FBIFF Award Winners!

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An Egypt Affair/USA; Director/Producer: Marlin Darrah; Writers: Will Patching, Eric Weinstock; Producers: Nick Dreselly Thomas, Lin Zuo, Vicky Dawson; Key Cast: Yolanthe Cabau, Jarred Harper; A husband rejected. A beautiful stranger. A dangerous liaison. For two couples enjoying a spectacular Egyptian adventure, treachery and deception cruise the Nile along with them. Runtime: 1:22:04

Backyard Solutions/USA; Director/Writer/Producer: Hannah Irvine; Key Cast: Taylor Hall; This film chronicles a first-time experience raising chickens in an urban neighborhood of Southern California. By nurturing chickens to thrive in their natural state a symbiotic loop of benefits is created where positive environmental and societal shifts can take place. For modern day consumers, the positive ripple effect of raising backyard chickens may not be obvious, but this story illuminates the mutual benefits of small scale agriculture. Runtime: 14:28

Benched/USA; Director/Writer/Producer: Alice Hoskins; Producer: Bruce Hoskins; Key Cast: Yvonne Purple, Anji Joyner, Kendra Dake, Alice Hoskins; Four friends are entering their 50s and a new stage in their lives. Runtime: 20:54

Carbon Men Salvation: The Senator’s Dilemma/USA; Director/Writer/Producer: Roger James Kuhns; Producer: Anne Wilhelmina Schmidt; Key Cast: Carin Jennie Estey, William Edward Young, John Mills, Mark Moede, Saundra Laub, Roger James Kuhns, Douglas Macki, Robert Brooks Mendel, Ronn Toebaas, Jackson Hine, Susan Barg, Emma Chodos, Ciara Nichelle Rollins, David William Kuhns, Audrey Schrage, Hans Rollema, Matthew Monroe Kuhns, Anne Wilhelmina Schmidt, Christine Palm, Gary Yohe; This political science fiction drama explores the interaction between politics, relationships and climate science. Runtime: 1:39:25

Celebrations Around the World/USA; Director: Melissa Glasscock; Animation and Character Design: Kirsten Foreman, Nan Wang, Chloe’ Weary; This animation highlights different celebrations from around the world including: Mardi Gras, Day of the Dead, Tomb Sweeping, Obon, Eid al-Fitr, Diwali, Hanukkah and New Year’s Day. Runtime: 7:24

Cheers to Yoga with the Bawns/USA; Director: Milena (Sellers) Phillips; Producer/Writer KM McNeel; Key Cast: Jeffrey Earnest, Portia Gregory; A wife attempts to teach her husband yoga. Runtime: 4:01

Dean LeCrone vs the Mutants of Comic-Con/USA; Director/Writer: Dean LeCrone; Producer: Allen R. Freeman; Key Cast: Dean LeCrone, Allen R. Freeman; Carla Brandon; Danielle Cyr; Harold Dvorak; Karyl Miller; Follow the adventures of wild, crazy, cartoonist and actor Dean LeCrone as he journeys through the largest pop culture event in the world: the San Diego International Comic-Con. See what madness and hilarity take place behind the doors of the biggest comic book convention on the planet. Runtime: 51:00

Dungeons & Disaster/USA; Director/Producer/Writer: James Deuling; Key Cast: Kristofer Mikal, Jinny Ryann, Jason Dalhouse, Corrinne Mica, Brian Tran, Talisa Gamboa; A group of friends play D&D but the Dungeon Master struggles to bring their epic tale to a close as one of the players threatens to destroy everything. Runtime: 3:07

Get Lost in the Outdoors/USA; Director/Producer: Allen Freeman; Producer: Dean LeCrone; Key Cast: Dean LeCrone, Jacob Dubizhansky, Julie Coffman, Allen Freeman, Vienna Rice, Robin Satori; A 39 year old man named Melvin – who after 30 years – is still attempting to acquire his Junior Ranger badge with the National Park Service. He encounters a militant aggressive senior park ranger named Hubert who puts Melvin through an insane training regimen that goes off the rails! Runtime: 1:28:55

Goons, Guns and the Gumshoe/USA; Director/Producer/Writer: Jim Menza; Producer: Rocco Menza; Key Cast: Adam Rebora, Kevin Marquette, Jim Menza, Margarete Thompson, Mikkel Knutson, Paige Larkowski, Jeff Kasnicka, Niko Caponigro, Kristin, Auge, Jack Burr; An old-fashioned private detective is hired to find a missing woman and comes across a wild, strange collection of characters. Runtime: 1:37:57

