A MILLION MILES
USA, 2001, 16mm, 85 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2001)
Dir: Bryan Sipe, Writers: Bryan Sipe, Ben Carney, Prod: Bryan Sipe, Ben Carney, Mark Bailin, Debra J. Olchick
Cast: Ben Carney, Ray Jarrell, Gina Merchan, Duane Langley

Set in the winter of a summer amusement-town, A MILLION MILES is a story about best friends who have outgrown the familiar streets and faces of their Jersey Shore home. For this group of brazen youths, life has become predictable, but leaving the only lives they've ever known presents more questions than answers. They're afraid of change, afraid of growing up, and most of all, afraid of who they will become when they are no longer together. When our story's soft spoken leader, Jimmy Gordon, is accepted to a college far from his hometown, he must decide between a life he's dared to dream about and the safety of the life and friends he's always known.

AFTER THE FLOOD
USA, 2001, 35mm, 81 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2001)
Writer/Dir: Robert Saitzyk, Prods: Aaron Rice, Robert Saitzyk, Joseph Chase
Cast: Shawn Andrews, Ola Metwally, Joseph Chase, Tony O’Brien

A young man's desperate search for spiritual redemption on the streets. A provocative character study, the film spirals through a gritty urban neo-realism, then into haunting, surreal images that evoke the loss of innocence and a fractured, vulnerable sexuality. AFTER THE FLOOD paints an impressionistic portrait of a soul hopelessly struggling to escape the prison of the modern city.

ALICE'S MISADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
USA, 2004, HD, 92 min. (Los Angeles Premiere, DWF 2005)
Writer/Dir: Robert Rugan • Prods: Michael Benson, Jonathan Barnette
Cast: Will Keenan, Maggie Henry, Kyle Holman, Chris Garrison

A contemporary remake of Lewis Carroll's classic "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". Alice finds herself bored and fed up with the world around her. When she is offered the chance to know all the answers to all her life's questions, she takes it, and falls deep into the demented world of Wonderland.

ALWAYS WILL
USA, 2006, DIGITAL, 86 min. (DWF 2006)
Writer/Dir: Michael Sammaciccia • Prods: Michael Sammaciccia, Matthew Petrilla, Chip Schofield
Cast: Andrew Baglini, John Schmidt, Mark Schroeder, Noelle Meixell, Andrew Sammaciccia, Jody Seymour, Bart Mallard

After uncovering an old relic from his elementary school, Will, a high school senior, discovers he can change his past mistakes. An architect of his life, Will creates the kind of popularity every teenager yearns for. But when his unhappy mom shares regrets of her own, Will is faced with his toughest decision yet.

THE AMAZING OMELETTE
USA, 2004, 16mm, 70min. (Los Angeles Premiere, DWF 2005)
Writer/Dir: Mark Januzelli • Prods: Mark Januzelli, David Januzelli, Lorainne Fox
Cast: Ray Hale, Seth Gillum, Jessica Smith, Averell Eshaghian

Thirty-two year old Jim Wentzhof is jolted from his complaisant lifestyle at home with Mom by a phone call from an estranged childhood friend.  He is presented with an intriguing offer that he cannot refuse.  Looking for a break in his comfortable routine, he packs all that he thinks he'll need for his one shot at a Hollywood payoff.  Jim soon discovers a world far more complex and fragmented than the one he left behind as he spirals through the confusion of Hollywood's creative underground.

AMERICA 101
USA, 2005, HD, 87 min. (West Coast Premiere, DWF 2005 - Audience Award Winner 2005)
Dir: Mark A. Russell • Writers: Mark A. Russell, Michael Wasserman • Prod: Michael Wasserman • Cast: Miguel Castro, Richard Azurdia, Christine Carlo, Gerald Brodin, Jordi Caballero, Louie Olivos Jr., Trinidad Nizelli

A comedy that follows two brothers, Angel and Carlos who have a plan to get smuggled across the border from Mexico to find the “American dream”. After being double-crossed, they are forced into an adventure filled with crazy characters and eye-opening truths. Just when theythink they've realized what they truly need, they are faced with the greatest challenge of them all…how to get back home.

