Shorts Blocks
On Love & Other Connections
Need an antidote to mass-market romance, or to those soullessly saccharine depictions of platonic love that diminish the complexity, and the beauty, of human relationships? Look no further than On Love & Other Connections, where love is almost always “an action,” as the feminist scholar bell hooks once wrote, “never simply a feeling.” Here, love is a challenge. It insists on vulnerability, and, on occasion, demands life-altering acts of courage—something the characters in these films know only too well.
SHOWTIMES AND MORE INFORMATION HERE:
Spilt Milk
Cierra Glaudé | Los Angeles, CA | 18 min
Genre: Narrative Short
I have to think of us as separate people
Chris Berntsen & Stephen Ira | Brooklyn, NY | 4 min
Genre: Experimental Short
Later Gator
Carson Markland | Irmo, SC | 11 min
Genre: Student, Narrative Short
Lawn
Quinton Dayne Moore | Raleigh, NC | 3 min
Genre: Student, Narrative Short
Cool for Five Seconds
Dani Wieder | Chicago, IL | 12 min
Genre: Narrative Short
The House These Words Built
Gabby Follett Sumney |Boston, MA | 3 min
Genre: Experimental Short
Shelter
Jo Hatcher | Winston-Salem, NC | 7 min
Genre: Student, Narrative Short
Coby & Stephen Are in Love
JCarlo Nasisse & Luka Yuanyuan Yang | Austin, TX & Beijing, China | 31 min
Genre: Documentary Short
Forever Young
Untamed, unguarded, and coursing with youthful energy, the audacious narrative shorts and music videos of Forever Young thrill with tales of reckless abandon. Whether they’re indulging in a Disney World Grindr hookup, inciting rebellion in a middle school classroom, or dispensing dubious advice on a desert telephone, these protagonists and performers submit heedlessly to their instincts and impulses, living intensely, without fear or reservation.
SHOWTIMES AND MORE INFORMATION HERE:
Unfinished Business
Mary Dauterman | Brooklyn, NY | 7 min
Genre: Narrative Short
Is That All There Is?
Chris Molina | Miami, FL | 6 min
Genre: Documentary Short
Nicotine – “Running”
Leo Aguirre | San Antonio, TX | 5 min
Genre: Music Video
Date Movie
Emily MacKenzie & Sasha Solodukhina | New Orleans, LA | 10 min
Genre: Narrative Short
The Restoration – “I’ll Never Leave You”
Christopher Tevebaugh | Columbia, SC | 5 min
Genre: Music Video
The Woodpecker
Courtney Bush, Will Carington, & Jake Goicoechea | Brooklyn, NY | 7 min
Genre: Narrative Short
Contour – “New Garden”
CHILD Studio & Contour | London, United Kingdom & Charleston, SC | 4 min
Genre: Music Video
Kiber’s Cosmic Caregiving
Madison McClintock | Albuquerque, NM | 5 min
Genre: Experimental Short
Las Robertas – “Together Outrageously”
Maria Luisa Santos | San José, Costa Rica | 3 min
Genre: Music Video
American Waste
Jordan McLaughlin | Winston-Salem, NC | 27 min
Genre: Narrative Short
People Portraits
Inspired and inspiring, the tenacious figures at the center of these People Portraits are exemplars of southern resilience, unwavering in their quests for lives of dignity and distinction. From the barbershops of Statesboro, Georgia, to the professional softball fields of Akron, Ohio, these subjects captivate with their clear-eyed determination and fierce sense of self. In the mood for family-friendly documentary fare? Get to know the compelling characters of People Portraits.
SHOWTIMES AND MORE INFORMATION HERE:
Knocking Down the Fences
Meg Shutzer | Oakland, CA | 12 min
Genre: Student, Documentary Short
Mentor
Abbey Hoekzema | Savannah, GA | 6 min
Genre: Documentary Short
Twenty-13
Alexis Garcia-Bueno
Statesboro, GA | 11 min
Genre: Student, Documentary Short
Hebo
Kevin Wells | Hillsborough, NC | 11 min
Genre: Documentary Short
Remembering Elwood Higginbottom
Jonathan Smith | Myrtle, MS | 7 min
Genre: Documentary Short
Dairyman
David Bliss | Donalds, SC | 13 min
Genre: Documentary Short
DAMITA.
W. Feagins, Jr. | Atlanta, GA | 10 min
Genre: Documentary Short
Rites of Passage
“The art of losing,” the poet Elizabeth Bishop wrote, “isn’t hard to master.” That much is clear when you consider the loss-haunted coming of age shorts that round out our Rites of Passage block, where—for better or worse—experience evaporates whatever illusions, expectations, or misconceptions our protagonists are clinging to. These deeply personal, altogether striking narrative shorts, experimental films, and documentaries seem to suggest that, through such loss, we’re able to emerge more fully ourselves.
