SHORT BLOCK 10

A GUEST IN MY COUNTRY

Iowa Premier

An immigrant Uber driver takes an upscale couple across town, and the drama that unfolds among them reveals truths they all would have preferred stayed hidden.

Starring: Bayo Akinfemi

Directed by: John Gray

Produced by: Melissa Jo Peltier

Runtime (minutes): 16

Language: English

Country: USA

Rating:

Subtitles: YES

JEAN & I

Michelle, a 10-year-old survivor of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, attempts to escape both her past and her new home when she learns that her "new" family is not what they seem.

Starring: Naya Desir-Johnson, Cree-Silver Darrieux Corley, Alex Emanuel

Directed by: Mirta Desir

Produced by: Mirta Desir

Runtime (minutes): 13

Language: English

Country: USA

Rating: GA

Subtitles: YES

JUST KIM

USA Premier

Rose Kim is a trans teenager. Although they long for it, they've never expressed their gender identity and navigate life in their assigned female body. Maybe because they're alone in a country migrated to illegally. But mainly because they fear losing the only emotional connection that ties them to the world: Camila, a baby girl they care for daily.

Directed by: Kim Cabral, Nausicaa Bonnin, Mihai Smarandache

Produced by: Esther Cabrero, Diego Herrero

Runtime (minutes): 20

Language: Catalan

Country: Spain

Rating: GA

Subtitles: YES

KIKI

Iowa Premier

When Adamma and her father, Jide, seek refuge in an asylum centre in Ireland they are greeted by angry protestors, but a dangerous situation threatens to become explosive when Adamma ventures out into the neighbourhood alone in search of her missing cuddly toy, Kiki.

Starring: Derek Ugochukwu, Graeme Coughlan, Saoirse Azwihangwisi O'Connor

Directed by: Naomi Sheridan

Produced by: Lindsay Campbell

Runtime (minutes): 14

Language: English

Country: Ireland

Rating: F

Subtitles: YES

NEITHER DONKEY NOR HORSE

Iowa Premier

Amidst the outbreak of the 1910 Manchurian Plague, a young Chinese doctor must defy prejudices of both the East and the West to champion his groundbreaking theory of the disease and seek the truth that will heal it.

Starring: Chris Pang, Jim Lau, Michael Monasterio

Directed by: Robin Wang

Produced by: Ellen Eliasoph, Aslan Dalgic, Lilith Mo

Runtime (minutes): 29

Language: English

Country: USA

Rating: F

Subtitles: YES

STORAGE FEES

World Premier

Based on a poem by Nicholas Michael Buck, STORAGE FEES follows a young man as he finds temporary shelter in a storage unit, while he mourns the death of his mother and questions the limited choices before him.

Starring: Parker Wierling, Makaila McColley

Directed by: Nicholas Michael Buck

Produced by: Norman Buckley, Alyssa Lewis, David Dewar

Runtime (minutes): 15

Language: English

Country: USA

Rating: GA

Subtitles: YES

THE INVITE

World Premier

Having quit his job to pursue his passion—and alienating his father in the process—a struggling first generation immigrant photographer must visit his parents to convince them to attend his first major solo show.

Starring: Yuriy Sardarov, Oleg Stefan, Irina Dvorovendko

Directed by: Max Chopovsky

Produced by: Daniele Bernstein

Runtime (minutes): 19

Language: English, Russian

Country: USA

Rating: GA

Subtitles: YES