the matchbox (2024)

Traffic

An exploration of the United States of America's war on drugs from multiple perspectives. For the new head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the war becomes personal when he discovers his well-educated daughter is abusing cocaine within their comfortable suburban home. In Mexico, a flawed, but noble policeman agrees to testify against a powerful general in league with a cartel, and in San Diego, a drug kingpin's sheltered trophy wife must learn her husband's ruthless business after he is arrested, endangering her luxurious lifestyle.

Let Liv

A young alcoholic woman agrees to attend an AA meeting with her partner. When she unexpectedly runs into her estranged mother, she's forced to confront demons from her past.

Ode to Passion

In New York City, a young writer's resolute belief in true love is put to the test by a beautiful girl and her struggle with addiction. This original rock musical drama is made unique by its non-musical scenes spoken purely in verse.

Cruel Intentions

Slaking a thirst for dangerous games, Kathryn challenges her stepbrother, Sebastian, to deflower their headmaster's daughter before the summer ends. If he succeeds, the prize is the chance to bed Kathryn. But if he loses, Kathryn will claim his most prized possession.

Low Down

The daughter of jazz pianist Joe Albany witnesses her beloved father's struggle -- and failure -- to kick his heroin habit.

Submarine

Charlotte is an alcoholic trying to complete her first year of sobriety. One evening, when the urge to drink is so strong that she fears a relapse, Charlotte goes to see her sponsor, Jeanne, an alcoholic who has been sober for over five years. However, when Charlotte arrives at Jeanne's, she finds her sponsor in a state of drunkenness. With the roles of helper and cared-for now reversed, Charlotte decides to step in.

Fly Me to the Moon

Sisters moving from Hunan to Hong Kong in the 1990s are faced with an identity crisis, poverty, and their father's drug addiction.

Veronika Voss

In Munich 1955, German film star Veronika Voss becomes a drug addict at the mercy of corrupt Dr. Marianne Katz, who keeps her supplied with morphine. After meeting sports writer Robert Krohn, Veronika begins to dream of a return to stardom. As the couple's relationship escalates in intensity, Veronika begins seriously planning her return to the screen -- only to realize how debilitated she has become through her drug habit.

Gia

Gia Carangi meteorically rises to modeling fame in the late 1970s but becomes overconsumed by persistent loneliness and drug addiction.

Fritz the Cat

A swinging, hypocritical college student cat raises hell in a satirical vision of the 1960s.

Factory Girl

In the mid-1960s, wealthy debutant Edie Sedgwick meets artist Andy Warhol. She joins Warhol's famous Factory and becomes his muse. Although she seems to have it all, Edie cannot have the love she craves from Andy, and she has an affair with a charismatic musician, who pushes her to seek independence from the artist and the milieu.

.45

Kate and her brutish boyfriend Big Al sell handguns on the streets of New York. She's smart, stylish, and self-confident, but all that leaves her when Al, in a jealous and self-indulgent rage, beats her. Three friends encourage her recovery: Vic, a woman who would like to be Kate's lover; Reilly, who runs with Al but also is attracted to Kate and repulsed by Al's violence; and, Liz, the counselor assigned to Kate from a battered-women's program. Vic and Reilly talk about killing Al, Liz gives pep talks; Kate remains frightened. Will Al's menace and Kate's dependency hold sway?

Love Lies Bleeding

Reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Las Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family.

Thirteen

When average 13-year-old Tracy befriends Evie, the most popular girl in school, Tracy's world is turned upside down as Evie introduces her to a world of sex, drugs and cash. But it isn't long before Tracy's new world and attitude finally takes a toll on her, her family, and old friends.

Around the Fire

Simon is an intelligent and privileged young man whose family expects him to become a Princeton graduate. Crying out for attention from his reserved and cool hearted family, Simon commits numerous petty crimes and is soon sent away to boarding school where he befriends a "Deadhead," adopts the "hippie" lifestyle and dabbles in many drugs in his search for acceptance.

Lady Sings the Blues

Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday, beginning with her traumatic youth. The story depicts her early attempts at a singing career and her eventual rise to stardom, as well as her difficult relationship with Louis McKay, her boyfriend and manager. Casting a shadow over even Holiday's brightest moments is the vocalist's severe drug addiction, which threatens to end both her career and her life.

Oisys

An unemployed dry alcoholic and former smoker longs to escape his shadows in a small abandoned village. Triggered by a mysterious meeting with his neighbour, he must face temptation, hallucinations and nightmares as he searches for his own fulfillment (in form of a cake).

O

A woman sees a fist-sized hole in a brick wall. She's hypnotically drawn to it and can't focus on anything else. An increasingly morbid obsession begins, until the hole suddenly disappears..."

