FRIDAY, APRIL 3
RIFF SCHEDULE
12:30-2:00
Charlie (22 min + Q&A)
SHORTS (Group 1)
The Red House (19 min + Q&A) subtitles
The Story of a Rainy Night (24 min) subtitles
2:15-3:45
SI-O-SE POL (82 min) subtitles
4:00-5:50
Blue-Eyed Boy (18 min) subtitles
SHORTS (Group 2)
Dear Friends / Para Los Amigos (18 min) subtitles
SATURDAY, APRIL 4
The Shattered Mind (48 min) subtitles & ASL signed
6:00-8:00
Found on South Street (90 min + Q&A) Premiere subtitles & ASL signed
8:00-9:00
PANEL on South Street and the deaf world ASL interpreter present
9:00-11:00
Found on South Street (90 min + Q&A) Premiere subtitles & ASL signed
1:00-2:50
Dirty Beautiful (90 min. + Q&A)
3:00-4:30
Eric Barr's A Piece of My Mind (26 min + Q&A and panel)
5:00-6:00
GALA FILM: Criminal Minds, Episode 10-12 “Anonymous” (42 min + Q&A)
6:00-8:00
RIFF2015 GALA
8:15-9:45
American Real: The Forrest Lucas Story (64 min + Q&A)
SUNDAY, APRIL 5
1:00-3:00
On a Quest (120 min)
3:15-5:30
Julia's Farm (18 min + Q&A)
SHORTS (Group 3)
Dockery & Son (13 min. + Q&A)
My Best Friend's Death (15 min)
Murphy (7 min)
Birthday Wish (12 min)
Lost Cause (13 min)
MONDAY, APRIL 6
Hannah (8 min + Q&A)
6:00-8:00
TBA
8:30-10:30
TBA
1:00-3:00
Nisei (15 min + Q&A)
SHORTS (Group 4)
Falling to Pieces (18 min)
Savage Hero (10 min)
Stories (9 min)
The Story of A Story (7 min) subtitles
Gloria (8 min)
3:15-5:00
A Standing Still (80 min)
5:30-8:00
TBA
8:15-10:00
Jeff Lowe's Metanoia (78 min. + Q&A)
TUESDAY, APRIL 7
12:30-2:15
TBA
2:30-4:45
North Into the Mist (50 min)
Infinite (23 min + Q&A)
5:00-7:00
Apartment 3 (8 min + Q&A)
SHORTS (Group 5)
EXPERIMENTAL &
Abigail (17 min + Q&A)
ANIMATION
Daughter of an Ocean (3 min) subtitles
Low-down Alley Blues (13 min)
Roo's Dream (1 min)
War Dogs: The Bridge (11 min)
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8
Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries (12 min + Q&A)
7:15-9:15
Shirin in Love (104 min + Q&A)
1:00-3:45
TBA
4:00-5:45
That Bites! (46 min)
SHORTS (Group 6)
21st CENTURY KIDS
Fixed (7 min)
Blue Blue Sky (10 min) subtitles
Severo / Harsh (10 min) subtitles
Tomgirl (15 min + Q&A)
6:00-8:15
First Generation (90 min + panel)
8:30-10:30
Lady Windermere's Fan (95 min + Q&A)
THURSDAY, APRIL 9
FRIDAY, APRIL 10
SAUTRDAY, APRIL 11
12:15-2:00
Iboga Nights (90 min + Q&A)
2:15-5:45
Gli Uccisori / The Killers (20 min) subtitles
SHORTS (Group 7)
The Guest (20 min) subtitles
Grayson: Earth One (30 min + Q&A)
The Class Analysis (16 min + Q&A)
The Collection (7 min + Q&A)
6:00-7:45
DAR HE: The Lynching of Emmett Till (70 min)
8:00-10:00
Lords of BSV (78 min + Q&A)
12:30-2:30
TBA
2:45-4:45
All in Her Stride (55 min)
SHORTS (Group 8)
WOMEN &
Leben in Vienna (25 min) subtitles
CHOICES
Julia's Farm (18 min)
5:00-7:30
Beatles (113 min + Q&A) subtitles
7:30-8:15
PANEL / Presentation on Music in Film and/or Scandinavian Film Trends
8:30-
Live Music & Beatles covers by Riverside's own Partly Jack
12:10-2:00
Emerald, Texas (90 min + Q&A)
2:10-2:50
PANEL / Presentation on Crowd Funding
3:00-5:00
California Baptist University Student Film Festival and Awards
5:00-7:00
Poles Apart (86 min + Q&A)
7:00-8:15
Award announcements of prize winners for RIFF2015
and live performance by singer/songwriter Deborah Liv Johnson,
featuring her “Across the White Plains”
8:30-11:00
Maek Pandemonium
RIFF2015 REDUX
SUNDAY, APRIL 12
FILMS YOU MAY
HAVE MISSED
12:15-2:00
Jeff Lowe's Metanoia (78 min. + Q&A)
1:45-3:15
The Red House (19 min + Q&A) subtitles
SHORTS
The Story of a Rainy Night (24 min) subtitles
Blue-Eyed Boy (18 min) subtitles
Dockery & Son (13 min. + Q&A)
The Story of A Story (7 min) subtitles
Roo's Dream (1 min)
Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries (12 min + Q&A)
3:30-5:30
Beatles (113 min + Q&A) subtitles
5:45-7:15
Nisei (15 min + Q&A)
SHORTS
Falling to Pieces (18 min)
Savage Hero (10 min)
Stories (9 min)
Gloria (8 min)
The Collection (7 min + Q&A)
Hannah (8 min + Q&A)
7:30-9:15
Einstein and Eddington (94 min)
EMERALD, TEXAS
FEATURED FILMS
Synopsis: A young orphan in search of a miracle heads for Emerald, Texas, to meet
a radio preacher who promises miracles. Along the way, she is joined by new friends
with their own dreams.
