ROUND 6

GRADUATE

Azam Hasanpoursagharlou - You Would Fit Beautiful In My Nature       

Logline: Through the Eyes of a Steed, a Tale of Liberation Unfolds

Advisor: Michael Kuetemeyer, Temple University

Erika Lobati - scapeG.O.A.T         

Logline: When trivia master and future valedictorian Caimile Badu unfairly takes the blame for a school-wide cyber scandal, her best friends Santiago Zayas and Ananya Wani must exonerate her academic record or risk shattering her college dreams.

Advisor: Micah Magee, Temple University

Olivia –Bickel - I'm Not Broken

Logline: A mother and trauma therapist learns first-hand how MDMA-assisted therapy is transforming the psychotherapy field and her mind.

Advisor: Clemencia Rodriguez, Temple University

Shervin Maniei - Passion of Pleasure     

Logline: After his family's savings are lost to a deceitful partner, jeopardizing his hopes for a new game console, Nima takes on the challenge of bridging the growing divide between his parents, seeking to restore harmony with innocence and determination.

Advisor: Chris Cagle, Temple University

Yao Xiao - The Secret of La La    

Logline: Exploring the hidden life of Chinese lesbian "La La," this documentary dives into the unique aesthetics and culture of Chinese lesbianism, capturing the joys and pains of their journey through nuanced visual storytelling.

Advisor: Samuel Dellert, University of Pennsylvania                        

 

UNDERGRADUATE                                         

Hting Ra - A Journey to a Dream: An Immigrant Student’s Life   

Logline: Journey to the Dream follows Khawn, a Burmese woman who migrates to Philadelphia to pursue her dream of becoming a child psychologist. The film follows her journey studying at Temple University and shows how she overcomes her challenges to receive her degree.

Advisor: Rea Tajiri, Temple University

Jad Smith - A Sunday Stroll         

Growing up in Philadelphia in the age of gun violence. Trying to enjoy a date on a Sunday stroll but waliking into conflict.

Advisor: Asli Dukan, Community College of Philadelphia

Olivia Roque - Lost'n'Found      

Logline: In the age of fast fashion and consumerism, vintage shopping has been on an intense rise in the fashion world as a means of saving costs while simultaneously protecting the environment.

Advisor: George Miller, Temple University

Omar Vargas - For Every Move 

Logline: Father plays chess with his child who has passed.

Advisor: Hannah Price, Community College of Philadelphia

Thomas Chen - Alien in That Mountain

Logline: Inspired by my personal college experience, “Alien In That Mountain” is a sci-fi short film about an international student, Justin Kao, finding aliens in the mountains.

Advisor: Patricia White, Swarthmore College

 

ROUND 5

GRADUATE

Jahz Branch - 31st Street Blues

Logline: Lost in a generation of online dating, a once-hopeless romantic reflects on a new and unique romantic partnership.

Advisor: Laura Zaylea, Temple University

Joy Waldinger - Out of the Shadows: Spotlight on Deaf Culture (Then & Now)

Logline: With the goal of universal access to an archive of footage from 1992 to 2008, this docu-series aims to highlight and preserve the history, stories, performances, and interviews of Deaf artists in America for current and future generations to acknowledge, celebrate and honor those who pushed open doors for accessibility, inclusion, diversity, and representation, previously closed tight to deaf artists.

Advisor: Sally Gould-Taylor, Temple University

Lamont Nathaniel Gibson - Inherited Circumstances

Logline: Steve searches for peace only to find a dissociative version in his life.

Advisor: Chet Pancake, Temple University

Laurie Robins - Campus

Logline: Campus is an experimental documentary that considers how the architecture of Temple University’s campus reflects the shifting status of higher education in Philadelphia.

Advisor: Micah Magee, Temple University

Miles Crabtree -Rainbow Seekers

Logline: Rainbow Seekers is a queer and trans-affirming album full of joyful, exuberant music that invites queer and non-queer youth alike to explore their true selves and connect with others across identities.

