The Salute Your Shorts Film Festival has announced the 2021 lineup of its fifth edition. This year 61 films were selected from over 700 submissions. The robust lineup includes a documentary SNOWY directed by Kaitlyn Schwalje and Alexander Lewis, DỌLÁPỌ̀ IS FINE directed by Ethosheia Hylton, and SALES PER HOUR directed by Michelle Uranowitz and Daniel Jaffe. The festival will take place physically from August 20-22 at Assistance League Theatre in Los Angeles. Tickets and passes are now on sale here.
Here is the full lineup for the 2021 Salute Your Shorts Film Festival:
Previously announced
MARVIN'S NEVER HAD COFFEE BEFORE
Dir. Andrew Carter
Prods. Kahlil Maskati, Andrew Carter
Marvin Wexler tries coffee for the first time and desperately wants to talk to someone about it. What follows is a funny exploration of loneliness and trying to fit in during a time when it's never been harder to connect.
HE'S THE ONE
Dir. Jessie Kahnweiler
Prod. Tasha Petty, Paul Young, Richard Card, Jessie Kahnweiler
A girl meets guy and falls head over heels, but a shocking discovery forces her to question everything. A dark comedy about falling in love with the one person you're supposed to hate.
RASPBERRY
Dir. Julian Doan
Prods. Brianna Murphy, Turner Munch
Undertakers wait on a family’s final farewells, as one son struggles to say goodbye to his dead father.
ALINA
Dir. Rami Kodeih
Prods. Rachelle Owen, Rubber Duck Films, Courtney Prather, Nora Mariana, Rami Kodeih, Joshua Owen
A WW2 girl gang struggles to save their friend's 3-month-old baby from the Nazis. Starring Alia Shawkat (Search Party, Arrested Development).
THE GOLDFISH
Dir. Ashley Paige Brim
Prod. Diana Ward
An adopted woman is forced to confront her darkest fear about motherhood at her sister’s baby shower.
MELTDOWN IN DIXIE
Dir. Emily Harrold
Prod. Emily Harrold, Seth Gadsden
A documentary film about BBQ, Ice Cream, and The Confederate Flag.
TRUDGE
Dir. Creston Whittington
Prods. Evan Holtzman, Mike Quinn
An artist, upon selling his most valuable painting, must reckon with the fate of his work.
FOREVER
Dir. Mitch McGlocklin
Prod. Mitch McGlocklin
AI judgment causes a period of introspection
AVALANCHE
Dir. Heather Jack
Prods. Molly Ortiz, Molly Anne Coogan, Larkin Clark
Underemployed and reeling from a recent miscarriage, comedy writer Jo McDowell’s life is getting less funny by the minute. When she lands a meeting that could turn it all around, she has to make a decision: tell the truth or go for the laugh? A poignant comedy based on a true story.
VICTORIA
Dir. Daniel Toledo Saura
Prod. Mammut
This is the story of a first meeting and, at the same time, of a reunion. It's the story of the moment when Ana sees Clara for the first time.
THE SOUND OF A PAINTING
Dirs. Josh Litman, Léopold Dewolf
Prods. Josh Litman, Léopold Dewolf
As identical twin sound engineers Angel and Clément celebrate the opening of their new recording studio, one of the brothers makes a startling confession about a past relationship.
FEELING THROUGH
Dir. Doug Roland
Prods. Phil Newsom, Susan Ruzenski, Luis Augusto Figueroa
A late-night encounter on a New York City street leads to a profound connection between a teen-in-need and a DeafBlind man.
REFRIGERATE AFTER OPENING
Dir. Tony Suriano
Prod. Subhro Das
A man who is down on his luck finds a second shot at life when he buys himself a magical refrigerator.
THE TREATMENT
Dir. Álvaro Carmona
Prod. Álvaro Carmona
A clinic offers what you’ve always wanted… for a low price.
FOOTSTEPS
Dir. Jeremy Benning
Prod. Jeremy Benning
An inside look at the world of the Foley artist. This short documentary is a sneak peek into a unique post production sound facility located in rural Ontario, an hour north of Toronto.
