The Rainbow Experiment

An investigation uncovers more than just blame at a Manhattan high school when a science experiment permanently injures a student.

Directed by Christina Kallas

Starring Chris Beetem, Francis Benhamou, Christian Coulson, Kevin Kane, Nina Mehta, Laura Pruden, Connor Siemer, Lauren Sowa, Swann Gruen, Christine McLaughlin

Genre(s) Drama Film

THE RAINBOW EXPERIMENT to Open + MANDELA’S GUN! to Close 2018 Harlem Intl Film Festival [Trailer]

[caption id="attachment_28612" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] The Rainbow Experiment[/caption] Award-winning Harlem International Film Festival Alum Christina Kallas returns to kick off the 2018 Festival with the New York Premiere of her latest film, The Rainbow Experiment, a critically-acclaimed, timely, multi-character drama set in a NYC high school after a terrible accident on school grounds. British filmmaker John Irvin closes the Festival with the World Premiere of his revelatory biopic thriller Mandela’s Gun! – the startling true story of the last 6 months of Nelson Mandela’s freedom before his arrest and life sentence in 1962. Five years in the making, it follows his epic journey as he illegally left South Africa. In The Rainbow Experiment, things spiral out of control in a Manhattan high school when a terrible accident involving a science experiment injures a kid for life. A who-dun-it with a how-they-saw-it leads to an explosion of emotions touching the teachers, the parents, the school authorities and ultimately, the students. The evening will be presented by one of the world’s most revered filmmakers, Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay, Vanity Fair, Queen of Katwe) — the festival’s annual Mira Nair Award for Rising Female Filmmaker is named in honor of her. The Rainbow Experiment is a contender for this award. It will be introduced and followed by a Director Q&A with celebrated film historian and author Annette Insdorf, Professor of Film Studies at Columbia University whose books include Francois Truffaut; Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski and Cinematic Overtures: How to Read Opening Scenes. Christina Kallas’ tense ensemble drama 42 Seconds of Happiness received a number of awards in international festivals in the U.S. and abroad–including Best Ensemble at Harlem International in 2016. The Rainbow Experiment is her sophomore feature film as a director, and one of five works-in-progress selected last year for the prestigious U.S. in Progress Paris program. The film debuted at the Slamdance Film Festival in January, followed by screenings at Cinequest, the DC IndependentFilm Fest and the Garden State Film Fest where it won the Best Alternative Feature Award. It is now nominated for a number of awards at both the Cleveland International Film Fest, and the Ashland Independent Film Fest, and will have its international premiere at the Moscow International Film Festival. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJmkG2LLFuU Mandela’s Gun! was shot in 6 countries – and is the first ever British, South African and Algerian co-production. Oddly enough, this is somehow the first time a South African actor has ever been filmed playing the role of this iconic figure. Tumisho Masha gives an uncanny performance at the hands of John Irvin, who is no stranger to working with talent, having directed everyone from Ben Kingsley to Christopher Walken and credited for discovering a young Don Cheadle. The film has been endorsed by The Mandela Foundation and is up for several awards at this year’s Harlem International Film Festival. The film reveals extraordinary new evidence about not only the man himself and the brave individuals & nations who risked their lives to struggle alongside him, but also marks the first onscreen confession by one of the CIA agents who orchestrated Mandela’s final betrayal and capture at the hands of the Apartheid regime. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5lv8YiD-cY
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Ashland Independent Film Festival Rolls Out 2018 Program | ‘First Reformed’, ‘On Chesil Beach’, ‘Hearts Beat Loud’ and More ..

