CIFF Wednesday, Block 2: Shorts Program

THE LIFE AND TRIALS OF WILLY GRUNCH: STAR SYSTEM
CGI Animation (2 mins.) SC Premiere

Director: Oscar Carabano
Writers: Alain Auderset, Benoit Wiener and Oscar Carambano
Producers: JM Khayat, Ben Davis and Bryan Ransom
Cast: Jasmine and Willy Grunch

Synopsis: Willy Grunch only has three things on his mind: Love, Guitars and SNAILS. His flawed pursuit of the beautiful Jasmine leads him through the most amazing and disastrous situations ever imagined while making sure to find time to annoy Oscargot the snail! In this episode Jasmine’s desire to become a star takes her on a rollercoaster ride through her “five mins. of fame”.

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JACK & JILL
Drama (12 mins.) Australia, SC Premiere

Directors/Writers: Lloyd and Spencer Harvey
Producers: Lloyd Harvey, Spencer Harvey and Nino Tamburri
Cast: Molly Ellison, Jacob Worth, James Carrick, Ash Bee, Hayley McCarthy, Kirby Burgess, Richard Carwin, David Buckley, Adam Ibrahim and Mathew Millay

Synopsis: Jill’s father is stationed in New Guinea during WWII, whilst Jill and her sisters wait at home in Sydney for news from the front line. The women are left to fear the worst, upon learning that an RAAF squadron, near the village where their father is stationed, has sustained heavy casualties. So Jill, armed with a map of the South Pacific and her imagination, takes it upon herself to bring her father home.

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THE CHAIR
Drama (12 mins.) SC Premiere

Director/Writer: Grainger David
Producers: Spencer Kiernan and Caroline Oliveira
Cast: Khari Lucas, Martha F. Brown, King Hoey, Ja’kye Williams, Jadin Williams and Amya Williams

Synopsis: The Chair is the story of a mysterious outbreak of poisonous mold in a small town and one boy’s attempt to understand his mother’s death, his grandmother’s obsession with their discarded recliner, and the roots of this short-lived, strange, and inexplicable plague.

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PICTURE. PERFECT.
Drama (24 mins.) SC Premiere

Director: Winston Titus Tao
Writers: Winston Tao and Aaron Tao
Producers: Ngoc Ho and Bryan Barnes
Cast: Reese Mishler, Ronnie Clark, Olivia Rose Keegan, Pete Uribe and Troy Ryan Zuercher

Synopsis: 17 yr. old Russell Clayton is an amateur photographer who’s grown up in the poor, rural town of Sonora. With a grim living situation and an absent, drug-addicted father, Russell is forced to take care of his younger sister, Maggie. When he’s unexpectedly given the opportunity to participate in his school’s annual photography competition, everything seems optimistic…until his father comes into the picture. Now, Russell must finally confront the broken relationship he has with his father, and learns that all good things come at a great cost.

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TOWING
Drama (15 mins.) US/East Coast Premiere

Director: Wenhwa Ts’ao
Writer: Cari Callis
Producer: Karen Loop
Cast: Camille Guaty, Nicholas Gonzalez and Adam Pilver
Synopsis: A female veteran’s, and tow truck driver, struggles to make the adjustment to civilian life when she comes across a drunk who has hit a dog alongside the road during her shift. Facing her recent past, and her currents adjustment to civilian life, she must figure out how to deal with a situation that hits close to home. Towing explores themes of gender, race and class with a feminine perspective on the emotional effects of war.

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NARCOCORRIDO
Fiction/Drama (23 mins.) SC Premiere

Director/Writer: Ryan Prows
Producer: Onye Anyanwu
Cast: Emilio Rivera, Michael Finn, Nicki Micheaux and Raul Castillo

Synopsis: The drug ballad of a gravely ill border cop's reckless cartel heist, and of the desperate souls destroyed in her wake.

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REBUILD
Silent Drama (7 mins.) SC Premiere

Director/Writer: Gerry Gibson
Producer: Max King
Cinematographer/Editor: Devin Gaenzler Forbes
Cast: Addy Miller, Shelby Panttaja and Stephen Thomas Shore

Synopsis: A young girl chases after the chance to save her family.