In 2015, the tiny West African nation of Togo was named “unhappiest” in the world by the World Economic Forum, yet Togolese subsistence farmer, Vodun (“Voodoo”) priest, and aspiring rapper known as “Professor Doctor” manages a high-level of happiness through an interconnectedness with the land. However, decades of clearcutting and erratic climatic patterns have devastated crop yields and biodiversity rates; the distressing reality of climate change threatens to eradicate every aspect of Prof Doc’s identity.

Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director/Producer/Cinematographer: Colin Scott
Director/Producer/Lead Researcher: Abby Snyder

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Project Mujeres” shines light on the pain of the women of Mexico, who actively fight to change machismo culture and its deadly toxicity.

Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Producer: Natasha MacLeay
Co-Producer: Mayur Agrawal
Director: Anuj Rawra
Editor/Director of Photography: Ashish Dawar
Community Outreach Coordinator: Merari Enriquez

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When a fire takes their home, a father and daughter must find a way to salvage what remains: each other.

Project type: Fiction Short
Director/Producer: Laura Zak
Producers: Katherine Fisher, Sheri Bradford

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A boy struggles to fit in his school desk and in life. When he crosses paths with an equally eccentric girl at school, the two misfits harness their weaknesses together and unlock their superpowers to defy school bullies and gravity.

Project type: Fiction Short
Project status: Development
Writer/Director: John Michael Riva Jr.
Producer: Doug Barden
Cinematographer: Indeana Underhill
Production Designer: Kato Lawton
Editor: Mario Andrew Fierro

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Puberty for Humans is perfect for your nervous health class students as they approach their inevitable cybernetic bodily changes. In this short educational video, Linus, an insecure prepubescent teenager, learns that everything will be okay… for everyone else.

Project type: Fiction Short
Writer/Director: Wester Demandante
Producer: Justin Ricafort
Producer: Derek Benig-Aiello
Producer: Zach Zahorik

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An optimistic administrator, who isn’t having a great workweek, tries to give herself a pep talk until two other personas actually appear and help her compose her thoughts for an upcoming meeting - yup - with a Karen!

Project type: Fiction Short
Director/Writer/Producer: Joenique C. Rose
Producer: Guo Guo
Production Designer: Minolae Jain
Editor: Christine Douglas
Composer: Tiffany Román Louk

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When a documentary on competitive speed puzzlers resonates with a film director, a quirky hobby becomes a tool for mental health and conversations around it.

Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director: Emily Sheskin
Producer: Ben Kainz

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How a band formed by lifers in San Quentin became a symbol of hope on the outside.

Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Project status: Production/Post Production
Director/Producer: Lane Michael Stanley
Producer: Lowell Blank

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In the hopes of gaining a coveted spot in a prestigious acting program, a young woman navigates a herculean audition process where her limits are tested in the pursuit of success, fame, and winning the game.

Project type: Fiction Short
Director/Co-Writer/Editor: Maggie Budzyna
Co-Writer/Producer: Christian Tasiopoulos
Cinematographer: Julia Swain

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Ray has a quiet, unassuming job as a statistician for the Paris Metro, but one lost opportunity convinces him to risk his entire department's future on the chance that he might be able to recreate that moment and get it right that time.

Project type: Fiction Feature
Producer: Brad Torreano

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Story of the American structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan, known as the ‘Einstein of structural engineering’ and ‘father of modern-day skyscrapers.’ Khan, a Muslim immigrant, built the iconic Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center in Chicago. His pioneering innovations literally transformed the landscape of America’s largest cities and paved the way for supertall skyscrapers worldwide.

Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Writer/Director/Producer: Laila Kazmi
Cinematographer: Ryan Purcell
Graphics and Animation: Begoña Lopez
Associate Producer: Arnila Guha Nolok

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A teenage boy is dropped off to work on a school project with a classmate. The strangers are forced to connect and a harsh reality is revealed.

Project type: Fiction Short
Director/Writer: Major Dorfman
Producer: Creighton Dorfman
Producer: Grace Merriman
Producer: Justin Gonçalves
Producer: Will Pinke
Cinematographer: Cinematographer

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In rural Pennsylvania, a teenage couple’s — James and Lizzy — relationship is interrupted by Aaron, the guy James almost hooked up with four months ago. Red explores being queer in conservative towns during hard times with empathy rather than disdain.

Project type: Fiction Short
Writer/Director/Producer: Scott Sullivan
Producer: Annalea Fiachi

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A group of sex workers and brothel youth form a film production house in the Kalighat redlight area, Kolkata, India. Despite the opposition from the conservative society, they are determined to become filmmakers, resist prostitution among the second generation, survive through the art of cinema, and aspire to transform the redlight area into a professional film colony in the post-pandemic time.

Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director: Bipuljit Basu
Producer: Nilotpal Majumdar
Producer: Max Tuula
Producer: Uldis Cekulis
Creative Consultant: Martijn te Pas
Cinematographer: Subhadeep Dey
Editor: Anirban Maity

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In the heart of Atlanta, best-selling author, stroke survivor, and wheelchair user Katherine Wolf transforms a 1990s Italian restaurant into Mend, a new coffee & retail concept intentionally built to offer people with disabilities meaningful community and dignified employment.

Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Directors/Producers: Jaye and Adam Fenderson
Executive Producers: Katherine & Jay Wolf
Director of Photography: John Gardiner

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A young, struggling actor tries joining his friend’s growing YouTube channel and get his new family out of poverty. But he must prove himself when nobody trusts him.

Project type: Fiction Short
Producer: Miguel Contreras, IV
Lead Actor: Branden Mankin

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Restarting The Motor City is a documentary about how post-bankruptcy Detroit is transforming, the innovators and creators who are making it happen, and the obstacles they must overcome to free themselves from the shackles of 20th-century thinking and work together to create a city of the future.

Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director/Producer/Cinematographer: Melissa Dowler
Producer/DP/Editor: Tom Dowler
Executive Producer: Shane Kelly, Ted Serbinski

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Project type: Fiction Short
Writer/Director: Kyriakos Kanellos
Producer: Annalisa Shoemaker, Liska Ostojic
Cinematographer: Sara Ross-Samko
Editor: Dan Myers

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A young man unexpectedly dies. Guided by a brilliant being of light, he is transported to hell, heaven, and other dimensions in between. He is returned back to life into his body against his will. Though transformed by his encounter with infinite love, he struggles to accept his fateful return to earth and the responsibilities that come with it.

Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Producer: James Guyer
Producer: Colin Bates
Writer: Kevin Bernhardt
Director: Kevin Brodie
Legal & Sales: George Rush

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Armed with innovative brain imaging technologies and the emerging field of neurolaw, scientists set a course to advocate for evidence-based juvenile criminal policy.

Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director: Helena Cortes
Producer: Bria Cole

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