Our final program for this year will provide a flood of emotions for all. Characters grapple with secrets, take wild swings for attention, and try to make sense of sexuality. In summer or winter, in the confines of an apartment or traversing a city, some of these shorts capture one night while others span time, finding ways to portray the ineffable.

Q&A moderated by Cristina Cacioppo, Nitehawk Cinema

Nepotism, Baby!
Tij D’oyen / U.S. / 2023 / 12 min. / English
A fame obsessed young woman fabricates a conspiracy to jump-start her career.

Quilly
Michael Arcos / U.S. / 2024 / 15 min. / English
A stuffed rabbit gets destroyed and a toxic couple goes berserk.

Wait To Tell Mother
Emma Elizabeth Steiger / U.S. / 2024 / 12 min. / English
After losing the most important person in her life, Anna must wrestle with her own choice surrounding life or death.

The Shadow Wrangler
Grace Rex / U.S. / 2024 / 13 min. / English
An audiobook narrator’s attempts to finish recording a western erotica novel in her closet are foiled by disturbances.

Summer’s End
Grant Conversano, Adam Conversano / U.S. / 2023 / 20 min. / English
A troubled young man must face the parallels between his own destructive patterns and his alcoholic father’s infidelity.

Ephemera
Cici Clancy / Canada / 2024 / 13 min. / English
Trapped in a digital void of endless porn, a lonely gas station worker discovers salvation in shadflies – insects born purely to mate.

STRANGERS
Leah Doz / Canada / 2024 / 14 min. / English
After missing their bus on a cold winter night, a young girl confronts the limits of her mother’s love.