WHAT I SHOULD HAVE SAID
Dir. Jamie Donohoe
Prod. Jamie Donohoe
A family struggles to say what needs to be said
FORBIDDEN TO SEE US SCREAM IN TEHRAN
Dir. Farbod Ardebili
Prods. Victoria Razevska Hill, Soroush Arayesh, Patrick Reasonover, Matt Edwards, Sarah Jane Murray
Singing for women is illegal in Iran, but Shima and her Death Metal band don't care.
THE INVISIBLE MONSTER
Dir. Guillermo Fesser Perez de Petinto
Prod. Javier Fesser Perez de Petinto
Aminodin's father always smiles because he says "happy people live longer". That's why, at eight years old, Aminodin puts his best smile while working at the Papandayan dump, where he lives with his family. Her cousin Aliman, on the other hand, lost his when bombs started falling from the sky in the city of Marawi.
ENOUGH.
Dir. Caleb Slain
Prods. Richard Stevenson, Max Losee, Ethan Seneker, Hope Alexander, La'Charles Trask
A dream, a nightmare, a musical. Ten years in the making, welcome to the stormy inner world of one Congolese-American coming of age in the US.
NEURODIVERGENT
Dir. Afton Quast Saler
Prods. Rachel Priebe, Reagan Shea
A 35-year-old film student recently diagnosed with ADHD manages by turning the camera on herself.
THE CRIMINALS
Dir. Serhat Karaaslan
Prod. Laure Dahout
Late at night in a small Turkish town, a young couple tries to find a hotel room to spend the night together.
JOANNE IS DEAD
Dir. Brian Sacca
Prods. Brian Sacca, Matthew Vaughan, Jeff Tomsic
Myrtle has gone off the rails today, spouting all types of nonsense about her past. None of it can be true, right? RIGHT?!
FACES
Dir. Iván Sainz-Pardo
Prod. Iván Sainz-Pardo, Juanjo Moscardó
A love story in the times of programmed obsolescence.
I'M NOT A ROBOT
Dir. Brian Olliver
Prod. Brian Olliver
Desperate to find the perfect new employee during a job interview, a weary office manager discovers that his new recruit is not what he seems.
SOLA IN DISCESA (GOING DOWN ALONE)
Dir. Michele Bizzi, Claudia Di Lascia
Prods. Claudia Di Lascia, Kinedimorae srl
In a metaphorical elevator, a woman travels through her past life and faces all the men who verbally or physically abused her.
ON THE RIDE
Dir. Jen McGowan
Prods. Rebecca Stone, Jeremy Glazer, AMPLE Entertainment
A man grapples with a trauma on a bike ride, taking him to a stranger linked to the past he can’t shake.
PEEPS
Dir. Sophie Somerville
Prod. Courtney Bombell
Peeps is a peek into the inner world of a turbulent teenage friendship group on their after-school shopping trip.
ALA KACHUU - TAKE & RUN
Dir. Maria Brendle
Prod. Nadine Lüchinger, Flavio Gerber
A young Kyrgyz woman is kidnapped and forced to marry. A drama about the desire for freedom in the clutches of tradition.
CUCKOO!
Dir. Jörgen Scholtens
Prod. Jörgen Scholtens, Jimmy Groeneveld
Inside a cuckoo clock lives a lonely man. Every hour he is catapulted out of his tiny house to yell ‘Cuckoo!’
Newly added
Dir. Tom J Stern
Prod. Tom J Stern
A lighthearted documentary about an amazing architectural house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright protege John Lautner.
Dir. Laura Gamse
Despite the danger to herself and her family, former slaughterhouse worker Susana returns to the scene at night to care for animals on their way to the kill floor.
Dir. Milen Vitanov
Prod. Milen Vitanov, Vera Trajanova, Mina Mileva
The lives of four lively Arctic hares take a turn after discovering a strange new creature
Dir. Kaitlyn Schwalje, Alexander Lewis
Prod. Rebecca Stern, Justin Levy
Snowy, a four-inch-long pet turtle, has lived an isolated life in the family basement. With help from a team of experts and his caretaker, Uncle Larry, we ask: Can Snowy be happy, and what would it take?
