"Wannabe" sponsored by Carolyn Cavalier Roseberg and Sanford Rosenberg.
"And Then, Violence" sponsored by Frederick Hertz.
"Hounds" sponsored by the Consulate General of Israel, Pacific Northwest Region.Comedy and drama can be found in many places: early ’90s New York, an Israeli drone control center, Paris in the aftermath of the terror attacks, Central Park invaded by a 20-piece marching band and an Israeli modern art museum. These are the diverse settings of this year’s dynamic narrative shorts program where the stories unfold in the most surprising of ways.
Wannabe
In a story inspired by the director’s childhood, a neurotic Jewish teen must win over his crush by impressing her skeptical Jamaican family in 1990s New York City.
Operator
A single mom works as a human drone operator, killing people on a daily basis in order to make a living. How much of that spills into her home life?
And Then, Violence
After recent Paris terror attacks, and in an increasingly violent and anti-Semitic atmosphere, a young secular Jewish law student questions whether she has become a target in the country she so dearly loves.
What Cheer?
After the sudden passing of his wife, a composer (Richard Kind) tries to ignore his overwhelming grief only to be faced with a 20-piece marching band that floods his world with a boisterous, interminable song.
Hounds
After 16 years as a disaffected museum guard, Iris is finally offered a promotion. A careless mistake with a priceless work of art, however, forces her to decide how far she is willing to go to secure her rise up the social ladder.
—Joshua Moore