Director: George Adams s an international-multi-award-winning documentary
filmmaker making his feature motion-picture debut. His versatility as a photographer
reflects his love for exploring different aspects of filmmaking. His passion for the
captured image, whether moving or still, is evident in his style and composition.
website: emeraldtexasmovie.com
Australia
Documentary: 55 minutes
Director: Fionna Cochrane
Synopsis: Leverne McDonnell was an Australian actor who died in 2013 from pancreatic
cancer. This documentary depicts elements of her life and documents her facing death,
with her consideration of the topic of euthanasia. While euthanasia has been legalised
in some countries, it is not legal in Australia yet, despite support for it by the majority
of the population in opinion polls.
Director: FIONA COCHRANE has produced and/or directed several low-budget
independent Australian feature films (most recently FOUR OF A KIND) as well as
numerous documentaries and short films. Her recent documentaries include the
IHDWXUHOHQJWKGRFXPHQWDULHV-2(&$0,//(5,$8675$/,$·60$/7(6()$/&21
and RACHEL: A PERFECT LIFE, and television documentaries ALL IN HER STRIDE,
MUSIC OF THE BRAIN, OPERA THERAPY (for SBS-TV), TUG OF WAR
IRU$%&79DQG6&5($0,1·:+((/,(6IRU$%&79+HUILOPVKDYHVFUHHQHGDW
ALL IN HER STRIDE
PREMIERE
USA
Feature: 90 minutes
Director: George Adams
PREMIERE
numerous international festivals (including several times at RIFF) and received
many international awards. She is also medically trained and continues to work as a
General Practitioner in Melbourne.
USA
Short: 15 minutes
Director: Brenna Malloy
Synopsis: Nisei, a historical narrative, depicts the sad reality of an interracial couple and a
Japanese American family torn apart by the rash decisions of the U.S. government in the
NISEI
wake of Pearl Harbor.
PREMIERE
Director: Having earned a B.A. In Media Studies from the University of San Francisco ad
studied directing at Drama Centre London, Brenna Malloy is currently pursuing a Master of
Fine Arts degree at Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. Brenna
hopes to continue her pursuit of telling dynamic and visceral stories that move hearts
and minds.
POLES APART
USA
Documentary: 90 minutes
Director: Greg Stiever
Synopsis: Antarctica. An eerily beautiful but dangerous land. A warm day is 0 degrees,
a cold one 40 below, with a fierce wind. Why would a group of four women want to
make the life-threatening, 1500 mile trek across it to the South Pole and beyond?
Poles Apart is the inspirational and suspenseful story of the American Women's
Expedition, or AWE: the first all-women trek across Antarctica.
Director: Greg Stiever's accomplishments as a director include over four hundred
corporate pieces and training films, television commercials, several feature length
documentary films, television series, music videos and short films. Poles Apart has
aired on PBS and was picked up by The National Geographic Channel in Europe,
Asia and Africa. A few of the awards for Poles Apart include: Best Documentary at
the Lake Placid Film Forum, Best Documentary at the Breckenridge Festival of Film,
a Silver at the Philadelphia Film Festival and the Best of Fest at the Minneapolis/St.
website: www.reddooradventures.com
USA
Short: 26 minutes
Director: Keun-Pyo Park
Synopsis: Eric Barr's one man show, 'A Piece of My Mind' takes you on his journey
from near-death to recovery and reinvention, a celebration of life and the human spirit.
Director: Keun-Pyo Park was born in South Korea and has a lot of experience
in directing, acting, shooting and editing both narrative and documentary films
and videos. His short films have been played in numerous film festivals including
Cannes International Film Festival. Park is currently teaching film production in the
department of theatre, film & digital production at the University of California Riverside.
ERIC BARR'S A PIECE OF MIND
Paul International film festival.
PREMIERE
DAUGHTER OF
AN OCEAN
USA
Short: 3 minutes
Director: Kintan Chauhan
Synopsis: By remembering the story of a fish told by her mother,
Daughter realizes that the story was not just about a little fish who
wanted to live freely, but was meant for her to understand that she
should live her life with freedom, as her mother never did. Animation.
Director: Coming from a traditional sculpture background and after
pursuing the art of Animation, Kintan Chauhan felt in love with the
concept of colliding the art of sculpture with the movements of
animation. He works as a filmmaker/sculptor in New York.
website: http://www.kintanart.com/
JULIA’S FARM
PREMIERE
USA
Short: 18 minutes
Director: Sudeshna Sen
Synopsis: Julia dreams of buying her own farm.
When this plan falls apart because her boss
mishandles her pension, she and her best friend
Jenny devise a plan to recover the money. As
their scheme gets complicated, Julia and Jenny
find true friendship and happiness where they
least expect it.
Director: Sudeshna Sen left her first career in
Japanese literature and university teaching in
Utah and turned to her true love, film.
website: http://www.juliasfarmthemovie.com
Synopsis: One afternoon, six teenage friends gather at
a cemetery. They ramble around and film each other
among horseplay and crossed relationships. Talking
about death, drinking mate. Chatting about dreams,
smoking marihuana. They compare the place with
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The place seems familiar. They dance, carefree, in
between jokes that a funeral procession interrupts
only slightly. But the seemingly aimless afternoon
does have a point.
DEAR FRIENDS
PARA LOS AMIGOS
Argentina
Short: 19 minutes
Director: Paulina Dana
PREMIERE
Director: Paulina Dana is a 23-year-old movie director
from Buenos Aires. She is currently doing her master
degree in Film Directing in Universidad del Cine,
Buenos Aires. "Dear Friends" (“Para los Amigos”)
is her first short film as screenwriter and director.
PREMIERE
THE STORY OF A
RAINY NIGHT
Iran
Short: 24 minutes
Director: Mehdi Fard Ghaderi
Synopsis: On a rainy night, an old man gives milk to a cat
that has been soaked in the rain while he waits for his
children to arrive one by one to celebrate his birthday.
SAVAGE HERO
USA
Short: 10 min.
Director: Dan Dieffenbach
Synopsis: 2 years after the World Trade Centers went down, a 9-11
Widow is confronted by a NYFD battalion chief who has just found
out she did something -- in his eyes – just as unforgivable on
September 10th, 2001.