[caption id="attachment_27690" align="aligncenter" width="1080"] On Chesil Beach[/caption] The Ashland Independent Film Festival announced its lineup for the five-day festival taking place April 12 to 16, 2018, and featuring over 120 films chosen from nearly a thousand films submitted to the festival, or specially selected by AIFF Artistic and Executive Director Richard Herskowitz. Special screenings include the upcoming features First Reformed (directed by Paul Schrader and starring Ethan Hawke), On Chesil Beach with Saoirse Ronan, Brett Haley’s Hearts Beat Loud with Nick Offerman, Andrew Haigh’s Oregon-filmed Lean on Pete, and Borg vs. McEnroe, starring Shia LeBoeuf, plus 2018 Sundance Film Festival award-winning documentaries Minding the Gap, On Her Shoulders, and Crime + Punishment.
Award Recipients
AIFF will present Rogue Awards to two special guests, Academy Award®-winning actor Chris Cooper and Seattle-based director Lynn Shelton. Cooper launched his film acting career with his role as a union organizer in Matewan, the first of five films he appeared in directed by John Sayles, and won the Academy Award in 2002 for his supporting role in Adaptation. In addition to participating in the TalkBack panel “Talking Acting with Chris Cooper,” Cooper will present on Opening Night the world premiere of a film he narrated and executive produced, Intelligent Lives, accompanied by director Dan Habib and executive producer Marianne Leone Cooper. Cooper met Marianne Leone in 1979 at an acting class in New York City. Their son, Jesse Lanier Cooper, was born three months prematurely in October 1987 and developed cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Chris and Marianne became advocates for inclusive education and champions of kids with special needs. Jesse was a mainstreamed student at Silver Lake Regional High School where he was an honor student. In 2005, Jesse died suddenly from a seizure at age 17. Intelligent Lives explores how our society’s narrow views of intelligence have led to the segregation of people with intellectual disabilities. AIFF will also present a Rogue Award to Lynn Shelton, who will present her sixth feature film, Outside In, starring Edie Falco and Jay Duplass and released by The Orchard. Shelton, proudly based in Seattle, has had a stellar career as an independent film director since winning the Grand Jury Award at the 2006 Slamdance Film Festival with her debut feature, We Go Way Back. Since then, Shelton’s films, including Humpday (2009), Your Sister’s Sister (AIFF2012), and Laggies (2012) have garnered awards and acclaim at Sundance, the Film Independent Spirit Awards, and the Gotham Independent Film Awards, as well as theatrical distribution from Magnolia and A24. Beginning with Mad Men in 2010, Lynn has directed over 25 episodes of television series including New Girl, Fresh Off the Boat, Master of None, Maron, and GLOW. The recipient of AIFF’s 2018 Pride Award, honoring filmmakers who have made significant contributions to LGBTQ media, is Zackary Drucker, an independent media artist and trans woman whose work crosses boundaries between the art world and popular culture. Drucker has performed and exhibited her work internationally in museums, galleries, and film festivals including the 2014 Whitney Biennial, MoMA PS1, Hammer Museum, and SF MoMA, among others. She is also a producer on the Golden Globe® and Emmy®-winning Amazon series Transparent. She will screen an episode of this series and two films featuring her late friend and mentor, Flawless Sabrina: Drucker’s video, She Gone Rogue and The Queen, Frank Simon’s rarely screened documentary of the 1967 Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant. Other special guests attending this year’s Festival include James Ivory, recipient of AIFF2017’s Lifetime Achievement Award and a 2018 Academy Award for his screenplay of Call Me By Your Name. Ivory will return to present the restored classic Shakespeare Wallah and join