Our Festival
60th Festival April 26-28, 2018
Promo
MOAS Promo
Viewer discretion advised: Films may contain Adult themes, content or language. Those likely best suited to Ages 18+ have been marked MA for Mature Audience.
Sessions
Thursday, April 26, 8pm
You Are Here
Nicholas Jones, Ireland 16 min
(Documentary) Musician Tony Rogers balances life on the farm with life out on the road.
Asleep
Mak Abdel-Hai, Canada 11 min
(Suspense) James, a freelance photojournalist in Syria, struggles with life and death. (MA)
Dog Clog
Maggie Miller, USA 4 min
(Animation) This pup’s day has gone down the tubes. Can someone throw him a bone?
The Monk
Danil Grinkin, Russia 20 min
(Drama) Ekaterina and her husband visit a religious healer, hoping for a miracle.
Last Fair Deal
Nicholas Gray, USA 13 min
(Drama) A bluesman meets a stranger at a crossroads, where his life takes a turn.
Ellie
Miltiades Christides, Greece 9 min
(Suspense) Alarmed by area crime, Ellie panics when a hooded man enters her home.
Ablution
Omar Al Dakheel, USA 15 min
(Drama) Religion, love and culture collide for a disabled Muslim father and his son.
The Immortalized Moment
Shu Zhang, France 17 min
(Romantic Drama) Love is tested, as two war photographers strive to understand each other.
Sessions
Friday, April 27, 8pm
The Dinner Scene
Nicholas Thurkettle, USA 10 min
(Romantic Comedy) A solitary screenwriter pushes thru self-doubt to pen a romantic reunion.
The Oak Tree
Ethan Jahan, Lebanon 23 min
(Drama) A local craftsman, Fadel, is ostracised by villagers after a misunderstanding.
Waltzing Tilda
Jonathan Wilhelmsson, Australia 15 min
(Dark Comedy/Drama) Tilda wakes up alone, journeying thru freedom and loneliness to maturity. (MA)
Mothers of Luna (Madres de luna)
Alicia Albares, Spain 15 min
(Drama) A baby narrates her past lives, while struggling to fulfill a goal to be born. (MA)
This Is Not an Animation (Ceci n’est pas une Animation)
Federico Kempke, Canada 5 min
(Animation) A group of pretentious animators make the “Ultimate Animated Film.”
Smiling From the Grave
Ermao Zhong, China 16 min
(Drama) A rural Chinese wife visits the city to fulfill her husband’s greatest wishes.
Wake the Riderless Horse
Michael Langman, USA 18 min
(Dark Comedy) Taking “the easy way out” is more challenging than Jonathan imagined. (MA)
Sessions
Saturday, April 28, 4pm
Oma
Bill Kirstein, USA 15 min
(Documentary) As she turns 100, Carmen and her family revisit 8mm films and memories.
01
Julian Friedrich, Germany 7 min
(Animation) A refugee boy’s journey is set to music in this “Second Truth” series short.
The Prince
Kyra Zagorsky, Canada 12 min
(Drama) Middle-Eastern Americans Olivia, her brother and Uncle Amir face racial divides.
Bullies
Daniel Bydlowski, USA 28 min
(Dramatic Comedy) 10-year-old Eugene is bullied until a secret pathway leads him to safety.
Tavolsag
Mohammad Malak, Qatar 5 min
(Performance/Animation) A story, told through dance, which symbolizes love, distance and longing.
The Last Leaf
Ekaterina Uvarova, Russia 26 min
(Drama) An aging artist paints a masterpiece to save the life of a friend.
Sessions
Saturday, April 28, 8pm
Adrift
Cath Le Couteur, United Kingdom 11 min
(Documentary) Starting with the first solar powered satellite, meet some of our 100+ million space artifacts.
TRANCE
Gnanadas Kasinathar, Sri Lanka 20 min
(Drama) A post-war Sri Lankan woman fearful of reality finds courage in a trance state.
