MONDAY
JULY 25, 8:15PM
PROGRAM 26
SHORTLIST

The Forbidden Zone
USA / Animation / 11 minutes
Director/Writer: Zach Tolchinsky
Producer: Candace Hammer
The Forbidden Zone is a stop-motion short film about Dumont, a botanist, who has quarantined in an abandoned train station. The world has become saturated by a toxic fog that destroys all life forms and replaces oxygen with poison.

El Portafolio
USA / Drama / 10 minutes
Director/Writer: Scottie Cameron
Producer: Mike Moretti, Jonathan Biebl
Cast: Juan Carlos Cantu, Alma Martinez, Albert Hammond Jr
Reluctant to accept the ride the strange hitchhiker realizes he has very little options given his location. Once in the cabin and back on the road stifled conversation and non answers confuse our innocent driver. Hoping to get something from the stranger our man inquiries about the briefcase, where he is met with rude resistance.

San Gabriel Valley
USA / Drama / 20 minutes
Director: Dante Jiayu Liu
Writer: Dante Jiayu Liu, Sarah Hyunji Park
Producer: Sarah Hyunji Park
Cast: Wei Ren, Dralla Aierken
Ten months after Supin moved to the United States with her husband Qinyi, her favorite student Mia from the Chinese piano shop she works at is about to leave the States to return home. As Supin feels more and more cornered by her new life in the States, the news of Mia's upcoming departure leaves a ripple in Supin's still heart.

When You Leave
USA / Drama / 16 minutes
Director/Writer: Jason Yamamoto
Producer: Tamlyn Doll
Cast: Aoi Takeya, Julia Ekwall, Brent Yoshida, Ariel Labasan
A young Japanese American must confront his past and learn the price of freedom when given the opportunity to leave the WWII internment camp where he is imprisoned.

Someone To Destroy
USA / Drama / 22 minutes
Director/Writer: Kalif Fuller
Producer: Kalif Fuller, Kurtis Myers
Cast: Brandon Michael Thomas, Don Baldaramos, Andrea Flowers, Sophia Hoàng
After experiencing recent rage-inducing life occurrences, three characters, Quan: a grief-stricken young Black man, Mike: an older man angry about his community changing, and Liz: a woman who’s indignant after a confrontation at a coffee shop, all rant their frustrations in this examination of anger in America.

Checkmate
USA / Drama / 7 minutes
Director: Sebastian Johnson-Deal
Writer: Manny Sandoval
Producer: Manny Sandoval, Sebastian Johnson-Deal
Cast: Manny Sandoval, Jesús Moré, Remmy Ogaz
An assistant has a meeting with his boss to resolve unfinished business.