in a conversation after the screening with Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Artistic Director Bill Rauch. AIFF is reafﬁrming its mission to promote independent ﬁlmmaking by honoring companies that have built the infrastructure of the independent ﬁlm movement and challenged Hollywood’s dominance. This year, tribute will be paid to Milestone Films, which has gained an international reputation for releasing classic cinema masterpieces, groundbreaking documentaries, and American independent features. Since 2007, Milestone has concentrated on the restoration and worldwide distribution of films outside the Hollywood mainstream featuring “lost” films by and about African Americans, Native Americans, LGBTQ, and women. Milestone co-founders Dennis Doros and Amy Heller will present their recent restoration of No Maps on My Taps, accompanied by its director, George Nierenberg. The screening will be followed by a live performance and “tap-in” (with all audience members who bring tap shoes) led by dancer Suzanne Seiber. The second “Indie Institution” honoree will be the Independent Documentary Association (IDA). IDA’s educational, advocacy, production support, and exhibition programs, including the Pare Lorentz and Enterprise Documentary Funds and Documentary Magazine, provide resources, create community and defend rights and freedom for documentary artists, activists, and journalists. IDA’s Director of Programming and Policy, Claire Aguilar, joined by the films’ directors and subjects, will present The Blessing (an IDA Pare Lorentz Fund grantee) and Crime + Punishment (Enterprise Documentary Fund grantee, and winner of a jury prize at Sundance). Aguilar will also moderate the TalkBack panel “Seeking Justice in Documentary.” According to Festival director Richard Herskowitz, “The tribute to Milestone Films’ restoration and distribution is part of a larger programming focus this year on classic cinema that includes Shakespeare Wallah and No Maps on My Taps. Exposure to classic films, I believe, inspires indie film audiences and filmmakers (from James Ivory to Lynn Shelton) to question and reinvent filmmaking conventions.” The emphasis on classic film is highlighted in this year’s festival posters, based on images from the animated films of Stacey Steers. Steers’ sculptural media installations will be on view at the Schneider Museum of Art as part of an exhibition, The Animated Image ( April 12 – May 12) co-curated by Herskowitz and Schneider Museum director Scott Malbaurn. Also in this exhibition are animated media installations by Chris Doyle, Rick Silva, and Matt Bollinger. Steers’ trilogy of animated films featuring collages of silent film actresses in magical settings will be presented with new scores composed by Ashland-based composers Terry Longshore and Tessa Brinckman, which they will perform live on Saturday, April 14 at SOU Music Recital Hall. Also on that program will be a live performance accompanying the Russian silent film The Dying Swan, a Milestone Films release, with a score created by Ashland-based international opera and film score composer Joby Talbot. Talbot will perform on piano, joined by cellist Michal Palzewicz and violinist Jessica Lambert. Other classic film-themed screenings include Love, Cecil, the documentary on Academy Award-winning costume and set designer and photographer Cecil Beaton that will be accompanied by its director Lisa Immordino Vreeland. Film archivist Michael Zahs, the charismatic film archivist and subject of the documentary feature film Saving Brinton, will demonstrate an early Magic Lantern, a progenitor of the film projector, following Saving Brinton’s screening at the Historic Ashland Armory. Zahs will also demonstrate the Magic Lantern to kids during AIFF’s Family Day of film presentations and hands-on filmmaking activities at ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum on Saturday, April 14.
2018Ashland Independent Film Festival Program Summary

