WFA 2024 Film Guide

After ending her toxic relationship with her boyfriend, 40-year-old Alice discovers she is pregnant. With her age and current relationship status, her first instinct is to have the pregnancy terminated. As her body undergoes dramatic changes, Alice struggles and needs to decide what to do.

Among intrusive and sought-after memories, a woman hears a disconcerting call from the depths of her being. A cryptic cry for help that becomes intelligible guides her to the original wound, to her inner child, becoming her own protector.

A troubled teen takes his childhood babysitter hostage after she uncovers his deadly plan.

This short film/music video hybrid is an exploration of the witch burnings and the dancing plagues of the 16th Century which swept across Europe like wildfire. It is a permission to be wild, to lose oneself in the chaos magic of the unknown and to answer the howling of our inner call to dance to our own blaze of individual heart fire we each contain. Shot in the moorland of Cornwall, Liana’s patriarchal ancestral lands, nature plays a large part in the creation of this world, as do the wonderful performers hired to encapsulate the witches and townspeople who seek to destroy them.

Witness a conversation about identity crisis and how the pressure to succeed plagues athletes when removed from the sport. Watch as former NFL Colts cornerback, D’joun Smith, as he tells his story for the first time in group therapy.

Since childhood, Destiny has been told she has seizures when she dances, an unexplained phenomena that’s resulted in deep fear and her refusal to dance - despite being drawn to it. What she doesn’t know is that she has an ancient ability - a birthright of the Haitian women in her lineage going back for ages. Today, in LA, Destiny is still in the dark about her ancestral power but strange things are happening; Destiny is tormented by voices in her head, calling her to "test the waters" and compelling her to stalk someone. When she’s challenged to face her fear and dance, Destiny makes a decision that could reveal a secret she doesn’t yet understand. Will dancing kill her or unlock something magical?

Haunted by the past, a brilliant tech-addicted developer faces an impossible dilemma: recreate her ex-girlfriend in virtual reality or hold onto the crumbling relationship with her current one.

“City of Tigers” is based on the 1896 novel by Knut Hamsun and is widely considered to be the world’s first modern novel. The main character is a starving artist roaming the streets of Oslo during the present-day pandemic, a situation that only exacerbates his feeling of estrangement from a society that is separated from him. On his travels, he meets a host of characters who both help and impede him and follows a woman he met in his previous life who he names Yljali, after a fictitious Iranian princess. The artist desperately searches for authenticity in his work even if it means he might not survive. This film is an unapologetic love letter to the city that “leaves its mark on all who have lived there”.

A mountain sings.

'Doorway' is a captivating blend of drama, fantasy, and magical realism that delves into the intricate layers of family bonds and personal transformation. Stephen, grappling with the weight of a broken family, stumbles upon a mystical doorway. As he steps through, a mesmerizing journey unfolds, intertwining his present with poignant echoes of his past. Guided by the enigmatic doorway, Stephen relives cherished childhood memories and encounters his younger self, igniting a profound exploration of identity and healing. The fantastical interplay between reality and memory blurs as Stephen navigates through the vivid landscapes of his past, painted in vibrant hues of emotion and nostalgia.

A dead family lives in a house for a long time - a mother, a father and a son. War's taken the son, the heart of this family; every bullet kills more than just one man.

An astronaut returns from a failed mission to an Earth extinct from contamination. His condition of being the last of his kind torments him. He is a magical identity - the last breath of Nature, with a breath of pure air, water, the sea.

This Saturday is a Turkish wedding day at Espace Venise. Huddled in a car in the parling lot, Fatih, 21, wants to get married. He has set his sights on Ipek, Recep’s sister. But neither Murat, his best friend, nor Recep, nor even Ipek are aware of this yet.

