Short

15 min documentary film discusses the work of Lemur Conservation Foundation in Madagascar and Myakka City, Florida. Lemurs are the most unique and most endangered primates in the world with 98% of the more than 110 species threatened with extinction.

Arash is a professional wrestler with dreams of representing his country and winning gold medals. The country is in turmoil and its people are suffering. Arash must decide between using his platform to stand up to tyranny, or put his head down and remain silent.

Screened as part of the Foreign 1 section.

Sixteen-year-old Manuel lives in Tijuana, Mexico with his grandfather while his mom works in the United States. When he meets a girl, he sees an opportunity to assert his independence, but what he doesn’t know about her will push him to the limit.

Inspired by real events.

Screened as part of the Foreign 1 section.

Burton Rocks’ health left him isolated. So, he started calling some of America’s biggest stars.

They answered.

Forty years later, Burton shares his fascinating collection of interviews for the first time.

Screened as part of the Documentary Shorts 1 section.

A poignant documentary that unfolds alongside Jon Linton, an artist who lost a friend and colleague to addiction and homelessness. In an attempt to process what happened, Jon walked out into to world, with his camera, to open himself to the reality of what it is to be unhoused. He wandered into a human experience akin to Tolstoy walking out into his beloved Moscow in the late 1800s.

Screened as part of the Documentary Shorts 1 section.

As a young man in Scotland, singer George Orr played in bands and dreamed of becoming a rockstar. After repeatedly being told that he looked and sounded too much like a fellow newcomer named Rod Stewart, George’s dream slowly faded. Forty years and many professional sidetracks later – including stints as a martial arts trainer and a Miami paparazzo – George was able to turn the very thing that held him back in his early attempt at a career in music into his ticket to success later in life. As a renowned Rod Stewart tribute artist, George entertains sold out crowds with his singing and Chardonnay-soaked banter. NOT ROD is a short documentary about a big personality who reminds us that it is never too late to do what you love.

Screened as part of the Sarasota Filmmakers Documentary section.

It’s the summer before Phoebe Lee leaves home. The Chinese-American Lee family, who has lived in the Mississippi Delta for generations, is preparing for the day by taking inventory at their grocery store. The two Lee siblings — Phoebe and Raymond — work in tandem like they have all of their lives.

Except this summer is different. Phoebe is leaving home for a college far from Mississippi, and in doing so is saying goodbye to her older brother and an entire way of life.

Screened as part of the Deeply Poignant section.

Against all odds, a young man with autism and tourette syndrome enters a grueling gravel race, pushing himself to the limit as he faces physical and mental challenges along the way.

Screened as part of the Sarasota Filmmakers Documentary section.

Drowned in a family reunion chaos filled with testosterone and pig roast, REYNALD will try to prove to his nephew, his family but mostly himself that’s he’s still king.

Screened as part of the Foreign 3 section.

Twelve-year-old Iris is sent to live on a farm in rural Pennsylvania after an encounter with her mom’s boyfriend.

Screened as part of the Deeply Poignant section.

A close look inside the world of a Special Olympian, Becky Richter.

Screened as part of the Sarasota Filmmakers Documentary section.

Lars and Frances are two young professionals who work day in and day out for Sol Corp, the mega-corporation that owns and runs the entire world. Their routine consists of putting on VR Headsets and transporting their souls into the “cloud,” rendering their bodies lifeless in the real world for 10 hours a day. To ensure their cats are entertained, they play “Bird Hours,” an NPR program that plays recordings of various birds, which are all extinct due to climate change. After reports of absurd catastrophic news events and a long-awaited session of intimacy is interrupted by Sol Corp, Lars smashes his and Frances’ headsets and they escape their apartment into a sun-drenched world of unknowns.

Screened as part of the Narrative Shorts section.

An agoraphobic man named Greg, fears that someone outside of his apartment window is watching him. Every night he enjoys a routine of watching conspiracy filled videos from a public access TV talk show and has dinner with his only trusted friend, his neighbor. However, his paranoia is heightened when the talk show host begins speaking to him, informing him that his neighbor may not be what he seems.

Screened as part of the Ringling section.

Evie Ingle, trapped in her grief and abusive marriage, takes matters into her own hands to break that cycle. Through visual and sonic storytelling, the audience will experience the inner world of Evie’s struggle without the use of dialogue.

Screened as part of the Sarasota Filmmakers Narrative section.

 Following the loss of his husband, a grief-stricken retiree (Sam Anderson) finds renewed connection with a mysterious young woman who’s attempting to terminate a pregnancy.

Screened as part of the Feel Good section.

The short film, The Suit, inspired by a song of the same name written by the legendary songwriter Hugh Prestwood, follows a salt of the earth older woman and her granddaughter who go in search of the perfect suit for Grandpa, a man who has spent his life “scratchin’ the earth.” Together they travel the Nebraska countryside, making stops at a General Store, a fine haberdashery, and ultimately, a Thrift store where we ultimately learn it is the suit Grandpa will be buried in. The Suit is about how the simplest task can take on monumental importance. It’s about how to say goodbye when words are utterly inadequate. The many ways we express love. And how we manage to continue in its absence, finding our strength in those around us.

Screened as part of the Feel Good section.

France, 1936. Gerta, a young German photoreporter, lives in exile with her companion, the Hungarian photographer André Friedmann. Due to widespread xenophobia, no newspaper wants to publish them. When the Spanish civil war breaks out, they are determined to cover the events and thus to fight fascism. Faced with the newspapers’ reluctance to send them to Spain, Gerta decides to invent a new identity for them.

Screened as part of the Foreign 3 section.

When a prison guard is murdered on the job, his replacement and an inmate form an unlikely relationship with life-altering ramifications.

This film is based on the real life story of Philadelphia native Terrance Lewis who served 21 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.

Screened as part of the Deeply Poignant section.

Tampa Bay is one of the areas in our nation most vulnerable to climate change. Referred to as an area with high risk and low readiness, the region has large populations, including communities with high social vulnerability, and extensive development in flood-prone areas.

But Tampa Bay isn’t alone, communities across the Gulf coast face similar climate impacts. From sea-level rise, storm surge, extreme rainfall, and water quality and quantity, communities in coastal Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Florida share their lessons learned and solutions employed. Together we can build resilience to a changing climate.

Screened as part of the Sarasota Filmmakers Documentary section.

A grieving woman communicates with her dead husband through her car radio.

Screened as part of the Feel Good section.

Dante is an old gay activist who refuses to retire. Facing the inevitable end of his existence, he decides to fulfill his old plans of opening the first LGBTQIA+ retirement house in Brazil, ignoring the advice of his great friend, Francisca, who argues that they no longer need to care.

Screened as part of the Foreign 3 section.

During a teenage road trip to the west coast of Puerto Rico, 16-year-old Cristóbal begins to suspect that his crush, Yazmín, and cousin Marcos are secretly seeing each other.

Screened as part of the Foreign 3 section.