MALL VIDEO STORE
Directors: Nick Nummerdor & Andrew J. Morgan
Runtime: 23:27:00
A candid portrait of a video store in Michigan launched in the streaming era.

FIRST FEATURE
Director: Curtis Matzke
Runtime:
FIRST FEATURE follows intrepid student filmmaker Thomas Reilly-King (TRK) in this comedic and heartfelt documentary inspired by such classics as AMERICAN MOVIE, BEST WORST MOVIE, and KID ICARUS. In the tradition of those films, FIRST FEATURE follows an eccentric artist following his dreams and unwavering dedication to making his first feature film: ENDURING DESTINY. TRK works four jobs to pay for production, rerecords all the film’s dialogue, writes an 80s-inspired theme song, and even makes action figures for his character. FIRST FEATURE explores the relationship between the documentary filmmaker and their subject as we look back at this time in their lives and see what happens ten years after telling someone’s story.

GRAIN
Director: Rebecca Rose
Runtime: 8:35
Tyranny and fear grip the country. Led by the resolute Beth ( EVA POPE) a group of determined women resist the oppressive regime until a sudden return puts all they have built in jeopardy.

WATER GIRL
Director: Sandra Desmazières
Runtime: 15:00
Mia has spent her whole life freediving, fishing and gliding through seaweed and rocks. Time has passed, tracing its lines on her body, and shaping the landscapes around her. Loved ones have vanished. Tonight, Mia remembers.

BEYOND WORDSDirector: Oisín Tomás Ó Raghallaigh
Runtime: 13:24
A meditative reflection on the creative practices of two disabled artists reveals how their art functions as powerful forms of empowerment, healing, and testimony.

LONG DISTANCE
Directors: Max Kane, Mike Overton & Joey Krulock
Runtime: 6:39
A young man struggles with his relationship, separated not by distance, but by time itself.

GLITTERBOMB
Director: Brian Leahy
Runtime: 10:30
Based on a true story… Lee is well-poised before a life-changing job interview… an interview that should be a walk in the park for someone of her talent… but minutes into her virtual meeting, glitter begins pouring out of her inexplicably. Although she does her best to carry on with the interview, tiny, shiny particles are pooling at her bare feet and engulfing her toes. In this moment, Lee must acknowledge the shiny, shimmering elephant in the room, or else risk being buried in a mound of unresolved issues… and glitter.

FRESH VALUES
Directors: Drew Durepos & Isaac Brooks
Runtime: 11:33
In the near future, a struggling urban food co-op adopts AR technology to save their store. The strategy proves too successful.

THE IMMORTAL
Director: Matthew Paul Everitt
Runtime: 14:40
Matt celebrates his 8th birthday with his dad Joe, an architect haunted by an encounter with a mysterious patron 4 years earlier.

GUM
Director: Belal Albader
Runtime:10:00
Award winning short film about a child with Down syndrome who falls in love for the first time in his life and begins a journey of new emotions he never knew existed, this forces him to make decisions he was not ready to take.

THE TEETH
Director: Tarryn Kay Goetsch
Runtime: 3:15
Deep in the forest, Ash, a young beaver with fangs, struggles with his identity. He watches his mother stripping bark off a log like most beavers do naturally. He tries to do the same but his sharp teeth only get stuck. Disappointed, he decides to watch TV to distract himself. After flipping through channels, he comes across Nosferatu and realises that they have similar teeth! Could he be a vampire? He sets out to test his new theory.

SUMMER TRIANGLE
Directors: Maryam Esmaeili & Ali Babai
Runtime: 8:00
A young girl goes to the rooftop to find her cat and discovers a boy who is attempting suicide. She forces the boy to search for her cat with her in the last moments of his life.

MEOW
Director: Sarah Meital Benjamin
Runtime: 11:58
The search for her lost cat changes the path of a Hasidic girl’s world.

