The full lineup for Salute Your Shorts Film Festival 2022 is here! The robust lineup features 59 short films including the TIFF award-winning film LOVE, DAD by Diana Cam Van Nguyen, Antonio Marziale's directorial debut STARFUCKERS, and ROOMMATES by SYSFF alum Ashley Eakin and executive produced by Paul Feig. The films joined previously announced titles such as the Independent Spirit Award nominee Dawn Luebbe's DRESS A COW and the 2022 Sundance award-winning film WARSHA by Dania Bdeir.
The festival will take place in person from August 19-21 at the Assistance League Theatre in Hollywood. Tickets and passes will be on sale on July 12.
Here is the full lineup for the 2022 Salute Your Shorts Film Festival.
ACTION
DIR. Benoît Monney
On a film set, there are always unforeseen events. Some days, it's all there is. And sometimes it's even worse.
AMERICAN SCAR
DIR. Daniel Lombroso
Dynamite blasts echo through canyons as construction for the southern border threatens flora and fauna for centuries to come.
AMERICANIZED
DIR. Erica Eng
Growing up in Oakland’s hip-hop culture, Eng struggles with her Chinese American identity. To her high school basketball team, she’s just that girl who sits on the bench; but to the Asian kids she’s "Americanized." As her sophomore year of high school comes to an end, Eng tries to find a sense of belonging within the two worlds that don't accept her.
ANCHORED OUT
DIR. Katie Bernstein, Clara Mokri
In wealthy Sausalito floats one of the last free places in California. A vibrant liveaboard community of mariners, drifters, nomads, disaster survivors, and those cast out by high costs of living and no social safety net struggle against a harbormaster, bureaucrats and a wealthy community that wants them gone.
ANGEL
DIR. Dicky Chalmers
When a girl goes back to a guy’s house following a dating app hook-up, she becomes suspicious of his true intentions after discovering his obsession with cooking ramen broth, and a strange AI digital assistant called Angel.
ASPIRATIONAL SLUT
DIR.Caroline Lindy
A newly heartbroken woman, on the advice of a pizza guy, learns to separate love from sex and over a series of wild random hookups, she learns to put them back together.
BATHROOM TIME
DIR. Sara June
Four office employees fight to find privacy in the workplace.
BLEUE
DIR. Ornella Pacchioni
An island, a seaside cemetery, a 13-year-old girl, Lucie, who spends her holiday in Corsica. She meets Léo, a dehydrated boy who is always in need to be in the water, but Lucie fears the sea. Their teenagers’ games are immersed in an atmosphere of innocence and mystery.
BYE BYE
DIR. Amélie Bonnin
With his diploma in his pocket, Julien left his native Normandy to build a bigger life for himself in Paris, leaving his memories behind. And then one day, one has to come back, and that day his memories jump in his face.
CHEMISTRY
DIR. Isaac Garza
An intimate night gone wrong because of a jalapeño.
CHRISTIAN
DIR. Adán Pichardo
Cristiano is a young devotee who wants to be trained in the seminary to become a Catholic priest, but unexpectedly the interviewer responsible for vocations is the ancient priest of his hometown, Avelino, an unconventional priest.
CORA & SAM HATE THE DENTIST
DIR. Jade Kaiser, Eilise Guilfoyle
Two best friends have been putting off going to the dentist for months but when their Groupons are about to expire they must face their fears.
DADDY'S GIRL
DIR. Lena Hudson
A young woman's charming but overbearing father helps her move out of her wealthy, older boyfriend's apartment.
DRESS A COW
DIR. Dawn Luebbe
A documentary that spotlights a 38 year tradition, the “Dress A Cow” event at Ohio’s Canfield County Fair. A meditation on bovine beauty, it reminds us that putting pants on a cow is not like putting pants on a person.
DYING IN YOUR MOTHER'S ARMS
DIR. John Beder
If losing a child to an illness is one of the worst things that can happen to a family, a palliative care doctor Dr. Nadia Tremonti has made it her mission to make it better.
FATHER, SON, AND THE BEACH
DIR. Chieh-Huei Hsu
Ting-Wei spent his entire summer vacation helping his dad make deliveries, with only one condition- that he will take him to the beach before school starts.
