OPENING NIGHT: SEPT. 16, WEEKEND FESTIVAL: SEPT. 19-20
2024 FILMS
ADA
Category: Narrative Short
Director: Geno DiMaria
Synopsis: An A.I. therapy tool helps a lonely and depressed man confront the darkest parts of himself.
Oak Park Connection: Producer
Nominated For: Best Narrative Short
Bath Salt
Category: Narrative Short
Director: Nadyja von Ebers
Synopsis: A teenage cancer survivor learns her friend from the hospital has died
Oak Park Connection: Writer/Producer/Actress
Breakup Season
Category: Feature
Director: H. Nelson Tracey
Synopsis: A young man brings his girlfriend to his rural Oregon hometown to introduce her to his family, only for things to go terribly wrong upon arrival.
Oak Park Connection: Producer
Nominated For: Best Actress, Best Feature (Winner)
Family For Christmas
Category: Narrative Short
Director: Nick Pospisil
Synopsis: Robert meets Marshall's family for the first time this Christmas, only for things not to be as jolly as they appear.
Oak Park Connection: Writer/Director/Producer and Actor
Nominated For: Best Visual Effects
Favor
Category: Narrative Short
Director: Dan Aho
Synopsis: A friendship is tested when Dermot asks Barry for a favor: needing help with something in his trunk.
Oak Park Connection: Writer/Director/Producer and Actor
Nominated For: Best Actor, Best Narrative Short
Fire Department, Inc.
Category: Documentary
Director: Colin C. Hughes
Synopsis: A suburban firefighter’s labor union finds itself under a different kind of fire when the Village Mayor announces he’s privatizing their department to save money.
Oak Park Connection: Director
Nominated For: Best Documentary, Best Director
Get Away Driver's Ed
Category: Animation
Director: Ali Weber
Synopsis: Nervous, 16 year old Madison will do anything to get her license
Oak Park Connection: Director
​Nominated For: Best Visual Elements
Guaranteed in Gary
Category: Documentary
Director: Darryl Parham
Synopsis: Residents of Gary, Indiana receive five hundred dollars a month for a year, and a chance to imagine a better future for themselves.
Oak Park Connection: Producers
Nominated For: Best Documentary
Hillbilly
Category: Documentary
Director: Ashley York, Sally Rubin
Synopsis: Personal and political story that explores the evolution of the uneducated, promiscuous `hillbilly' stereotype in movies and television, linking it with corporate exploitation of Appalachia’s natural resources.
Oak Park Connection: Composer
Nominated For: Best Cinematography, Best Director (Winner), Best Documentary
Inferno
Category: Narrative Short
Director: Wendy Roderweiss
Synopsis: After a big mistake leaves an altruistic law-school grad desperate for a job, he interviews at a firm of morally depraved divorce lawyers.
Oak Park Connection: Writer/Director and Filming Location
Nominated For: Best Actor (Winner), Best Narrative Short (Winner)
Kickstand
Category: Narrative Short
Director: Thomas Schultz
Synopsis: A suburban kid rallies the neighborhood against the bullies who stole his bike.
Oak Park Connection: Director
Lunchbox Armageddon
Category: Animation
Director: Adam Tock, Kevin O'Rourke, Joe Gustav
Synopsis: Lunchbox Armageddon is going to thrash at the school talent show. But then Gabby had to get her tonsils out so like, who's going to sing?
Oak Park Connection: Original Music
Honorable Mention: Animation
Stairs
Category: Narrative Short
Director: Jeph Porter
Synopsis: An older woman returns home to find life has taken a frightening turn.
Oak Park Connection: Actress
Nominated For: Best Actress, Best Cinematography (Winner), Best Narrative Short
That thing we all share
Category: Narrative Short
Director: Michèle Jedlicka
Synopsis: A woman responds to a call home, and confronts hard memories.
Oak Park Connection: Writer/Director/Producer
Nominated For: Best Narrative Short, Best Visual Elements (Winner)
The Hive
Category: Young Filmmaker (18 or younger)
Director: Marco Esteban Delgado
Synopsis: Two orphaned siblings try to take down a hypnotizing VR platform and discover a surprising secret on the way.
Oak Park Connection: Director
Windy & Warm
Category: Music Videos
Director: Eric Henry
Synopsis: A guitarist meditates on a dynamic moment.
Oak Park Connection: Director/Producer/Actor
Nominated For: Best Music Video (Winner)
Wonderlost
Wonderlost
Category: Narrative Short
Director: Michael William Chopra
Synopsis: A graduating art student grapples with the decision to be a struggling artist or to enter the corporate world, and in the end finds a path forward.
Oak Park Connection: Actor