Director: Dan Dieffenbach was born in Lynnwood, Wash. Dan began
his career as a sportswriter in Los Angeles, working with such
high-profile subjects as Michael Jordan. In 2005, first-time writer
-director Dieffenbach's The Married Men's Club premiered at the
San Diego Film Festival. Since then, he has directed and produced
numerous projects for TV, film, and brands, including the TV
docuseries Stable Wars and controversial short film Shoulder to
USA
Short: 12 minutes
Directors: Brian M. Viveros, Eriijk Rxsslxr
Synopsis: An experimental film of shifting images and sound.
Dissolve into a cinematic trance.
Directors: Brian M. Viveros is an internationally embraced
fine artist, director and observer, and part of the Dislandic
Underground Movement since 2005. Eriijk Rxsslxr is a
documenter of dead voices / arranger of dead images.
This is the second experimental film from these
LESSER ELEUSINIAN
MYSTERIES
Shoulder (2013). He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three boys.
Riverside directors to appear at RIFF.
THE CLASS ANALYSIS
website: www.dislandia.com
USA
Short: 16 minutes
Director: Webb Pickersgill
Synopsis: In a quiet mining town's local bar owned by a Vietnam vet,
an Aryan Brotherhood biker, a wealthy black businessman, a peaceful
Muslim, and a poor Hispanic couple are thrust into a corrosive
argument. Race, class and religion violently disrupt this group of
diverse patrons bringing them to peace in the most unexpected way.
Director: Webb Pickersgill is an accomplished Director, DP, and Editor
with experience in feature film, commercial and obviously, short films.
He currently lives in Louisville, CO with his wife, 3 kids and their
beagle Cooper, while he works as the Lead Cinematic Artist on a
currently unannounced sci-fi narrative video game franchise.
website: http://www.theclassanalysis.com
LADY WINDEMERE’S FAN
PREMIERE
USA
Feature: 95 minutes
Director: Joseph Henson
Synopsis: Lady Windermere's Fan is based on Oscar Wilde's classic
play, set in 1890's London. Young Lady Windermere discovers that
her husband appears to be having an affair with another woman.
Director: Joseph Henson is the executive producer of 16
stage-to-television productions shot live at for the Showtime
network starring such celebrities as Rita Rudner, Jay Mohr, Louie
Anderson, Jon Lovitz, Snoop Dogg, among others. Joseph is the
President and Producer of Theatrical Arts International and has
produced over 400 stage productions. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in
Drama from the University of Southern California (USC) and a Master
of Arts Degree in Organizational Leadership from Azusa Pacific
University. Henson states, “This is the first feature film shot locally
by the Art Institute of the Inland Empire. I served as Lead Director
but had 8 student apprentices from the Art Institute get their first
opportunity to get behind the camera and direct a motion picture.
Seven other fashion students also had the opportunity to work in
the wardrobe department.”
USA
Documentary: 46 minutes
Director: Jack Graydon Yonover
Synopsis: I'm 12 years old, and I have spent the last 12 + months working on a film
to educate people about what it's like to have life threatening food allergies. I offer
the unique perspective of a child and most of my interviewees are also kids. Eating
is enjoyed by everyone, but for 8% of the earth's population, it can be an inescapable
PREMIERE
nightmare.
Director: Jack Yonover, a 7th grader at Wilmette Junior High School, is making his
directorial debut with "That Bites!" Jack turned 13 years old at the end of December,
2014. He began making films at the tender age of 6, when his grandmother gave
him his first camera with videotaping capabilities. At his first grade Career Fair, Jack
proudly announced that he wanted to be a Movie Director and Producer "because
it sounds interesting and fun to be and because it will be entertaining." In pursuit of
his dream, Jack has taken filmmaking courses at Facets Film School in Chicago.
In March, 2014, at the age of 12, Jack launched a Kickstarter campaign and
successfully raised over $10,000 in funding for his film, which he has been working
on ever since.
“THAT BITES”
website: http://ladywindermeres.weebly.com
USA
Feature: 90 minutes
Director: Tim Bartell
Synopsis: David is a young, struggling writer very alone in
the world. Kat is a lost soul recently left homeless by her ex.
Both survive on the fringe of life. So when Kat storms into
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an instant couple, David impulsively agrees and moves her
into his tiny apartment.
Director: Tim Bartell is the writer-director behind the award
winning short film First Date Meltdown and the popular
Synopsis: The sweet – and otherwise – dreams of a rescued dog.
Directors: Brian Beker is a writer, blogger and filmmaker who lives
with his dog Roo in Asheville, North Carolina.
website: thedogintheclouds.com
DIRTY BEAUTIFUL
PREMIERE
ROO’S DREAM
USA
Short: 1 minute
Director: Brian Beker
web-series Fun With War Crimes. Dirty Beautiful is
his feature film debut.
INLAND EMPIRE PREMIERE
LOW DOWN
ALLEY BLUES
website: http://www.dirtybeautifulmovie.com/
PREMIERE
UK
Short: 13 minutes
Director: Jon Campbell
Synopsis: A man walks into a bar. He ends up battered and bleeding
in an alley. Is he dying? Maybe. But there's still time to remember all
the things he said, all the moves he made, all the moves he might
have made.
Director: Jon Campbell has worked as an actor, theater director and
screenwriter. He founded White Space Film Productions in 2011 and
Low Down Alley Blues is his second film.
website: http://whitespacefilmproductions.com
APARTMENT 3
USA
Short: 8 minutes
Director: Lynne Westafter
Synopsis: A woman - anxious - afraid - paces outside an apartment
building, locked out. Once the locksmith arrives, the woman begins
to form a relationship with him as he works to open a door she does
not want to go through.
Director: Lynne Westafer is a filmmaker, writer and an Emmy and
Golden Mic award-winning broadcast news journalist. She has
written multiple feature screenplays and teaches writing/filmmaking
at a local Southern California college. Apartment #3 is a return to
fictional narratives after focusing on documentary/news projects in
UHFHQW\HDUV/\QQHJUDGXDWHGIURPWKH86&·V3HWHU6WDUN
Producing Program at the School of Cinematic Arts in 1999.
