR qualifying ones, and won over 50 awards. It was the first horror film to become a Vimeo Staff Pick Premiere and has accumulated over 500,000 views across multiple platforms. He has made music videos and comedic sketches that have been showcased on popular sites such as Collegehumor. His screenplays have made the Bloodlist and generated buzz in the industry.
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RUBBISH ROBBERS (NORWAY)
UTAH PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: When a couple badass guys are going to break into a bank, they quickly realize the terrible mistake it was to involve “Premium Idiot” Klaus as part of the group.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Strong Violence, Language, Strong Language
DIRECTOR: Anders Teig
AWARDS NOMINATIONS (2): Best Foreign Short, Best Ensemble Cast – Short
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: Anders has done a lot of live TV-directing and debuted with his first fiction-film Haikeren starring Kristofer Hivju in 2013. Since then he has been working on both short and feature film scripts. He has also written a supernatural mystery novel which was released at the end of 2018, called “Den bemerkelsesverdige bysten”. He is currently in pre-production of a new short film which is set to start shooting in August 2019.
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STOP / EJECT / REWIND (USA)
UTAH PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: “Stop/Eject/Rewind” (2018) is a highly stylized, science-fiction/dark comedy that follows the events of an off-kilter young man who constructs a time machine to impress his female coworker, taking her to the future.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, All Audiences
DIRECTOR: Elliott de Neve
AWARDS NOMINATIONS: N/A
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: Elliott de Neve is an award-winning short-film director known for the science-fiction/dark-comedy “Stop/Eject/Rewind” (2018).
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WE GOT A MONKEY’S PAW (USA)
UTAH PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: Zack and Jakki are you typical “odd couple” roommates. Jakki likes staying in, reading a good book now and again; while Zack has other hobbies like waking the dead. Things get hairy when Zack convinces Jakki to spend the day making wishes on a Monkey’s Paw. Soon the two find themselves doing backflips trying to undo the cataclysmic series of events they’ve set off. Ghost brides, demon boxes, dead-y bears, oh my! This paw is definitely in the wrong hands.
RATINGS GUIDE: Language
DIRECTOR: Aaron Pagniano
AWARDS NOMINATIONS (2): Best Comedy Short, Best Editing – Short
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: N/A
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WHO YOU ARE (USA)
UTAH PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS: The accidental invention of an asshole AI spells trouble for a tech startup in the late 80’s. In “The Commercial” Daryl and Jonathan, two computer engineers, prepare for the launch of their product, a sentient machine that can read souls, by attempting to film a commercial. The machine proves difficult to work with, forcing them to find a compromise.
RATINGS GUIDE: Strong Language
DIRECTOR: Joel Jay Blacker
AWARDS NOMINATIONS (1): Best Web Series
DIRECTOR’S / FILMMAKER’S BIO: Based in Los Angeles, British writer, director, and editor, Joel Jay Blacker has honed a sensibility for making others laugh when they shouldn’t. Award winning short film “Let’s Do It”, about a couples attempt at an orgy, premiered online via Short of the Week after a successful festival run and has accumulated over 80k online views. Music video “How It Goes” for artist Keenan the First earned a Vimeo Staff Pick and features on EARMILK, CrossFader Magazine and Booooooom TV. Some of his commercial clients include FatBurger, Trikke, St Joesph and MVMT Theory. As an editor, Joel has cut several videos for Fujifilm and EDM artist Marshmello. Joel is beginning his festival run for short series Who You Are, with premieres lined up at Santa Barbara International Film Festival and CineQuest. Who You Are is a comedy about the accidental invention of an AI that spells trouble for a tech startup in the late 80’s.
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