SAM & JOE
USA, 2003, Digital, 93 min. (Los Angeles Premiere, DWF 2004)
Writer/Dir: Jason Ruscio • Prods: Evan Astrowsky, Jeffery Zarnow, Amy Greenspun
Cast: Petra Wright, Michael T. Ringer, Jeffrey Donovan and Gina Philips

A heart-wrenching story of an abusive relationship. It’s a familiar theme, but one of the unique qualities that sets this film apart, is that the couple in question share barely a moment of screen time. Instead, this tragedy is revealed through parallel action, voice-over and their relationships with others. This is a performance piece in the purest sense. The camera, which is almost entirely hand-held, will often linger on the close-up for more than a minute. This approach provides the kind of intimacy reminiscent of John Cassevettes, or Ingmar Bergman.

SAMMYVILLE
USA, 1999, 16mm, 103 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 1999)
Dir: Christopher Hatton, Writers: Christopher Hatton & David Drayer, Producer: Jian Hong Kuo
Cast: Chase Masterson, David Drayer, Lyle Schwarz, Paul Wadleigh, Dick Rois, Doug Sadler, David Jean-Thomas

Based on an actual ‘outlaw’ town hidden deep in the forests of Oregon, its legendary proprietor, Sammy, who governs the community by virtue of a six-shooter, and who is Law unto himself. The story follows a determined social worker on the trail of a kidnapped child and an enigmatic drifter with a hidden past, who together place their lives in peril to uncover the dark secrets of the mysterious backwoods community of Sammyville.

SAY I DO
USA, 2003, Digital, 89 min..(WORLD Premiere, DWF 2003)
Dir: Ron Vignone, Writers: Ron Vignone, Joe Forte, Prods: Vignone, Joe Forte, Tricia Linklater
Cast: Ben Koldyke, Pamela Moore Somers, David BelAyche, Rebecca Rosenak, Samuel Bliss Cooper

Ben and Sydney set out to have the perfect wedding. They just never planned on it being by the side of the road. A film about the journey to happily ever after and the detours along the way, SAY I DO will leave you asking the most important questions about love and tying the knot.

SCALENE
USA, 2011, HD, 97 mins. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2011 - GRAND JURY AWARD)
Dir: Zack Parker | Writers: Brandon Owens, Zack Parker | Prods: Carlos Jimenez Flores, Zack Parker | Cast: Margo Martindale, Hanna Hall, Adam Scarimbolo, Jim Dougherty, LaDonna Pettijohn

Told from three points-of-view, SCALENE revolves around a mother's revenge after her mentally-challenged son is accused of a sexual assault by his student caretaker.

THE SCAR CROW
UK, 2009, HD, 85 min. (US Premiere, DWF 2009)
Writers/Dirs: Andy Thompson, Pete Benson • Prod: Andy Thompson • Cast: Anna Tolputt, Marysia Kay, Tim Major, Kevyn Connett, Michael Walker,
Gabrielle Douglas, Andrew Bolton

It’s 2009. Four city guys are not interested in countryside team building exercises and assault courses. They’d rather be watching football and drinking beer while chasing anything in a skirt. Yet they find themselves on an all expenses paid company trip to the middle of nowhere. But maybe luck has arrived in the form of the three Tanner sisters living and working alone on Graves Hill Farm close to a small village with a pub! The sisters are friendly, open and warm, but all is not as it seems and the guys begin to wish they’d paid more attention on the assault course. The three sisters are the daughters of convicted witch Elizabeth Tanner from the year 1709. Abused by their farmer Father, they murder him and hide his body on a cross in the field as a crow scarer. With his dying words the Father curses his daughters to live in limbo on the farm neither living not dead, until the year 2009 when the chance to free themselves from a living hell is realised in the form of four guys lost in the depths of the english countryside.