USA
Feature: 104 minutes
Director: Ramin Niami
Synopsis: Love has no borders. Shirin is a young IranianAmerican woman living in Beverly Hills with her overbearing
mother and kindly father. She is engaged to a successful
Iranian plastic surgeon, but falls in love with a mysterious
young man living in a lighthouse.
Director: Ramin Niami was born in Tehran, Iran, and has
SHIRIN IN LOVE
website: lynnewestafermedia.com
worked as a directory and producer on four feature films
and over twenty television documentaries in the UK and US.
THE GUEST
Italy
Short: 20 minutes
Director: Federico Olivetti
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Synopsis: After his father's death, a man gets on a train and stops in a
country town. He takes a room in a boarding house run by a mother and
her daughter, a sixteen year old girl.
Director: After graduating in History and Philosophy, Federico Olivetti went
into cinema studies attending courses at Ipotesi Cinema (directed by
Ermanno Olmi) and at New York University (Tisch School of the Arts). While
in New York, he attended acting courses led by Salem Ludwig and Geraldine
Baron at HB Studio. With regards to his theatrical background, Federico
trained in Italy, France, Germany and Poland. He has acted and directed
extensively in live drama, and has directed several short films, the most
recent of which is “The Guest”.
GLORIA
USA
Short: 8 minutes
Director: Audi Resendez, Francisco Poel
Synopsis: "Gloria" is the inspiring, somewhat true, story of an energetic
high school janitor who puts down the mop, picks up the mic, and lives
out her rock n' roll fantasy onstage. But she isn't the only one who's
dreaming...
Director: Audi Resendez is a singer, dancer, actor and stuntwoman who
lives for storytelling. She hopes that "Gloria" teaches people how to find
the joy in their own not-so-great situation and make the world a happier,
better place. Francisco Roel co-directed Gloria and is an international
award winning director that's worked in 10 countries on 4 continents.
Francisco and producing partner Ben Scantlin, from Sony Pictures, are
currently in development/preproduction on several projects across
multiple mediums.
Synopsis: On graduation night, Abigail meets two suitors, a
computer graphics artist and the lead singer in a band, and
embarks on her journey into two worlds.
Director: With an eye towards directing, Renata Green-Gaber
committed herself to a four year acting program under the tutelage
of veteran actor Jeff Goldblum, believing that in order to get a great
ABIGAIL
USA
Short: 17 minutes
Director: Renata Green-Gaber
performance a director should understand the actors' journey.
Renata has been involved with film production for the past 10 years
DQGLVGLUHFWLQJKHUQH[WIHDWXUH6WDQG7KH*DIIDERXWDVROGLHU·V
pregnant widow who is denied military death benefits after her
husband is killed in Iraq, this fall 2015.
WAR DOGS:
THE BRIDGE
website: www.g-forcefilms.net
WEST COAST PREMIERE
USA
Short: 11 minutes
Director: David Schedler
Synopsis: In this digitally animated film, two soldiers meet and
develop a friendship in the time of a future war.
Director: Writer/Director/Animator David Schedler is an
Emmy-nominated, award winning independent animator.
David is currently working on a solo animated feature film
staring the characters he created for "War Dogs."
THE SHATTERED
MIND
USA
Short: 48 minutes
Director: Jade Bryan
Synopsis: A young deaf girl struggles suffers from nightmares and
flashbacks that take her back to her childhood days.
Director: Writer, Producer and Director, Jade Bryan is a deaf
filmmaker living in New York who graduated with a BFA degree in film
production from one of the world top film schools at Tisch School of
the Arts, New York University. Jade has years of experience in show
business, producing films, talent management, event coordinating,
fundraising, and marketing research, as well as teaching, writing,
theater directing and business administration. She is the founder
of DeafVision Filmworks, Inc. and Jade Films and Entertainment,
LLC. Under the auspices of her production company, Jade Films
and Entertainment, she has plans to form an agency exclusively
focused on producing fashion shows, music videos, feature films,
commercials, coordinating model recruitment, managing talent
and special project developments.
website: www.jadefilm.com
Director: Jonathan Blair
Synopsis: Identity- what is that? Arthur has wrestled with
this question all his life, and has been taken captive by
two lies: Deaf people are nothing more than patients to
be cured, and the emptiness in his soul is the result of
his own deafness. Seeking to cure his inner brokenness,
he transforms himself into Dominik Bell, a wealthy,
powerful alter-ego who has successfully engineered the
'cure for deafness,' including his own.
This film includes spoken and signed English,
and subtitles as necessary.
Director: At just 17, Jonathan Blair wrote his first feature
film, Found on South Street. The film was inspired by the
triumphs and struggles faced by the Deaf community at
large as well as his own personal experiences being
raised in two worlds: that of the Deaf (his mother),
and that of the hearing (his father). Having had no
formal training in screenwriting or directing, he was
privileged enough to do both in this debut project.
Jonathan also acts in the film along side a stellar
cast of first time actors, both hearing and deaf alike.
FOUND ON
SOUTH STREET
USA
Feature: 110 minute
PREMIERE
JEFF LOWE’S METANOIA
CALIFORNIA PREMIERE
USA
Documentary: x minutes
Director: Jim Aikman
Synopsis: Jeff Lowe's Metanoia is the story of a legendary athlete's rise to the top of his sport
before a devastating fall from grace that precipitated perhaps the boldest solo mountain climb in
history; twenty years later, Jeff embraces a debilitating disease with the same vision, courage and
grace that he brought to his climbing.
Director: Jim Aikman is a filmmaker and photographer from Boulder, Colorado. He specializes
in adventure film and promotional video, with a focus on organic story telling and cutting edge
imagery. Most recently, Jim Co-Directed "High and Hallowed: Everest 1963" for Eddie Bauer,
which is currently touring the world and has won awards such as "Best Climbing Film" at the
Boulder Adventure Film Festival.
website: www.Jeffloweclimber.com
USA
Short: 8 minutes
Director: Bounroeun Lor
overcome his fear of asking a coworker out.