2018 Documentary Feature Selections
América The Blessing Citizen Blue & The March Crime + Punishment Dark Money Five Seasons The Foreigner’s Home The Gospel of Eureka I Am Maris: Portrait of a Young Yogi Intelligent Lives Itzhak The King Liyana Love, Cecil Minding the Gap Modified Mr. Fish: Cartooning from the Deep End No Maps on My Taps On Her Shoulders One October The Queen The Reluctant Radical & Symphony for Nature: The Britt Orchestra at Crater Lake A River Below Saving Brinton Skid Row Marathon Sky and Ground A Tuba to Cuba Two Trains Runnin’
2018 Narrative Feature Selections
Back at the Staircase Borg v. McEnroe The Dying Swan First Reformed For Izzy Fort Maria Hearts Beat Loud The Last Hot Lick Lean on Pete On Chesil Beach Outside In People People The Rainbow Experiment Shakespeare Wallah Wild Honey
SHORTS PROGRAMS
Curated Programs CineSpace KidFlix: Best of the New York Children’s International Film Festival Animated Worlds: Stop-Motion Classics with Mark Shapiro Zackary Drucker: Trans Film Television Competition Program Short Stories 1: In the Light of Day Short Stories 2: After Hours Short Docs 1: About Work Short Docs 2: About Community Short Stories and Docs: About Family Locals Only Locals Only 1: Family Friendly – Launch Student Film Competition Locals Only 2: Ashland Roots Locals Only 3: On the River, On the Land
PERFORMANCES
Silent Scores: The Dying Swan and Stacey Steers’ Trilogy with Tessa Brinckman, Terry Longshore, and Joby Talbot Live Tap-in with Suzanne Seiber following No Maps on My Taps
FAMILY DAY AT SCIENCEWORKS
Saturday, April 14, 10am-5pm: Hands-on film activities and presentations by NASA’s Ralph Grau, archivist Michael Zahs, and LAIKA’s Mark Shapiro
AIFF MEDFORD
4 shows at Collaborative Theatre Project on March 21, April 14 and 16, and a special screening at Kids Unlimited of Dolores with Peter Bratt and Dolores Huerta (May 3)
EXHIBITION AT SCHNEIDER MUSEUM OF ART: THE ANIMATED IMAGE
Media installations by Stacey Steers, Chris Doyle, Matt Bollinger, and Rick Silva on view April 12 – May 12.
TALKBACKS
Talking Acting with Chris Cooper Seeking Justice in Documentary Composing Scores for Classic and Contemporary Films
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2018 Slamdance Film Festival Complete Beyond and Shorts Lineup