FIRST DOWN
DIR. Carrie Stett
First Down is a gripping documentary that profiles an underdog team in America’s first all-girls tackle football league. This band of misfits and outcasts compete for the title while tackling their struggles both on and off the field.
FIVE CENTS
DIR. Aaron Hughes
A consumer finds himself in over his head after a string of purchases goes out of control. Drawn by hand on thousands of market data pages from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times with ink, white-out, gouache paint, gold leaf and other materials.
FREE FALL
DIR. Emmanuel Tenenbaum
Tom is a young trader at a London bank but his recent results have put him in the hot seat. When the first plane hits the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11th, 2001, Tom is convinced it is a terrorist attack, not an accident. He then jumps into the biggest trade of his life…
FULL PICTURE
DIR. Jacob Reed
Actress, comedian, and activist, Santina Muha, has been in a wheelchair since she was six years old. With meetings, hangouts, and classes happening virtually due to the Coronavirus quarantine, she's experiencing something new: choosing when (or if) to disclose her disability.
GEORGIA
DIR. Jayil Pak
When the police refuse to investigate their daughter’s alleged suicide, two computer-illiterate parents decide to design a protest banner. Based on the infamous Miryang case in South Korea which shocked the nation in 2004 and continues to fuel public outrage even today.
GOLDEN AGE KARATE
DIR. Sindha Agha
Inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame at 10 years old, Jeff Wall is a teenage karate pro. But that’s not even his greatest achievement.
GUM
DIR. Jacob Reed
In a reality where gum doesn't exist, Anne pitches Becky an idea that could change the world.
HALLELUJAH
DIR. Victor Gabriel
After being stuck with the guardianship of their annoying, bookworm nephew, two brothers in Compton CA have to decide if they are willing to take on the responsibility of being caretakers.
HYPO-GRAVITATION
DIR. Jacob Arenber
A mother and daughter are forced to learn to live together after the daughter gets sick with a mysterious illness and begins to hover in the air.
INHERITANCE
DIR. Annalise Lockhart
A Black family in rural Vermont attempts to live a life of solitude and cope with the ghosts living on their property.
IPSEITY
DIR. Nicholas Stachurski
The portrait of a mother on a difficult and visceral journey, re-defining beauty, sacrifice and our uniquely human ability to define our own destiny.
IT’S SNOWING IN THE SUMMER
DIR. Gladimir Gelin
A thirtieth birthday finds two friends dealing with different realities of the Black Harlem experience
LILI ALONE
DIR. Zou Jing
Lili, a young mother, lives with her gambler husband in a remote part of Sichuan. Lonely and poor, she heads for the city in a bid to earn enough money to save her dying father.
LONG LINE OF LADIES
DIR. Shaandiin Tome, Rayka Zehtabchi
A girl and her community prepare for her Ihuk, the once-dormant coming of age ceremony of the Karuk tribes of Northern California.
LOVE, DAD
DIR. Diana Cam Van Nguyen
She finds letters full of love her dad wrote her 15 years ago. Now she fights to get that love back.
MARY MEET GRACE
DIR. Faryl Amadeus
When a stranger appears in Grace's life with disturbing news about her long-lost birth mother, she must fight to untangle herself from a dangerous and sinister plan.
MENAGERIE
DIR. Jack Gray
Menagerie is a study of the daily motions and mundane tasks of contemporary city life featuring hundreds of looping characters.
MIGRANTS
DIR. Hugo Caby, Antoine Dupriez, Aubin Kubiak, Lucas Lermytte, Zoé Devise
Two polar bears are driven into exile due to global warming. They will encounter brown bears along their journey, with whom they will try to cohabitate.
MISO
DIR. Kelly Walker
Cat is pregnant and doesn’t want to be. Since support is scarce and options are limited, she decides to take a non-traditional approach by enlisting the help of Sophie - a local doula who aids women as they take matters into their own hands. Literally. With Sophie’s help, Cat manages her at-home abortion, and comes into a deeper sense of personal power in the process.
MONEYBAG HEAD
DIR. Patrick O'Brien
Dennis, a lonely sad sack with an unfortunate cranial deformity, finds himself romantically entangled with Catherine, a charming political cartoonist. After the two share an intensely intimate night together, Dennis is happier than he’s ever been… until he sees Catherine’s latest cartoon.