SHOWTIMES AND MORE INFORMATION HERE:
Ángelito
Carlos Estrada | Austin, TX | 11 min
Genre: Student, Narrative Short
Scalpers
Eric Gheorghe | Atlanta, GA | 2 min
Genre: Narrative Short
One of Their Own
Allen Colombo | Los Angeles, CA | 4 min
Genre: Narrative Short
Here There Be Tygers
Jennifer Trudrung & Polly Schattel | Asheville, NC | 10 min
Genre: Narrative Short
Caro Comes Out
Brit Fryer & Caro Hernandez | Brooklyn, NY | 12 min
Genre: Documentary Short
Sisters 3
Ace McColl | Atlanta, GA | 11 min
Genre: Experimental Short
Quiet and Clear
Andre Rangiah | Franklin, LA | 8 min
Genre: Narrative Short
3-Part Horror-mon-ee
Ashley Teamer | New Orleans, LA | 11 min
Genre: Experimental Short
Things That Happen in the Bathroom
Edward Hancox | Austin, TX | 13 min
Genre: Student, Narrative Short
Southern Movements
To experience a distinctly southern strain of spirituality, let Southern Movements overtake you. Raw and otherworldly, these radical music videos, documentary portraits, and narrative shorts locate the sublime among the maligned and the misunderstood, centering vulnerable characters who, more often than not, turn to art as a means of liberation or catharsis. In these films, bodies are vessels—the earthly shapes that transcendence takes, if only for a moment.
SHOWTIMES AND MORE INFORMATION HERE:
Jared Dawson is The Church of Lavonia Elberton
Adam Forrester | Atlanta, GA | 14 min
Genre: Documentary Short
Blato Zlato – “Vodata Teche”
Sasha Solodukhina | New Orleans, LA | 7 min
Genre: Music Video
Bodies Like Oceans
Kat Cory | Portland, OR | 13 min
Genre: Documentary Short
Vogue Virgin
Fraser Jones | Atlanta, GA | 8 min
Genre: Documentary Short
Birth of Pleasure
Anicka Austin & Lev Omelchenko | Durham, NC & Atlanta, GA | 13 min
Genre: Experimental Short
MUÑE
Catalina Jordan Alvarez | Yellow Springs, OH | 15 min
Genre: Narrative Short
Migration
Syd Horn & Olivia Perillo | Lafayette, LA | 5 min
Genre: Documentary Short
AND THE PEOPLE COULD FLY
Roni Nicole Henderson | Columbia, SC | 13 min
Genre: Experimental Narrative Short
Gritty Creatures
Welcome, one and all, to our menagerie of malevolence, where bayou beasts, flesh-hungry forest dwellers, Area 51 martians, and all manner of Gritty Creatures are arrayed for your viewing pleasure. If you’re a seasoned Grits-goer, eclectic in your tastes—as assured in your love of splatter horror as you are in your love of quirky character studies—you’ll delight in these ingenious genre-inspired shorts. Expect an elevated heartbeat, bucketfuls of viscera, and a whole lot of DIY spirit.
SHOWTIMES AND MORE INFORMATION HERE:
The Rougarou
Lorraine Caffery | Mandeville, LA | 15 min
Genre: Narrative Short
Kudzu
Kate E. Hinshaw & Andi Avery | Atlanta, GA | 6 min
Genre: Student, Experimental Narrative Short
Frog People
Kathryn Van Buren | Austin, TX | 13 min
Genre: Narrative Short
The House Guest
David Walton Smith | Charleston, SC | 10 min
Genre: Narrative Short
THERE’S NOTHING IN THE SHED
David Axe | Columbia, SC | 2 min
Genre: Narrative Short
The Way Station
Jason Affolder | New Orleans, LA | 8 min
Genre: Narrative Short
Gaia
Madeleine Richardson | Asheville, NC | 7 min
Genre: Narrative Short
Old Man Planet
Jesse Quales |Lexington, SC | 4 min
Genre: Student, Documentary Short
Visitors
Scott Lazer |Brooklyn, NY | 12 min
Genre: Documentary Short
No Ordinary Place
Quiet and cerebral, the poetic contemplations of community and family that comprise No Ordinary Place remind viewers of the inescapable influence of environment on identity. Whether their cameras are trained on the rocky coastlines of a far-flung Grecian island, or the overgrown front yards of a fading Texas neighborhood, the filmmakers behind these elegant documentaries and experimental shorts are united in their preoccupation with landscapes and lives in flux.