AMERICAN YEARBOOK
USA, 2004, Digital, 97 min. (US Premiere, DWF 2004)
Writer/Dir: Brian Ging • Prods: Jason Brown, Brian Ging
Cast: Nick Tagas, Jon Carlo Alvarez, Giovannie Pico, Chris Peter, Ryon Nixon, Daniel Timko

The true-to-life story of a high school dreamer, Will, whose hope of being a successful photographer is ripped from his grasp, as he is relentlessly targeted by vicious pack of local bullies. Will meets a dark new punk friend Chance, who convinces Will they should get a gun and exact revenge. Chance plans on 'pulling a Columbine'. Will’s romantic interest Amanda pleads with Will not to get revenge and talk Chance down, but can even Will stop what Chance has started? And is Will’s revenge too strong for him to just walk away?

THE AMERICANS ARE COMING! THE AMERICANS ARE COMING!
USA, 2003, Digital, 83 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2003)
Writer/Dir: Sheldon Collins, Story By: Sheldon Collins, Justin Hogan, Prods:Justin Hogan, Cameron McIntyre, Damon White
Cast: Sheldon Collins, Zach Samios, Jon Artigo, Kevin Painchaud, Ryan Holmes

From the USA to Spain, France and Italy, AMERICANS is a hilarious look at the power of Hollywood, told through the eyes of some truly unique individuals. A 2003 international road trip film, AMERICANS tells the story of five broke American guys who attempt to con their way across Europe on a first class vacation by pretending to shoot a doocumentary film. A blending of real and re-staged footage, AMERICANS will take you on a journey never before traveled and leave you asking - "Is this for real?"

AN AMERICAN REUNION
USA, 2003, 35mm, 93 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2004)
Writer/Dir: Jim Fitzpatrick, Prods:Steven K. Bath, Randy Turrow, Jim Fitzpatrick
Cast: Jim Fitzpatrick, Corby Timbrook, Jodi Knotts, John Bradley, Rochelle Swanson, Philip Brown, Bob Jesser, Racheal MacKenna

Based on a true story, "An American Reunion," is a poignant Romantic-Dramedy about an estranged group of necessitous friends that have all returned home for their clandestined high school reunion to face the explosive reality of how their friendships and promises to one another have completely altered and have all but been painfully buried, only to realize that it will take their combined efforts and reuniting to save one of their own's lives.

AMONG BROTHERS
USA, 2005, DIGITAL, 89 min. (West Coast Premiere, DWF 2005)
Dir/Prod: John Schwert • Writer: Adaptation by John Schwert; Original story by Thomas A. Morgan • Cast: Matt Mercer, Corey Cicci, Lauren Schneider, Daniel J Watts, Lindsay Ayliffe

This dramatic thriller is based on the actual events surrounding a cold case in Florence, SC; the names have been changed for protection. On November 9th, 1994, Jennifer Matthews, a senior at Bergan State University, was found dead in her burned down apartment. The police informed her family that it appeared to be an accident. Two days later, the autopsy revealed that it was no accident. There was no presence of smoke in Jennifer's lungs, she died before the fire, someone had killed her and tried to cover it up.

ANGEL CITY
USA, 2006, Digital, 88 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2006)
Dir/Prod: Niels Cederfeld • Writer: Sally Hughes
Cast: Isabella DenHartigh, Niels Cederfeld, Kimberley Bosso, Allen Burns, Craig Aaland, Scott Ferguson,
Mary MacDonald, Marty Panzer, Sally Hughes, Michael Cunningham

A Hollywood writer’s dream assignment becomes a nightmare after she discovers she’s starring in the film she’s writing for her lover. A low-budget dramedy with a film within a film.

