Freakshow

Producer: Michael Capiraso; Director/Writer: Marcus Wagner

It’s All Hallows Eve in Coney Island! Many screams cut through the calliope of this urban playground, but not every cry is one of joy. Our fable begins with two trick-or-treaters: Sara the precocious kitty-cat and her little pumpkin Joey. The two are denied entrance to the Freakshow by Mr. Fingers, the ten-in-one’s sinister barker. The costumed kids sneak their way inside, Joey wanting treats and Sara seeking freaks. As this tall tale gets told a lesson does unfold – curiosity can kill a cat and no pumpkin is ripe until its fat! Starring Erik Frandsen, with Alice Cooper as the voice of Pirate Jack. Fine out more at https://marcuswagner.net.

9 min

Final Sale

Producer: Gina DiSanto; Director/Writer: Julie Hermelin

It’s a short form action/comedy about two best friends, Jane, the conservative traditionalist, and Isabell, the sassy ballbuster, who are shopping for dresses to wear to a friend’s wedding. When they both eye the same red dress tempers flare, barbs are exchanged, and a kung fu show down ensues. But, this face-off isn’t just a fight about a dress, it’s a comedic tale about the shifting dynamics of friendship and the power struggles therein. Starring Felicia Day, Cerina Vincent.

12 min

Confederate Zombie Massacre!

Producer: Agustin Fuentes; Director/Writer: Devi Snively

A romantic horror comedy that tells the very true story of a fictitious battle during the Civil War in which the use of homemade chemical weapons results in mayhem of zombie-astic proportions! Heads fly, breasts heave and love is in the polluted green air. Features Dragon*Con favorite, Nikki Taylor Melton.

17 min

The Commission

Producer/Director/Writer: Josh Greene

An old-school movie studio has cornered a third of the world box office by cranking out a series of Jesus-ploitation films. However their latest, a noir-thriller called ‘The Big Sheep’ (featuring Christ as a Bogey-esque private detective) isn’t testing so well.

With profits falling and Corporate breathing down their necks, it’s up to eleven crotchety, old Studio Execs to find a solution and revive the franchise. But when a mysterious Stranger appears with an outrageous plan to fill every seat, the old-timers are faced with an even bigger dilemma than the bottom-line.

9 min

Cold War

Producer/Director/Writer: Brian Garrigan

A high tech mix of “old meets new” with art direction and character design influenced by 1930’s sci-fi pulp magazines and vintage advertising posters, Cold War is a tribute to Warner Brothers and Mad Magazine. All these influences are brought together by cutting edge 3D animation. Key framed by hand without motion capture and created by two students at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan for their Thesis film project. Cold War seeks to veer away from standard student films and get back to the roots of animation, namely comedy.

There are no ninjas or evil clowns in this piece―just a self-contained universe inhabited by two foes from rival nations. Their rivalry is the basis for their slap stick brand of humor.

4 min

Clown

Producer: Michael Hagerty, Director: Karl T. Hirsch, Writers: Hirsch & Michael McColl

Ken’s workaday routine, which includes having a few cocktails each night, has left him marginally bored and lifeless. One day, his routine is interrupted. When his regular liquor store is closed, he finds a flyer for Circus Liquor—a nearby store with a giant neon clown at its entrance. When he begins to drink from the store’s liquor, strange things start to happen. He begins to have vivid hallucinations of an Evil Clown, following him, coming closer as the nights progress. As the Evil Clown gradually approaches, the liquor’s appeal becomes stronger—ultimately becoming more important than his girl, his job, and his sanity.

20 min

Circle of Freaks

Producer/Director/Writer: David Popolow

All are welcome to visit the Circle of Freaks. We enjoy your company and want you to stay a while! Come see the Dog boy! Watch the Worm boy get under your skin! And don’t forget to greet the unhappiest Clown on earth!

But first let me tell you of the story of a little boy who happened upon the Circle of Freaks. Lured by his curiosity, he entered, expecting to have a good old jolly time. He liked to cruelly taunt the freaks and did not consider the consequences.

So who is the Real Monster? You decide.

6 min

The Babel Trunk

Producer/Director: Bram Tihany; Writer: Ed Cohen

Alone in a room with no entrances or exits a man sits silently at a typewriter, a man whose only known function is to type. When he unwittingly begins questioning his purpose, dramatic repercussions are inflicted on his surroundings, provoking a visit from his coworkers upstairs and below. Their subsequent clash ignites a race against time as the three struggle to reach an agreement before their reality is thrust into complete chaos. An imaginative and dark satire, The Babel Trunk explores a surreal world of sideways logic and deceitful appearances.

20 min

Apartment 206

Producer: Jon Stout, Director/Writer: Gregory Zymet

Two fatal victims of a traffic accident wake up in an ominous apartment surrounded by darkness. Their only contact with the living world is through old televisions that broadcast the one thing they cherish back on earth. They “plug in” to their past lives and attempt to manipulate them. Eventually, they both realize the things they crave can only be gotten when they confront the black void outside.

29 min

1309

Producer: Stacy Patterson; Director/Writer: Christian Davis

A beautiful redhead is sitting at the bar of a crowded nightclub when a drunk propositions her. She politely says she’s waiting for her husband, but the drunk continues to move in. In need of a contingency plan, she grabs a passing stranger as her ‘husband.’ One look at her, and the stranger happily plays along until the drunk gets the hint.

