Featured Films

David Ferino

75 min

Over the course of a single day, decades of tension escalate to a boiling point as a father and son quarantine together during the 2020 pandemic lockdown. Based on real events.

Filmed in Peoria and Elmwood, IL.

David Bradburn

6:24 min

A horror spoof about a couple trying to decide what to do for the weekend.

Lily Franck

4 min

When I was 13, I begged my mother to let me look through her hope chest. It was a distant remnant of generations of tradition – cedar boxes young girls once filled with the stitched and sewn flora and decor of their domestic futures. My mother assured me her hope chest contained more junk than hope.

Giovanni Galindo

12:21 min

Hannah is a young woman in need of an escape. As a last resort, she visits a bookstore to ask for a book to help live in a fantasy. Little does she know that the book might find its way to her real life.

Missy Hernandez

7:20 min

A young woman stirs up bitter resentment in an attempt to reconnect with her estranged family at Christmas. Realizing she may never “go home” again, she forges a kinship with migrants seeking refuge in her city.

Thavary Krouch

22:31 min

"The Healing Circle" is an intimate and visually experimental short documentary that celebrates the resilience of Cambodian women through the healing power of storytelling, art, and music.

Hilltop Films

14:50 min

Sleep-deprived and overwhelmed, college student Alex begins to see a dark, distorted figure. Could this figure be real, or is it just part of Alex's tired mind?

Carlos Lerma

5:53 min

A young man rumored to be a vampire for never swimming at pool parties must confront the real reason he doesn’t: he doesn’t want to be shirtless in public. And after a new pool party invite comes in the mail, he must fight or flight.

Nicole Nowel

4:18 min

Dream Defenders is an animated comedy-action short celebrating the power of plushies and getting over your fears.

Caleb Ramsey

13:34 min

When two couples connect for a dinner party, we find that their relationships are more complicated than they initially seemed.

Taylor Smith

2:35 min

A fun, feel-good short film, SketchBound follows a lonely middle schooler who is struggling at a new school, until she connects with others through their shared love of art.

Cassie Grawe

2:59 min

A mischievous young girl steals a piece of Magic Bubble Yum that whisks her away on an air borne journey that has some thunderous consequences.

Ellie Kraemer

4:24 min

10𝘵𝘩 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 is the ethereal and whimsical animated tale of a lost kitten and his mysterious new ally as they try to find their way home.

Lindsey Gurgul

1:37 min

Sandy is a film about a girl made of sand who teaches a boy how to build a sandcastle.

Lilianna Popi, Mo Reed

10:53 min

"Hitchhiker" explores grief and acceptance through the unlikely bond between a lonely trucker and a curious alien, blending playful adventure with introspection.

Sydney Seipel

2:33 min

Percy works for the theater to pay back for his mess.

Grace Neighbors

2:03 min

As children, there is one space that is truly ours. It not only reflects chapters of the story of our growing up, but ages with us as we become adults, until we eventually leave it behind.

Aaron Wolf, Jac Vonachen

15:00 min

This documentary is about Tom Kirk and the awe-inspiring House on Garling. A story of resilience, art, the power of community, and the strength to rebuild a life from the inside out.

Stretch Ledford

8:20 min

In Freetown, Sierra Leone, fourteen-year-old Khadija Marrah’s first menstrual period brought with it a harsh reality shared by millions of girls worldwide: attending school meant risking stigma, shame, and exclusion.

Parental Warning: Includes conversations about menstruation, no imagery is shown.

Erika Valenciana

18:11 min

Migration season is when the Chicago Collision Bird Monitors are the busiest, looking for birds that have flown into windows. Broken Flight introduces us to the volunteers, scientists and veterinarians who rescue, study and catalog these amazing avian species.

Parental Warning: Contains scenes of a bird hitting a window and scientific imagery of dead birds.

Lauren Duell

0:50

Bubblegum is an experimental film that utilizes non-traditional techniques within animation to tell a non-linear story.

Jared Treece

20:00 min

After the tragic death of her sister Tonya years before, Mae returns to her family's lake house to finally come to terms with the death of her sister. When she returns, she starts to realize things are far from normal, as a series of paranormal events take place involving around a mysterious figure.

Taylor Marie Boledovich

10:34 min

When two childhood friends drink expired juice, all hell breaks loose! Mags the practical cat and Cres the lazy pigeon find themselves in a psychedelic craze filled with Pizza Gods, pixels, and anime.

Lucia Claire Robbins

4:04 min

A knight finds a flier advertising a princess in distress.

Lydia Cornett, Brit Fryer

18:00 min

Blending historical overview with character portraits, Tessitura explores the entangled ways that voice, character and gender are continuously reformulated in opera by those who contend with the constraints of the genre. The story sheds light into the ways that contemporary transgender opera singers navigate the traditional rules and categories of their art form, highlighting the ongoing dialogue about gender fluidity in opera.

Bryce Docherty

4:41 min

A ballet dancer connects art with life's meanings.

Shea Kelly

15:55 min

A revenge plot goes awry when unexpected intruders arrive.