ATTACK OF THE BAT MONSTERS
USA, 2000, 16mm, 92 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2000 - GRAND JURY AWARD)
Writer/Dir: Kelly Greene, Producers: Mark Spacek, Kelly Greene
Cast: Michael Dalmon, Fred Ballard, Casie Waller, Ryan Wickerham, Douglas Taylor

A comedy that takes an affectionate look at the men and women responsible for those lovable low-budget science-fiction movies that graced the drive-ins in the 1950’s with their rubber-suited monsters and ubiquitous themes of radioactivity and atomic mutations. Set in 1959, the film concerns an independent movie company’s attempt to shoot a complete monster movie from scratch in the three days they have left after wrapping early on an exploitation creature feature.

THE AUTEUR THEORY
USA, 1999, 35mm, 80 min. (West Coast Premiere, DWF 2000)
Writer/Dir: Evan Oppenheimer, Producer: Holly Sorensen
Cast: Alan Cox, Natasha Lyonne, Angeline Ball, Rachel True, Armin Shimerman, Ian McNeice, Jeremy Sisto, Garrett Wang, Sean Gunn, Dana Lee, Daniel Cantor, Jit Sarkar, Michael Benyaer, Eric Michael Cole, J.P. Manoux, Diane Salinger, Dominic Keating

At a relentlessly self-indulgent student film festival, the directors of the (mostly terrible) short films are being killed off one by one -- and a budding British documentary filmmaker, George Sand, decides to investigate. The surviving filmmakers are the main suspects in the ongoing murders, and so George begins to review their films, searching for bloody footprints amidst the celluloid. Somewhere in these films (including an Indian “Pulp Fiction”, the JFK assassination re-enacted by eight year-olds, and a Hasidic Spike Lee movie) is the bizarre truth.

BABYSHAKES & THE RETURN OF MACDADDY
USA, 1998, 35mm, 98 min. (Los Angeles Premiere, DWF 1998)
Writer/Dir: Gregg Paine, Producers: Justin Nathanson & Gregg Paine
Cast: Christopher Mako, Caroline Farrill, Morton Hall Millen, Aviva Melissa, Dwight Wigfall, Lissa Sexton, Craig Strong

In this screwball comedy, a New York City bike messenger risks it all for a woman clearly out of his league.

BACHELORMAN
USA, 2003, HD24, 90 min. (West Coast Premiere, DWF 2003 - AUDIENCE AWARD)
Dir: John Putch, Writers: Rodney Lee Conover, Jeff Hause, David Hines, Prods: Rodney Lee Conover, Helen Woo, Karen Bailey
Cast: David DeLuise, Missy Pyle

A broad, hilarious comedy in which a successful bachelor admired by his peers, finally finds his own match when he falls head over heels in love for the girl next door. Turning into a one-woman man, he has to earn back the respect of his ardent male fans...

THE BALLAD OF PONYBOY
USA, 2004, Digital, 65 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2004)
Writer/Dir: Jeff McCarty • Prods: Jeff McCarty, William Miller
Cast: Foster Timms, Andrea Fellers, Juliette Avila, Richard Ben Azzouz

A struggling singer-songwriter is forced by his girlfriend to grab his camera and get a job walking around East L.A. as a door-to-door salesman of "pony pictures". Along the way, he ends up getting tossed through trash cans, playing music and getting high with the locals, and romancing a sexy senorita as his world comes crashing down around him in this lyrical, Zenlike pipe dream of a movie.