Advisor: Michael L. Zanders, Temple University

Rain Jacobson – Breakthrough

Logline: Pharmacologists, therapists, indigenous healers, politicians, educators, artists, doctors, lawyers, and more are working collaboratively to explore the potential of psychedelics in a myriad of settings. This project seeks to explore the psychedelic revival in Philadelphia and the individuals who are paving the way towards legalization and destigmatization.

Advisor: Jackie Tileston, University of Pennsylvania

 

UNDERGRADUATE

Chunyang Wang - Ripples of Resilience               

Logline: Ripples of Resilience is a theatrical response and video-based documentation of six vulnerable individuals’ experiences of climate change, particularly unified by the encounter with unexpected flooding in China.

Advisor: Laila Swanson, Swarthmore College

Delaney Ziegman - Heatwave   

Logline: Amidst a sweltering November heatwave, a young woman who hasn't seen running water since she was a kid bikes past a homemade sign seeking volunteers in rebuilding a bridge, where she encounters a flourishing utopian society that teaches her to get through these trying times.

Advisor: Mike Attie, University of the Arts

Dorien Harris - On Top (working title)   

Logline: In an era where creative culture is more accessible than ever, but collaboration is dwindling, a talented musician learns the importance of community when he reluctantly collaborates with other musicians to create his album.

Advisor: Alyssa Bigbee, Rebel Arts Movement

Emilio Ramiriz - Peepholes        

Loglin: A conservative middle aged security system installer gets obsessed with a local government conspiracy, and finds out that his activism may mean more than he bargained for.

Advisor: Paul McEwan, Muhlenberg College

Gabriella Hsu - How to Play Anqi 怎麽玩暗棋               

Logline: How to Play Anqi 怎麽玩暗棋 is a short interpersonal drama about Shun and Jun who face the uncertainty of their friendship as Shun prepares to graduate early from college. Although their shared language of Chinglish (Chinese and English) flows naturally between them as they play their favorite game, anqi, their individual fears remain unspoken.

Advisor: Stephanie Ayanian, Temple University

Jennifer Low - Rose Lens!           

Logline: Rose, an alien TV sensation, struggles with what it truly means to be human as she loses herself in effort to be accepted by Earth society.

Advisor: Tommy Butler, Temple University

Lainey Macken- Predispositions

Logline:  Elena becomes haunted by the possibility that she’s genetically predisposed to schizophrenia, casting doubt on her dreams and relationships

Advisor: Neal Dhand, Temple University

Solomon Troupe - A Little Blue

Logline: A gay performer struggles to leave his abusive relationship as his musical daydreams grow darker.

Advisor: Jennica Carmona, University of the Arts

Sophie Aguila & Salvatori Camarote - Meet Me Under The Bleachers   

Loglines: When homecoming and family dinner land on the same night, a high school senior uses a mystical gateway to hide her growing identity from her mother.

Advisor: Jocelyn Tarquini, Drexel University

 

ROUND 4

GRADUATE

Cameron Gray - How to Write an Ending             

Logline: Where does story begin and where does story end? “How to Write and Ending”, is a fun, exciting, and thoughtful patchwork document full of the advice and wisdoms for writers of all kinds.

Advisor: Sarah Drury, Temple University

Erika Lobati - Feeding Reminiscence     

Logline: Documenting the cultural and personal cooking rituals of three non-professional cooks, Feeding Reminiscence explores how food evokes memory, enhances memory, and esteems the collective memory of a community.

Advisor: Rea Tajiri, Temple University

Harold  Batista - Vamos, Gustavo            

Logline: Lodged between two cyclones, Gustavo breaks his promise to evacuate just as coastguards arrive to his south Florida neighborhood. Ending up on the state deportation registry was just another form of predictable peril for him. Left alone with young Marimer after his fiancée Sara flees, he must protect the only home and family he’s ever known in America.

Advisor: Jeffrey Rush, Temple University

Isatu Shirek - My City, My Home             

Logline: This film will be a short documentary that will be taking on the deep question of the Philadelphia, PA community as to why violence has become so prevalent and what keeps the current community here after things have changed throughout the years.