AS IT SHOULD BE
Director: Edwin Lai
Runtime: 11:58
During a Lunar New Year reunion dinner in Hong Kong, Megan returns home from overseas to celebrate with her family. Surrounded by familiar traditions, crowded conversations, and the warmth of people who love her, she quietly carries something she’s never found the words to say. As the evening unfolds, how will her family respond? A film about family love, and how acceptance can arrive in the gentlest of ways.

WORTH EVERY PENNY
Director: Jackson McKeever
Runtime: 9:45
When two struggling musicians stumble upon a mysterious invitation, what appears to be their big break may be more than they bargained for…

EXTRAORDINARY CHARACTER
Director: Alex Astrella
Runtime: 17:00

COLORING
Director: Spencer Lamb
Runtime: 21:00
Finally deciding to publicize their work, ambitious and naive artists Sydney and Spencer will stop at nothing to bypass the stuffy and sophisticated gatekeepers of the Cincinnati art world.

THUNDERMILK
Director: Lincoln Rogers
Runtime: 5:00
When an office worker loses $13,000 on a niche online sports bet, consequences quickly come calling.

RAINBOW RIDER
Director: Georgia Krause
Runtime: 25:25:00
Rainbow Rider follows Shelle Lichti, an outspoken lesbian truck driver hauling freight across the country in her eponymous and iconic rainbow semi-truck. With her chihuahua sidekick in tow, Shelle encounters the joys of the open road, grumpy dispatchers, and lots of middle fingers sent in her direction.

HOW WE ROLL
Director: Anthony Ciancio
Runtime: 15:39:00
In the Chicago suburbs, a community of passionate folks find connection and escape on the gravel courts of a local bocce league.

THROUGH MY BOARD
Director: Dan Eason
Runtime: 65:36:00
Paul Johnson was raised at Burnside Skatepark in the lawless heyday of the early-90’s. As a lifetime skater who is both Black and deaf, Paul has had to navigate a world that is predominantly hearing and predominately white.Over the years, Paul has found solace through his board, through broken conversations with hearing friends, and through the socially-acceptable abuse of alcohol. Paul feels most seen and heard when he’s around Bryan – who is also Black and deaf. The two friends find a safe space with each other that is otherwise elusive in their day-to-day lives.

Paul’s struggle with his sobriety parallels the growing pains the entire community must endure to clean up Burnside’s gritty reputation.

GO REST YOUNG MAN
Director: Aiden Harbaum
Runtime: 16:25
James, a lonely clerk clinging to cowboy fantasies, is stuck between his father’s gambling addiction and the slow, fluorescent death of their family business. As his Wild West daydreams crumble into trash-strewn nightmares, he meets a sinister Man in Black — a tempter who offers him a way out. No more rules. Just take what’s yours, and ride free.

INTERGALACTIC INGENUE
Director: Nathan Deshawn Bouie
Runtime: 19:33:00
On the night he’s supposed to integrate with his Hive-mind alien girlfriend, James, a man with deep commitment issues, discovers his ex is also dating the same Hivemind.

KITTY
Directors: Lizzie Hart & James Newman
Runtime: 14:37:00
Neurodivergent Kitty, lover of trinkets and Kate Bush, finds her favourite jumper ruined and must find a replacement. When the perfect jumper seems unattainable, she’s left with one choice: sell her precious collections, or risk losing the jumper forever.

MONES
Director: Zackary Drucker
Runtime: 12:01:00
Cici, a trans woman, confronts her gender dysphoria at her younger brother Teddy’s fraternity during a historic Pride party/drag show she put together with her best friends. As the drag performers, frat boys, and queers mingle, Cici has a romantic encounter with a familiar young man that leads to her overcoming her mental hurdles around being a woman. Ultimately, she learns the universal truth of womanhood… sometimes your titties just hurt! A high energy comedy that explores questions of identity.

CALLBACK
Director: Matthew Puccini
Runtime: 16:06:00
Max arrives home to find that his boyfriend has booked a callback. All hell breaks loose.

