Fighting Words (2006)

Choking Man

The social anxiety of a morbidly shy Ecuadorian dishwasher working in a Queens diner provides the psychological engine that powers this blend of drama and magical realism.

On a Clear Day

After decades of laboring as a Glasgow shipbuilder, Frank Redmond, a no-nonsense 55-year-old working-class man, suddenly finds himself laid off. For the first time in his life, he is without a job or a sense of direction, and he's too proud to ask for guidance. His best mates - rascally Danny, timid Norman and cynical Eddie - are there for him, but Frank still feels desperately alone. An offhand remark from Danny inspires Frank to challenge himself. Already contemplating the state of his relationships with loving wife Joan and all-but-estranged son Rob, Frank is determined to shore up his own self-confidence. He will attempt the near impossible - swimming the English Channel.

The Debut

Filipino-American high school student Ben (Dante Basco) works in a comic book shop to earn money to pay his way into Cal Arts. His father, a postman, is determined that his son--who has won a pre-med scholarship to UCLA--will become a doctor. The eighteenth birthday party of Ben's sister, Rose, sets off a comedic and touching series of events and family struggles that will in turn determine young Ben's future. This fresh independent production from Gene Cajayon presents a lighthearted and warm coming-of-age tale filtered through the eyes of an American subculture rarely seen on film.

Stratosphere Girl

Angela is a French art student living in Germany who loves to draw comics and creates elaborate tales drawn in a soft and romantic style. One night, Angela meets Yamamoto, a club DJ from Japan, who invites her to come to Tokyo with him. Infatuated with Yamamoto, Angela impulsively agrees, and is soon sharing an apartment with a handful of Western expatriates who work at a nightclub where Japanese businessmen drink, sing karaoke, and date the "hostesses" for a fee.

A Lake

The action unfolds in a country about which we know nothing, a land of snow and forests, somewhere in the North. A family lives in an isolated house near a lake. Alexi, a young, pure-hearted man, is a woodcutter. Occasionally suffering from epileptic seizures and overcome by an ecstatic state, he is one with the nature around him. Alexi is very close to his younger sister, Hege. Their blind mother, father, and younger brother, silently observe this uncontrollable love. One day a stranger arrives, a young man slightly older than Alexi.

Schwarz Weiss Bunt

Facing the loss of her youthfulness, Matilda finds herself at a turning point in her life. Refreshing encounters and unexpected longings force her to face rigid self-understandings with new openness. A surprising and empathetic look at the lives of young adults.

The Hanging Garden

William, a once obese and troubled teen, goes back to his family's home after being gone, without word, for ten years and finds it (and his family) haunted with his past. He had moved to the city and become a fit, well-adjusted gay man, but during his visit home, he becomes unhinged as the newly remembered reasons for his miserable adolescence come to life in each of their presents.

The Missing Person

John Rosow drinks to forget. He is a former New York City cop turned Chicago-based private investigator. At the last minute, he is hired by someone he's never met to follow a middle-aged male subject on the soon-departing California Zephyr train to Los Angeles.

The Sex Movie

Four friends spend an evening together after time apart. Differences in sex and sexuality reveal deep-rooted conflicts and long-hidden longings.

The Triumph of Love

A princess is determined to restore her homeland's throne to its rightful heir, a young prince with whom she falls in love.

Young, Single & Angry

Since girlhood, TAYLOR has believed that love and marriage are the most important events in every woman's life. Now she's 35 and single with no prospects in sight. As Taylor and her friends wade through the mire of the L.A. dating pool, they realize a lot more is involved in finding the right mate as they meet co-dependents, addicts and sexual deviants. As they hit bottom, thinking there maybe no happiness in their future, a trap door opens leading them to the discovery that they can find happiness within themselves.

Bunny and the Bull

A young shut-in takes an imaginary road trip inside his apartment, based on mementos and memories of a European trek from years before.