BEVERLY KILLS
USA, 2005, DIGITAL, 80 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2005)
Writer/Dir: Damion Dietz • Prods: Damion Dietz Elyse Rogers Stephanie Orff
Cast: Rick Sparks

Beverly Jackson is a sanity-challenged cross-dresser with dreams - dreams of starring in the Pride Playhouse's production of 'Balls Out', (a tacky gay Hollywood revue featuring a politically-charged, same-sex marriage ballet and gratuitous full-frontal nudity). Ridiculed, scorned and spurned at her audition, Beverly quickly assembles a bizarre cult of Tinseltown rejects and wannabes in her quest to get noticed and get even! Enter Shane, an overly guarded boy who lives and works out of the playhouse, hiring celebrity impersonators for the "Walk of Fame". When Shane's boyfriend dumps him, he is welcomed into the supporting arms of Ray. But just as the romance between the two ignites, they are inadvertently thrust into the center of Beverly's insane plot - a plot that has spiraled out of control and escalated into the realm of terrorism! Fast, funny, and shockingly sexy, BEVERLY KILLS sparkles with a gorgeous cast of young and talented newcomers, and signals writer/director Damion Dietz as a sharp comedic talent with a wry eye for romance.

BLUE SHARK HASH
USA, 2000, 35mm, 93 min. (West Coast Premiere, DWF 2001)
Writer/Dir: Dale Roy Robinson, Prods: Dale Roy Robinson, Jenifer Wymore
Cast: Rick Gomez, Jenifer Wymore, Jack Gwillim, Maria Cina

It's a snowy night in Boston, where a classical radio station is throwing its annual subscription drive gala. Haley, a vivacious redhead catering the event, listens wistfully as DAVID, the young disc jockey, describes the grand prize of a weekend for two in balmy Bermuda. Their eyes meet. Time stops. It's love at first sight. David announces the winning number. Haley finds the matching ticket in her hand. Six hours later they burst into the lobby of a rundown hotel. Haley thinks true love is forever. David thinks it's three nights in the tropics. Are they falling for each other or into the Bermuda Triangle?

BOYS FROM MADRID
USA, 2000, 35mm, 90 min. (West Coast Premiere, DWF 2001)
Dir: Carlo Gustaff, Writers: Kathryn Willis, Theo Pagones, Carlo Gustaff, Prods: Ken Schwenker, Theo Pagones, Carlo Gustaff
Cast: Theo Pagones, Jesse Harper, Chris Jacobs, Elan James, Betsy Monroe, Vance Strickland

Four high school track champions travel back to their hometown of Madrid, New Mexico for their ten-year reunion and into a dark psychological journey they will never forget. Their past begins to unfold when each of the athlete’s dark secrets slowly erupt and they discover that the real reunion begins with the realization that their beloved coach has become their most feared enemy. Through their united front an explosive conclusion liberates their souls forever.

BULLDOG
USA, 2002, 16mm, 85 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2002)
Writer/Dir: Damon Stout, Prods: Neil Blitstein, Damon Stout
Cast: David Holcomb, Kenny Johnston, Mark Auerbach, Ike Gingrich, Paul Sarnoff, Samantha Carpel

When an out of work Guld War vet (Leo) is offered some quick cash as a bodyguard, he jumps at the chance. His job is to escort a diamond courier from the airport to a large wholesaler. Unfortunately for Leo, the security boss (Sal) that hired him plans to steal the diamonds. Throw in two corrupt detectives and a disgruntled ex-jewler, all looking for the stones, Leo and company have no where to turn. Bad turns to worse when the ‘diamonds’ turn out to be fake. A lot can happen in only three days.

BUTTLEMAN
USA, 2003, 35mm, 98 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2003)
Writer/Dir: Francis Stokes, Prod: Shereen Hariri, Cast: John Hawkes, Anita Barone, Stephen Falk, Stephanie Markham, Dan Castellaneta, Karen Black

Harold Buttleman is a small town tuxedo salesman who thinks he’s the next Evel Knievel. He is on the brink of TV stardom (a 3 a.m. spot on late night cable access), but the life of a daredevil stuntman is harder than it looks. His parents want him to move out of their basement and his girlfriend wants him to get married and start a career selling bathtub parts. For Harold, it all depends on his big break - he gathers the entire town for his gala premiere celebration, but there’s a surprise in store... BUTTLEMAN is a dark comedy about following your dreams, and the finer points of being shot out of a cannon.