DISC
Director: Blake Rice
Runtime: 13:56:00
The story of a hookup gone too far up.

THE SALT BETWEEN US
Director: Carrie Stalk
Runtime: 7:25
Mia and Eden have spent years orbiting the unspoken truth behind their feelings, neither daring to name it. One quiet night by the fire, Mia finally admits her feelings. Eden’s fear sends Mia away, but the confession can’t be taken back. The moment forces both women to face what they’ve long avoided: that their connection might be more than friendship, if only they’re brave enough to risk everything they already share.

THE DECISION
Director: Cory Thibert
Runtime: 14:25
A sharp-witted 30-year-old man with cerebral palsy living in assisted care has his independence tested when his overprotective mother secretly enrolls him in a risky medical trial – forcing him, his girlfriend, and his neighbor to confront what freedom really means.

MRI
Director: Dougal Vecqueray
Runtime: 3:46
A patient named Tom goes for an MRI scan only to be transported into a galactic void. After the contrast dye he was injected with begins to spread across his body, Tom is turned blue. Things become even more trippy as Tom’s journey through the void takes a sinister turn.

10TH FLOOR TRANSFORMATION
Director: Katy McCarthy
Runtime: 8:35
After breaking down in a stuck elevator, a new mom has a transformative experience.

BUTT/STUFF
Director: Ricki Romano
Runtime: 7:02:00
Two anxious roommates fight over the most hallowed of queer spaces…the bathroom.

PINING OHIO|
Director: Emma Underwood
Runtime: 22:15
A young woman struggling with grief searches for her innocence.

DIRT
Director: Isabella Speaight
Runtime: 18:27:00
Five months after being abandoned, a mother and her young son live in suffocating grief. When her emotional withdrawal puts him in danger, she is forced to confront the pain beneath her numbness, leading to a raw and transformative rediscovery of connection, sensuality, and joy.

MAD
Director: Ana Bass
Runtime: 8:45:00
A man struggles with the reality of family life.

STILL OHIO
Director: Kaylin Allshouse
Runtime: 78:43:00
ANA, a textbook push-over that can barely keep control of herself in her own head, decides to transfer from Boston College to Tulane University in a misguided attempt to save her relationship with her high school boyfriend, DOUG. Having already left for campus the week before, Doug arranges for Ana to carpool with three of his rambunctious friends: nerdy-but-quirky HENRY, loud-mouthed JULIA, and her laid-back situationship JOHNNY. However, along the way, Ana unnervingly discovers that Doug does not know these students nearly as well as he lead her to believe. As the four students make their way through the backroads of Ohio, they find themselves returning to the same creepy gas station over and over again, no matter which way they go or what they do. With each recurring visit, the gas station and its patrons become more sinister and aggressive, pushing the four students into survival mode and forcing Ana to place her trust in a group of apparent strangers. Henry, Julia, and Johnny begin to unravel and jockey for control, ignoring Ana’s clues on how to escape and pushing her further and further into her shell. But when their journey takes a deadly turn, Ana must finally learn to overcome her anxieties and take control of the situation herself, before she gets trapped in the time loop forever.

SAVOR THE MOMENT
Director: Davis Cameron Chu
Runtime: 1:00
Midwestern creative duo Davis Cameron Chu and Meezahn Senbetta are passionate filmmakers. They love creating unique and impactful stories, and they love Cincinnati Chili. What better team to ask and answer the question: what happens when you treat a beloved Midwestern cuisine as if it were a luxury item?

HOMEBODIES
Director: Rachel Olson
Runtime: 12:00:00
In a near future where it literally costs money to leave the house, a burnt-out woman risks fraud when she pays her live-in boyfriend’s ‘exit toll’ to get some alone time.

HAUNTERS
Director: Henry Czerwonka
Runtime: 4:12
A woman returns to her childhood home after a death in the family. Amidst a surreal drive down winding midwestern roads, she attempts to reconcile where she came from with who she’s become. An open letter to the places that form us and an honest look at the experience of outgrowing them.