A nun, four orphans and a glitchy robot on a quest for beauty. . . what could possibly go wrong? Princess, Fabio, Pigtails and Curly from St. Mary's Home for Unfortunate Children are on a fieldtrip to the botanical garden to celebrate Princess' birthday. On the way they meet a curious groundskeeper and the fireworks begin –– quite literally. In the autumn of 2014, the Advanced Studio Production class at Huntington University launched the 'Fire Flower' film project based on a 1-minute story reel by Kayla Mitchell. The experiment was to see what would happen if a talented group of student animators set out to make a short film with the time, budget, and resources of a commercial stop-motion studio. The results, five years later, is a beautifully crafted (and irreverently funny) 6-minute stop-motion film for all ages to enjoy.

Eleni, a Greek graphic designer, lives in Prague with her Canadian husband. After a random attack by a young man in Prague, Eleni experiences ongoing, unresolved trauma. She decides to go in search of her attacker, against the wishes of friends and family. Johan, raised in Sweden by a Czech mother now lives with Babi, his warm, but indulgent grandmother in Prague. Babi cannot compensate for Johan's fraught relationship with his emotionally distant American father. Reclusive Johan is often prone to outbursts of volatility, despite his guilt about what he did to Eleni that day in the tunnel. Eleni and Johan’s lives connect in Prague in a manner which tests relationships with people all around them.

'Fly in Power' spotlights the work of Asian migrant massage and sex workers of Red Canary Song, a mutual aid, abolitionist collective based in Flushing, NYC. We follow the stories of Charlotte (a Korean massage worker/poet), KhoKhoi (bodyworker/healer), and Prof. Elena Shih (Brown University, global human trafficking researcher) as well as the broader Red Canary Song community. The film is a glimpse into their practices of care, autonomy, and survival against the oppressive systems that face Asian massage parlour workers and sex workers. Calling for ‘rights, not rescue’ these women and non-binary queers fight for their community, for decriminalization, and debunking the myths of sex trafficking that pervade the Asian diaspora. This film has been produced entirely by women, non-binary, trans and queers of the Asian diaspora – more than half of the production team are former sex workers.

Lex is a black market dealer in NYC. He shows us how he de-stresses..

A lyrical reminiscence of an innocent childhood friendship in Hong Kong in the 80s, when being kind to someone did not require a reason like today. Shing’s dad despises Chi, who he regards as rude. Shing sights Chi, who suffers from polydactyly, being bullied by hooligans. He comforts Chi by secretly letting him do glassblowing at his dad's workshop. His enraged dad finds out and beats him up. Shing eventually wins his dad’s trust, but unintentionally spurs Chi's low self-esteem, and Chi walks out on him. How will the two boys reconcile?

A young woman lives a quiet life, with a new romance at hand, until she finds her own image on a missing person poster.

At the Victor Hugo High School, French teacher Leila Al Bachir has called a disciplinary hearing for one of her students: Simon Petit. In her quest to find a fair sanction for Simon, she realises her workplace is in serious trouble…

'Hold you down' is a poetic short film that explores the theme of grief through the expressive art of dance. Through graceful movements and powerful choreography, the dancers embody the deep emotions associated with mourning, allowing their bodies to express what words cannot.

'How Not To Date While Trans' is a break-the-fourth-wall dark comedy that follows the dating life of a black trans woman and the problematic men she meets along the way.

'I Cherish Women' is a pro-women short film, by Judith Lynn Stillman of Artists & Activists productions, that packs a powerful political punch in four minutes. Thirty artists and activists join forces to deliver a bold statement to "defend human rights and address human wrongs." 'I Cherish Women' puts Trump’s reverberating words into women’s voices, underscoring trauma induced.

Lynn is a thriving, 40-year-old woman set to marry her soul mate, Sarah in a time where love is love, and her right to be in a relationship with whomever she wants is accepted and celebrated fully. Well... by everyone but June, her traditional Chinese mother. Our story begins the day that Lynn decides to take a stand for herself. After journeying through her childhood memories, and with Sarah by her side, Lynn walks into the retirement home where her mother is living to confront her with a 40-year secret. What neither of them expect is June’s response to the news.

Two sisters, seven and eleven years old, are hiding inside a closet in a house. The little sister thinks they are rehearsing for a game but the older one knows that a terrible threat lurks outside.