Month: October 2026

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Arthouse/Experimental

As three strangers make eye contact, we are enveloped into their worlds.

Program 09 – Authenticity Spotlight · Sat, Dec 5, 2026 · 6:00 PM

Buy Tickets or Passes

• Director(s): Eva L Hoffman
• Writer(s): Eva L Hoffman
• Key Cast: Sarah Randisi, Beatrix Donnelly, Dom Olivo, Baily Hopkins, Edward McCloud
• Editor(s): Eva L Hoffman, Nicholas Dorsey
• Cinematographer(s): Nicholas Dorsey
• Sound Designer(s): Harsh Yeole

Language: English

Runtime: 8m

Country: United States

Los Angeles Premiere

Synopsis: ‘Eye Contact’ is an exploration of the visceral moment of recognition and vulnerability when a stranger’s gaze unexpectedly meets your own. It’s about how a brief glance can become a kind of portal, offering a glimpse into someone’s life. It’s about how memories can intrude on the present. It’s about distilling intimacy into its most elemental form.

Visit this Official Selection’s Instagram →

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Drama

A closeted immigrant speaks to his family on the phone moments before walking down the aisle.

Program 13 – Compelling Spotlight · Sat, Dec 5, 2026 · 9:25 PM

Buy Tickets or Passes

• Director(s): Farzad Kiyafar
• Writer(s): Farzad Kiyafar
• Producer(s): Farzad Kiyafar, Courtney Shumway, Michael Watt
• Key Cast: Nima Rakhshanifar, Jeremy Urann, Kate Krieger, Katie Kelley
• Editor(s): Farzad Kiyafar
• Cinematographer(s): Aakash Raj
• Production Designer(s): Marcel Andre
• Sound Designer(s): William Tabanou
• Composer(s): Steven Matthew Carter

Language: English, Persian

Runtime: 12m

Country: United States

Synopsis: Overwhelmed and isolated on his wedding day, a closeted immigrant speaks to his family on the phone moments before walking down the aisle.

Click here to watch the trailer →

Visit this Official Selection’s Instagram →

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Horror

What’s your secret?

Program 14 – Haunted Spotlight · Sat, Dec 5, 2026 · 9:45 PM

Buy Tickets or Passes

• Director(s): PJ Germain
• Writer(s): Autumn Palen, PJ Germain
• Producer(s): Sabrina Cooper, Jonathan James
• Key Cast: Brady Gentry, Benjamin Nowak, Bix Krieger, Charlie N. Townsend, Cailyn Rice, Ethan Ahn, Emma Smith Watts, Erin Rae Kuykendall
• Editor(s): PJ Germain
• Cinematographer(s): Jeff Billings
• Production Designer(s): Eleanora Figueroa-Steiner
• Sound Designer(s): Michael Capuano
• Composer(s): Tangelene Bolton

Language: English

Runtime: 18m

Country: United States

Synopsis: HIGH SCHOOL REALLY SUCKS… and no one knows that better than best friends Aaron and Keith. So when they set out to crash the last graduation party of the summer, emotions fly high and the culture clash of teenagers find themselves playing a simple game that has dire consequences.

Click here to watch the trailer →

Visit this Official Selection’s Instagram →

Visit the official website →

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Drama

Two strangers imagine their lives together upon seeing each other at a party.

Program 01 – Creativity Spotlight · Fri, Dec 4, 2026 · 7:00 PM

Buy Tickets or Passes

• Director(s): Steven Soria
• Writer(s): Steven Soria
• Producer(s): Rachel Leyco, Shea William Vanderpoort, Alpha Faye
• Key Cast: Rachel Leyco, Yssamei, Matt Groove

Language: English

Runtime: 11m

Country: United States

Synopsis: Two strangers imagine their lives together upon seeing each other at a party.

Click here to watch the trailer →

Visit this Official Selection’s Instagram →

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – SciFi

When a middle-aged UberEats driver convinces a documentary crew to film his reunion with his long lost extraterrestrial family, a decades old conspiracy theory is put to the test.

Program 20 – Innovative Spotlight · Sun, Dec 6, 2026 · 3:45 PM

Buy Tickets or Passes

• Director(s): Cesar Cervantes
• Writer(s): Haohan Ding, Cesar Cervantes
• Producer(s): Zoe Tamara
• Key Cast: Ron Song, Luke Barnett
• Editor(s): Abbi Jutkowitz
• Cinematographer(s): Henry Yin
• Production Designer(s): Rixi Xinrui Liu
• Sound Designer(s): Deanna Fielding
• Composer(s): Joe Chris

Language: English

Runtime: 16m

Country: United States

Synopsis: Kevin Chen has spent his life convinced he’s an alien stranded on Earth. When he receives an email from his supposed “family” promising to pick him up in a flying Honda Odyssey, Kevin invites a documentary crew to film the reunion.

Despite everyone’s suspicion that he’s being scammed, Kevin leads the crew into the Angeles National Forest with $3,000 already sent for "space gas."

