Best of the fest

MOAS Board Members

Donald Hyatt and Donna Hooker peruse their Top (3) options at 2016’s Rochester Int’l. Film Festival. (photo: Christine G. Adamo).

Best Films

The following films and others we’ve received permission to share publicly are available for loan at no cost to organizations offering free screenings for the benefit of schools, universities, film clubs and other special-interest groups.

Best of the Fest 2023

• A COLONIAL TRADING WOMAN – Leslie Dann, Guido Jimenez-Cruz
• BALIKBAYAN – Rebecca Rajadnya
• BANGKOK BARCELONA ON FOOT – Quim Badenes
• CASSETTE TAPE – Yurugu Matsumoto
• DEAR ELEANOR – Tina Chapman DaCosta
• DENALI – Albert Ortega
• HAWAWSHI – Waleed Bedour
• ISTINA – Tamara Denić
• JUNE – Dwayne Cameron
• OF KISSES AND CAPES – Eléna Weiss
• PIVOT PALS – Doron Drew Feldman
• SPLIT TICKET – Alfred Thomas Catalfo
• STALKING THE BOGEYMAN – Markus Potter, Jack Dorfman
• TAKBIR – Jordi Calvet
• THE KARENS – Katie Goodman
• THE PICNIC BASKET – John C. Richards
• WAITING – R. Stephen Suettinger

Best of the Fest 2022

• BABEL – Alejandro San Martin

• BETWEEN TWO WORLDS – Jax Weiner

• MY DARLING AMELIA – Talor John Marshall

• OUT OF SEASON – Darren Latanick

• PILE’ – Tony Radevski

• PAY PHONE – Yurugu Matsumoto

• RAW – Drake Shannon

• THE IMMORTALITY OF WORDS – Nei Loya

• THE MALFUNCTION – Tom Festo

• THEY REMAINED SILENT – Albert Folk

• UNFORGOTTEN – Sujin Kim

Best of the Fest 2021

• ALL THE YOUNG DUDES – William Stead

• HOW TO END A CONVERSATION – Gregory JM Kasunich

• KAPAEMAHU – Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson

• MERCY TABLE – Taghrid Abdel Maksoud

• ROSA – Suha Araj

• SANTA CLAUS – Jieun Lee

• THANK YOU – Maria Shulgina

• TWO METERS DISTANCE – Maria Dias Megias & Alfonso Rodrigues Naranjo

• THE ROBBERY – Nika Belianina

• WHITE EYE – Tomer Shushan

Best of the Fest 2020

• CARRY MY HEART TO THE YELLOW RIVER – Alexis Van Hurkman
• CRYSTAL HORSE – Ronen Amar
• EUNSEO – Park Joon-ho
• EXTRA INNINGS – John Gray
• FURTHEST FROM – Kyung Sok Kim
• GIFTS OF THE HEART – Chris Craymer
• THE IMPORTANT DAY – Olesia Aleinikova
• KINO RATTEN – Peter McCully
• LOVE NONNIE – Lisa Addario
• OFFICE SONG – Alexis Van Hurkman
• SHELL – Anna Ozar

Best of the Fest 2019

• TO REMEMBER ME BY – Rahoul Daswani
• WHY WE PUSH – Nathan Sengillo
• FOR A BETTER LIFE – Yasmin Mistry
• THE TRAFFIC SEPARATING DEVICE – Johan Palmgren
• THE SCORPIAN”S TALE – Jhosimar Vasquez
• AUDITION – Kim Seul-ki
• HIM & HER – Nathalie Lamb
• 40 METERS – Samuel Flueckiger
• THE THIRD PART – Alicia Albares & Paco Cavero
• FREE – Ben Hartley, Lisa Donmall-Reeve
• MARTIN HILL: Camera Man – Joanne Hock – Director John Disher – Editor/DOP
• PARTING SHOT – Ozgur Cem Aksoy
• ASHES – Prashant Singh & Tej Sisodia
• TWO BALLONS – Mark C. Smith
• ALL MY GUARDIAN ANGELS – Bernabé Rico

