Director: Christophe Kourdouly.
MARIA, young Russian artist slowly loses touch with reality and enters that painful endless game whose aim is fame but will end in something else. On that road to nowhere she encounters SOPHIE who will become her muse and will provide the 'body' of her new work. Art et Décès is a film about love to the point of madness. Maria's Love of art to death when madness is confused for inspiration. Sick love of Sophie for Maria. The decadent vision of a decaying world which holds to its asserted normality with all its might, sucked from its life. People living in this world try desperately to invigorate themselves with the seeming of life, to forget that they are already dead. Paris is the theatre of this struggle for existence. Paris, capital city of dreamers, artists, lovers and crooks. City of smoke and mirrors, decoys and traps where Myths are taken for reality. Through History and Myths, Paris has always been the theatre of passionate loves and tragedies, rises and falls of grand illusions. Art & Décès adds an act to this unceasing theatre piece of blood and thunder with excess and abuse. The story of a vicious circle, from bursting love to madness, kisses to slaps and back again. A road movie on a highway to hell. From romantic bridges, splendid palaces and bucolic gardens to the narrow shady streets and decadent crowdy boulevards, there is only one step and plenty of quicksands.

Director: Krisztina GODA.

 

Gábor is an office cleaner. Wearing overalls and a baseball hat, he seems insignificant. Working on the night shift, Gábor rarely has any contact with his employers, yet he learns everything about them by thoroughly analyzing their garbage. Since he is almost invisible, nobody suspects that Gábor is, in fact, a con man who carefully chooses his victims by the trash they leave behind. His targets are mostly disillusioned, lonely women. In a few months he destroys all their romantic illusions by taking all their savings. Having an unusually high IQ and an ability to assume various personalities, Gábor is an expert in manipulation. When he gets a job at a psychologist's office, Gábor meets Hanna, an injured dancer who happens to be the daughter of a millionaire. Insecure and vulnerable, Hanna seems to be the perfect victim. Gábor pretends to be a doctor who can cure her body and her soul, an irresistible offer for a desperate woman. Everything goes according to plan until Gábor falls in love with Hanna and has to make a hard decision between her and the money.

Director: Manjit K Singh.
“IN EARLY 6TH CENTURY BC A TRADITION WAS BORN.” A GOLDEN NECKLACE OTHERWISE KNOWN AS “MANGALSUTRA” UNITED A BRIDE TO HER GROOM. THIS OLD HINDU TRADITION CONTINUED ON THROUGH THE CENTURIES BONDING HUSBANDS AND WIVES. THE “MANGALSUTRA” HOLDS AN ANCIENT, POWERFUL AURORA THAT SCIENCE CANNOT EXPLAIN. A YOUNG SOUTH ASIAN COUPLE; SHEELA AND HUSBAND BOBBY MOVE INTO A HOME AFTER HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THEIR NEW BUSSINESS. A SACRAFICE FOR THE BETTER FUTURE, SO THEY THOUGHT… SOON AFTER MOVING IN SHEELA BEGINS EXPERIENCING UNEXPLAINABLE EVENTS. SHE HEARS FOOTSTEPS COMING FROM OTHER ROOMS, VOICES, CRYIES…SCREAMS. HUSBAND BOBBY IS TOO BUSY CAUGHT UP IN WORK AND HIS SEXY NEW EMPLOYEE “ALBINA”. WITH HER MARRIAGE IN TROUBLE, AND HER HOUSE IN CAHOS, SHEELA TAKES MATTERS INTO HER OWN HANDS AND BEGINS TO INVESTIAGE THE STRANGE THINGS HAPPENING TO HER. SHEELA MEETS JAY SINGH, A YOUTHFUL LANDLORD WHO JUST TOOK OVER THE FAMILY BUSSINESS. JAY LIVED IN HER HOME WHEN HE WAS A BOY, BUT CANNOT EXPLAIN THE STRANGE THINGS HAPPENING TO SHEELA. JAY SINGH; ALREADY BUSY WITH HIS APARTMENT BUILDING, BEGINS GETTING STRANGE COMPLAINTS FROM SOME OF HIS TENANTS; SIMILAR TO THE WHAT SHEELA WAS EXPERIENCING... IS THE CURSED NECKLACE NOW IN HIS APARTMENT BUILDING? CAN SHEELA BANISH THE SPIRIT FROM HER HOME, AND SAVE HER MARRIAGE? IS JAY SINGH SOMEHOW CONNECTED TO THE CURSE? THE “MANGALSUTRA” IS THIRSTY FOR BLOOD, AND WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO GET WHAT IT TRULY DESIRES…

Director: Jeanine Corbet.
“The Godmother” is a feature documentary that takes an intimate look at the life of Fred Gorski a.k.a. Rain Storm and his cosmetic gender transformation salon Fairplay. Located in suburban Staten Island, Fairplay offers men a safe haven where even the most unlikely crossdressers can express themselves without fear of reprisals. A former Drag performer, licensed hairdresser and cosmetologist Rain founded Fairplay after the tragic loss of his long time partner left him heavily in debt and with his once thriving hair salon in financial ruin. Armed with left over wigs, beauty supplies and closets full of clothes Fairplay evolved from offering basic services to crafting full fantasy worlds. The documentary film “The Godmother” offers a unique glimpse inside this world where men find relief from the demands of their everyday lives by donning extensive female accoutrements. Here the lines of gender and sexuality are blurred in absolute contrast to the surrounding status quo where gender is anything but fluid.

Director: Celeste Friedman.
A promotional video for U. S. Senator Barack Obama from the State of Illinois in support of his candidacy for President of the United States. Opening with examples of our struggling times, over 60 stunning and stirring images, through the lenses of 40 photographers, take you from Seattle to Times Square, Main to Minnesota, Iowa to Iraq and beyond. Soundtrack written, produced and performed by singer-songwriter/composer Celeste Friedman. Produced by AmericansforHOPE.org. We are very honored by the generosity of our contributing photographers, their hearts, time and talent! Camilo Arenivar TJ Baker C.W. "Barney" Burgis Lauren Victoria Burke Jason Coleman Joe Crimmings Danny the Caveman Gene Dawydiak Tory Fink Getty Images Kris Godlewski Gregory Han Carl Harris Alexander Heilner Susan Jekarl Cecily Johnson Johnnie K. Greg Lawler Caitie Leary Tia Likely Hinda Majri Celi McDaniel Jason Melrath Leo and Mixtli Photography Erik Ose Alfred T. Palmer Darrell Porcello Adrian Revels Steve Rhodes Joann Edmonds-Rodgers Justin Russell Kristina S. Bob Scofield David Silver Troy Snow Colleen Sontheimer Scott Stillman U.S. Army Corps of Engineers- ACoE photographer Jim Gordon John Varady Luke Vargas

Director: Ahmad Abdalla.
The name in Arabic: Masr El Gedida is a pun, because, as mentioned above, it can be translated into: “New Egypt” and that's what the whole film is about: it tracks the story of five modern Egyptian youths in the course of one night. They are all spending their afternoon/ evening struggling to achieve something before the day ends, and they all fail to make any achievements. All their day's work ends up without being done, but with a vague promise to have it done the next day. This makes all the main characters do - for the next day - almost the same things they did during the day we're shedding light on in this film.