Advisor: Rea Tajiri, Temple University

Rudy Gerson -The Broadwood Suite      

Logline: THE BROADWOOD SUITE is a video installation that engages the history of a professional Jewish basketball team in Philadelphia and the social dances they would hold after their home games between 1933 and 1947. The film, a musical suite in 5 movements, presents layered action portraits of a specific place in a different time, speculating on the unthinkable potentials within this dominant history through a focus on the latent conversations and intimacies between choreographies, surfaces, temporalities, and absences.              

Advisor: Syd Zolf, University of Pennsylvania                                     

 

UNDERGRADUATE         

Gabriella Hsu - Where We Never Held Hands  

Logline: On the search for love and a new script idea, Ella begins to navigate the new-age confusion of a situationship.

Advisor: King King Lu, Temple University

Huong Vu - Braised        

Logline: BRAISED follows Maggie Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American screenwriter, as she makes a surprise visit home to mend her relationship with her mom, while holding a heartbreaking secret. This is a story about a daughter, a mother, and a father, a family, where the relationships are strained through unsaid and uncomfortable misunderstandings, with the food somehow becoming a bridge for them to reach out to each other.

Advisor: Tom Quinn, Drexel University

Jackson Sweeney & Sophie Aguila -To Keep Your Vital Organs Warm

Logline: Probing her inner psyche, a pianist relives her most potent memories of musicianship in a dream featuring her former mentor.

Advisor: Jon Appel, Temple University

Katherine Mata – Honeymoon Hotel

Logline: On the night of her wedding to an abusive husband, a young bride meets a mysterious, vampiric stranger who changes everything by unlocking her darkest fantasies.

Advisor: Neal Dhand, Temple University

Leila Ibrahim -Untitled Documentary    

Logline: In search of her place within the community, this personal documentary follows a young queer woman’s journey of acceptance and self teaching as she reconnects with her Palestinian heritage.

Advisor: Mike Attie, UArts

Maya Puyat -Spotlight  

Logline: Uncomfortable in her own skin, Mabel relives past experiences that defined her insecurities, and navigates her way towards self-love.

Advisor: Amy Lee Ketchum, PAFA

Safiya Wharton –Dance to the Grave    

Logline: Dance to the Grave is an animated film about a taboo relationship between two 19th century lesbian lovers who reunite in a ballroom and cement their love in a modern-day graveyard.

Advisor: Amy Lee Ketchum, PAFA

 

MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS             

Darien  Woodard - You'll Always Have Hope    

Logline: A woman's birthday surprise is crashed, when she begins to suspect her wife is cheating and her daughter may be a psychopath.

Advisor: Aleks Martray, Big Picture Alliance

Nasya Jenkins – Lover’s Anonymous     

Logline: A young romantic is stood up on a date only to find love in an unlikely place.

Advisor: Aleks Martray, Big Picture Alliance

Symir Austin - Magenta

Logline: What should have been a routine traffic stop causes a rookie cop to confront his true nature as he struggles to find the line between danger and discrimination.

Advisor: Aleks Martray, Big Picture Alliance

Zora Ball – The Sidewalk Rule

Logline: While on the way to a concert, two friends have a dispute that blurs the lines between traditional and modern chivalry.

Advisor: Aleks Martray, Big Picture Alliance

 

ROUND 3

GRADUATE

Awra Tewolde-Berhan -  ArbAte Ayni (Four Eyes)          

Logline: Summer 2008. Fifteen-year-old twin sisters return to Eritrea with their grandmother, mother and family’s Sony DCR-SR35. Passing their camera to and from one another Awra and Zara find an eerie time capsule, compelling them to record.

Advisor: Rea Tajiri, Temple University

Eva Steinmetz- Santa Ana           

Logline: A personal reflection on the fear, grief, and humor carried by windstorms.

Advisor: Rea Tajiri, Temple University

Ireashia Bennett - Free Reign   

Logline: Free Rein is an experimental short film that meditates on the intricacies of love and community through the experiences of folks who are Black queer, trans, fat and disabled. Through a kaleidoscope of stories and archival footage, the film celebrates Black queer love and spotlights ways Black queer folks are redefining love, community, and Self outside of cis-heteronormativity, desirability politics, fatphobia and ableism.