Best of the Fest 2018

• ABLUTION – Omar Al Dakheel
• ASLEEP – Mak Abdel-Hai
• DOG CLOG – Maggie Miller
• LAST FAIR DEAL – Nicholas Gray
• THE OAK TREE – Ethan Jahan
• THE DINNER SCENE – Nicholas Thurkettle
• WAKE THE RIDERLESS HORSE – Michael Langman
• BULLIES – Daniel Bydlowski
• OMA – Bill Kirstein
• THE LAST LEAF – Ekaterina Uvarova
• THE PRINCE – Kyra Zagorsky
• FACING MECCA – Jan-Eric Mack
• THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION PHOTOGRAPHY GALLERY – Jeffrey Zablotny
• THE SCHOOL OF HONK – Patrick Johnson

Best of the Fest 2017

• APRÈS L’HIVER (After Winter) – Joachim Weissmann & Amandine Hinnekens
• WIG SHOP – Kat Coiro
• GOING PUBLIC – Steve O’Reilly & Andy Ferguson
• FINDING BUDDHA – Zilong Liu
• LA PARADA (The Stop) – David Sanz & Tony López
• MWAH – Sara Soheili
• THE SUITOR – Alvaro Congosto
• STUTTER – Ivo Huahua
• PANCAKE JACKSON – Tao Tang
• THE RAVENS – Jennifer Perrott
• PROMISE – Tian Xie
• FANNY PACK – Uttera Singh
• AN AVERAGE STORY – Yaniv Segalovich

Best of the Fest 2016

• PAPER WRAP FIRE – Raymond Yeung
• PASTIME – Nate Mancini, Johnny Sikma and Craig Peterson
• IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK – Matthew Spaull
• THE NIKE CHARIOT EARRING – Karen Audette
• LONG JOHN – Joe Bellavia
• WHERE LEAVES FALL – Alicia Albares Martínez
• THE BENCH – Cameron Burnett
• ISA AND THE FROG PRINCE – Yingxiang Huang
• WHERE WE BEGIN – Mitsuyo Miyazaki
• REMEMBER WHEN – Swati Srivastava
• BUSINESS ETHICS – Nick Wernham
• THE APOLOGY – Yu Shibuya

Best of the Fest 2015

• CARRY ON – Yatao Li
• TUNING OSCAR – Mikel Alvariño
• MY DEAR AMERICANS – Arpita Kumar
• OPEN 24 HOURS – Henry Chaisson
• COWBOYS – Bernabé Rico
• RAMONA – Giovanna Rodríguez Zacarías
• THE LOYALIST – Minji Kang
• OMUL – Brigitte Drodtloff
• HEYLN SPRINGS – Noah Camenker
• FOSTER DOG – Lisa Alonso Vear
• 5 WAYS 2 DIE – Daina Papadaki
• HSU JI (Behind the Screen) – Thomas Rio
• TAXISTOP – Marie Enthoven
• DRONE STRIKE – Chris Richmond
• JAYA – Puja Maewal
• THE LAST SESSION – Natxo Fuentes

Best of the Fest 2014

• 9-1-1 – Andrew Fairbank
• Distance – Aimee Long
• We Are Enemies – Ilya Rozhkov
• Tin Cans – Chris Edwards
• Way in Rye – Goran Stankovi?
• Virtuos Virtuell – Thomas Stellmach and Maja Oschmann
• Dies Irae, jour de colère (Day of Wrath) – Emmanuel Dubois
• Hotel – José Luis Alemán
• Small Talk – Peter LeVake
• The Choice – Evan Kaufmann
• Bingo Night – Jordan Liebowitz
• Shenanigans – Peter Kimball
• Butterfly Dreams – Venkat Krishnan
• The Sidekick – Michael J. Weithorn and Rob Benedict