CAGE IN BOX ELDER
USA, 2000, 16mm, 92 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2000)
Dir: Kevin De Lullo, Writer: Adam Smoot, Producers: Kurt Geltz, Adam Smoot, Kevin De Lullo
Cast: Adam Smoot, David Stevens, Kylee Cochran

Growing up in a typical small town, Cage Stevens is anything but normal. Born a drug baby, his adopted mother and her partner do their best to make him a quality person and to overcome his mental disadvantage. Cage meets a self proclaimed man of God who tells him about a wonderful paradise. The man promises to help Cage fulfill his simple dream: to ride a roller coaster. They all find out it’s impossible to run from who they are or where they come from.

CAIN AND ABEL
USA, 2005, Digital, 91 min. (DWF 2006)
Writer/Dir: Shane Woodson • Prods: Shane Woodson, Christy Oldham
Cast: Shane Woodson, Terrence Flack, Christy Oldham, Lola Davidson, Jason Fulk, Yogi, Carlos Love, Bridget “The Midget” Powerz, Scott Schwartz, Flavor Flav as “Slim Jim”

Cain and Abel is a rollicking comedy about the adventures of two Hollywood undercover detectives, Malcolm Cain and John Abel, who battle the Russian Mafia, drug king Big G, a pair of sexy Angels, and even their own demons in this wonderfully original, genre bending film.

CAPTIVE AUDIENCE
USA, 1998, 16mm, 71 min. (West Coast Premiere, DWF 1999)
Dirs: Mike Gioscia & Kurt St. Thomas, Writer: Mike Gioscia, Producers: Kurt St. Thomas, Mike Gioscia, Kat Corbett
Cast: Michael Kevin Walker, Daniel Haas, Kat Corbett, Mike Gioscia, Kurt St. Thomas, Rick Poli, Megan Rawa

For “Jack the Ripper”, a disc jockey on a rural radio station, it seemed like it would be just another night on the midnight-to-six shift - some music, some commercials, some callers requesting songs he hated, and no change for the cigarette machine. But a disturbed, gun-toting intruder changes all that when he holds Jack hostage until he fulfills a mysterious “request.” Life histories, glory days long past, and tragedies unfold in the close quarters of Jack’s studio as the two bond over their shared failures and disappointments.

THE CAT KILLERS
USA, 1999, 16mm, 90 min. (Southwest Premiere, DWF 2000)
Writer/Dir.: Colin Drobnis, Producers: Julia Rivas, Colin Drobnis, J Reifel
Cast: Michael Fachetti, Colin Drobnis, Al Schuermann, Julia Nasyboulina, Lubov Demchuk, Anthony Chow

Down on their luck, two brothers are hired by an allergic husband to off his wife’s cat. This exchange is overheard by an enigmatic Asian man who later hires them to “do the same job.” Marveling at the recent unpopularity of cats, they set about the task only to find the man had mistaken them for assassins. The fur starts to fly when Chinese Mafia specialists are called in to clean up the mess.

CRAZY JONES
USA, 2002, 35mm, 94 min. (DWF 2000)
Writer/Dir: Joe Aaron, Prod: Joe Aaron, Keith Coene
Cast: Joe Aaron, Francesca Catalano, Elizabeth Ince, Tess Borden

Finnegan Jones is a depressed, semi-suicidal, leaf-blower with Tourette syndrome. His mother wants to “help” him. She gives him pills, puts him in counseling, sets him up with a potential wife (to care for him) - even forces him to undergo electroshock therapy. It seems there’s nothing she can do to change him. When Finnegan meets Syd, a precocious 12 year-old girl with a pink jam-box and green hair, he finally gets what he needs...acceptance. These two lost souls forge a friendship that is innocent and true. He’s 40. She’s 12. When the news that they’re in love breaks...chaos ensues. Just when it seems life is as bad as it can get, Finnegan is hit with the devastating news of Syd’s dark secret.

