BHFF
Archives

2020

Filmmaker Selection

2025

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

Block 1 @ 1:30 PM

Opeka

Director: Cam Cowan

Country: United States

RT: 89min

Synopsis: An iron-willed Argentine priest inspires hope for an entire nation by teaching people living in Madagascar's largest landfill to build a highly functional city in their failing African country....

Block 2 @ 2 PM

Illegal

Director: Nick Alexander

Country: United States

RT: 86min

Synopsis: This is the miraculous journey of Salvadoran immigrant Laz Ayala’s life or death path to U.S. citizenship, the challenges of present-day immigration, and his mission to humanize immigrants and reform immigration for the benefit of all. The film begins as Laz journeys back to his childhood home in El Salvador. He recounts his arduous path north on the Pan American Highway with his father and brother where at any moment they could have been discovered and turned back… or killed. Laz’s life is a story of struggle, determination, and hope for a brighter future for immigrants, the industries that rely upon them, and our entire country...

Block 3 @ 3:30 PM

Swarm Intelligence

Director: Ralf Würth

Country: Germany

RT: 97min

Synopsis: When Cyrill Gutsch, a charismatic leader of New York’ s creative class collides with legendary ocean activist Paul Watson, he decides to turn his life upside-down, drumming up artists, publicists, celebrities and scientists to collaboratively fight against the nearing collapse of the worlds oceans....

Block 4 @ 4 PM

Kim

Director: Chloe Caufield

Country: United States

RT: 4min

Synopsis: A frustrated runner must look to his past to recapture the joy he is lacking in his present...

Cat

Director: Madeleine White

Country: United States

RT: 6min

Synopsis: Returning late from a drunken night out, alcoholic father, Andrew, attempts to make things right with his daughter, Katie, after missing her birthday. Things begin to go awry when he accidentally runs over the cat....

Rewind

Director: Dustin Kahia

Country: United States

RT: 7min

Synopsis: A single father, struggling to make ends meet, grapples with a life and death decision that could alter the course of his life forever....

A Heavy Burden

Director: Ginger Yifan Chen

Country: United States

RT: 10min

Synopsis: After six years apart, estranged mother and daughter Su and Ivy Zhao are brought together through unconventional means – a dead man on Ivy’s living room floor. As their complicated history unfolds, they must find a way to heal their relationship and work together to dispose of the body....

Hives

Director: Carolyn Knapp

Country: United States

RT: 10min

Synopsis: Vivian, a high school senior, stresses over her college applications as she struggles with an evolving friendship, a tense family dynamic, and the seemingly crushing responsibility of taking charge of her own future....

101 Knocks

Director: Alkiviadis Tzortzoglou

Country: United States

RT: 12min

Synopsis: After his mother’s death, a distanced son and father are brought back together to rekindle their relationship....

Practice Funeral

Director: Mattie Bayne

Country: United States

RT: 14min

Synopsis: After being diagnosed with terminal testicular cancer, George, decides to throw a celebration of life party, despite his mother’s protests....

Grace

Director: R.J. Glass

Country: United States

RT: 15min

Synopsis: Lucas Walker, a charismatic pastor’s teenage son, discovers that his father’s alternative religious movement has become a dangerous and seductive cult of personality. When his best friend nearly dies during a manipulative test of faith in which he’s complicit, Lucas must shatter the only world he’s ever known to escape his father’s shadow....

Never Have I Ever

Director: Cimi Grace

Country: United States

RT: 15min

Synopsis: Two teens struggling with mental illness break out of a psych ward and spend a night of rebellion in an attempt to discover if life is worth living....

The Lightning Man

Director: Jonathan Goetzman

Country: United States

RT: 20min

Synopsis: The Lightning Man explores the story of Rafi Cohen in 1973 Los Angeles, who struggles to come to terms with the closing of his barbershop. A barber-sonderkommando in the Treblinka death camp, Cohen deals with the guilt of being a survivor. The temple persistently reaches out to Rafi to join the Jewish community but his battle with God and his guilt keep him away. Through the temple’s efforts and the passion of one young boy, Rafi is able to see the importance in his voice for not only the survival of the Jewish people but to embrace his identity....

Block 5 @ 5:30 PM

Of Course

Director: Frank Di Bugnara

Country: United States

RT: 8min

Synopsis: He just wanted to ask a couple of questions....

Sing, Cowboy, Sing

Director: Kyle Cooper

Country: United States

RT: 8min

Synopsis: This is the story of a man, his dog, and the end of the world....