Director: Bounroeun Lor has studied film at both
Riverside City College and CSU Fullerton. He has
been a cinematographer on at least ten short films.
'Hannah' is his first short film as writer and director.
HANNAH
Synopsis: A mild-mannered young man tries to
PREMIERE
India
Feature, 120 min.
Director: RS Prasanna
Synopsis: The movie recounts the inspiring tale of how Balakrishna Menon started off as a revolutionary
ON A QUEST
fighting the British for Indian Independence, then became a journalist out to expose the frauds of fake
PREMIERE
God Men; then was set off on a quest that fundamentally shook his atheistic bent of mind, and set him
off on a spiritual path that transformed him into Swami Chinmayananda, the renowned spiritual guru
who brought the knowledge of the Hindu Sacred Texts to the common man by making it accessible
to modern, English-educated minds.
Director: RS Prasanna's "On A Quest" is his second feature film and marks the English-language and
biographical film debut of this Indian director. The movie is funded and produced by donations raised
by the Chinmama Mission Trust, which is one of the most reputed and popular Spiritual organizations,
with followers and branches all across the world. Currently R S Prasanna is readying for his third film,
a Bollywood feature.
THE CLASS
ANALYSIS
USA
Short: 16 minutes
Director: Webb Pickersgill
Synopsis: In a quiet mining town's local bar owned by a Vietnam vet,
an Aryan Brotherhood biker, a wealthy black businessman, a peaceful
Muslim, and a poor Hispanic couple are thrust into a corrosive
argument. Race, class and religion violently disrupt this group of
diverse patrons bringing them to peace in the most unexpected way.
Director: Webb Pickersgill is an accomplished Director, DP, and Editor
with experience in feature film, commercial and obviously, short films.
He currently lives in Louisville, CO with his wife, 3 kids and their beagle
Cooper, while he works as the Lead Cinematic Artist on a currently
unannounced sci-fi narrative video game franchise.
USA
Short: 15 minutes
Director: Bigna Tomschin
Synopsis: Before summer break Maria quit talking.
¶)DUDZD\IURPYDFDWLRQDFWLYLWLHVDQGVZLPPLQJ
pools she hides in a world where the living visit rarely.
Director: Bigna Thomschin was born in1990 and
raised in Zurich, Switzerland. Since 2008, she has
had internships in various film production companies
and worked as an editing assistant. This short has
LOST CAUSE
screened in over 20 European film festivals.
BLUE BLUE SKY
website: http://www.theclassanalysis.com
USA
Short: 13 minutes
Director: Victoria Lord and Matthew Read
Synopsis: Suspecting her boyfriend is being unfaithful, a jealous woman takes
irreversible actions that lead her to no answers.
Directors: Born and raised in Toronto, Victoria Lord has been acting since the age
of seven. Taking a leap of faith in 2012, she moved to New York City – as many
KRSHIXOVGR²WRSXUVXHKHUWUXHSDVVLRQ/RVW&DXVHLV9LFWRULD·VGHEXWVKRUWILOP
having written, directed, produced and starred in it. Victoria has collaborated with
Matthew Read as co-director, a recent graduate of the Toronto Film School. Matthew
P.H. Read has been steadily filming and directing films for the past eight years.
Graduating with top honours from Toronto Film School, Matt has filmed and
directed several award-winning short films, including My Missing Piece and
Selected.He is thrilled that Lost Cause has been selected for Riverside International
Film Festival.
UK
Documentary: 90 minutes
Director: David Graham Scott
Synopsis: David Scott's documentary feature explores
an effective way of getting off heroin or its methadone
substitute, through the use of the naturally occurring plant
root ibogaine. Because this is not a clinically developed
medical solution, it seems to be overlooked. It worked
for David, and has worked for others. But how safe is it?
Synopsis: Stories observes the writing organization “So Say We All” in
San Diego, California. It delves into the art of storytelling and the local
writers' motives and experiences of writing and performing their pieces
in front of others. The skill of holding court and captivating a stranger's
attention with merely a true story is no easy feat.
Director: Eleni Rodriguez is an aspiring feature documentary filmmaker
who graduated from Kingston University in London with her masters in
filmmaking after studying political science and international politics at
UC San Diego and Edinburgh University. International relations and the
arts are her particular focus.
IBOGA NIGHTS
STORIES
USA
Short: 9 minutes
Director: Eleni Rodriguez
Director: David Graham Scott is a controversial Scottish
documentary filmmaker and inspirational public speaker on
drug addiction. Hishighly authored films are unique visions
of the world he inhabits and the offbeat characters
he encounters.
website: http://iboganights.co.uk/
THE STORY OF
A STORY
India
Short: 7 minute
Director: Jasraj Singh Bhatti
Synopsis: A writer has written a story about an Indian army officer who was
killed in the India-Pakistan Kargil war. The writer takes this story to the editor
of a newspaperwho does not publish it, feels it's too long, and asks him to
shorten it. For every word he removes from the story, he removes a substantial
part of the struggle of the soldier's family.
Director: The film was written by one of India's top humorists Jaspal Bhatti. He
unfortunately had lost his life in a car accident in 2012. His son Jasraj Singh Bhatti
found the story of this film in his father's file later and decided to make this film as a
tribute to his father. This film is one of his very few non-humorous works. The film was
created at Mad Arts, a film school founded by Jaspal Bhatti.
GRAYSON: EARTH ONE
(EPISODE 1 & 1.5)
USA
Short: 30 minutes
Director: Hisonni Johnson
Synopsis: Grayson: Earth One season one is a non profit six
episode season dedicated to exploring the origin story of the
DC character known as Nightwing -- but with a twist. The twist
being that Richard Grayson has never had the good fortune of
being adopted as a child by Bruce Wayne, thus never becoming
the boy wonder. Instead, we have a Richard Grayson that had to
fend for himself on the unforgiving streets of Gotham and beyond.