Visit this Official Selection’s Instagram →

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Arthouse/Experimental

Two women in mirrored routines find within the rhythm of repetition a moment of unspoken connection.

Program 23 – Unconventional Spotlight · Sun, Dec 6, 2026 · 5:45 PM

Buy Tickets or Passes

• Director(s): Tina Salmassi, Erica Scandariato
• Writer(s): Tina Salmassi, Erica Scandariato
• Producer(s): Erick Samayoa, Jennifer Blair, Tina Salmassi, Erica Scandariato
• Key Cast: Julia Wilde, Tanya Raisa, Patrick McDermott, Marcus Khachikian
• Editor(s): Lilit Aloyan
• Cinematographer(s): Guy Pooles
• Production Designer(s): Kenneth Cran
• Sound Designer(s): Matt Harting
• Composer(s): Matt Harting

Language: English

Runtime: 9m

Country: United States

Synopsis: One woman folds paper; the other folds towels. The Phenomenal Nothing explores the unlikely connection between two women on seemingly opposite life paths. A meditation on time, its repetition, rhythm, and quiet grip on our daily lives, the film asks whether time is a straight line or an endless cycle. Rinse and repeat. As routine slowly blurs individuality, these mirrored, meditative gestures open a space for something more: recognition, connection, and perhaps transcendence.

Click here to watch the trailer →

Visit this Official Selection’s Instagram →

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – SciFi

In judgement, we are whole

Program 01 – Creativity Spotlight · Fri, Dec 4, 2026 · 7:00 PM

Buy Tickets or Passes

• Director(s): Liam J Collins
• Writer(s): Rosalie Lyons
• Producer(s): Matthew Ciancarelli
• Key Cast: Bill Welden, Crystal Porter Bazemore, Jeff Gendelman, Eric Toms, Bella Edelmann, Theodore Mark Martinez
• Editor(s): Gianni Gibbs
• Cinematographer(s): Jackson Burns
• Production Designer(s): Alanis Rosa
• Sound Designer(s): Tavin McAllister
• Composer(s): Connor Low

Language: English

Runtime: 15m

Country: United States

Los Angeles Premiere

Synopsis: In a world where each dying human must sit on a trial to determine which digital afterlife they will reside in, aging politician Simon Peterson must make a case for his consciousness to be uploaded to the artificial heaven instead of hell.

Visit this Official Selection’s Instagram →

Visit the official website →

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Comedy

When a couple runs over a stranger’s dog, they compete for the moral high ground at any cost.

Program 06 – Poignant Spotlight · Fri, Dec 4, 2026 · 9:45 PM

Buy Tickets or Passes

• Director(s): Parker Croft
• Writer(s): Parker Croft, Nolan Gould
• Producer(s): Nolan Gould, Magen Ashley Young, Parker Croft
• Key Cast: Nolan Gould, Millie Gibbons, Bill Weldon

Language: English

Runtime: 13m

Country: United States

Synopsis: Academy Award-nominee Abigail Breslin presents:
The Liars of Black Mountain Road.

When a couple runs over a stranger’s dog, they compete for the moral high ground at any cost.

Click here to watch the trailer →

Visit this Official Selection’s Instagram →

Visit the official website →

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Drama

Three witnesses. Two sides. One prosecutor. Who will you believe?

Program 17 – Dynamic Spotlight · Sun, Dec 6, 2026 · 2:00 PM

Buy Tickets or Passes

• Director(s): Evan Fine
• Writer(s): Evan Fine
• Producer(s): Michele Sieglitz, Jason Ting
• Key Cast: Emma Faun Ferguson, Kent Weishaus, Valentina Sarmiento, Adrien Rooke, Germaine Gaudet, Marcus Stock, Max Mahle, Bruce Fingles
• Editor(s): Evan Fine
• Cinematographer(s): Evan Fine, Jason Ting
• Production Designer(s): Sydney Gorin
• Sound Designer(s): Evan Fine, Andy Zenczak
• Composer(s): Evan Fine

Language: English

Runtime: 17m

Country: United States

Los Angeles Premiere

Synopsis: A prosecutor fights for justice in the wake of a billionaire’s murder on New Year’s Eve.

Click here to watch the trailer →

Visit this Official Selection’s Instagram →

Visit the official website →

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Horror

Have your cake…and it eats you.

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Ren Ariel Sano
• Writer(s): Ren Ariel Sano
• Producer(s): Ren Ariel Sano, Logan Mack
• Key Cast: Daisy Lopez, John-Michael Sedor
• Editor(s): Joe Carugati
• Cinematographer(s): Logan Mack
• Production Designer(s): Grace Alie
• Sound Designer(s): Elizabeth McClanahan
• Composer(s): Sylvain Kauffman

Runtime: 9m

Country: United States

Synopsis: An unsuspecting young couple bring a cursed candle to a friend’s 30th birthday party and unleash an unlikely evil that comes to collect its just desserts.

Click here to watch the trailer →

Visit this Official Selection’s Instagram →