Coven

An alcohol/drug abuser re-examines his life until he nearly dies from an overdose. Then a friend convinces him to join a self-help group which turns out to be demonic.

Parachute

Riley has recently been discharged from rehab after struggling with food and body image issues. She soon meets Ethan and finds herself navigating the line between unconditional love and a new addiction.

Fierce People

A massage therapist looking to overcome her addictions and reconnect with her son, whose father is an anthropologist in South America studying the Yanomani people, moves in with a wealthy ex-client in New Jersey.

Second Screen

Second Screen follows David, a fitness influencer who begins to develop an addiction to social media. As this takes a drastic turn in order to keep his online persona intact, will he able to deal with the reality he faces in front of him?

Rush

Undercover cop Jim Raynor (Jason Patric) is a seasoned veteran. His partner, Kristen Cates (Jennifer Jason Leigh), is lacking in experience, but he thinks she's tough enough to work his next case with him: a deep cover assignment to bring down the notoriously hard-to-capture drug lord Gaines (Gregg Allman). While their relationship turns romantic during the assignment, they also turn into junkies, and will have to battle their own addictions if they want to bring down Gaines once and for all.

Bugcrush

A teenager's infatuation with the new bad boy at school leads him onto a dark path.

Asthma

A young musician takes a beautiful tattoo artist on a ride in a stolen classic car.

Habit

It's autumn in New York. Sam has broken up with his girlfriend and his father has recently died. World-weary and sloppy drunk, he finds temporary solace in the arms of Anna, a mysterious vampire who draws him away from his friends and into a web of addiction and madness.

The Lost Weekend

Don Birnam, a long-time alcoholic, has been sober for ten days and appears to be over the worst... but his craving has just become more insidious. Evading a country weekend planned by his brother and girlfriend, he begins a four-day bender that just might be his last - one way or another.

The Addiction

A vampiric doctoral student tries to follow the philosophy of a nocturnal comrade and control her thirst for blood.

High Art

A young female intern at a small magazine company becomes involved with a drug-addicted lesbian photographer, both of whom seek to exploit each other for their respective careers, while slowly falling in love with each other.

Bones and All

Abandoned by her father, a young woman embarks on a thousand-mile odyssey through the backroads of America where she meets a disenfranchised drifter. But despite their best efforts, all roads lead back to their terrifying pasts and to a final stand that will determine whether their love can survive their otherness.

Structural Amendment

Lucio, a piano teacher who cannot tolerate his loneliness, decides to rebuild his life based on the different ties he forges with his own students.

The Lady Gambles

When Joan Boothe accompanies husband-reporter David to Las Vegas, she begins gambling to pass the time while he is doing a story. Encouraged by the casino manager, she gets hooked on gambling, to the point where she "borrows" David's expense money to pursue her addiction. This finally breaks up their marriage, but David continues trying to help her.

Heaven Knows What

A young heroin addict roams the streets of New York to panhandle and get her next fix, while her unstable boyfriend drifts in and out of her life at random.

Long Day's Journey Into Night

Over the course of one foggy day in August 1912, a retired Irish theater actor grapples with the morphine addiction of his unbalanced wife, debauchery of his older son, and sickness of the youngest son as past guilts, repressed anger, and deep-seated regrets slowly come boiling out, threatening to destroy the family.

Tyler

A young man who loses his job is trapped in a small town that has fallen victim to economic ruin. He resorts to extreme measures to escape and start a new life.

Down to the Bone

A woman stuck in a stale marriage struggles to raise her children and manage her secret drug habit. But when winter comes to her small town, her balancing act begins to come crashing down.

For You

A coroner reunites with a great love from the past, realizing that the memories are more vivid than ever.

Clean

After she ends up in prison and loses custody of her son, a woman struggles to assimilate outside her former life and remain clean long enough to regain custody of her son.

Heel

Beyond the flashy outfits and body slams, pro wrestling can be a dark and lawless world. HEEL is a narrative short that explores this world, and touches on the sensitive topics of addiction and sexual assault.

The Outrun

Fresh out of rehab, Rona returns to the Orkney Islands—a place both wild and beautiful, right off the Scottish coast. Now 29 and after more than a decade of living life on the edge in London, where she both found and lost love, Rona attempts to come to terms with her troubled past. As she reconnects with the dramatic landscape where she grew up, memories of her traumatic childhood merge with more recent challenging events that have set her on the path to recovery.

Iowa

A cautionary tale of love, crime, fantasy and addiction that follows two young Iowan lovers who decide to go into the "batch" business - cooking their own methamphetamine - only to watch it burn a searing hole in their lives.