2023 Festival

LIVE FROM THE GRAVEYARD | Dir. Sarah Hankins | Short, 12 min
When a radio show becomes the site of a zombie outbreak, an intrepid DJ has a chance to put her nerd knowledge to work – if she can survive.
Filmmakers in person!

BIND OVER THEE | Dir. Benjamin Garst | Short, 23 min
A young woman inherits a rural home and quickly learns she is not alone.

SACRAMENT | Dir. Jack Hessler | Short, 8 min
In the 1950s, two religious young men go on a camping trip together. As their forbidden love for each other begins to boil into reality, Belford battles with his inner truth and inner demons.

YOUR LAST SUMMER | Dir. Mark J. Parker | Short, 17 min
It’s July 4th at Dawson’s Beach, and Jesse shows Hank an ominous note he received from someone who knows their romantic secret. The Southport Slasher Ben Willis sent a similar note to Julie James 25 years ago before wreaking havoc on the town, but that’s just an old story. Is this some anniversary prank, or are they really in trouble?

A SAFE PLACE | Dir. Nicolas Lincy | Short, 22 min
Alain lives locked up in a large house with his husband, Raphael. They were about to renovate the place and turn it into a bed and breakfast. A new virus, still unknown, poisoning the air, stops them in their dream. Alain is now obsessed with the idea of protecting Raphael, whose health is fragile. But the latter is suffocating, for him it is the house that is unhealthy, as if haunted. US Premiere

BOY PARTS | Dir. Ella May Sahlman | Short, 18 min
A revenge film about a cult of survivors of sexual assault who kill and eat abusers. Lives are lost, relationships are gained, and justice is served.

ESCAPE FROM CANAL STREET | Dir. Tristen Stafford | Short, 15 min
In exchange for clues about their girlfriend’s disappearance, androgynous bad-boy Dell is enlisted by an icy drag queen on the path of revenge to rob a notorious downtown sugar daddy in this glitter-noir short film.
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NO ONE KNOWS I’M A DOG ON THE INTERNET | Dir. Nate King | Short, 4 min
A short exploring the digital taboos, kink subculture, and ideas of privacy in an age of twitter porn and onlyfans.

DISAPPEARING ACTS | Dir. Sarah E. Jenkins | Short, 4 min
Darkness encroaches upon a loggy landscape of animated tricks and turns.

THE PERPETRATORS | Dir. Richard Squires | Short, 15 min
Suburban London, the 1980s. A stranger in the family becomes a ghost child and awakens the monsters and desires of a queer childhood.

VIOLET DAZE | Dir. Marisa Martin & Clare Langsford | Short, 16 min
Violet and Daisy have been best friends since they were five. Best friends forever. Joined at the hip. How close can two best friends get? What would they do if anyone tried to separate them?

STRAWBERRY | Dir. Jordan Pfeifer | Short, 24 min
After the death of her abusive ex-boyfriend, Nova connects with his most recent girlfriend- only to realize that some spirits have a hard time staying buried. Southeast Premiere

PLASTIC TOUCH | Dir. Aitana Ahrens | Short, 12 min
Lucy, a hyper-realistic doll, wakes up for the first time in the room of a doll brothel. She there she lives with Mina, another doll. They are trapped between four velvet walls. But when no one sees them, they come to life and spend their free time watching television. That little screen is your window to the real world.

VIOLET BUTTERFIELD: MAKEUP ARTIST FOR THE DEAD | Dir. Brooke Edler Hebert | Short, 13 min
Violet Butterfield, a mortician beautician, receives a visit from a new client and discovers that sometimes a person feels they cannot authentically live their best life until after they’re dead.

THE HOUSESITTERS | Dir. Graham High | Short, 17 min
Erin and Matt are best friends, underemployed entertainers, and terrible housesitters. And when they find themselves staying at the site of an infamous murder, they begin to wonder if someone is trying to recreate the crime.

HER GHOST | Dir. Jade Kerry | Short, 3 min
A ghost story about love, grief and learning to continue on.

THE HAUNTED BABY CARRIAGE FROM HELL | Dir. J.T. Seaton | Short, 9 min
Spencer and Cameron move into a new house that just so happens to be haunted by an old baby carriage. As the carriage endeavors to scare the couple, the attempts ultimately fail because the couple just doesn’t care… like… you know… at all. NC Premiere

MRS. HAPP TAKES A BOW | Dir. Holland Elena | Short, 8 min
An arrogant public speaker encounters nightmarish visions when she appears in front of a live audience.
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KEEP/DELETE | Dir. Kryzz Gautier | Short, 19 min
In a future world where memories are handled like computer files, two lovers decide to undergo a procedure and have their entire relationship wiped from their brains.

A GHOST IN THE HOUSE | Dir. Tom McVey | Short, 8 min
When Victor reveals to his husband that he’s been communicating with a ghost named Louis, the couple decides to welcome the ghost into their relationship. Louis has other plans.

HUNGER PANG | Dir. Kiersten Houser | Short, 10 min
A desperate and starving zombie woman finds a human baby, but her unlikely bond with the child poses a problem for her appetite.
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NIGHT RIDE | Dir. Vida Skerk | Short, 24 min
Existential fear pervades Dunja during a night full of dreams and nightmares. She questions her decision to move to a bigger city, for which she had to leave the safety of her small hometown behind. But more than anything, she regrets losing the close teenage friendship with Sara.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE | Dir. Glam Hag | Short, 8 min
Today is the day these two pregnant cult members have been waiting for.

GIANNA | Dir. Kait Schuster | Short, 11 min
Gina, a Filipina Gemini doing her best, takes the advice of her sliding scale therapist to spend a day with her INNER SABOTEUR. Enter Gianna. Will they make peace, or does Gianna, like, literally want Gina dead?

BIG EASY QUEENS | Dir. Erynn Dalton | Feature, 80 min
After Minnie Bouvèé, Mob Queen of the Quarter, has her arch-nemesis Poodles Makenzie’s crew brutally slaughtered, she braces for the blowback; what she doesn’t expect, however, is to be stalked by a creepy masked figure who leaves behind bouquets of gardenias and terrifying notes. Is this Poodles’ revenge, or the work of Minnie’s estranged sister who stole her man years ago and has suddenly reappeared?
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RICOCHET | Dir. Daviel Shy & Valerie Whitehawk | Short, 4 min
A honeymoon in the desert turns sour when two lovers’ acid-dipped raspberries bring them on a trip from which there is no return. Southeast Premiere
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CHAPERONE | Dir. Sam Max | Short, 16 min
An unnamed figure picks up a young man in his car. As the two drive together, and settle into an austere rental house in the country, the details of their arrangement become guttingly clear.

IT DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS | Dir. Rachel Kempf, Nick Toti | Feature , 84 min
This found footage horror film blends fact and fiction from nearly 20 years of archival video. Following a decades-long fascination with the horror genre, a married couple buys an abandoned duplex to use as a location for filming their low-budget scary movie. They soon notice that random strangers are drawn to the old building, but never approach it, merely standing outside and staring at it in a sort of trance. Delighted to find themselves embroiled in a real-life scary story, the two team up with an old friend and put their years of horror expertise, amateur ghost hunting, and paranormal obsession to use in the hope of discovering why this building holds such a strange power over people. Southeast Premiere
Filmmakers in person!