DATING GAMES PEOPLE PLAY
USA, 2005, 35mm, 90 min. (Los Angeles Premiere, DWF 2005)
Writer/Dir/Prod: Stefan Marc • Exec Prod: Jeff Colvin
Cast: Austin Peck, Leslie Bega, Stefan Marc, Stephanie Brown, Michael Luckerman

A ‘Swingers’ meets ‘American Pie’, DATING GAMES PEOPLE PLAY is a comedy set in Newport Beach, California that captures the often times unpredictable dating scene; it pokes fun at the very different perspectives that men and women have of dating and relationships. Their misperceptions come crashing together in the quirky and sometimes crazy romantic comedy.

DAMAGED
USA, 2003, Super16mm, 98 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2003 - FUSION AUDIENCE AWARD)
Dir/Prod: Tim Devitt, Writers: George Bamford, Tim Devitt
Cast: George Bamford, Sean Breault, Will bellais, Sharon Eisman, Sarah Canner, Jimmy Mannix, Christine Parks, Cliff McMullen, Wayne Gurman, Drummond Erskine

Jake McHiley’s mother died when he was 6 years old. The mystery surrounding the event still plagues him fifty years later. On the brink of self-destruction, he sets out to confront his father, to finally get to the truth. Jake’s son, Mac, accompanies him on his journey to visit the old man. On a fateful Father’s Day weekend, the three generations of damaged men confront each other, forcing the truth of their lives out into the light. A series of flashbacks tells the story of that long ago weekend as Jake searches for the truth and Mac’s addictions drive him into desperate and dangerous situations.

DEAD & BREAKFAST
USA, 2004, 35mm, 88 min. (Los Angeles Premiere, DWF 2004)
Writer/Dir: Mathew Leutwyler • Prods: Jun Tan, EJ Heiser
Cast: Jeremy Sisto, Erik Palladino, Gina Phillips, Oz Perkins, Bianca Lawson

Six friends on their way to a wedding in Galveston stop for the night in the sleepy town of Lovelock. But after a night that ends with both the inn’s owner and his chef dead, the gang finds themselves under suspicion by the local sheriff. The mystery quickly unravels when the already bizarre residents of the town become possessed by an evil spirit and pin the friends down at the B&B. Armed with a rusty old chainsaw, a can of gasoline, and a half box of shotgun shells, it’s time to barricade the house and fight for their lives. In the vein of “Evil Dead II” and “From Dusk Til Dawn.”

DEAD HORSE
USA, 2005, DIGITAL, 83min. (Los Angeles Premiere, DWF 2005)
Dir: Paul Geiger • Writers: Matt Hader, Andrew Hader • Prods: Mark R. Turner, Matt Hader, Pat DiNizio, Dave Thies, Paul Geiger Cast: Daniel von Bargen, Dylan Shelton, Glen Lawrence, Brian Cade

Jonathan Minges has just been hired to manage Krandle Karpets, a run-down carpet store with a three-man sales staff in serious need of management. Stu Conklin, a fifty-three-year-old accident waiting to happen. Charlie Hammerschmidt, a forty-nine-year-old, hard-nosed redneck, who's sworn off women. Marty Flemming, a twenty-seven-year-old porn king wannabe, who gives new meaning to the term “wet behind the ears.” Together these four men will try to keep the failing carpet store open. For all of them it's a second chance - for one them it's murder.

DESPERATION
USA, 2005, Digital, 78 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2006)
Writer/Dir: Jon Clark • Prods: Yasue Katsuragi Clark, Jon Clark
Cast: Amy Beth Sherman, Harry Wright, David Holmes, Miranda Reeves, Lamont Copeland

A brutal car accident traps a young widow inside her overturned car. When two sadistic teenagers are the
only ones to answer her cries for help, she soon realizes that if she doesn’t find some way to fight back, they’re going to tear her apart.