Director: Hisonni Johnson studied Photography and Film with
acclaimed Chicago photographer David VanderVeen. An
impressive portfolio of commercials resulted, along with an
affinity for still photography, video and film. He has worked
professionally in nearly every crew position there is in both
television and film. As a result, his skills as a writer, director
and cinematographer have quickly earned him numerous
USA
Documentary: 64 min.
Director: Brad Grimm
Synopsis: Forrest Lucas began Lucas Oil at the age
of 49. Then came racing, Lucas Oil Stadium, racetracks
and an ever-expanding product line. However, to truly
understand Forrest the man, we took him back to where
it all started... a below-impoverished childhood
in rural Indiana.
Director: Brad Grimm is an award winning director
and cinematographer., currently living in New York.
Brad always had a passion for storytelling, he started
making films when at age 11. In 2007 his documentary
"Smokey Misconceptions" played in Washington DC to
leaders from around the world. That same year he was
the first university film student in 30 years to win both the
College Television Awards and a national internship from
the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. After studying
under the likes of Tarantino and Nigel Lythgoe, Brad
moved back to the East coast to work on the documentary
"What Does Trouble Mean?" which now plays in classrooms
around the country.
AMERICAN REAL:
THE FORREST LUCAS
STORY
awards and accolades.
Norway
Feature: 113 minutes
Director: Peter Flinth
BEATLES
Synopsis: The title refers to four teenage boys growing up in Oslo at
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
the time when Beatlemania hit Norway. Kim, Gunnar, Ola and Seb
each takes on one of the Fab Four's names, and they plan to start
their own outfit, The Snafus. The need to save up for instruments
becomes the drive behind much of what they do as they blunder
through their formative years, struggling with archaic textbooks
and ancient teachers, discovering girls, being beaten up by rival
gangs, experimenting with drink and drugs, and finding their footing
as activists.
Director: Peter Flinth graduated from the Danish Film School together
with fellow director students Per Fly, Thomas Vinterberg, Ole Christian
Madsen and Maria Sodahl. He has been a director of short films,
feature films, TV movies and commercials. His first feature was the
medieval action adventure “Eye of the Eagle” starring Norwegian actor
Bjorn Floberg, followed by the family adventures “The Olsen Gang Jr.”
and “The Fakir”. He changed genre and location for the next movies,
the thrillers “Wallander” and “Bengtzon” in Sweden – and the twoSLFWXUHHSLFEDVHGRQ-DQ*XLOORX·VEHVWVHOOLQJQRYHOVDERXWWKH
PHGLHYDO.QLJKW7HPSODU´$UQµ´%($7/(6µLV3HWHU)OLQWK·VILUVW
USA
Documentary: 95 minutes
Directors: Adam and Jaye Fenderson
Synopsis: Narrated by Blair Underwood, 'First Generation'
tells the story of four low-income students - an inner
city athlete, a small town waitress, a Samoan warrior
dancer, and the daughter of migrant field workers who set out to break the cycle of poverty and bring
hope to their families and communities by pursuing a
college education.
Directors: Adam and Jaye Fenderson.
Adam is a northern California native who
attended The University of Southern California and
earned his BA in Film and Television. His love for
filmmaking has pushed him to work in all aspects
of production for both film and television and most
notably editing. A former senior admissions officer at
&ROXPELD8QLYHUVLW\-D\HLVWKHDXWKRURI6HYHQWHHQ·V
Guide To Getting Into College and the co-creator
and producer of The Scholar (ABC), an unscripted t
elevision drama that gave 10 high school seniors the
chance to compete for a full ride college scholarship.
Website: firstgenerationfilm.com
FIRST GENERATION
movie in Norway.
MAEK PANDAMONIUM
USA
Feature, 70 min.
Director: Steven Schmitz
Synopsis: Maek is an independent record label.which has brought to RIFF
a special screening of the Maek Pandamonium Visual Album. The visual
album is a collaboration of the label's flagship artists, Jason Maek and
Zaena.. Their project consists of 17 music videos fused together to create
an abstract storyline with captivating visuals.
Synopsis: Drama set in 1914-1919 about the development
of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, and Einstein's
relationship with British scientist Sir Arthur Eddington, the first
physicist to experimentally prove Einstein's ideas.
Director: Philip Martin is a director and writer,
known for Prime Suspect 7: The Final Act (2006),
Einstein and Eddington (2008) and Hawking (2004).
EINSTEING AND
EDDINGTON
UK
Feature, 94 minutes
Director: Philip Martin
USA
Short: 22 minutes
Director: Shawn Ryan
Synopsis: No one ever listened to Charlie, until he stopped talking.
Choosing to leave his abusive past behind, he flees into the woods
on Christmas Eve and stumbles upon a family who take him in as
CHARLIE
one of their own... and he begins to bloom.
Director: Shawn Ryan is a Writer/Director/Actor from Los Angeles.
Most recently he has appeared as Lloyd Eagen on the hit TV show,
Bones and he is thrilled to be touring to all the Film Festivals of the
World with "charlie".
India
Short: 7 minutes
Director: Apoorva Charan
Synopsis: Everything that can go wrong, will...
Director: This is young Apoorva Charan's first film as a director. It has
Brooklyn short film festival.
USA
Short: 45 minutes
(Season 10, Episode 12)
Director: Joe Mantegna
Synopsis: When an UnSub calls 911 after he leaves
each victim near death, does he not want his victims to die?
Director: Joseph Anthony "Joe" Mantegna, Jr. was born
November 13, 1947 in Chicago. He studied acting at the DePaul
University Goodman School of Drama from 1967 to 1969. He is
CRIMINAL MINDS:
ANONYMOUS
MURPHY
beenselected for the Mumbai International Short Film Festival and the
an actor, producer, writer, director, and voice actor. He is best
known for his roles in box office hits such as Three Amigos
(1986) and The Godfather, Part III, and currently stars in the
CBS television series Criminal Minds as FBI Supervisory
Special Agent David Rossi. RIFF2015 will be presenting a
Lifetime Achievement Award for Film and Television to
MY BEST
FRIEND’S DEATH
Joe Mantegna at the Gala, Saturday, April 4.