Best of the Fest 2013

• Zombi – David Moreno
• Free Kick – Bernabé Rico Herrara
• The Poker Lesson – Jim Thalman & Louis Pappas
• Les cybernautes rêvent-ils d’amours digitales ? – Gilles Bindy
• Les perruches (The Parakeets) – Julie Voisin
• Le radar (The Radar) – Jan Rouiller & Nicky Marbot
• The Future – Venetia Taylor
• This is Vanity – Oliver Goodrum
• Desconexión – Yecid Benavides
• The Op Shop – Lee Rogers
• Grantræet, (The Fir Tree) – Lars Henrik Ostenfeld
• The Last Marble – Manjari Makijany
• The Bard – Adam Carboni
• A House, A Home – Daniel Fickle
• Elegy for a Revolutionary – Paul Van Zyl
• BLACKWOOD – Natasha Johns-Messenger
• Our Rhineland – Faren Humes
• Ema- Jean-Marc Simonneau
• The Collegians – Bryan Lewis
• ¿Cual es el precio? (What is the Price) – Sergio Yunta
• Foreign Language – Adam Kelly Morton
• The Unpardonable Night – Minji Kang

Best of the Fest 2012

• Shéhérazade et le délice casher – Agnès Caffin, Paris, France
• Catharsis – Cédric Prévost, Paris, France
• Lunch Breaks – Noah Bench, RIT, Rochester, NY
• Prunelle and Melodie – Mathieu Simonet, Paris, France
• My Angel My Hero – Faizan Sheikn San Francisco, CA
• LUZ – David Liz, FSU
• I Will Greet The Sun Again – Shahbaz Noshir, Tehran, Iran
• A Finger, Two Dots Then Me – David Holechek, Los Angeles, CA
• Young Mother Nature – Stephen Conroy, Columbus, OH
• Historias – Gloriana Fonseca-Malavasi, Costa Rica/FSU
• Carbon for Water – Evan Abramson, New York, NY
• Crescendo – Alonso Alvarez Barreda, Mexico/USA
• Trashland – Jim Ed Wills, FSU
• Kerozene – Joachim Weissmann, Brussels, Belgium

Best of the Fest 2011

• Le Négociant – Joachim Weissmann
• Defying Deletion – Andre Anton
• Holdup – Aprile Ruha
• Altarcations – Ron Leach, Chris Luckhardt
• Touch – Jen McGowan
• Na Wewe (You Too) – Ivan Goldschmidt
• Bad Influences – Kate Emery
• Mozambique – Alcides Soares
• Cliquetastrophe – Michael Felker
• The Gem of the West – Joseph Rechtman, Jared Kowalczyk
• The Perfect Gentleman – Michael Rohrbaugh
• Motel – William Peters
• All Birds Whistle – Roy Khalil

Best of the Fest 2010

• An Unfinished Romance – Alison Heather
• Late Bloomer – Yitzchak Enav
• Lovesick Fool – Dominic Polcino
• Boond (A Drop) – Abhishek Pathak
• Lightheaded – Mike Dacko
• Sebastian’s Voodoo – Joaquin Baldwin
• Lastrain – Tony Lopez
• Whisperwalk – Elli Weisbaum
• Land Gewinnen (Gaining Ground) – Mark Brummund
• True Beauty This Night – Peter Besson
• The Incident at Tower 37 – Chris Perry
• Zimbabwe – Anjuli Hinds
• Flint Creek – Christopher Hall
• El Encargado (The One in Charge) – Sergio Barrejón
• Some Boys Don’t Leave – Maggie Kiley

Best of the Fest 2009

• A Matter of Degrees – The Tupper Lake Wild Center
• Alternative – Andrew Swan
• Arranged – Suraj Das
• Before It’s Gone – Paulo Leierer
• Butterflies Die in Snow – Karim Azimii
• In the Dark – Alex Fazeli
• Interpretation – Lin Oeding
• Karklesbarn (Love Child) – Daniel Wirtberg
• Old Days – Matthew Shapiro
• On the Road to Tel Aviv – Khen Shalem
• Open Your Eyes – Susan Cohen
• Purge – Brad Kammlah
• Thanks to the Whistleblowers – Dave Puls/Animatus Studio
• The Best Man – Justin Lazernik
• Worth – Kathi Carey
• Written Off – Camron Berner, Com 414C
• My Four Inch Precious – Sou Yun Sim

