When a state government shutdown closes parks on 4th of July weekend, Park Ranger Nova Abbey must protect the park from the people, and the people from each other.

DIRECTED BY

Harper Philbin

The Frank Lloyd Wright Rosenbaum House in Florence Alabama revives memories of the past and invites the filmmaker's reflection upon the lives of two women: Mrs. Rosenbaum and the filmmamker's mother.

DIRECTED BY

Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa

A community theater competes for a state grant that is needed to keep the doors of the theater open. Meanwhile, they race to get their first, original Christmas play up and running while everything falls apart.

DIRECTED BY

Melissa Vitello

Chicago Heights is set in the mind of an old writer as he lies in his bed. Sensing his death is imminent, his mind drifts, and he remembers people, but can't discern if they are part of his dreams, his memories, or his inventions.

DIRECTED BY

Daniel Nearing

A 23 year old woman's pretty funny, slightly sad, powerfully emotional guide to breast cancer.

DIRECTED BY

Jimmy Boratyn&

Melissa Boratyn

A tale of love, friendship and taking flight, Banana Season is a glimpse into the lives of ordinary souls, all at the point in their lives when they flower or fade.

DIRECTED BY

Sanghoon Lee

Quarter Life Crisis searches to discover the causes and dispel the myths of modern society's hardships, including misguided parenting, endless comparisons of lives over social media, and established institutions no longer guaranteeing happiness and prosperity.

DIRECTED BY

Jordan Amandes

Thieves Quartet is a brooding tale of betrayal, kidnapping and murder. Set in a cold and barren Chicago, the film is the story of four lost souls, each seeking a second chance to begin life anew through one big score.

DIRECTED BY

Joe Chappelle

An overall portrait of dating life - with all its agonies ecstasies and in-betweens - separated into three discrete vignettes.

DIRECTED BY

Michael Glover Smith

DIRECTED BY

Jack C. Newell

Forced to work an extra shift, two young baristas must come to terms with their own relationship while being bombarded by the very different issues of their diverse customers.

DIRECTED BY

Jack C. Newell

Within the walls of the trendiest Chicago restaurants, behind the closed doors of private dinner parties, and on the banks of the Seine in Paris, Open Tables explores true love, love lost and the importance of a good main course.

When a man is wrongly convicted of murder and rape, his wife devotes her life to proving his innocence. Conviction is not only a gripping story of justice gone wrong, it’s also a meditation on the role of luck in the criminal justice system. In order for Clarence Elkins to prove his innocence, all of the stars had to align. It’s a story that would be unbelievable if it weren’t true.

DIRECTED BY

Mike West

DIRECTED BY

Greg Dixon

A struggling Chicago artist finds herself at a crossroads in life, overwhelmed by changes and needing to make a critical decision in her relationship.

DIRECTED BY

Logan Hall

An artist gains the power to draw the future and erase the past.

DIRECTED BY

Tate Bunker

A contemporary Little Red Riding Hood tricks her family and sets out on her own to contend with the wolves of the world. 

DIRECTED BY

Drew Britton

Five distinctive people, each with a flimsy coping strategy, find themselves stuck together after an accident.

DIRECTED BY

Crystal Barnes

A talented young filmmaker desperate to escape his small town discovers his destiny is to save it.

DIRECTED BY

Aaron Wertheimer

In search of transcendence through stone skipping, an idealistic drifter arrives in a quiet lakeside town. Facing resistance from unimpressed locals, and pursued by members of his former skipping crew, he is forced to consider the merit of his lifelong quest.

DIRECTED BY

Caitlin Parrish, Erica Weiss

17 year-old Justine is having the worst year of her life, when she finds an unlikely lifeline in her disabled therapist.

Tom, an overweight young man, takes refuge at his grandmother's cabin in rural Protection, IL, in an attempt to bury the years of being bullied and feeling rejected. While in town, he meets a precocious blind girl named Lilly, who shows him how to be accepted and loved. 

DIRECTED BY

James Choi

DIRECTED BY

Michael Reiter

A Vietnam War military intelligence analyst, adviser, and operative for the Army, CIA, and South Vietnamese intelligence services tells his story.

DIRECTED BY

Carol Brandt

A woman is forced to confront her past when her nine-year-old sister runs away after discovering a family secret.

DIRECTED BY

Josh da Silva

Something Out of Nothing follows a group of at-risk teenagers as they learn about improv comedy through an after school arts program in Chicago, Illinois. They succeed and struggle during the summer program that culminates in a show.

DIRECTED BY

B.A. Lewandowski, Tony Wash

Skeletons in the Closet is the titular late-night, horror anthology television series featuring The Widow and her dead husband, Charlie.  Jamie, their #1 fan, sits down in front of the tube to devour the delectable terror, but her show is constantly interrupted by her annoying new babysitter, Tina. If they can survive each other, they may be able to survive the night!

DIRECTED BY

Pamela Sherrod

Anderson

Educators and students at Dixon Elementary Public School keep art real in and outside the classroom. Students led by teacher Joy Parham connect history and today’s news in spoken word poetry inspired by the school’s museum-like art collection. Art happens.

DIRECTED BY

Katharine Mahalic

In a sleepy mountain town nestled in rural America, seven foreign exchange students set out to tackle the "American Dream".

DIRECTED BY

Guillermo Bárcenas, Frank Spano

Three athletes, three elements, three friends. All believing in their own path and life risk. Crossing the same road full of doubts, efforts and passion for a sport, for a job, a fire that at this moment ceases to be Hidden.

DIRECTED BY

Steve Summers

A stirring drama focusing on the emotional, moral and practical impact on the decision of bringing children into today's world. It is a story that follows three groups of individuals, each asking their own question of what in means to have a child. 

DIRECTED BY

Ryan Sarnowski

For over 80 years, Merle Hayden has crusaded to recruit members for Lawsonomy. His high school sweetheart Betty Kasch, however, is tired of Lawson coming between them. Reunited after over 60 years apart, Betty wants Merle to join her in Florida, but Merle's commitment to preserving Lawson's legacy has Betty worried he may leave her for Lawson once again.

DIRECTED BY

Michael Raspatello, Brent Kado

Against the backdrop of the United States’ latest music festival surge, Festival captures a moment in time. It follows the stories of Jill, Travis, Austin, Kenneth, Barbara and Tracy as they navigate their demons, relationships, dilemmas and a 3-day Chicago festival weekend. When 100K people descend on a music festival weekend, these are the stories they bring.