Multi-Screening: The "C" Word, Two Kisses, QUARANTINE (I keep you company), The Perfect Pancake, Moving Dad, a COVID-19 Story, Bard Words, Lifeline, Flashback, Milton, NaCIO

Renewal

A distressed young man finds renewal on the road as he looks back on his father’s battle with COVID-19.

Director Bio: Bryan Mackenzie was born on November 28th, 1982 in Boksburg, South Africa. He is a writer, director and editor, known for The Fall (2019), which received several festival nominations.

His passion for creation started at a small Wisconsin based independent game studio, where he worked his way up from gameplay engineer to technical director. Currently, based in Sacramento, California, Bryan now works as a graphics software engineer, delivering leading-edge features for next generation hardware and software.

NaCIO

What happens when the Italian gangster ‘Angelo Santucci’ has to face the lockdown? How does he handle the Covid-19 pandemic? Let's follow the actions of the Mafia Boss and how the Coronavirus spread will change his way of doing business.

 Director Bios:

Emiliano Troiano is an Italian actor and director. He graduated in Drama and Film Studies at ARU Cambridge. Since 2017 he has worked as a theatre actor mainly in the U.K. and in Italy. He also worked as an assistant director for different theatre shows. In 2019, he founded the theatre company ‘Vision Physical Theatre’ and toured around Europe with his first original show ‘Voice Over’. In 2020, he founded with Benedetto Tedesco the creative agency ‘Bloom Creative’ and shot their first short film ‘NaCIO’. Emiliano is now working on new theatre projects that will be presented to the public in spring 2021.

Benedetto Tedesco studied web marketing e graphic design, in Milan. He is passionate about the design of strategies for digital projects. He works and collaborates with renowned companies all around Italy, as for example Ninja Academy, a landmark of digital training. He is also passionate about video making techniques and video editing.

The "C" Word

When everything around you is falling apart, it's important to connect with family.

Directed by: Kat Kingsley.

Two Kisses

Two Kisses is a Covid-19-inspired drama. Martha's husband is in the hospital with Covid-19 and she is all alone; her daughter works as a nurse at the hospital and their only contact is via Zoom.

Director Bio: Tara Grover Smith earned a Master's in English/Creative writing at Southern Methodist University and a Bachelor's in Professional Writing at Baylor University. She settled in the Sierra Nevada foothills with her husband where they lived a happy, quiet life of contemplation and writing, with the exception of the cheerful chaos five step-children brought on weekends. That was the longest either of them had lived in one place before they fled for our lives from the Camp Fire on November 8, 2018. She is rebuilding her life telling stories that matter. Tara's The Joymaker script has won several awards; she was a Fresh Ink playwright contest winner with Blue Room Theater; a Scriptapalooza semifinalist with a co-writer for the TV pilot ‘Roses,’ which was optioned. She started a national and international current affairs magazine, named one of ten best new magazines in 2012 by Library Journal.

Corinne Meadors is an actor and vocalist who currently resides with her family in Northern California. She has appeared in several award-winning independent features and short films and was recognized for her work in Golden Eagle Films’ The Great Controversy Ended (2018) by the Los Angeles Film Awards and the Accolade Global Film Competition. Originally a native of Massachusetts, Corinne has dedicated her life to acting and singing with a strong penchant for film. She attended the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) where she graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. in Art History and studied music with a focus in vocal performance. She studied theatre at Bridgewater State College (Bridgewater, MA) and at H.B. Studio in NYC. In her spare time, Corinne can be found on some single-track hiking trail not too far from home.

The Perfect Pancake

A teen boy stuck in quarantine struggles to cook a flawless pancake to a demanding, outdated audio cassette recorder before he loses his patience.

Directed by: Mo Alagi

Milton

A man leaves an extraneous voicemail to a possible love interest.

Directed by: Joseph LaGuidice

QUARANTINE (I keep you company)

A man alone at home finds a way to have some company but unfortunately the dependence on social networks and smartphones makes the attempt in vain.