Best of the Fest 2008

• Instant Karma – Tristan Higgs
• Still – Susan Schwartzwald
• Chain – Hyunmi Park
• The Replacement Child – Justin Lerner
• Medium Rare – Stephan Stuckert
• MIA – Catherine Rehwinkel
• Pismo – Matvei Zhivov
• Mojado – Angela Trevino
• The Wall – Michael Lloyd Green
• Speed Dating – Crystal Liu
• Borderline – Sam Lembeck
• Zefirino – Gerardo Puglia
• Penguin: The Musical – David Metzger
• Forasteiro – Thiago Fogaca, Priscila Andrade
• Edgar and Elisabeth – Renee Webst

Peephole Allison White 15 minutes

Jack spends his days watching the world through his peephole, obsessed with his beautiful neighbor down the hall.

Polka Rodolfo Collado 5 minutes

A whimsical animated story about a shy, young girl who tries to establish a conversation with an interesting stranger.

Somewhere in the City Ramsey Denison 12 minutes

Former drug addict, Toby Cray, has straightened out his life and he now wants to help others. His efforts to help the homeless have been unsuccessful until he meets Gabe.

Swing Esteban Azuela 3 minutes

An aging couple, happy and in love, find the means to go back and feel what they did when they were young.

When Broomsticks were King Jason Cusato 27 minutes

Told in a documentary style, when street teams competed for only glory and bragging rights, this film is a tribute to Brooklyn Stickball and the heroes who played.

When they Could Fly Piotr Kajstura 28 minutes

A group of slaves live on a 19th century plantation in South Carolina under severe conditions .As their situation worsens, they lose hope. Change occurs when a man brings them an impossible tale.

Worms in the Big Apple Jenn Guitart 18 minutes

The story of urban composting: from garbage to garden. All over New York City, tiny creatures are transforming residents’ garbage to soil.

Roma Sub Rosa Jim Thalman 28 minutes

A politician’s empty words echo the glory of war as a generation of battle hardened veterans decide that the murder of a politician is a wiser course of action than to knowingly march thousands to their death.

Mute Melissa Joan Heart 14 minutes

Eileen is seen sabotaging her elder sister Claire’s wedding. We start to realize that she and the groom have a past that has scarred Eileen in more ways than one.

The Legend of Black Tom Deron Albright 16 minutes

When freed American slave Tom Molineaux journeys to England to fight for the bare-knuckle boxing championship of the world, he faces not only his opponent in the ring, but also an entire nation.

Viola Fondente Fabio Simonelli 13 minutes

Viola is an overweight, beautiful woman. Her frustrating life is pivoted on a monotonous job and a hateful husband.

Wentworth R. Stephen Suettinger 17 minutes

A neurotic misfit must choose between the fantasy girl of his dreams and her real-life flesh and blood counterpart.

When the Moon is Full Marc Lesser 25 minutes

From a troubadour’s guitar spins the tale of Javier, a recent Ecuadorian immigrant, who longs for Olivia, the woman whom he serves from behind his deli counter every day.

The Murder of William Lyman Michael Keene 23 minutes

Historical recreation of the first murder committed in Rochester, NY. Verbatim court transcripts and police eyewitness reports were utilized.

If You Step on a Crack Jennifer Atkins 18 minutes

When the Cubs are your home team, losing can become a permanent state of mind. But the night before her breast biopsy, a worried woman refuses to give up hope.

A Story of the Woods Jihong Min 13 minutes

A child had found a young sleeping lady sitting on a chair in an old house. She becomes his secret until, as a young man, he finds an old woman in the house.

The Abbey of the Genesee Paulo Almeida & Joshua Morrell 13 min

We take a brief look into the Monastic lifestyle focusing on labor, Lectio Divina [Divine Reading], and prayer as the monks tell their story at The Abbey of the Genesee in Piffard, NY.

Stopover Evelin Longo 21 minutes

A mother is torn between two great passions of her life: her beloved daughter and her acting career.

Oedipus Jason Wishnow 8 minutes

The story of Oedipus in 8 minutes, performed by vegetables in the tradition of Ben Hur.