Twin Turbo

Director: Caity Lotz

Country: United States

RT: 9min

Synopsis: Two women hit the road to Vegas and go toe-to-toe with some wannabe gangsters....

The Imminent Expiration Of Seth

Director: Alex Craig

Country: United States

RT: 12min

Synopsis: Seth Dodson, along with the rest of the world know the exact date of their ultimate demise. Just not how or at what time. We follow Seth on his death date as paranoia builds until something unlikely happens....

Sidewinder

Director: TK Shom

Country: United States

RT: 13min

Synopsis: A deputy in a small town is obsessed with finding a missing child a botched mission brings her closer to the abductor....

Wonderwood

Director: Tara Lynn Rye

Country: United States

RT: 13min

Synopsis: Alice is a millennial artist living in Los Angeles. Her career isn’t going as well as she would like and she’s hit a bit of an artistic block. So how does she blow off steam? Tequila! We follow Alice down the “rabbit hole” after one such night as she experiences an utterly bizarre and brutal walk-of-shame, full of misogynistic micro-aggressions leading up to an inappropriate work meeting that nearly sends her over the edge. Refusing to let these encounters break her, Alice paints from the source of her artistic block: the place where anger and strength meet....

The Teacher

Director: Jeremy Weiss

Country: United States

RT: 14min

Synopsis: An unassuming school teacher is relentlessly pursued by hired assassins, but they are about to get much more than they bargained for....

Ella

Director: Chris Petrick

Country: United States

RT: 15min

Synopsis: Two brothers find themselves in a deadly predicament after a seemingly normal piece of technology becomes a killing machine....

The Fixer

Director: Michael Schilf

Country: United States

RT: 17min

Synopsis: An extorted Mafia enforcer must partner with the femme fatale hired gun who murdered his wife in order to save his daughter and liberate himself from a sadistic Los Angeles crime boss....

Block 6 @ 6:15 PM

It’s Big

Director: Cris Graves

Country: United States

RT: 3min

Synopsis: A touchy subject tests an old friendship....

The Stiff

Director: Raquel Deriane

Country: United States

RT: 3min

Synopsis: Every man’s worst nightmare. Casey Deidrick plays your everyday hunk, bundled up with his new hot girlfriend, Raquel Deriane. Tall, rugged, handsome, he’s never had to worry about his romantic life until she pulls out a giant, crooked dildo from her nightstand. She asks him to finish her off with it. Shocked, yet into the kink, he obliges. This is a tale of male envy....

The L.A. Break Up

Director: Stephanie Iorio

Country: United States

RT: 7min

Synopsis: A couple comes to a crossroad as they try to decide their fate in life. Mia (Stephanie Iorio) is ready to end things for good. She’s a fierce force to be reckoned with and her short fused temper gets her in trouble more times then not. The love of her life, Jon (James Bane) never seems to say the right thing nor have proper timing. In a desperate attempt to impress Mia, Jon has few tricks up his sleeve. This dynamic duo has now created havoc because neither is getting what they want, or are they?...

Wiggle

Director: Mark Reeb

Country: United States

RT: 7min

Synopsis: A film about a kid getting his tooth pulled...

Talent Driver

Director: Kire Papputs

Country: Canada

RT: 8min

Synopsis: Transport greenhorn, Tim, picks up his first actor, Vince ( Julian Richings ) and learns fast what is expected of a Talent Driver to the stars....

(Un)Feeling

Director: James A. Heim

Country: United States

RT: 10min

Synopsis: After a devastating break-up, Josh suddenly loses his ability to feel anything. He ventures back into the world searching for something to re-spark his feelings and mend his broken heart, finding the cure when he least expects it....

Alternative Therapy

Director: Roberto Raad

Country: United States

RT: 10min

Synopsis: A therapist’s bad habits start to affect his relationships with his clients....

Little Con Lili

Director: Gabriela Garcia Medina

Country: United States

RT: 10min

Synopsis: LILI is a 10 year old Cuban-American girl who should be doing her homework but, instead, she decides to enjoy a leisurely afternoon, home alone, eating all her favorite foods, and listening to her favorite band, Air Supply. All’s well until her mother (NORMA) is fired from work for stealing toilet paper and selling Pop Tarts to guests. When Norma comes home unexpectedly early from work, Lili must hustle to con her mother into believing she’d been doing her homework the entire time....