The redhead and the stranger have a few drinks, then a few drinks more. The chemistry between them is intense. When they move outside to fulfill their passion, the action takes an unexpected twist and thrusts them into a violent criminal plot where nothing, and no one, is as it seems.

15 min

The Wright Stuff

Writer/Producer/Director: Ford Austin

When the Wright Brothers are called upon by the president of the united states to fight ‘evil doers’, they fly to his aid and go on many amazing adventures while remaining grounded with their lucrative bike repair business. Relentlessly hilarious!

20 min

The World Outside

Writer: Ben Collins; Producer: Josh Lind; Directors: Josh Lind, Kevin Phillips

SLOW AND STEADY GETS YOU FIRED! Rules, restrictions, guidelines, suggestions, commands, punishments, work work work. Life in a toy factory goes as planned. Whether the toy you build is a ball on a stick or a ball on a string, you will do as you are told or feel the consequences. After meeting a bright-eyed young lady who works at the factory across the street, a young lever-puller decides to disguise his identity, fool both factories, and avoid the watchful eyes of the building officials to get closer to the one girl he could love.

28 min

Witchwise

Writer/Director: Joe Harris; Producer: Amanda DeSeta, Hunter Shepherd

Everyone adores Andrew, including his old Aunt Mary. Rather, she did… until she died. Now, standing at her funeral, his Aunt’s casket open before him, Andrew reflects on the last time he saw Mary alive… as well as the shocking, secret chain of events that led to her death.  Was Andrew’s Aunt Mary a witch? What was the source of her power? And, most importantly, how can he make it his? Witchwise is a swirling tale of horror and magic, murder and vengeance in which one bad little boy learns an important lesson—Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it!
(Web Site)

13 min

Whore

Writer/Producer/Director: Vincent Scordia

Whore, tells the story of a young married couple experimenting with a violent sexual fantasy in a sleazy New Jersey motel room. The main idea of the film was to explore a side of sexual culture that is often ignored in contemporary culture. The idea is that sexual gratification can be achieved through abuse and violence in the context of an otherwise loving relationship.
(Web Site)

8 min

Uh-Oh: A Brief Encounter

Writer/Director: Joe Henke; Producer: Hero Motion Pictures

Uh-oh is a computer-animated short about a brief encounter on a not-so-far away planet. Told without dialogue and set to the music of the legendary Raymond Scott. Moral? Don’t leave your keys in your spaceship.
(Web Site)

2 min

Uh Oh Betty

Writer: Anthony Veve; Producer: Drew Weaver; Director: Anthony Veve

Uh Oh Betty is a documentary parody that shows the lighter side of a rather bleak topic. Christina Binkley is Betty, a young woman that has had enough of her boyfriend’s sexual advances, in a fit of anger she kills him! Finding herself in a rather large quandary, her only help and savior is the narrator Dr. Rackenport who instructs Betty on the proper techniques of disposing a body. A purely black and white comedy that draws you into the comfortable era of poodle skirts and car hops, lowering your defenses enough to make you laugh. The upbeat jazz and soothing voice of Dr. Rackenport set you up perfectly as a blundering Betty knocks you down with laughter!

8 min

The Toll

Writer/Director: J Zachary Pike; Producer: Marc Dole

The Toll is a Computer Animated mockumentary and a character study in the guise of a student project created by fictional film student Harvey Stevens. Harvey delves into the realm of not-so-fantastic myth to interview a troll who lives under a bridge. The troll is, for lack of a better word, evil. He’s aggressive, uncouth, temperamental, and has a nasty habit of eating people. His pet is a malicious cross between a dragon, a pug, and a Cuisinart. Yet strangely, the troll wants acceptance from the society he preys on, and sees the young filmmaker as an opportunity to clear up the ‘misunderstandings’ that have always plagued him.

6 min

Thumb Pow

Writer: Joseph Clark, Steve Oedekerk; Producer/Director: Joseph Clark

Thumb Parody based on Steve Oedekerk’s Kung Pow: A young man, who some say is the ‘chosen one,’ is walking through life trying to find his purpose. In the mean time there are evil people who are trying to kill him so that they may take over the world. Thumb Animation!

7 min

That’s My Baby

Writer: Staci Bernstein; Producer: David Bernstein; Director: Staci Simpson

That’s My Baby is a lighthearted look at maternal instincts gone awry. When two women in a park both lay claim to the same child, tempers flare and the fight is on. Though neither seems to have a strong grasp of parenting, both toss their conflict to the wind when the child’s safety is threatened. Who is the real mother? Could the child have two mothers? What’s best for the child? Assumptions about child ownership and child rearing are a gentile undercurrent in this frolicking physical comedy.

10 min

Tell-Tale Art

Writer/Director: Jeremy Dylan Lanni; Producers: Jeremy Dylan Lanni, Bradley Sellers, Noah Goldsmith

Lenore brutally murders her husband, dismembers his body, and conceals the pieces within a grotesque sculpture. Why? Perhaps Lenore was right in claiming it was Allan’s cataract eye that drove her to do it. The milky orb was certainly repulsive to behold. But did it really scour her soul with a supernaturally critical glare? And when one Officer Morley questioned Lenore, something made her lose her composure. What exactly shattered her resolve? That, like Lenore’s motive, is a mystery. All we know for sure is that Lenore dissolved into a gibbering wreck, confessed to her heinous crime, and remains stark raving mad to this day!
(Web Site)

6 min