[caption id="attachment_26593" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Goodbye, Brooklyn[/caption] This year’s 2018 Slamdance Film Festival which kicks off on Friday January 19 thru 25 in Park City, Utah, will feature an impressive Beyond and Shorts programs for their 24th edition. The short film lineup showcases productions from 26 countries, with shorts in the Narrative, Documentary, Animation, Anarchy and Experimental sections all eligible for the 2018 Oscar® Qualifying Shorts competition. Several Slamdance Alumni return with highly anticipated presentations in the Beyond lineup. All films in this highly-selective program are made by emerging filmmakers working just beyond their first features.
“The films in the Beyond Program exhibit singular directorial vision while sharing a common commitment to challenge audiences to step outside their comfort zones,” says Beyond programmer, Josh Mandel. “These bold and adventurous filmmakers represent the most current voices in American independent film, and will continue to push boundaries in the years ahead.”Along with continued standout programming in every category, Anarchy Shorts promises another year of exuberantly subversive cinema. “The Department of Anarchy has curated a diverse program of sublime, dangerous, and deviant films that provide shock therapy to the soul.” says Anarchy Shorts programmer, Noel Lawrence. “We hope to provoke, challenge, and enlighten audiences by smashing the status quo on any and all levels.”
BEYOND PROGRAM
Back at the Staircase (USA) World Premiere Director: Drew Britton Five distinctive people, each with a flimsy coping strategy, find themselves stuck together after an accident. Cast: Jennifer Lafleur, Stephen Plunkett, Leonora Pitts, Mickey O’Hagan, Logan Lark, Heather LaVine Funny Story (USA) World Premiere Director: Michael Gallagher After years of being a neglectful father, a womanizing TV star decides to crash his estranged daughter’s vacation in Big Sur. Cast: Matthew Glave, Emily Bett Rickards, Jana Winternitz, Nikki Limo, Lily Holleman, Jessica Diggins, Pete Gardner, Reginald VelJohnson My Name is Myeisha (USA) World Premiere Director: Gus Krieger A beloved teenager crosses over into a hip-hop-musical dreamscape at the moment of her tragic death and contemplates her life; what it was and what it could have been. Cast: Rhaechyl Walker, John Merchant, Dominique Toney, Dee Dee Stephens, Yvette Cason, Gregg Daniel The Rainbow Experiment (USA) World Premiere Director: Christina Kallas An investigation uncovers more than just blame at a Manhattan high school when a science experiment permanently injures a student. Cast: Chris Beetem, Francis Benhamou, Christian Coulson, Kevin Kane, Nina Mehta, Laura Pruden, Connor Siemer, Lauren Sowa, Swann Gruen, Christine McLaughlin Savage Youth (USA) World Premiere Director: Michael Curtis Johnson The lives of six troubled teens in a racially-divided small town take a violent turn over drugs and broken hearts. Based on true events. Cast: Grace Victoria Cox, Tequan Richmond, Will Brittain, Chloe Levine, Mitchell Edwards, J. Michael Trautmann, Sasha Feldman, Tomas Pais
NARRATIVE SHORTS
The 99 Steps Left from the Square (Finland, Turkey) Director: Sevgi Eker The iron gate safeguarding an old man’s peace is opened. Cast: Sirin Erensoy, Yasemin Erensoy, Salih Kalafatoglu, Hasan Kurun Abbas Kiarostami; The Director (Iran) Director: Mohsen Khodabakhshi A boy wants to take a photo with Abbas Kiarostami… Cast: Mani Sherafat – Nazli Gorgani – Shahed Sherafat Audition (USA) Director: Richard Van Unable to find a sitter, an aspiring actress has no choice but to drag her 3-year old son to her audition. Cast: Shaquita Lopez, Nezih Lopez, Ernest Walker Jr, Laura Price Clean Blood (USA) World Premiere Director: Jordan Michael Blake A family drama about Christmas, The Apocalypse and an IMMACULATELY PREGNANT man. Cast: Jordan Michael Blake, Stephanie Allynne Falling (USA) World Premiere Director: Ewen Wright A potentially psychosomatic white man, a woman stuck in a vortex of “man-splaining,” and a young black man caught in a racially charged standoff are set on a collision course as society falls apart around them in this absurdist dark comedy. Cast: Sarah Hollis, Elijah Reed, Davey Johnson Flatbush Misdemeanors (USA) Director: Dan Perlman, Kevin Iso Longtime friends Dan and Kevin adjust to their evolving surroundings in the unforgiving environment of Flatbush, Brooklyn. A raw comedy of city life. Cast: Drew