The Immaculate Conception Photography Gallery
Jeffrey Zablotny, Canada 14 min
(Comedy) Past and present collide, as a photographer laboriously hand-alters images.
Rooms
Andrew D. Zimbelman, USA 2 min
(Animation) A man wanders and wonders amid “inconsolable rain.” (Set to a Billy Collins poem).
The School of Honk
Patrick Johnson, USA 12 min
(Documentary) A community brass band promotes joy and inclusivity, parading with pride.
Comme Les Roses
K. S. McMullen, France 14 min
(Romantic Comedy) Paris, 1967: The summer is hot and heady, the air thick with sex and politics. (MA)
Facing Mecca
Jan-Eric Mack, Switzerland 25 min
(Drama) Pensioner Roli helps Fareed navigate Swiss bureaucracy to bury his Muslim wife.
Mention
Honorable Mention
These films may not have screened at the fest, but they certainly held their own. Shorts which earn an “Honorable Mention” have made it into Final Judging and meet high standards of excellence in filmmaking, acting, screenwriting, set design and more.
Honorable Mention
- AN ALIEN WALKS INTO A BAR by Eli Bildner
- THE DAY I AM GONNA COME by Cheng Hong
- JONAH by Michael Maschina
- A JOURNEY IN SEARCH OF ABUL ARABI by Akram El Bezawy
- LIKE FATHER AND 1 by Brandon Harrison
- MS. OMNISCIENCE by Xiao Ma
- MY BEST FRIEND by Catalin Bugean
- EL RÍO DE LAS KUKAMAS by Nika Belianina
- SATURN RETURN by Evan Curtis
- SERVING JOY by Martin Sharpe
- SUMMER by Astrid Hofstaetter-Fuerpass
- THE THIRD DAD by Theresa Moerman
- UNNATURAL by Amy Wang
Merit
Certificate of Merit
Films issued a “Certificate of Merit” did not move on to Final Judging, but they showed strengths of their own and were recognized for demonstrating mastery over one to three key aspects of filmmaking. Examples: a unique or compelling storyline, strong editing, exceptional set design, etc.
Certificate of Merit
- AGAINST THE DYING OF THE LIGHT by Xiaohan Chen
- BEING SINGLE by Tom Crane
- BLACK DOG by Josh Tuthill
- THE BRIDGE by Cindy Iodice
- CERILLOS ROAD by Giulio Poidomani
- CODA by Andrew Levy
- CRAZY HIVE by Shi Wei
- DON’T HIDE THE MADNESS by Kimberley Rai
- THE FOREST FULL OF RABBITS by Nikolai Knackmuss
- GREAT AUNT MABEL by Jim Gilmore
- HEARTLESS ANGLER by Takayuki Ogawa
- MALCOLM FRAGER: AMERICAN PIANIST by Robert J. Chabora
- THE MARKSMAN by Sam Avery
- MIRROR, MIRRORS? … PRESTON (H.S.) by Kaycie Santiago
- MISSION TO MARS by George Pasles
- NO PLACE TO RETURN by Toshiharu Sasai
- NORTH & NOWHERE by Scott Ballard
- PARADOX by Rongchang Liu
- PERISCOPE by Zesheng Gao
- PHOTOKILL by Lance Reha
- READY OR NOTby John Romeo
- SCLERODERMA: THE TRUTH by Virginia Orzel
- TESS by Ji Hyun Kim
- TIMMY SLAYS THE TALENT SHOW by Adam Vincent Wright
- WHEN WE LISTEN by Amr Moustafa
- ZERO DAY by Darren McInerney
Rochester
International
Film Festival
about Us
The Rochester International Film Festival is produced and presented by Movies On A Shoestring, Inc., offering four distinct screenings each year at George Eastman Museum’s famed Dryden Theatre in Rochester NY.
Films
3 Days. Dozens of Films. 1,000s of Film Lovers. See short films of ALL genres from filmmakers worldwide! Join us! All (4) distinct screenings are FREE to attend.