Director Bio: Massimiliano Nocco nasce l’8 settembre 1970 a Carbonia, provincia di Cagliari, in una famiglia di origini contadine: dodicesimo di tredici figli, il padre è un pastore, la madre una casalinga. All’età di 16 anni, rimasto orfano di entrambi i genitori (la madre era morta quando lui aveva 11 anni), è costretto a trasferirsi a Firenze dove inizia a imparare il mestiere di pizzaiolo. Pur guadagnandosi da vivere come pizzaiolo coltiva la sua passione per la recitazione e nel 1998 si diploma al Centro Iniziative Teatrali (C.I.T.) diretto da Manola Nifosì e Sergio Aguirre a Campi Bisenzio (FI). Prende parte come attore in diversi spettacoli e decide di ampliare la sua formazione al campo del cinema. Dal 2000 al 2010 a Firenze frequenta la Scuola di Cinema Immagina diretta da Giuseppe Ferlito dove consegue gli attestati nei corsi di Regia, Recitazione, Riprese, Montaggio e Sceneggiatura Cinematografica. Nel 2013 termina gli studi scolastici che aveva interrotto a 16 anni in seguito alla perdita del padre e consegue il diploma di maturità come Tecnico delle Industrie Elettroniche presso l’Istituto di Istruzione Superiore B. Cellini. Dal 2001 a oggi ha realizzato vari cortometraggi sperimentali di cui è regista e attore e ha collaborato a diversi progetti cinematografici e teatrali ricoprendo il ruolo di attore e aiuto-regista. Nel 2018 gira “Faula”, cortometraggio d’ispirazione autobiografica ambientato alla fine degli anni ’70 in Sardegna; progetto terminato a ottobre 2019.

Moving Dad, a COVID-19 Story

Nancy and her siblings move their father into assisted living in the middle of a pandemic.

Director Bio: Dana Walker is a director and filmmaker in the Sacramento area. She’s inspired by stories that celebrate all the messiness, joy, and humor of being human in an equally chaotic world.

Lifeline

During the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020, two self-isolating office workers, both lonely in their own way, connect via a series of progress reports. Each becoming the other's lifeline to a world beyond quarantine.

Director Bio: Lewis Carter is an award-winning writer and indie-filmmaker from South Wales. He has a master’s degree in Writing for Performance and publication from Leeds University, and in 2016, he made his directorial debut. His short films; 'Campfire Story', 'Royal', and 'Showdown' have won numerous awards and been screened around the world. His short stories have been published by the likes of; ‘Empty Sink’, ‘National Student’, and ‘Literally Stories’. He is also the Head Writer, Producer at the award-winning video production company, Fine Rolling Media.

Bard Words

A woman, driven to near madness by scammers, serves up a host of Shakespearean insults to the unmuzzled, earth-vexing miscreants. 

Director Bio: Paul Kelly is a playwright and filmmaker. His published plays have consistently received positive reviews and have been particularly popular with audiences in stage performances at Off-Broadway and Regional Theaters. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America. In 2019, as an acknowledgment of his achievements and dedication to the Guild, Kelly was awarded a Lifetime Membership.

Kelly's work has made the leap from stage to screen with his SAG-AFTRA short films, Fermented (2010), My Day (2013), Last Words (2015), Now (2016) and Final Polish (2017). His films have won several festival and competition awards.

 Kelly's super short films include, Another Visit (2015), Who Ate All the Children? (2016), MT7 (2016), Free (2016), Bruno, Maya and the Pothole (2016), Rough Road (2016), The Unattended (2018), Fowl Fury (2019), Burying Chekhov (2019), Elegy (2019), A Flying Squirrel's Tale (2019), Origin Story (2019), A Head Above the Rest (2020), Peeved (2020), Wishful Keep (2020) and Bard Words (2020).

Flashback

60th day of quarantine. A photographer imprisoned in his house with his camera, unable to go out to free his creativity, takes photos from his window. But the silence brings back some happy memories that he has filmed for his work. Melancholy is too strong.

Director Bio: Fabio Filomena is an Italian aspiring director and cinematographer based in South Italy and is 22years old.  He loves shooting short and documentary films.