Krampuss/Iceland; Director/Writer: Guoni Lindal Benediktsson; Producer/Writer: Aevar Por Benediktsson; Key Cast: Aevar Por Benediktsson, Arni Petur Guojonsson, Aoalbjorg Arnadottir; On Christmas Eve, an Icelandic family comes face to face with the Yule Cat, a ravenous creature of folklore hungry for those who didn’t get clothes for Christmas. Runtime: 7:49  

Letter from a Stranger/Iran; Director/Writer/Producer: Shima Markazi Omidvar; A short 2D animation that explores the delicate interplay between two colleagues working in a large library. Despite the absence of an apparent connection, the story highlights how their actions impact each other’s mental health, subtly revealing the concept of “hidden violence” in contemporary society. Runtime: 5:49

Mixed/Iran; Director/Producer: Mina Sadat Hosseini; Writer: Hafez Ahi; Key Cast: Neda Aghighi; A female teacher is sexually harassed on a street in the Islamic Republic of Iran. She must choose between silence and protest… Runtime: 11:15

Shaped by the Sea/USA; Director/Producer: Jared Jacobsen; Take a journey from the past to the present as surfer and shaper Bill Minard reflects on over 50 years in the surfing industry. Runtime: 32:32

Shift Change/USA; Director/Producer: Mark Hensley; Writer: Amy Dellagiarino; Producer: Phil Idrissi;  Key Cast: Phil Idrissi, Max E. Williams, Susan Louise O’Connor, Freya Adams, Glenn Stanton, Cathy Lind Hayes, Shaun Bedgood, Katy Mahard, Peggy Lewis, Richard Lewis; After an extraordinary long career, two cosmic coworkers have their last weekly meeting together before one of them moves on to an even higher calling. Runtime: 20:00

Solace/USA; Director/Writer: Sophia Elise Wright; Writer: Dan Solares; Producer: Milana Bryan; Editor: Joshua Geller; Key Cast: Dan Solares, Luca Pujol; The story follows best friends, Tony and Raul, whose bond forever changes when Raul shows Tony his memory box full of old photos, also revealing his ownership of a weapon. Taken aback, Tony must discover the reason why Raul has a gun, and what he can do to help him. Solace is the story that reflects on breaking through the darkness, finding solace in someone else. Runtime: 19:09

Table for Two/USA; Director: Tom Logan; Writer/Producer: Corey Ramsey; Producers: Mario Ortiz, Robert Eldridge, Gerren Hall; Key Cast: Georgia Van Cuylenburg; Michael Emery; John Frazier takes the shy but beautiful Ann Daniels to dinner. As the evening unfolds he quickly realizes the secrets he spent years protecting are threatened by his inquisitive date. Devastating truths about the pair are exposed and neither will be the same after the explosive conclusion. Runtime: 10:10

The Journey Within/Pakistan; Director/Writer/Producer: Mian Adnan Ahmad; In post 9/11 Pakistan, a quest for self-identity leads the inspirational journey of a music show to reclaim the rich and vast musical heritage of the region, defying odds to become one of the biggest music initiatives from this side of the world. It is the origin story of Coke Studio which is today one of the biggest music shows from South Asia. Runtime: 1:17:52

The Lotus Eaters/USA; Director/Producer/Editor: Alicia Dagry; Key Cast: Milena M. Phillips, Jason Phillips, Holt Fisher, Devin Collins, Shane Sullivan; A student’s English project about the Lotus Eaters from The Odyssey. Runtime: 5:44

The Red Market/USA; Director/Writer: Christopher Matthew Spencer; Producers: Brian Cutler, Jill Morehouse, Ramiro Leal; Key Cast: Maddox Anaya, Evan Jachelski, Ramiro Leal, Kaela Maree Villegas, Olivia Pruitt, Meg Reynolds, Christopher Matthew Spencer, William Andrew White, Ryan Rathbun, Sarahbeth Zohrehvand; A young man drowning in debt turns to the Global Organ Donor Exchange to sell his body parts. Runtime: 8:46

Vasomotor Rhinitis/Georgia; Director: Mikheil Gabaidze; Producers: Sofiko Komakhidze, Elene Jafaridze; Editors: Amiran Vadachkoria, Shota Gujabidze; Key Cast: David Jakeli, Zaal Goguadze, Tatia Tatarashvili, Irakli Chankvetadze, Soso Sturua, Petre Chargeishvili, Gvantsa Tsekvashvili; This short film is based on Anton Chekhov’s “Death of a Civil Servant”. The main character sneezes in a concert hall and puts a high-ranking official in an embarrassing situation. Despite apologizing, the main character feels a slavish fear that ultimately proves fatal to his life. Runtime: 15:00