Beachcomber

Director: Mike Sheptock

Country: United States

RT: 11min

Synopsis: A burnout meanders through a summer day at the Jersey Shore, with his friends, as he begins to question where his life is headed....

Faithfully

Director: Chad Smathers, Kirstin Pfeiffer

Country: United States

RT: 11min

Synopsis: Inspired by a true story, the film follows the relationship between Mark, a single father, and his daughter, Emma. When Emma’s desire to have the perfect prom day is interrupted by hardships due to Mark’s disability, she must make an important decision and learn what it means to be truly seen. It is a heartwarming and poignant depiction of how a rare disease affects the lives of a father and daughter, while creating a beautiful bond between the two....

The Friggin Best

Director: Mary Gulino

Country: United States

RT: 12min

Synopsis: a 13-year old girl crashes her step-brother’s bachelor party with the goal of becoming the Best Man....

Sunday Dinner

Director: Kevin Mead

Country: United States

RT: 14min

Synopsis: After the recent death of their parents, a passionate Italian-American family reunites to enjoy their customary Sunday dinner, but one of them has a major confession that threatens to unravel their beloved tradition....

Block 7 @ 7:45 PM

Made In China: Reforming In China’s Supply Chain

Director: Gabriel Diamond, Matthew Beighley

Country: United States

Synopsis: For years, China has valued aggressive growth at the cost of environmental protection. Ma Jun emerged as a bold and singular voice, willing to stand up to powerful political and economic interests. His groundbreaking use of data and transparency holds industry accountable and makes clear the costs of toxic pollution....

A Head Shorter

Director: Sasha Sivan Bortnik

Country: United States

RT: 24min

Synopsis: A 2D animated documentary short narrated by Naftali Deutsch. The film begins in the spring of 1944 when Naftali and his entire family are forced to leave their home in Kimyat, a village in the Carpatho-Ukraine region, and sent to Auschwitz. Naftali recounts his harrowing journey as a 12 year old boy during the WWII era and shows us how he found himself faced with the decision to kill a Nazi guard to save his own life....

Comfort Farms

Director: Carlisle Kellam

Country: United States

RT: 77min

Synopsis: Home after six tours overseas, losing several buddies along the way, combat veteran and Army Ranger Jon Jackson feels he’s lost his purpose to be a warrior. He realizes that although PTSD is a real thing, it’s only one of many things leading to the post-war death of so many of his brothers and sisters. Jon notices some parallels between combat and farming and, in Milledgeville, Georgia (known for being home to the famed late fiction writer Flannery O’Connor), after some trial and error, starts Comfort Farms, a Veteran therapy facility that uses what’s called agro-cognitive behavioral therapy to condition veterans back to the grey of the civilian world, much the same way they were conditioned to be warriors. Comfort Farms is not meant to be a place of comfort, but a place where people move out of their comfort zone and confront the reality of things like death, truth, love, and sacrifice....

Block 8 @ 8:15 PM

Someone’s on the Other Line

Director: William Macaulay

Country: United States

RT: 10min

Synopsis: An unlikely couple’s pillow talk takes an interesting turn when they receive call in the middle of the night....

The Wrong Day

Director: Dan Tudor

Country: Romania

RT: 10min

Synopsis: After spending 10 years overseas, a Romanian girl is coming back home with her Italian-American boyfriend to visit relatives. Her brother and sister in low are trying hard to be hospitable–maybe too hospitable with someone that doesn’t understand the language and customs....

Up the 5

Director: Gabriel Adams

Country: United States

RT: 85min

Synopsis: Luckless Phil has 24 hours to get from Los Angeles to San Francisco for his father’s funeral. It’s an easy drive up California’s least iconic Interstate until his car is stolen by the seductress, Grace, and her sinister sister, Elsa. In pursuit of his car, Phill catches a ride with the oddball PERCY. As the unlikely outsiders chase each other Up The 5, every exit and detour leads to an episode of the absurd, the violent, the romantic, and the unexpected. A nighttime climax in a desolate motel forces everyone to discover a little something about themselves, and it ain’t all good....

BHFF Archives

Filmmaker Selection

Block 1 @ 1:30 PM

Block 2 @ 2 PM

Block 3 @ 3:30 PM

Block 4 @ 4 PM

Block 5 @ 5:30 PM

Block 6 @ 6:15 PM

Block 7 @ 7:45 PM

Block 8 @ 8:15 PM

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