Dowdey, Kareem Green, Kevin Iso, Dan Perlman Goodbye, Brooklyn (USA) World Premiere Director: Daniel Jaffe Struggling with New York living, Dana Schapiro decides to move, saying goodbye to a neighborhood that can barely remember who she is… Cast: Michelle Uranowitz, Angela Pietropinto, Luke Marinkovich, Ione Saunders Hail Mary Country (USA) World Premiere Director: Tannaz Hazemi Macho grandmother Irene Dandy has to defend her family of football fanatics from a gang led by a cocky thief named Nora. Cast: Vera Cherny, Catherine Taber, Lori Jean Wilson, Alison Yates Iris (Canada) Director: Gabrielle Demers As the storm rages outside a special lust for Laura grows inside Emanuelle. Cast: Marie Babbini, Daphné Germain Katalysis (Sweden) World Premiere Director: Ashley Michael Briggs A doctor and an artist use Anna’s body as an tool to further their own professional progress. Cast: Moa Nilsson, Adam Stålhammar, Peter Hildén, Anna Ladegaard The Knits (Canada) US Premiere Director: Lisa Birke A sweater, lovingly and arduously knit by a mother, incrementally unravels as her daughter treks her way across Canada by foot. Cast: Barbara Birke; Lisa Birke Magic Bullet (USA) World Premiere Director: Amanda Lovejoy Street A psychologist combats grief with self-soothing rituals; a shopping network host obliterates hers in a self-destructive haze. They collide in a televised confrontation. Cast: Rosemarie DeWitt, Molly Parker Night on Floating Island (Australia) North American Premiere Director: Jack Atherton From a storm drain, a strange man watches a tourist rollerblading through an unfamiliar nightscape in search of his missing girlfriend or an anonymous sexual encounter in a park. Cast: Gavin Drumm, Annie Schofield, André Shannon, Kate Coates Ok, Call Me Back (USA) Director: Emily Ann Hoffman Craving companionship, a woman leaves a voicemail late at night. Cast: Emily Ann Hoffman Onikuma (Italy, USA) Director: Alessia Cecchet Surrounded by a foreign landscape, two women will understand that demons can come in different forms. Cast: Sandy Siquier, Sarineh Garapetian Parthenon (USA) Director: Frank Mosley A naked body moves a stranger to empathy. Cast: Lily Baldwin, Tallie Medel, Thiago Martins Reunion 1 (USA) World Premiere Director: Brock Neilson The artist re-enters a space from their childhood as an adult and is struck both by the haunting tone of the setting and an indelible memory from the past. Rupture (Jordan, Canada) US Premiere Director: Yassmina Karajah Rupture follows the journey of four Arab kids whose repressed traumas surface during their quest to find a public pool in their new city. Cast: Asaad Al Arid Salam Almarzouq Hussein Al Ahmad Wazira Al Ahmad Slap Happy (Canada) US Premiere Director: Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli A dysfunctional couple with a penchant for twisted sexual fantasies fight to stay together as their relationship crumbles over the course of a day. Cast: Jesse LaVercombe, Madeleine Sims-Fewer That Thing (USA) World Premiere Director: Dan Roe Tabby is conflicted about Patrick’s sexual quirk. Cast: Claire Lucido, Sam Yarabek The Things You Think I’m Thinking (Canada) US Premiere Director: Sherren Lee A black male burn-survivor and amputee goes on a date with a regularly-abled man for the first time since his accident, ten years ago. Cast: Prince Amponsah, Jesse LaVercombe Transmission (USA) Director: Morgan McGlothan Father, daughter, and her 1999 Toyota Camry. Cast: Darrin McGlothan, Morgan McGlothan The Troubled Troubadour (South Korea) North American Premiere Director: Forest Ian Etsler & Sébastien Simon An embittered old musician embarks on a journey which becomes the outward manifestation of his inner landscape. Cast: Kasuga “Hachi” Hirofumi, Tetsu Kono, Lee Hwajin, Kang Saneh Welcome To Bushwick (USA) World Premiere Director: Henry Jinings On the heels of a successful first date, Evan and Marceline end up back at her place. Cast: Tim Platt, Liba Vaynberg Whales (Iran) North American Premiere Director: Behnam Abedi A police officer and a soldier are assigned to investigate a case wherein seven dead bodies are found on a beach. Cast: Majid Norouzi, Khosrow Shahraz, Majid Aghakarimi
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS PROGRAM