PREMIERE
USA
Short: 15 minutes
Director: Eric McCoy
Synopsis: A guy tries to commit suicide, but when the Grim Reaper
shows up, they're both in for a shock.
Director: Eric McCoy is an award-winning director from Chicago,
currently living in Los Angeles. He's directed more than fifty
commercials and music videos in the last three years, and has
appeared twice at RIFF in 2009 and 2010. His complete body of
work can be found at www.mccoymeyer.com.
Synopsis: In an acting tour de force, one man performs 36 roles in
the telling of the Emmett Till tragedy. In DAR HE: The Lynching of
Emmett Till (*15 BEST FILM AWARDS*), experience the story, trial,
and unbelievable confessions of those accused of Emmett's murder
in this riveting true-crime drama.
Director: Rob Underhill is a film and TV director, producer, writer and
editor. Featured on the National Public Radio shows, THE STATE OF
7+,1*6ZLWK)UDQN6WDVLRDQG7+(6725<ZLWK'LFN*RUGRQ5RE·V
work is regularly subject in newspapers, radio, TV-news and more. His
films have screened at over 200 film festivals worldwide.
Website: www.DarHeMovie.com
Germany
Feature: 110 minutes
Director: Henrik Peschel
Synopsis: Facing death, terminally ill Parvis Karimpour wants to
reconcile with his daughter Nasrin. He makes his way to Madrid
where he believes his only child, who fled from Iran years ago,
may now live. Finding shelter in a city which is battered by the
economic crisis, Parvis meets two other struggling migrants.
The Italian Fabrizio, a failed piano player, survives on odd
cleaning jobs. Spoilt young German Almut has followed her
boyfriend to Madrid. The search for Nasrin becomes
their common quest.
SI-O-SE POL
DAR HE: THE LYNCHING
OF EMMET TILL
USA
Feature: 70 minutes
Director: Rob Underhill
CALIFORNIA PREMIERE
Director: Henrik Peschel , from Hamburg, Germany, has
been working in film since the 1990s. He started with music
videos for popular independent music acts, and later worked as
cameraman for renowned German directors like Klaus Lemke,
Wolfgang Büld and Fatih Akin. Henrik Peschel's second fictional
feature film “Si-o-se Pol”set in Algeria, Spain and France
is his first directorial work with an international theme.
CALIFORNIA PREMIERE
FIXED
Australia
Short: 7 minutes
Directors: Burleigh Smith, Codey Wilson
Synopsis: Jemimah wants Tilly to have puppies. At any cost.
Directors),;('LV&RGH\:LOVRQ·VILUVWILOPDVGLUHFWRU+H
studied film at SAE Institute, where he met co-director Burleigh
Smith and producer Rob Viney. Codey lives in Mandurah, Western
Australia, and has a keen interest in cinematography and surfing.
Burleigh Smith is a screenwriter, film director and actor. His films
centre on relationships between men and women and often
emphasise dry wit and desperate characters. His strongest
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200 film festivals across 25 countries. He lives in Perth, Western
Australia, where he lectures in filmmaking.
SEVERO/HARSH
CALIFORNIA PREMIERE
Brazil
Short: 10 minutes
Director: Danilo Baracho
Synopsis: Severino lives a harsh live. His brother is a thief and his mother
doesn't want her children to go to school. She prefers that they hit the
streets to help out financially, while Severino has dreams of playing soccer
for the national team.
Director: Director Danil Baracho states, “I was lucky to be born in a middle
class family in Brazil, and was taught the value of education. I grew up in
a politicized environment seeing and experiencing first hand, the extreme
social difference that exists in Brazil. When I was 18 years old, I decided to
study Economics in Spain, in order to become a politician and help the
underprivileged. Years later, disillusioned with politics and corruption, I
discovered film as a powerful tool for social change. This film aspires to be
a social project. The idea is to draw attention to the lack of opportunity in
the lives of children living in poverty and to show that sometimes, crime is
not a choice. This is a film about children's dreams and their opportunity to
realize those dreams.
website: www.severinothemovie.com
Synopsis: Jake, a gender non-conforming seven year-old,
invites us into his world to explore the transforming power
of love and support on our children.
Director: Born on a chicken farm in Hebron Maryland,
Jeremy Lynch wandered from Alaska and Florida,
to California. At 8 years old, Jeremy started filming
skateboarding videos and short films, then moved
on and graduated from film school. He is an award
wining filmmaker and self-taught artist with showings
in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC,
Barcelona and London.
TOMGIRL
USA
Short: 15 minutes
Director: Jeremy Asher Lynch
THE RED HOUSE
website: https://www.facebook.com/tomgirlthemovie
USA
Short: 19 minutes
Director: Jaiqi Lin
Synopsis: In 1915 rural China, a 25 year old prostitute, Fangfang, struggles
to save enough of her earnings to buy back her contract and her freedom.
The sudden arrival of a 6 year old child, Amei, being sold to the Red House
by her desperate parents soon changes things. The brothel's madam puts
Fangfang in charge of Amei's training, including the painful ritual of binding
her feet to keep them small.
Director: Jacqi Lin was born Quanzhou, China, and became very proficient
at it as a child, but chose to study animation when she enrolled at the
Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts. In her sophomore year she decided to get
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Academy. In 2012, Jiaqi moved to Los Angeles, California and began her
studies at NYFA. In 2013, Jiaqi started to develop the storyline for a short
film that would ultimately become her MFA Thesis project, pulling from her
cultural experience and family history to write the script for “The Red House.”
LEBEN IN VIENNA
PREMIERE
Austria
Short: 25 minutes
Director: Camilla Ruzicka
Synopsis: Anna, a 33-year-old control freak from London, has
Alzheimer's. Her determination to fight the illness leads her to Vienna
to find the perfect treatment and to escape sympathy and pity of her
friends and family. During her doctor's appointments and German
studies, however, she is about to face her biggest fear yet.
