A family leaves the western rat race to pursue their lifelong dream to manage a tourist lodge in the rainforest. Unaware of the lodge’s murderous past, they are pulled into a psychological game unveiling the ultimate stake, life itself.
CAST LIST:
Daniel: Sean Ballantyne
Interbank Trader: Allan Michael Brunet
Annika: Julie Sheppard
Emily: Val Cole
Matt Szymanowski wrote, produced and directed his debut feature, a Sundance Screenwriting Lab Finalist The Purple Onion. The film premiered at the Cinequest Film Festival and went on to play a dozen festivals Internationally, winning the Best Feature: Drama-Comedy at the Indie Gathering International Film Festival. Cinemation Studios distributed the film in summer 2017 on all major VOD platforms. Szymanowski’s award winning short films have played at over 20 film festivals globally, including Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, San Francisco International, Tirana International, and Warsaw International, among others. He wrote and self-published the novel Cupertino, a dark tale about troubled adolescents loosely inspired by his teen years in the technology hub that’s home to Apple Computers.
The American-born son of Polish immigrants, Szymanowski returned to his parents native Poland to study film and theatre directing at the prestigious Polish National Film School in Lodz. A Berlinale Talents and MacDowell Colony fellow, he has a BA in Humanities from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and an MFA in Writing for Film and TV from Emerson College in Boston. “Glorious Empire” is his second feature film and is scheduled to shoot at the end of 2020.
A man has just committed a brutal crime. His wife comes home with the intent of telling him she wants a divorce. On this day both of their dark secrets come to light.
AUDIENCE AWARD WINNERS:
BEST THRILLER FILM: MIRROR FINISH
BEST HORROR FILM: MALAKOUT
BEST PERFORMANCES: VIRTUALLY HAPPY
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: ABSENCE
BEST SOUND & MUSIC: STAY
Theme of night: Death and Rebirth
NOTE: Festival took place during the COVID-19 virus lockdown so all screenings were held in private.
Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Videos:
 ABSENCE, 13min., Germany, Sci-Fi/Thriller
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 VIRTUALLY HAPPY, 11min., USA, Sci-Fi/Magical Realism
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 IRONFIN, 2min., USA, Sci-Fi/Animation
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 GOD GLITCH, 8min., Netherlands, Sci-Fi/Romance
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 STAY , 6min., USA, Thriller/Crime
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 SNUB NOSE, 11min., USA, Thriller/Crime
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 MILK, 5min., USA, Thriller/Crime
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 MIRROR FINISH, 10min., Canada, Thriller/Crime
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 SWEET TOOTH, 4min., USA, Horror |
 EVERY CORNER, 8min., USA, Horror |
 MALAKOUT, 11min., Iran, Animation/Sci-Fi
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 INVASION, 16min., USA, Horror/Suspense
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The beginning of a (temporary) new era.
See you at the festivals. Whenever that happens!
– Matthew Toffolo
Hannah Davenport is having a “good news, bad news” kind of day: A stranger appears in the haunted village of Harper’s Ferry and could be the father she never knew. That’s the good news. The bad news is that he could also be a cold-blooded killer.
CAST LIST:
Narrator; Allison Kampf
Hanna: Elizabeth Rose Morriss
Sunday: Sean Ballantyne
Peter Nogueira is a Massachusetts filmmaker, completing his first feature film “You Still Have Time” at the age of 19, and his latest short film “Milk” in 2020 at the age of 21.
Every filmmaker should watch and learn from John Cassavetes. He’ll teach you how to stop worrying about what camera you shoot on, and how to start caring about story and people.
A man investigates a bizarre disappearance.
A young girl must live with the guilt of accidentally murdering her older brother.
A coming-of-age crime story about a girl desperate to escape her circumstances, and a brother who will double-cross her at any cost.
Daniel AM Rosenberg
Daniel is writer & director from Toronto, Canada. He got his start directing music videos, where he won an iHeartRadio MMVA for Rock Video of The Year, as well as a JUNO nomination for Video of The Year, and multiple MMVA nominations. With a focus on narrative storytelling, Daniel has directed both scripted & non-scripted programming airing on A+E Networks (UK), FYI, HGTV, MTV, Much Music, BET, and CBC Gem. Daniel is the co-creator, and director of the short-form series “The Ninth” airing on CBC GEM. He also developed and directed the short-form comedy series “Cam_Girlfriend” being released summer 2020. Daniel is currently in development of his first feature film “31 of ‘Em”.