Big Surf (USA) Director: Brian Smee San Francisquito Cyn, March 12th, 1928: The sound a horse makes as it’s drowning. Do I Have Boobs Now? (Canada) Director: Milena Salazar, Joella Cabalu A trans activist’s journey to challenge Facebook and Instagram’s censorship policies. Ex Nihilo (Finland) World Premiere Director: Timo Wright Ex Nihilo is an experimental short documentary about a doomsday seed vault, an advanced robot and a cryonics facility. Homeland (Belgium) Director: Sam Peeters Homeland is a creative documentary about right-wing populism and narrow-mindedness in the Belgian suburbs. House (Iceland, USA) Director: Kyja Kristjansson-Nelson A meditation on emigration and immigration, house and home. Icon (Poland) US Premiere Director: Wojciech Kasperski An old doctor who has spent his life working at a psychiatric hospital in the Siberian countryside – The place, which was inaccessible for film crews, can be shown thanks to its residents, some of whom spent several decades at the hospital. The Last Man You Meet (USA) Director: Chris Bone Take an exclusive look inside the gritty business of death as a third-generation funeral director reflects on his life. Lorem Ipsum (pain itself) (USA) Director: Gabrielle Kash A handmade look at why artists hate making, and keep making art. Nueva Vida (USA) Director: Jonathan Seligson A ball, some brains, and a lot of fluids. A cautionary true tale on the dangers of playing soccer from my dear brother, Kenny. Phototaxis (USA) Director: Melissa Ferrari Rooted in nonfiction, “Phototaxis” connects Mothman, a prophetic demon in West Virginia folklore, and Narcotics Anonymous, the primary treatment program in West Virginia’s addiction epidemic. Pocket Sized Feminism (USA) Director: Valerie Schenkman “This house is for wallpaper women. What good is wallpaper that speaks?” Women speak out about women’s rights, or human rights. Quiet Hours (USA) Director: Paul Szynol Donald Hall, America’s Poet Laureate and winner of the National Medal of Arts, lives in the fragile space between loneliness and solitude. Taobao (USA) Director: Noah Sheldon Modelling for China’s largest online shopping site, Taobao. True Love in Pueblo Textil (Cuba, USA) US Premiere Director: Horatio Baltz Nine-year-old Maribel explains to us how it feels to be stricken with the world’s oldest infliction: love. Where Are You From (USA, China) Director: Xizi “Cecilia” Hua In a world where western values dominate, coming to America as a “Parachute Kid” makes the filmmaker feel ashamed of her “Chinese” and “foreign” identity.
ANIMATION SHORTS PROGRAM
Airport (Switzerland, Croatia) Director: Michaela Müller An exploration of the place in modern society where the limits of borders, security, and tolerance are constantly tested. Ascribed Achievements (Iran) Director: Samaneh Shojaei A man’s suicide attempt leads to the idea that fate is breakable. Black Dog (USA) Director: Joshua Dean Tuthill A dark family drama set during the space race of the 1960’s, utilizing stop-motion animation and archival footage to elucidate a time of heated social and political tension. Gusla ou les Malins (France) US Premiere Director: Adrienne Nowak Adrienne goes back to Poland to see her grandmother and ask her family about communism. In their cozy kitchen she will learn about the spirits that haunt the Polish imagination and the unexpected superstitions used to face them. Icebergs (USA, Greece) North American Premiere Director: Eirini Vianelli An existential, dark comedy of 14 stop-motion vignettes both mundane and absurd. Interstitial (Japan) North American Premiere Director: Shunsaku Hayashi A hybrid project of a painting and additive animation exploring a spacelessness of humanity in the defined space of a canvas of a continuous horizon. Mak (USA) Director: Natalya Serebrennikova Searching for opium, Big Macs, and cultural identity, a teenager visits her hometown in Russia and finds that her best friend has already grown up. Mountain Castle Mountain Flower Plastic (USA) Director: Annapurna Kumar The most efficient containers can store multiple pieces of information in the same location, intersecting from different angles. Railment (Japan) Director: Shunsaku Hayashi In the anonymous crowds of commuter rail lines, it’s possible to move at high speeds while remaining perfectly still. The Realm of Deepest Knowing (South Korea) Director: Kim Seung-hee A playful exploration of how knowing someone on the deepest level becomes a love that spans across objects. Red Fat Cat (Germany) Director: Klaus Hoefs A singer-songwriter animation confronting the dichotomy of drowned refugees washing up on a public beach while residents go about their settled, everyday lives filled with antique cars, dogs, and cats. Satellite Strangers (USA) World Premiere Director: James Bascara A zoom into a microscopic world reveals a strange cacophony.
EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS PROGRAM
38 River Road (USA, Switzerland) Director: Josh Weissbach Fear resides in the gesture of a telling. Are you tired of forever? (USA) World Premiere Director: Caitlin Craggs A surreal meditation on the experience of self. Cloud Of Petals (USA) Director: Sarah Meyohas At the former Bell Labs, sixteen workers photograph 100,000 individual rose petals to map out an artificial intelligence algorithm that learns to generate new petals forever. I’m Not Sure (Germany) World Premiere Director: Gabriel Hensche By confronting an app with Surrealist paintings I’m Not Sure explores the psychology of artificial intelligence. No Stories Now (USA) Director: CT Bishop Hopefully, in moving toward weakness, there can be recognition of false relief. Silica (Australia, UK) Director: Pia Borg An unseen location scout explores an opal mining town in South Australia in this sci-fi-laced essay film, which finds in this semi-deserted region both the traces of indigenous culture and remnants of cinema history.
ANARCHY SHORTS PROGRAM
AniMal (Iran) Director: Bahram Ark, Bahman Ark A man disguises himself as a ram to cross a border into another land. Cast: Davoud Nourpour Breaker (Japan) Director: Philippe McKie In tomorrow’s Tokyo, the technologically-enhanced body of a young mercenary hacker is overrun by a sentient data weapon. Cast: Yuka Tomatsu / Arisa Hanzawa / Kazuya Shimizu Clipping. – “Back Up” (USA) US Premiere Director: Anna Zlokovic An unnamed filmmaker stumbles upon a horrifying discovery—an underground cult-like society where adults have baby faces and milk is the drug of choice. Cast: Daveed Diggs, Antwon, Signor Benedick The Moor Information Superhighway (USA) World Premiere Director: Mathew Nelson A man participates in an experiment to test artificial intelligence in driverless cars. Cast: Luke Banham, Elias Harger, Anna Faye Hunter , Michael Lee Little Wonder (USA) World Premiere Director: Jojo Carlman This refreshing tale of puppet sexuality follows Username: Stray_Cat as he trolls internet dating sites and vaguely meditates on the loneliness of death. Cast: Christine Moore, Daegan Palmero, Brisco Diggs, and David Breen III Love After TIme (Taiwan) Director: Tsai Tsung-han After a nuclear explosion, two mutant humans fall in love. Cast: Lee Hong chi, Nana Lee Manila Death Squad (Phillipines, USA) Director: Dean Colin Marcial An ambitious journalist challenges the leader of a violent vigilante group to a high-stakes drinking game. Its outcome may score her a scoop… or a bullet to the head. Cast: Sid Lucero, Annicka Dolonius The Order of the Orchid (USA) World Premiere Director: Alex Italics A lonely spinster’s failed attempt at arranging flowers summons an ominous shadowy figure that sends her into a psychedelic netherworld to confront her own mediocrity. Cast: Juliette James, Sean T. Randolph Santa Ana (Spain, USA) North American Premiere Director: César Pesquera Part art-film, part documentary, Santa Ana aims to elucidate the link between evil and the famed Santa Ana winds, extremely dry down-slope winds in Southern California supposedly responsible for a tense, uneasy, wrathful mood among the people of Los Angeles. Steve’s Kinkoes (USA) World Premiere Director: Emma Debany A man copies posters for his missing (and dead) cat at an otherworldly 24/7 photocopy shop. What will happen to him if he stays forever? Cast: Timmy Gibson, Chance Bartels, John Archer Lundgren
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The Rainbow Experiment

THE RAINBOW EXPERIMENT to Open + MANDELA’S GUN! to Close 2018 Harlem Intl Film Festival [Trailer]

Ashland Independent Film Festival Rolls Out 2018 Program | ‘First Reformed’, ‘On Chesil Beach’, ‘Hearts Beat Loud’ and More ..

Award Recipients

2018Ashland Independent Film Festival Program Summary

2018 Documentary Feature Selections

2018 Narrative Feature Selections

SHORTS PROGRAMS

PERFORMANCES

FAMILY DAY AT SCIENCEWORKS

AIFF MEDFORD

EXHIBITION AT SCHNEIDER MUSEUM OF ART: THE ANIMATED IMAGE

TALKBACKS

2018 Slamdance Film Festival Complete Beyond and Shorts Lineup

BEYOND PROGRAM

NARRATIVE SHORTS

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS PROGRAM

ANIMATION SHORTS PROGRAM

EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS PROGRAM

ANARCHY SHORTS PROGRAM