Partner(s)

An enterprising lawyer, acting on a report that a female colleague is up to make partner, plays up the established rumor that he's gay in order to better his chances at edging out his competition.

Living the Dream

"Living the Dream" is a docudrama about two friends who after being bullied as children become corrupt when growing up because they have been conditioned to believe that they need to achieve materialistic success to be 'accepted' and liked by others, in a society where the end justifies the means.

Mouth to Mouth

An aimless adolescent joins several itinerant misfits who live on the fringe of society and welcome at-risk youths into their fold.

Dreamland

A young woman who lives in a desert trailer park must choose between caring for her hapless father and sick friend or fulfilling her own destiny.

Alice

Alice Tate, mother of two, with a marriage of 16 years, finds herself falling for a handsome sax player, Joe. Stricken with a backache, she consults herbalist Dr. Yang, who realizes that her problems are not related to her back, but in her mind and heart. Dr. Yang's magical herbs give Alice wondrous powers, taking her out of her well-established rut.

The Limits of Control

A mysterious stranger works outside the law and keeps his objectives hidden, trusting no one. While his demeanor is paradoxically focused and dreamlike all at once, he embarks on a journey that not only takes him across Spain, but also through his own consciousness.

Chapter 27

A film about Mark David Chapman in the days leading up to the infamous murder of Beatle John Lennon.

Tiptoes

A man is reluctant to tell his fiancee that his parents, uncle and brother are dwarfs.

Lonesome Cowboys

Five lonesome cowboys get all hot and bothered at home on the range after confronting Ramona Alvarez and her nurse.

Little Voice

After the death of her father, Little Voice or LV becomes a virtual recluse, never going out and hardly ever saying a word. She just sits in her bedroom listening to her father's collection of old records of Shirley Bassey, Marilyn Monroe and various other famous female singers. But at night time, LV sings, imitating these great singers with surprising accuracy. One night she is overheard by one of her mother's boyfriends, who happens to be a talent agent. He manages to convince her that her talent is special and arranges for her to perform at the local night club, but several problems arise.

The Lovers

A shallow, provincial wife finds her relationship with her preoccupied husband strained by romantic notions, leading her further towards Paris and the country wilderness.

Deconstructing Harry

Writer Harry Block draws inspiration from people he knows, and from events that happened to him, sometimes causing these people to become alienated from him as a result.

Bloody Sunday

The dramatised story of the Irish civil rights protest march on January 30 1972 which ended in a massacre by British troops.

Local Color

A successful artist looks back with loving memories on the summer of his defining year, 1974. A talented but troubled 18-year-old aspiring artist befriends a brilliant elderly alcoholic painter who has turned his back on not only art but life. The two form what appears to be at first a tenuous relationship. The kid wants to learn all the secrets the master has locked away inside his head and heart. Time has not been kind to the old master. His life appears pointless to him until the kid rekindles his interest in his work and ultimately gives him the will to live. Together, they give one another a priceless gift. The kid learns to see the world through the master's eyes. And the master learns to see life through the eyes of innocence again. This story is based on a real life experience.

Daddy

Dead memories are reborn into grisly new realities as the villagers of small lakefront community hide their monstrous past forcing the local Sheriff to confront the powers that be as well as her own inner demons.

Neuroworld

Nothing is what it looks like. Everything is possible. Emotional parasyte dance in a mask play. Monika and Kristina are flatmates and maybe friends. One of the two is a famous YouTuber. One gun, two guns... Based on Miguel Ángel Martín's comics, this story won't leave you indifferent. It happens in a world which could be ours, where technology and social media changed the way we relate to each other.

Finder's Fee

Friends Tepper, Quigley, Fishman, and Bolan get together for a weekly poker night with two simple rules: Everyone contributes a lottery ticket to the pot, and no one checks the numbers until the game ends. But this particular, stormy night is different: Tepper plans to propose to his girlfriend, and just before the weekly game, he finds a wallet outside his apartment with a winning lottery ticket worth $6 million. Tepper calls the wallet's owner, Avery, to come collect what's his, but keeps the winning ticket for himself...only for Avery to show up and ask to play a hand.

