Tag: spotlight (Page 10 of 315)

Filmmaker Ofre Sparrow Vaknin‘s Run, Little Rat! tells the story of “a struggling little rat [that] has to escape from home to find where he truly belongs.”

This is Ofre’s third year film at CalArts. It screened at the 13th Kuandu International Animation Festival, FIEC Film Festival, Film Night on Fulton, Bass Coast Shorts and others.

After graduating, Ofre joined Illumination as a Story and Development apprentice.

Illumination is the animation studio behind Despicable Me, Minions, Migration, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, The Secret Life of Pets, Sing and others.

Synopsis: Sam, Lexi and Jane spend the first day of Eighth Grade plotting a scheme to get the ultimate lunch table. Their plans unravel when Katy, a preppy, sixth-grade TikTok influencer, beats them to the coveted spot.

A short film by Ofre Sparrow Vaknin, created at CalArts.

Ofre is currently a Story and Development apprentice at Illumination, the studio behind Despicable Me and The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

Synopsis: A man and a washing machine become intimately connected. A visit from the plumber is enough to trigger a crisis in their relationship.

Directed by Alexandra Májová, Washing Machine (original title: Pracka) was a big success on the festival circuit, screening in over 50 festivals worldwide.

In Uncanny Alley, written and directed by Rodrigo Goulao de Sousa, a strange curse spreads throughout a small town.

The short horror film is broken up into three sections:

A woman is distracted while watching a film…

A late-night janitor gets a strange visitor…

Something is off with the roommate…

About the film: Impossible Journey addresses the urgent crisis in maternal health care in the United States. The pregnancy journey of Black women is marked by persistent challenges and systemic barriers, creating a nearly impossible journey for Black mothers seeking safe and equitable childbirth experiences.

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Directed by Chenghua Yang. Written by Chenghua Yang & Julie Nobelen.

Synopsis: Following a break-up, Wen sinks into melancholy. She can’t talk to anyone and therefore talks to herself a lot. By understanding that it’s not love she has lost but her confidence, she will be able to reconcile with herself and feel ready to love again.

Note from the director: “This film is inspired by my own experiences. Following a difficult breakup, I withdrew into myself. More and more, I looked at my nails and scratched my skin. Alternating between manic and depressive episodes, the fear of talking to others led me to talk to myself a lot.

During this period, I expressed myself a lot by drawing and this is how the idea for this project was born. Although dealing with melancholy through depression, this film is deeply optimistic. Mourning a relationship is a long process that is different for each of us.”

Synopsis: Romina tells the true story of a 14-year-old girl facing an unplanned pregnancy in a state where abortion is banned. Despite the legal barriers, a community rallies around her, ensuring she can access the abortion she desired.

Written and directed by Paola Mendoza.

A short film by Una Di Gallo.

Synopsis: A film about growing up in the twilight of industrial Hamilton, Ontario. Sam & Franklin spend an endless, muggy summer exploring their industrial neighborhood. Electrical towers dot the beach and factories loom high above them as strange, hallucinatory experiences take hold.

Synopsis: Two co-workers at a derelict fast-food franchise accidentally discover a yonic meat portal to another realm — a “burger” world, wherein they’re the only ones who can liberate an oppressed vegetable populace from the all-controlling hand of big meat.

Written and directed by Maddie Brewer.

Intended for mature audiences.

Synopsis: Under a moonlit sky, a bus speeds along the coast when a panicky scream shatters the night silence: a necklace is stolen. A fatal accident follows as the story unfolds with love, hatred and vengeance.

Written and directed by Joe Hsieh.

Synopsis: From Far Away tells the story of Saoussan, a young girl struggling to adjust to life in Canada after being uprooted from her wartorn homeland.

She has come to seek a quieter and safer life, although memories of war and death linger, memories that are awakened when the children at her new school prepare for a scary Halloween.

Directed by Shira Avni and Serene El-haj Daoud.

Synopsis: On a hot August afternoon, a family gathers at the dinner table. Their memories intersect to tell the story of uncle Botão — from the dictatorship to the emigration to France, where he worked as a garbage man, and when he arrived with a van filled with “garbage,” later transformed into treasures.

A short film by Laura Gonçalves.

Written and directed by Sheldon Cohen.

Synopsis: In My Heart Attack, filmmaker Sheldon Cohen chronicles his open-heart surgery through a humorous and philosophical lens, telling the story of the “nice Jewish boy with Buddhist inclinations” who suffers a heart attack.

Written, directed and animated by Frederic Siegel. He is a Swiss director, illustrator and visual artist who studied at the Lucerne School of Art & Design.

Synopsis: A face is born out of chaos. It struggles to exist. It struggles to find its purpose. It struggles to sit on a chair. In fact, it struggles with a lot of things. But thank god, it’s trying.

Directed by Claude Cloutier.

Synopsis: With school, tennis lessons, swimming lessons, art classes, homework and piano practice, a young boy leads such a regimented life that he has no more time just to be a kid.

Inspired by Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Overdose (1994) pleads for children’s right to rest and leisure.