DỌLÁPỌ̀ IS FINE Dir. Ethosheia Hylton
Prod. Millie Marsh
Soon to leave her very British boarding school, Dọlápọ̀ is pressured to conceal her natural hair, and to change her name in order to get a job in the City. Dọlápọ̀ buys a wig, but the hair leaves her questioning its uncertain origins and she is forced to reconsider her own assumptions about identity.
Dir. Brian Steele
Prod. Michael Devin Greenman, Emily Hisey
Jeremy. Just. DIED. So, in the event of his death, he leaves behind a series of clever clues and witty video messages for his best friend and bandmate Sam, and his brash sister Mandy, which sends them on an adventure through their shared past. They get to experience one last day with Jeremy after he's gone, and in the end are compelled to mourn the best way they know how.
Dir. Michalis Kalopaidis
Prod. Michalis Kalopaidis
The parrot lady' is inspired by a true story. The film works as an artistic interpretation of a woman's life who chose to live on the streets with her parrots, afraid of dying alone in her home.
Dir. Sage Mears, Aaron Pagniano
Prod. Jacqueline Jandrell, Sage Mears
Set in a surrealist reality, Transfer revolves around two strangers engaging in an existential job interview that poses questions about death, choice and the inevitable truth that not everyone gets a second chance.
Dir. Alice Seabright
Prod. Alexandra Blue, Kate Phibbs
Jaq is angry. But she also wants to have sex. This should be straightforward - angry sex is one of the pre-approved genres for copulation. But her body is out to sabotage her coitus in the worst way.... endometriosis.
Dir. Charles Wahl
Prod. Charles Wahl
After celebrating the birth of their first child, James & Lola are faced with family expectations and financial strain as they fly in a Mohel to perform their son's Brit Milah – The circumcision ceremony.
Dir. Kate Hackett
Prod. Kate Hackett
A seventeen year old sex-positive YouTuber starts a social media war against her Christian abstinence program.
Dir. Talia Osteen
Prod. Paul Feig, Laura Fischer, Kesila Childers, Jesse Schiller
God literally forbids she turn off a vibrator gone rogue, so an Orthodox Jew sets out on a quest to find someone who can.
Dir. Noemie Nakai
Prod. Christian Parton
Yoshida is a “tears teacher.” A firm believer that weekly crying promotes healthier living, he’s made it his mission to make more people weep. Running workshops all over Japan extolling the benefits of vulnerability and tear-jerking films, books and music, he makes a convincing argument for welling up as wellness.
Dir. James Burns, Shal Ngo
Prod. Chris Wilson, Jake Ewald, Gabriela Dematteis
The Box is a hybrid short film that combines documentary, stop-motion animation, and cinematic vignettes to immerse our audience in the world of solitary confinement. We interview three people who have spent a combined 9 years in solitary, one of whom is of the two directors of the film, James Burns. All three stories are told at the same time and progressively build onto one another, each subject telling a different chapter from the same book. This is a story about the value of human connection and a group of survivors who lost everything but found light in the darkness. We see how they ended up in solitary, how that experience brought them to the darkest place imaginable, and how they struggled against all odds to find freedom and a meaningful life on the outside.
Dir. Noé Debré
Prod. Benjamin Elalouf (Moonshaker film)
Igor has been completely depressed since his ex Marie became an Instagram star thanks to a activist group about female orgasm. Igor thinks it's a deliberate strategy to prevent him from finding someone else. He convinces his friend Arnaud to accompany him to Marie's place to clear things up.
DAVID Dir. Zach Woods
Prod. Kevin Chinoy, Francesca Silvestri, Zach Woods, Andrew Porter
David needs help. So does David.
OUT OF THE BLUE Dir. Jonathan Bregel, Steve Hoover
Prod. Jonathan Bregel A 78-year-old man covered his body with one beautiful tattoo. The retired Principal City Planner for Baltimore talks about trees, consciousness, letting go of life and his genitals.