Sophie Matisse, a New York Painter Christine Lombard 27 minutes

Meet Sophie Matisse, a painter living and working in downtown Manhattan. “Being the great granddaughter of Henri Matisse can be daunting,” says Sophie, “but recovering from 9/11 is a much larger challenge.

Death as a Tango Valerie C. Plimpton 23 minutes

Kasey Barnett struggles to rekindle her passion for life, while dancing with death.

Free Spectra Seokhan Ryu 5 min

A visual symphony of lights filmed at night in the San Francisco Bay area.

Hand Job Hafeez M. Saheed 7 min

An exclusive look behind the scenes of the fastpaced New Jersey nail salon circuit.

Jill Xavier Janghoon Lee 21 min

Is it the brain or the eyes that store the memories of what we see? Since an eye transplant, Joshua has been haunted by horrible memories of a girl named Jill.

Lint Trapped Caleb Johnson 6 min

One man’s brave pursuit of socks through the uncharted dimensions of his dryer.

Mojave Green Miles Duffy 16 min

After a tragic accident, a man killing himself from guilt and a woman living with grief cross paths on a desert road.

Prayers from Kawthoolei Joe Hill White 30 min

A documentary about three friends from the Karenethnic group of Burma. Two immigrated to Canada; we follow one back to Burma to find the third, left behind years earlier.

Seaside Trilogy Melissa Berman 28 min

Journeys of loss, revelation, and self-discovery set along the Montauk seashore.

Tango Octogenario David Licata 7 min

An ordinary, bickering, elderly couple work out their problems in an extraordinary way.

Time Streams Stephanie Maxwell & Allan Schindler 6 min

Segments and ribbons of “time” evoke past, present, and illusory experience in this hand painted 35mm animated film with a computer generated score.

Rocks and Chocolate Teddy Sharkova 12 min

In a post-communist Eastern European country, times are tough. A little girl steals from the jar containing the poor family’s meager savings.

Shadowboxer Vilka Tzouras 28 min

Filmed in a direct and provocative style, “Shadowboxer” brings issues of female teenage violence into focus through the story of a 16-yearold girl named Reena.

Smithee’s Lecture David Liban 24 min

Follow five students as they rush to attend a lecture that their professor says is to be given by famous Hollywood filmmaker Alan Smithee.

Sobering Robert Deege, Michael Turfler 24 min

A young man wakes up with little recollection of the night before. During the day, flashbacks and phone conversations provide conflicting evidence of what happened. In his search to figure out the truth, he makes a discovery that will change his life.

Some Lucky Bastard David W. Tamkin 22 min

When Chris Miller is given the task of running the office pool, he discovers it gives him an excuse to see co-worker Tanya Nichols twice a week. Events lead the financially strapped Chris to take a risk that forever changes his life.

Taste it All Richard J. Liukis 27 min

What goes on behind the scenes of the art world? A different view of the artist, the gallery owner, and the patron.

The Legend of Razorback Michael Greenspan 25 min

Eleven year old Avery Small must find the key to unlock his silence and pain.

Tiny Magic John Takacs 21 min

Nick, a magician with supernatural abilities, attempts to charm Michelle. A memorable evening punctuated by a magical ending.

Tremors Evelin Longo 12 min

A woman in love is tempted by another man and gets lost in the seduction game, forgetting about the world around her.

True Believer Dave Puls 4 min

The alarm is sounded to be aware of the True Believer. This film blends humor with stark observations of fanatics past and present.

Unearthed Christina Spangler 8 min

Alone and exposed in the above ground world, an unearthed potato fights for survival and is given the gift of sight, only to realize the impermanence of its existence.

Waiting for Johnnie Walker Teddy Sharkova 30 min

Hana is considered eccentric by the other patrons at the bar where she goes each night, waiting for her “mystery man” to appear and take her away. Karl, the compassionate bartender, looks after her.

Water Gabriele Zamparini 14 min

An African immigrant searches for a job in Harlem, but finds something else….

West Bank Merry-Go-Round Bob Barancik 3 min

A meditation on the cycle of violence between the Israelis and the Palestinians on the West.