A Night In Heaven

Faye Hanlon is a community-college professor with an emotionally depressed husband and an abundance of sexual frustration. Her sister drags her to a male strip-club for a girls-night out, where she discovers that one of the dancers is her failing student Rick Monroe, a.k.a. "Ricky the Rocket". A heated affair between teacher & student ensues, as Faye struggles to reconcile her emotions and make consequential life choices: Continue her lustful sessions with the studly-but-shallow teen stripper? Or break it off with Ricky & work to salvage her marriage to the loving-but-distant husband?

Hannah Takes the Stairs

Hannah is a recent college graduate interning at a Chicago production company. She is crushing on two writers at work, Matt and Paul, who share an office and keep her entertained. Will a relationship with one of them disrupt the delicate balance of their friendship?

Transamerica

A transgender woman takes an unexpected journey when she learns that she had a son, now a teenage runaway hustling on the streets of New York.

Young Soul Rebels

Two disc jockeys have a friend's murder to solve in the fringe-group melting pot of 1977 London.

Now You Know

On the eve of his bachelor party, a man learns his fiancee wants to call off the wedding. The unmarried couple returns to New Jersey to sort out their relationship.

The Pool Boys

A pool boy and a gardener turn an empty mansion into a home for women who belong to the world's oldest profession.

Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael

Movie star Roxy Carmichael is abandoning the bright lights of Hollywood, Calif. and returning to her small Ohio hometown -- at least long enough to dedicate a city building. And now the whole town of Clyde is bracing for Carmichael's return, most of all her now-married old flame Denton Webb and troubled teen Dinky Bossetti. An orphan with few friends, Dinky is convinced that Carmichael is her birth mother, and that the actress will reclaim her when she returns.

Slippery Slope

A cash strapped feminist filmmaker secretly takes a job directing a porn film in order to get her thesis film, "Feminism For Dummies" out of the lab. Soon, her own slumbering sexuality is awakened in surprising ways. This arouses the suspicion of her politically correct husband, Hugh, and leads to a madcap finale of mistaken identity that threatens to upend Gillian's best laid plans.

Wooly Boys

A sheep rancher's visit to the big city triggers a mischevious adventure with his teenage grandson.

Aurora Borealis

A young man struggles to correct his life after the death of his father.

Severe Injuries

A bumbling and inept serial killer stalks the residents of a sorority house and finds himself up against a murderous competitor for the body count.

Leo

A young mother is plagued by a tragic mistake and alienates her little boy. A brilliant writer is released from prison after serving a 15-year sentence and begins working at Vic's Diner. Their stories converge when the man must overcome obstacles of the past to save the little boy and ultimately himself.

On the Doll

A lurid, dark look into the lives of sex workers, where victims of child abuse deal with the consequences later in life.

Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God... Be Back by Five

Two young men who have been friends since early childhood decide to go on a trip to find a third friend who has long since disappeared. Stories they have heard indicate that the friend has been seen in an apparently rambling, incoherent state at Coney Island. Their trip leads them to a number of adventures involving the otherworld-like life at the Park and revelations related to their own pasts including the death of one's sister, a failed past relationship, financial failings, and alcoholism.

Bright Star

In 1818, high-spirited young Fanny Brawne finds herself increasingly intrigued by the handsome but aloof poet John Keats, who lives next door to her family friends the Dilkes. After reading a book of his poetry, she finds herself even more drawn to the taciturn Keats. Although he agrees to teach her about poetry, Keats cannot act on his reciprocated feelings for Fanny, since as a struggling poet he has no money to support a wife.

24 City

As a decades-old state-run aeronautics munitions factory in downtown Chengdu, China is being torn down for the construction of the titular luxury apartment complex, director Jia Zhangke interviews various people affiliated with it about their experiences.