DETENTION
USA, 1998, 16mm, 83 min. (DWF 1998)
Writer/Dir: Darryl LeMont Wharton, Producer: Donna Lynne Comegys, Darryl LeMont Wharton
Cast: Charisse Brown, Justin Black, Kiatenai, Kersha Harvin, John Hall, Darryl LeMont Wharton, Regi Davis

The story of a teacher, who brings together five students on a Friday afternoon. Throughout the few hours these students and teacher are together, they all learn about one another and more importantly about themselves.

DISCHORD
USA, 2001, 35mm, 102 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2001)
Writer/Dir/Prod: Mark Wilkinson
Cast: Thomas Jay Ryan, Annunziata Gianzero, Dick Bakalyan, Andrew Borba, Rick Wessler, Michael Deluise, Thomas Crawford

Gypsy’s music rocks the world until one day the music stops...she escapes the music industry only to find herself entangled in the fractured lives of two brothers and a murder case.

THE DISCONTENTS
USA, 2003, Digital, 90 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2004)
Dir: Andrew Jackson • Writers: Andrew Jackson, Paul Hutko • Prod: Andrew Jackson, Cliff Robinson, Sean Dinwoodie • Cast: Andrew Jackson, Deva Nicole, David Lee Russek, Perry King, Amy Madigan, Jamie Wheatley

Matt idolizes his father John, a dreamer who arrives in L.A. to turn his commune novel into a sitcom. But when John kills himself, Matt sees the addictions that ruined John’s life are ruining his. Still, though he finds true connection with fellow novelist Zoe, he can’t stop himself from pushing her away. Zoe knows she deserves better but can’t stop picking guys who won’t marry her. Meanwhile, Matt tries to help reform his alcoholic best friend Nick, but Nick keeps lashing out in bursts of irrational violence. Yet even as the three want to strangle each other, irrepressible humor bonds them as they struggle to overcome their self-destructive ways.

DIVORCE: THE MUSICAL
USA, 2000, HD, 86 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2001)
Writer/Dir: Steven Dworman, Prods: Steven Dworman, Tim Counihan, Rebecca Ross, Eric Galler
Cast: Steve Dworman, Anneliese van der Pol, Lauren Frost, Jake Brady, Jess E. James

Divorced father Bob Weber has been embroiled in a ten-year custody battle for his daughter Chelsea. His ex-wife has brainwashed Chelsea into believing that Bob abandoned her and her mother. After getting the perspective of a new judge, Bob is granted trial custody of 14-year old Chelsea for the summer. She is not happy about the arrangement and wants nothing to do with her father; locking herself in her room she listens to show tunes all day. Bob’s therapist suggests that he produce a musical for his daughter to star in. To help them work out their interpersonal issues, the subject of the show will be divorce and it will feature a cast of children.

THE DOGHOUSE
USA, 2000, 35mm, 93 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2000 - FUSION AUDIENCE AWARD)
Writer/Dir./Producer: Steven Kane
Cast: Nahanni Johnstone, Matthew Del Negro

Mickey Summer, a struggling minor league baseball player, returns home to suburban New Jersey after an injury sidetracks his career. Now, in addition to coping with the death of his youthful hopes of greatness, Mickey must deal with Maureen, his beauty-queen wife, who devoted her life to their dream and who would rather go insane than give it up.

DOT
USA, 2001, Digital, 93 min. (West Coast Premiere, DWF 2002 - GRAND JURY AWARD)
Writers/Dirs/Prods: Simeon Schnapper, Brett Singer
Cast: Simeon Schnapper, Jamie McMillan, Michael Mazzara, Matthew O’Neil, Steve Walker, Katherine Ripley

DOT is a groundbreaking mockumentary of nine months in the life of Zectek.com, an Internet startup company. A social satire and sly comedy of manners unfolds through "behind-the-scenes footage" and interviews with the company’s founders and employees. As Zectek.com rides the e-commerce roller coaster, the twenty and thirty-something’s that run it have their lives turned repeatedly inside out.