Voiceless/Afghanistan; Director/Producer: Zahra Mojahed; Writer: Jawad Jafari; Fereshte a girl who dreamed of singing but her dreams ended when the Taliban came but… Runtime: 14:38

Who Is It/USA; Director/Producer/Writer: Jim Menza; Producers: Rocco Menza, Kevin Marquette; Key Cast: Kevin Marquette, Kristin Auge, Rocco Menza, Adam Rebora, Jim Menza; Inept criminals are put on edge as one of their own seems to have turned against them. Runtime: 1:34:00

Writer, Director, Producer & Author, Don B. Welch has written & directed over 30 stage productions and 4 films. Currently he is one of the directors for the TV drama series "Hush" on the ALLBLK.TV streaming service, and his short film "Babygirl" has received over 100 film festival awards, (world-wide) including 3 awards at the Cannes Film Festival. In addition, actors such Loretta Devine, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Lynn Whitfield, Marla Gibbs, & Dawnn Lewis, to name a few have all starred in a Don B. Welch production. Currently he is in rehearsals for 2 plays: "The Soul Cafe" & "Heavenbound". His next film "Just Before Sundown" which deals with internet cyber bullying of school age youth, premieres early 2025.  
He will be showing his film "Babygirl" and having a Q&A on Saturday in Program D (5:00 pm)

Writer, Director, and Producer Chris Boyd grew up in San Marcos and Mira Mesa and attended film school at the University of Southern California, where he graduated with his B.F.A. in Writing for Screen and Television. He found his first job in major feature film production in 2011 as a Production Assistant on Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows for Warner Bros. in London. In the ensuing years, he worked as an Assistant to Producers as well as an Associate Producer on feature films and television shows in the UK, Budapest, and South America. Concurrently, he also wrote and produced numerous award-winning short films and non-fiction projects, including the BAFTA-winning short Last Night in Edinburgh and Vimeo Staff Pick short film The Come Up. His debut feature documentary, The First Padres, was acquired by PBS and won an Emmy Award, with Chris writing, directing, and producing. His next feature, Black’s Beach, was also acquired by PBS in 2018. From 2019-2024 he was an embedded documentarian on cultural heritage preservation projects in Jordan, Tunisia, and Libya working through funding from the US State Department and the British Council, among other organizations. During this period he produced the short doc LAYERS which was an installation at LACMA, directed the short doc Dissent which was awarded at numerous festivals and acquired for streaming, and produced two independent feature docs.
As a screenwriter, he has written feature screenplays for Sony, Lionsgate, and Warner Bros. Studios. In 2020, he was a credited writer on the Sundance Film Festival feature Charm City Kings from Sony Pictures, alongside Oscar winner Barry Jenkins; the film was released by HBO. In 2020 Chris made his feature film directorial debut with the narrative feature 5 South, winning “Best Feature Film” at San Diego Film Week for the independent film that was produced entirely in San Diego and Baja. Soon after Chris was brought on to produce Skaters, one of the largest indie features produced in San Diego in the last decade. In 2023 he was awarded a Lead Artist grant by the California Arts Council to develop, produce, and direct a series of five short films. Chris resides in San Diego where he works as a writer and commercial producer and develops documentary projects. 

Artists Everywhere features plays written by five formerly incarcerated writers translated to film by Chris Boyd, an independent filmmaker and teaching artist for Playwrights Project.

He will be showing films and having a Q&A on Sunday in Program I (5:15 pm)

PROGRAM  - A    10:45 am  to 1 pm

Voiceless

Carbon Men Salvation: The Senator’s Dilemma

PROGRAM – B   1:00 pm to 2:45 pm

Dean LeCrone vs the Mutants of Comic-Con

Cheers to Yoga with the Bawns 

The Red Market

Celebrations Around the World

Benched

Mixed

PROGRAM – C   3:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Shift Change

Vasomotor Rhinitis

An Egypt Affair

PROGRAM – D   5:15 pm to 7:00 pm

Screen film and then Q&A with Writer, Director, Producer, Author Don B. Welch

PROGRAM – E  7:15 pm to 9:15 pm

Shaped by the Sea

Get Lost in the Outdoors

PROGRAM – F 11:00 am to 12:40 pm 

Goons, Guns and the Gumshoe

PROGRAM – G 12:50 pm to 2:45 pm

The Journey Within

Letter from a Stranger

Backyard Solutions

Table for Two

Dungeons & Disaster

PROGRAM – H 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm 

Who Is It

Solace

Krampuss

PROGRAM – I 5:15 pm to 7:15 pm

Screen films & then Q&A with Writer, Director, Producer Chris Boyd

7:15 pm

AWARDS AND AFTER PARTY!!!!!