Director: Camilla Ruzicka is an Austrian writer/director with a Danish
background. She graduated from Met Film School in London in 2014.
Leben in vienna is her first multilingual short film, in which she takes
the audience on a journey through her home town, Vienna.
USA
Short: 13 minutes
Director: Jack Dockery
Synopsis: DOCKERY & SON is a documentary short film about a
mother and son's junk store in a small ghost town. Real-life mother
and son filmmaking team Opal Dockery and Jack Truman share an
eye-opening slice of life from a day in the life at their real life thrift
store in the ghost town of Milford, Missouri: population 26.
Director: Director Jack Truman is a 30 year veteran of stage and film.
An award - winning filmmaker, his films have screened at over 300
film festivals worldwide to date.
DOCKERY & SON
Website: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4363752/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
website: https://www.facebook.com/dockerysdeals
WEST COAST PREMIERE
BLUE-EYED BOY
Iran
Short: 18 minutes
Director: Massoud Soheili
Synopsis: A boy with unusual color blindness causes his parents shame when he
accidentally kills some village livestock, so his parents seek medical treatment for the
boy, and when hospital doctors cannot help, they take him to a local Shaman for a
remedy. The work is an adapation of a short story by famed Iranian scholar Javad Mojabi.
Director: Massoud Soheili was born in 1988 and Mashhad, Iran, earned a BA in Law, and has
been working for more than 7 years in the film industry. This, his latest film, has shown and
won awards in more than 30 ilm festivals worldwide.
LORDS OF BSV
PREMIERE
USA
Documentary: 78 minutes
Director: Maria Soccor
Synopsis: The young men of BSV (Bedstuy Veterans) live to dance and
die in Brooklyn. Coming from one of the most crime and poverty stricken
places in the United States, Bedford Stuyvesant, dance has given them
the discipline and foundation to better their lives, no matter what financial
and personal obstacles they face. They are revivalists of a dance style
known as Brukup, which originated in Jamaica in the early 1990s from
George “Brukup” Adams. Brukup is a hybrid dance that comes from
reggae and incorporates: bone breaking, ballet, connecting, hip-hop,
pausing, popping, raving, reggae, tutting, mixed with theatrical miming.
Director: In addition to being director/producer of the feature documentary
Lords of BSV, Maria Soccor is an actress, former dance company member
of Gallman's Newark Dance Theater, poet and creator of the comic, Spear.
Best known for her work in (Another World, K-Ville, Jersey Justice) she has
also produced film festival winning shorts, such as Play House. She is the
owner of Maria Soccor Productions Inc., and part owner of Arachnids With
Pistolas Productions along with Vanessa Marlowe. Maria Soccor has been
granted unprecedented access to these charismatic characters in
Lords of BSV, including exclusive footage of the most hardcore
street dance competition in the world, Loud League, The League
Of Unreal Dancing.
USA
Short: 18 minutes
Directors: Chris Connolly, Vivian Connolly
Synopsis: When young widow Cassandra seeks out the
recipients of her husband's organs, each meeting proves
more disastrous than the last.
Directors: Chris and Vivian Connolly live in New York City
with their two children. Chris came up as a producer in
1HZ<RUN·VLQGHSHQGHQWILOPFRPPXQLW\ZLWKFUHGLWV
including “Empire” (2002, Universal Pictures) and
“Loverboy” (2005, ThinkFilm), directed by Kevin Bacon.
His feature screenplay “Bad Blood” was a Finalist in
two categories at the 2012 Austin Film Festival.
Following a career as an actress, writer and producer,
Vivian is currently the co-founder and CEO on Phosphene
(www.phosphenefx.com), a visual effects company
based in New York with two Emmy nominations and a
9LVXDO(IIHFWV6RFLHW\$ZDUGIRU+%2·V´%RDUGZDON(PSLUHµ
website: http://www.fallingtopiecesfilm.com
FALLING TO PIECES
website: LordsofBSVFilm.com (Coming Soon)
PREMIERE
BIRTHDAY WISH
USA
Short: 12 minutes
Director: Ryan Casselman
Synopsis: Birthdays can be tough. Often a reminder that our lives are moving at
rapid speed, and while you may have aged a year older over night, you realize that
not a whole lot else has changed. That is certainly the case with Jeff, a greeting card
creative who has the 'birthday blues' and struggles to find someone to share his
birthday with.
Director: Ryan Casselman is an up-and-coming San Diego filmmaker with a Media
Communication Degree in the emphasis of Video Production. Two short films he
directed, wrote, and edited (A Walk in the Park & Writer's Block) were both winners
at The San Diego Film Awards in 2014. Recently, he wroteand directed the short film
"A Good Ol' Chap", which won awards for Directing and Best Film at the 48 Hour
Film Project in San Diego. In addition to directing, he is also an actor in the
community, acting both on stage and in locally-produced short films.
Synopsis: An aspiring astronomer happens upon a radio
frequency and meets a thought-to-be-dead astronaut
trapped in space.
Director: Ryan Stratton is a film director, composer and
accomplished multi-instrumentalist who plays piano,
guitar, bass, drums, as well as orchestral and world
INFINITE
USA
Short: 23 minutes
Director: Ryan Stratton
PREMIERE
percussion. Stratton attends Chapman University in
Orange, CA as a Screenwriting major with a minor in
Film Music. In 2010, he began writing music for films,
and has since scored 20 projects including all of ArkLight
3LFWXUHV·ILOPV´,QILQLWHµPDUNVKLVWKLUGQDUUDWLYH
A STANDING STILL
effort as director.
USA
Feature, 80 min.
Director: Scott Ballard
Synopsis: Allison works as a fire lookout in the Willamette National Forest.
When she is called down early for a medical emergency with her father,
she is forced to face the dynamics that have lead her to lead such a
reclusive life.
Director: Scott Ballard is an award-winning director and cinematographer.
After 10 years of working in film in New Orleans, New York and Boston, he
is now in Portland, Oregon, hard at work on the next film.
website: ScottBallardFilms.com