THE TRUMPETER
Director: Selena A Burks-Rentschler
Runtime: 10:10:00
A young boy comes of age and develops skills as a trumpet player.

BARE KNUCKLE BROOKE
Director: Nick G Schultz
Runtime: 6:00:00
Bare Knuckle Brooke is a short-form documentary that follows Brooke Evan’s journey from addiction to the bare-knuckle ring, capturing the discipline, humility, and mental control required to rebuild both a life and a fighting career. Told through intimate moments and unfiltered insight, the film explores how calm, craft, and self-mastery shape a fighter long before the first punch is thrown.

PARTHENON
Director: Taylor DeBoo
Runtime: 3:35:00
“Parthenon” is an exploration of the power dynamics of a narcissistic relationship. Sappha fell in love with a Man until his facade faded. They push and pull, him having power versus Sappha standing her ground and respecting her boundaries. Ultimately the man never changes and moves along like he always does, Sappha is left to rebuild with only her voice left.

HOUSE OF LIGHT
Director: A.B. Zax
Runtime: 13:33:00
As the last lighthouse keeper in America approaches retirement, Dr. Sally Snowman reflects on how to say goodbye to her spiritual and emotional connection to Boston Light, the oldest light station in the country. Sally’s deep bond with her tiny island crosses time and space. This immersive portrait of Sally’s last days at Boston Light may be the last document of the art of light keeping.

DISTANT DYSPHORIA
Director: Dev Thompson
Runtime: 3:08
1+5+4 is a photo and video series celebrating the courage and resistance of queer people of color. It is a love letter to our resilience, our rhythm, and the sacred ways we continue to move through the world — with power, with grace, and in defiance of everything that tries to dim our light. “Distant Dysphoria” by Montez Jenkins Copeland is a tender reflection on their journey — from straight to gay to queer, from man to anti-titles to nonbinary. This piece is a love letter of acceptance, honoring the complex evolution of identity and the quiet courage it takes to come home to one’s body and spirit. Montez offers us a glimpse into that unfolding, where language falls away and what remains is truth, self-compassion, and liberation.

H.P.V.
Director: Kiah Clingman
Runtime: 17:00:00
Kaleigh, plagued by the physical and emotional tolls of endometriosis and HPV, embarks on a relentless quest for empathy which drives her to desperate measures.

YOU HAVE HER EYES
Directors: Jordan Sommerlad & Cory Stonebrook
Runtime: 15:45:00
A woman’s fears about having children begin to manifest as visions of her dead grandmother.

Family Friendly Shorts

IRIDESCENT
Director: A.B. Osborne
Runtime: 9:04
Tess, a space explorer, discovers a new world full of wonders that remind her of the planet she left behind.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Directors: Helen Mavourneen Farrell & Igor Coric
Runtime: 3:09
A neurodivergent teenage boy with a fixation on birds navigates school bullying along with his first crush.

WONDER GUM
Director: William Bradford McDonald
Runtime: 2:03
A playful boy visits a whimsical candy store with a special voucher for “wondergum.” One bite of this magical treat leads to a delightful surprise!

THE TOMATO HAMSTER
Director: Margaret Schoettker
Runtime: 4:04
The tomato hamster is born only to find himself to be the only one of his kind. Ready to find his people, he heads out into the farm. This ensues many dangerous encounters with other farm animals. In the end, a lonely barn cat looks out for the smaller creature, and the two form a kinship.

OH HAPPY DAY
Director: Ivan Rome
Runtime: 12:00
Oh Happy Day! follows CHRIS, a timid little guy smitten by a sweet soul named JAZMYN. Though he lacks the confidence to tell her how he feels, he tries in his own way to get her attention. But after many failed attempts, he decides to risk it all during his Easter speech.

UNCLE ARTOO
Director: Zoë Whittaker
Runtime: 10:06
In his later years, Nosferatu has become a foster carer for children. That seems like a good idea.