Dir. Brian Sacca
Prod. Brian Sacca, Matthew Vaughan, Jeff Tomsic
Myrtle has gone off the rails today, spouting all types of nonsense about her past. None of it can be true, right? RIGHT?!
FRIEND OF A FRIEND
Dir. Zachary Zezima
Prod. Ron Dyens
A young man is sexually assaulted and subdues, punishes, then befriends his own attacker while confronting his past and the ambiguities of sexuality. Part fiction, part non-fiction, part autobiography and part dream, Friend of a Friend attempts to broaden the conversation around abuse and its motivations and implications, as well as the survivor vs. assailant dynamic and results of ostracism.
Dir. Zachary Zezima
Prod. Ron Dyens
A young man is sexually assaulted and subdues, punishes, then befriends his own attacker while confronting his past and the ambiguities of sexuality. Part fiction, part non-fiction, part autobiography and part dream, Friend of a Friend attempts to broaden the conversation around abuse and its motivations and implications, as well as the survivor vs. assailant dynamic and results of ostracism.
Dir. Laki Karavias
Prod. May Ondeng, Dan Berggren
A childhood filled with laughter and friends, singing and games—cut short by the circumciser’s knife.
Dir. Sasha Lee
Prod. Yejin Choi
One night, Seolgi is lying on a grass field with friends. A shooting star falls, and dark and intrusive thoughts hits her. Her melancholy blooms into bright and colorful “flower people”, dancing around and making a wish of METEORITE to end the world.
THE VOICE IN YOUR HEAD Dir. Graham Parkes
Prod. Brendan Garrett
Dan is tortured every day by the negative voice inside his head, until he learns something amazing that allows him to break free.
DORMO POCO E SOGNO MOLTO - ESPANA CIRCO ESTE
Dir. Paolo Santamaria
Prod. Paolo Santamaria
A real soul journey where the pleasure of discovery and love alternate in a constant creative drive. The video explores the travel theme in all its facets. Important topical issues such as eco-sustainability, social equity and criticism of consumerism find space, which is revealed in oceans populated by plastic fauna and in a habitat dotted with waste.
Dir. Elvira Lind
Prod. Sofia Sondervan
When a kind-hearted prison officer (Oscar Isaac) is transferred to the letter room, he soon gets involved in an inmate's personal affairs...
ÁINE Dir. Alexandria Cree, Kristen Hilkert
Prod. Eli Rarey
ÁINE is a story about raising a daughter in a world that has already defined her potential. This documentary short film follows the life of a young girl with Down Syndrome from her mother's pre-natal findings through to her present day challenges. As the family navigates unexpected turns, this little girl will sass you with her tenacity for life and her love of music.
Dir. Oscar Rene Lozoya
Prod. Brian Flaccus, Ben Dunn, Celia Cowles, Oscar Rene Lozoya
All Eric ever wanted was a friend. He just never knew how to find one.
Dir. Michelle Uranowitz, Daniel Jaffe
Prod. Chloe Sabin
Sales Per Hour tells the story of a young woman who faces a moral dilemma when she witnesses a sexual encounter in a dressing room at the clothing store where she works.
Dir. Amy Bench
Prod. Carolyn Merriman, Constance Dykhuizen, Jessica Goudeau
Separated from her mother by smugglers at the border, a determined 12-year-old sets out across a desert with only a plastic sack for protection from the cold, survives starvation on the streets of Ciudad Juarez, and escapes kidnappers to find her mother and a place where they can be safe again.
Dir. Akanksha Cruczynski
Prod. Felicia Ferrara
An immigrant dogwalker finds home in the hearts of the rich people’s dogs she dogsits.
Dir. Parker Seaman, Evan Scott
Prod. Parker Seaman
One phone call with friend Lou Wilson sets Parker off on an adventure to prove his dancing isn't funny and that his skills should be taken seriously. Through the process he learns that he needs to dance for no one else but himself...
Dir. James Solomon
Prod. Lissandra Leite
A skilled workman digs a perfect hole in a cracked earthen plain in an endless warehouse, a series of well-dressed people come and sit on comfortable couches offering contradictory opinions, and the job gradually unravels.
For more info and schedule visit the program page
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