MY DUDUŚ
DIR. Tom Krawczyk
A Polish mother grieves when her only child leaves their home in the suburbs of Chicago to study in Poland. While her son is away, she finds a baby squirrel in her backyard and forges a unique and powerful bond with the animal, raising him as if he were her own child.
OBJECT OF LIFE
DIR. Jack James Parry
The Object of Life addresses the most urgent problem of our time. The question of materialism. Why do we long for objects? Object of Life argues that we shouldn’t define ourselves by what we have accumulated but rather the ordeal we have endured and the nature of our struggle.
OH, BABY!
DIR. Brooke Trantor
Jane is on the hunt for a rockin’ one-night stand before an impending arrival.
PHLEGM
DIR. Jan-David Bolt
Oscar's late. In the surrounding skyscrapers hands are shaken and contracts are signed. That's the last thing he needs right now. Where do these damned snails come from?
PLEASE HOLD
DIR. Kristen "KD" Davila
In the near future, a young working-class Latino is wrongfully arrested. Realizing he has no means of recourse in the fully automated, fully privatized justice system, he attempts to reach a human being who can set things right.2@pleaseholdshortfilm
RACHELS DON'T RUN
DIR. Joanny Causse
While monitoring late-night calls at an AI companionship service, lonely customer support agent Leah impersonates an artificial dream girl to chat with the regular caller for whom she's developed feelings.
RADICAL HONESTY
DIR. Bianca Poletti
At the tail end of a great date, Jack and Rachel bond over a shared interest in deconstructing traditional relationship structures.
RAT TAIL
DIR. Chad Sogas
Rat Tail is a comedic look at director Chad Sogas’ battle with depression using archival footage and ephemera from his past, focusing primarily on the rat tail he had for ten years that his parents still keep in the storage room of their basement.
ROOMMATES
DIR. Ashley Eakin
When two disabled college students get placed together as dorm roommates, they embark on a quest to experience a hangover.
SOFT ANIMALS
DIR. Renee Zhan
Two ex-lovers cross paths in a train station.
SQUISH
DIR. Xavier Seron
Left to take care of their son while his husband goes on a work trip, Tom takes a wrong turn behind the wheel.
STARFUCKERS
DIR. Antonio Marziale
An intimate evening between a film director and a companion is disrupted when a familiar face arrives.
SUCKSESSION
DIR. Tess Paras
The Roys battle it out to see who will take over their family vacuum empire after their mom retires.
TALK TO ME IN SILENCE
DIR. Julia Ngeow
Talk to Me in Silence explores the relationship between mother and daughter, when the roles of caregiving are reversed.
THE ONE WHO NEVER WATCHED FRIENDS
DIR. Charlotte Gabris
Rachel is getting married but her future husband changes his mind when he discovers that she never watched Friends.
THE ORIGINALS
DIR. Cristina Maria Costantini, Alfie Kim Koetter
Matty “Square” Ruggiero and his childhood friends, the Union Street Boys, tell their story of what it was like to grow up in South Brooklyn, where money was tight but friendships were tighter.
UNDER THE LIGHTS
DIR. Miles Levin
A boy with epilepsy is so desperate to feel like a regular kid, he goes to prom knowing that the lights will make him have a seizure.
UNICA
DIR. Alessandro Marzullo
The Fibonacci’s essay divides the world into beautiful and not beautiful through an objective evaluation system.
WARSHA
DIR. Dania Bdeir
A crane operator in Beirut volunteers to cover a shift on one of the most dangerous cranes, where he is able to find his freedom.
WE ARE HERE
DIR. Domenica Castro, Constanza Castro
‘We Are Here’ is an audio-visual portrait of what it's like to walk this land in the shoes of an immigrant under 30. It's a moment of reflection that reminds us of the people who immigrated to this country as children. Accompanied by animation and music, the fragments of their stories highlight their presence.
WORK
DIR. April Maxey
Unable to move on from a breakup, Gabriela impulsively drops into an old job, where she unexpectedly runs into a friend from her past.
WRITTEN BY
DIR. Callie Marie Bloem, Christopher J. Ewing
Kenzie, a 20-something Angeleno discovers during a totally boring and routine general check up that she is fictional. And even worse, that she was written by a dude. This revelation knocks Kenzie’s world catastrophically off axis as she begins to question everything.