SHOWTIMES AND MORE INFORMATION HERE:
The Island Man
Alex Morelli | Durham, NC | 21 min
Genre: Student, Documentary Short
Medusa & the Abyss
Felicity E. Palma | Los Angeles, CA | 11 min
Genre: Experimental Short
East Side
Carlo Nasisse & Patricia Nogueira | Austin, TX & Mexico City, Mexico | 10 min
Genre: Documentary Short
Eastern State
Talena Sanders | Sebastapol, CA | 5 min
Genre: Experimental Short
Little Saluda USA
Lillian Burke & Amada Torruella | Columbia, SC | 13 min
Genre: Documentary Short
When It Is Still
Anna Kipervaser | Sharjah, United Arab Emirates | 10 min
Genre: Experimental Short
Blue & Gold Marching Machine
Jen Hughey, Aly Vermillion, & Nathan Burton | Asheboro, NC | 18 min
Genre: Student, Documentary Short
Political Animals
Lovelorn zoo jaguars, vying for attention from captivity. Stolen rabbits prompting sugarcane field encounters with the divine. The Political Animals that populate this cinematic bestiary challenge whatever preconceived notions we might be harboring about non-human intelligence, dignity, and autonomy on our shared planet. As we reckon with capitalism and its twin legacies of violence and exploitation, as well as the degradation of the environment, these Political Animals make space for reconciliation with the natural world.
SHOWTIMES AND MORE INFORMATION HERE:
Valerio’s Day Out
Michael Arcos | New Orleans, LA | 9 min
Genre: Narrative Short
Does Water Die?
Tom Hansell & Joshua White | Ashe County, NC | 3 min
Genre: Animated Experimental Short
Hall of Fishes
Jennifer Boles | Chicago, IL | 9 min
Genre: Documentary Short
Hierophany
Kevin Contento | Pembroke Pines, FL | 11 min
Genre: Narrative Short
Hudson Geese
Bernardo Britto | New York, NY | 5 min
Genre: Animated Short
Burning Land
Juan Camilo Olmos Feris | Barranquilla, Colombia | 29 min
Genre: Documentary Short
Encoded Visions
For stark, honest assessments of the times in which we live. For visionary explorations of identity and alienation. For alarming, disturbing, and—on occasion—bleakly funny films that ponder questions of antisemitism, whiteness, conspiracy thinking, and other subjects of controversy, turn to Encoded Visions. These short films contend with the fracturing forces of media and technology, scrutinizing their outsized influence on our culture as well as ourselves. Whether such disintegration can be remedied remains to be seen.
SHOWTIMES AND MORE INFORMATION HERE:
iCANDY
Gavin Jennings Harwell | Charlotte, NC | 4 min
Genre: Narrative Short
Dirt Daughter
Marnie Ellen Hertzler | Baltimore, MD | 13 min
Genre: Narrative Short
Daybreak
Madeline Pieschel | Atlanta, GA | 5 min
Genre: Experimental Short
Your Pizza is Outside
Julia Elizabeth Evans | Los Angeles, CA | 9 min
Genre: Narrative Short
Lovely
Caroline Williams | Studio City, CA | 4 min
Genre: Narrative Short
Conspiracy Cruise
Brad Abrahams | Austin, TX & Miami, FL | 13 min
Genre: Narrative Short
Petting Zoo
Daniel Robin | Atlanta, GA | 11 min
Genre: Documentary Short
Ye Goatherd Gods
Henry Moonrod | Columbia, SC | 4 min
Genre: Student, Experimental Animated Short Short
White Male
Jared Hogan | Charlotte, NC | 4 min
Genre: Experimental Short
Amazonia
Roger Beebe | Columbus, OH | 25 min
Genre: Experimental Short
Non-Competition Shorts Blocks
Migration Flows in 360°
This event, part of Filmmaker Focus, is a 360° Video Showcase that is free and open to the public. You’ll have the chance to connect with the storytellers behind the Indie Grits 2020 selected 360° video projects.
MORE INFORMATION HERE:
How to Tell a True Immigrant Story
Aggie Ebrahimi Bazaz & Emily Rizzo | Atlanta, GA | 13 min
Fernanda
Libbi Ponce | Tampa, FL | 4 min
Dreams of the Jaguar’s Daughter
Alfredo Salazar-Caro | New York, NY | 8 min
House of Sweet Magic
This block is a galaxy of music videos, animations, short narratives, and enchanting experiments in filmmaking. All crafted by young artists, no two films are alike, all addressing different topics with different styles from different perspectives. From a documentary about engineering drones in China to a music video about juvenile incarceration to hand drawn animations soaring through the clouds, there’s a little bit of everything for everyone.
MORE INFORMATION HERE:
Participating Youth Media Programs:
Art 180, Richmond, VA
Binford Middle School, Richmond, VA
Camp Flix, Atlanta, GA
Camp Flix Jr., Atlanta, GA
Exchange for Change and South Miami K-8 Center’s C@TCIE magnet program, Miami, FL
Fierce Flix, Asheville, NC
Indie Grits Labs, Columbia, SC
SC Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville, SC
SC Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics, Hartsville, SC
Spring Valley High School, Columbia, SC
Women’s Well Being Initiative, Columbia, SC
Shorts Index
Feature Index