1981

Filmmaker Ricardo Trogi recalls the events surrounding his family moving to a new neighborhood when he was 11 years old.

Boynton Beach Club

Residents of an adult community in Florida turn to one another for support and companionship after the deaths of their spouses. Lois has a rejuvenating affair with a younger man while acting as best friend to recently widowed Marilyn. Jack buddies up with Harry for a crash course in solo survival skills and deals with single gal Sandy's romantic overtures.

Closing Numbers

Keith, Anna and their son Peter are a close, loving family living in a smart suburban street of a provincial city. Anna is a typical middle-class housewife, filling her day with good works, until one day, when she finds a note that leads to a shattering discovery - her husband has been having an affair. Anna's intense shock at finding out Keith's secret is compounded when she arranges to meet his lover. When Steve arrives at the meeting place, Anna is forced to accept the fact that Keith has been leading a double life for the length of their marriage. Steve stresses the risk of AIDS and urges Anna to have an AIDS test. To show her what it can be like to live with the disease, he introduces her to Jim, who needs 24-hour care and has developed a realistic attitude towards his own death. When Keith leaves home suddenly, Anna is forced to tell her son about the threat of HIV, but Peter turns violently against her and runs away.

Careful

The mountain-village passions of a German widow and her sons unfold in the style of a 1920s expressionist movie.

Shimmer

The solo actor in Shimmer tells the story by becoming each character in turn. The play takes place in 1956, in a harsh Midwestern juvenile detention center, where two boys befriend each other.

The Lost Coast

Mark, Jasper and Lily are high school friends now in their early twenties. Mark is gay, living with Lily (his high school girlfriend), while Jasper is straight and soon to be married. A cynical and bitter trio barely connected by their past friendship, they reunite for the annual public Halloween celebration in San Francisco's Castro district.

Moving Malcolm

Depressed after being dumped by his actress fiance', a man tries to win her back by agreeing to help her elderly British father move while she films a low-budget movie overseas.

Loggerheads

A troubled woman seeks out the child she gave up for adoption; a gay motel owner takes in a handsome drifter; and the wife of a preacher frets that a gay couple has moved in across the street. All of their lives will intersect as Loggerheads subtly draws out their secret losses and desires.

12 and Holding

Three close knit 12-year-olds - introverted Jacob, precocious Malee and vulnerable Leonard - start down the path of self-discovery and begin to distinguish their own voices from those of their parents.

3 Needles

A three-paneled look at the worldwide AIDS crisis: in Montreal, a porn actor schemes to pass his mandatory blood test; a young nun makes a personal sacrifice for the benefit of a South African village; in rural China, a black market operative posing as a government-sanctioned blood drawer jeopardizes an entire village's safety

The Art of Travel

High school grad. Conner Layne is about to marry his first love, but when wedding plans fail, he goes solo on his honeymoon to Central America, finding adventure with a ragtag group of foreigners who attempt to cross the Darien Gap in record time.

Focus

In the waning months of World War II, a man and his wife are mistakenly identified as Jews by their anti-Semitic Brooklyn neighbors. Suddenly the victims of religious and racial persecution, they find themselves aligned with a local Jewish immigrant in a struggle for dignity and survival.

Alone With Her

The harrowing story of a disturbed young man's attempts to win the affections of an unsuspecting young woman. When Doug first sees Amy, he instantly falls for her and begins to watch her every move, going so far as to set up spy cameras in her apartment. However, as his fascination grows into obsession he's no longer satisfied with just watching.

Berkeley

Just as sex, drugs, rock & roll, hippies, and Vietnam enter our consciousness, so it does for Ben Sweet, the shy, 18-year-old son of conservative businessman, Sy. Ben enters UC Berkeley in 1966 to avoid the draft, but finds himself smack in the middle of a home-grown revolution.