Shorts program, 111 min, Not rated
If it's Friday night, and especially if it's Friday the 13th, it must be time for the Fright Fest. These short films take you from the merely eerie to the frankly terrifying. Not for the faint of heart.
Directors: Joseph Victor, Ryan Russell Steele
Narrative Short, USA, 2019, 4 min, Color
This is a short film about the dangers of a resentful mind following a horrific night at an artist mixer and the desire for revenge. Have we become passive voyeurs of the violence of the world? Are we able to empathize as if the circumstances were reversed? How are we poisoned by the context of our own perception?
Great Lakes connection: The cast and crew are from Michigan and the film was shot in Michigan.
Director: Javid Farahani
Narrative Short, Iran, Islamic Republic of, 2019, 15 min, Color
A woman director wants to make a film with a rape scene, but social and religious red lines in Iran mean no actress is willing to play the role.
Director: Daniel Hagler
Narrative Short, USA, 2018, 5 min, Color
Inattentive parents hire a clown for Timmy's birthday, but there are dire consequences.
Great Lakes connection: One of the producers is from Michigan.
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Director: Scott Franchuk
Narrative Short, Canada, 2019, 6 min, Color, Student Project (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada)
Ruth and Michael are on a date. Ruth is quiet at first, but as she and Michael start to get along, she is struck by violent thoughts of harming him. As Michael asks personal questions, the violent thoughts get worse. She must either confront the thoughts or give up on a potential relationship.
Director: Douglas A. Ewen
Narrative Short, Canada, 2018, 4 min, Color, Student Project (Sault College, Sault Ste. Marie, ON, Canada)
A photographer struggles with the illusion of beauty and sees people for who they truly are through his lens.
Great Lakes connection: The director is a student in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
Director: Michael McCallum
Narrative Short, USA, 2018, 11 min, Color
A grieving woman desperately hunts for her fiancé, who vanished under abrupt and mysterious circumstances.
Great Lakes connection: The film was 100% created and made in Michigan.
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Director: Vladimir Sokolskyy
Narrative Short, Canada, 2018, 10 min, Color, Student Project (Sault College, Sault Ste. Marie, ON, Canada)
A group of friends gets an ominous message that makes them become afraid for their lives. Strong violence and language throughout.
Great Lakes connection: The film was shot in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Several actors and crew personnel were from the area.
Director: Marco Jemolo
Animation, Italy, 2017, 7 min, Color
This noir animation explores the sensitive subject of alienation in society.
Directors: Ava Torres, Helmann Wilhelm
Narrative Short, Canada, 2017, 15 min, Color
Sam tries to win the affection of a talented actress named Claire despite a crippling speech disorder. When his best friend shows interest in the same woman, Sam becomes dangerously obsessed, breaking into her apartment to learn everything there is to know about his one true love.
Great Lakes connection: The film includes a cast and crew from Ontario and was shot in the same province.
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Director: Kishe Caelan Wallace
Narrative Short, USA, 2018, 10 min, Color
Silence the Vampyr, while based on various Serbian news events, is fictional. Folkloric and Orthodoxian, it reveals a hunt for vampyr, or the corpse of what villagers believe to be vampyr. Aleksandar, a young child, is indoctrinated into the ritual of staking in this chilling tale.
Great Lakes connection: The film was shot in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
Director: Kellen Gibbs
Narrative Short, USA, 2019, 17 min, Color
Gifted with the ability to extract and inhabit other people’s memories, Greer Thompson is an example of how incredible powers come at a price. She isolates herself and tries to live a very simple life, but when she is confronted by a man who has been affected by her abilities, she is forced to question her own reality.
Director: Lee Chambers
Narrative Short, Canada, 2019, 8 min, Color
Late one night, Craig, a mechanic, reluctantly agrees to help Nicole, a desperate young woman with a flat tire, in a car all too familiar to him. Nicole's mysterious incident on the old Copenhagen Road slowly strikes an eerie note for Craig and brings his own shady past rushing forward.
Great Lakes connection: The director was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. His Pineville Heist feature was screened at the 2016 Soo Film Festival.
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