Advisor: Chet Pancake, Temple University

Lamont Gibson -52nd Street Showdown

Logline: Post George Floyd and Walter Wallace Jr. deaths by police, an African American Philadelphia filmmaker reflects on the trauma of living through the events and what’s to come for him as a Black American.

Advisor: Chet Pancake, Temple University

Tommy Butler - The World Takes            

Logline: The heat is off, the power is out, and the family car is on the back of a tow truck when Joop, a 13 year old wannabe adult, stumbles upon a family secret and discovers the true cost of living.

Advisor: LeAnn Erickson, Temple University

                                   

UNDERGRADUATE         

Daniel Rosendale - Be Thyself         

Logline: Alan, a young, anxious, and (newly) dead gay man, finds out that the final judgment of his soul will be a game show, with God as the host.

Advisor: Mike Attie, UArts

Gabriella Hsu - When I Think of You      

Logline: When I Think of You is a short slice-of-life film centered around three Asian American sisters who make a music video for their mom. Throughout the three stages of production, they each learn a lesson about hard work that their mom teaches them.

Advisor: Michael Kuetemayer, Temple University

Laine Immell - L'Eternel Feminin

Logline: L’Eternel Feminin investigates the depiction of female sexuality and agency in art throughout history, searching for an understanding of how the gaze in art can affect social and political values and identity.

Advisor: Rea Tajiri, Temple University

Reesha Gandhi & Aby Isakove - Art Without Boundaries             

Logline: Art without Boundaries is a documentary short that puts the art of first-generation and second-generation artists in conversation with each other. This film also highlights the importance of the perspective that artists who don't have roots in the States, bring to the art world.

Advisor: Zeynup Sertbulut, Haverford College

Sarah Golczewski - Mantis Shrimp

Logline: A young girl hitchhikes her way to the ocean in order to release her late brother's pet fish she recently inherited.

Advisor: Mike Attie, UArts

 

ROUND 2

GRADUATE

Ketterick Waddell - Flying To Close To The Son

Logline: A young adult confronts a spiritual awakening while reckoning with their religious background, sexuality, and interpersonal relationships with the guidance of a mystical figure, they come to a truce with themselves and their past. of his work for over 50 years.

Advisor: Laura Zaylea, Temple University

Yashaswi Dixit - Getting To the Bottom of Myself

Logline: An unnamed protagonist navigates psychiatric care and an increasingly isolated life as the world ends and a vortex to another realm beckons.

Advisor: Lauren Wolkstein, Temple University

UNDERGRADUATE

Keyssh Datts - Decolonize Philly

Logline: The Decolonize Philly Podcast is a 5 part visual series that provides community members an opportunity to talk to community leaders, politicians, and figures they might not have the chance to. Each episode will include a rotating panel of community members, organizers and leaders in conversation based around the colonization and gentrification happening in the city.

Advisor: Nikki Harmon, Community College of Philadelphia

Lucky Marvel - All The Pretty People

Logline: Set in the Land of the Freaks and the Home of the Depraved, Sam and Adrian, a young queer couple growing apart, endure a dystopian date night at The Country Club, a patriotic floorshow promoted by Adrian’s enigmatic sugar daddy, Fox.

Advisor: Michael Attie, University of the Arts

Tamia Harvey-Martin - Within the Margins: A Collection of Voices in Chinatown

Logline: Chinatown has historically been a location where many ethnic Chinese gather to engage in individual activities and community. Within the Margins provides an introductory glance at the diversity of identities that coalesce and form Chinatown.

Advisor: Sosena Solomon, University of Pennsylvania

Victoria Waring - Sunrise, Love

Logline: Destined to spend hundreds of years under the ocean, Ambrose must make the most of his one day on the shore before returning to the sea.

Advisor: Wendy Weinberg, University of the Arts

Yilin Ye - Voguing from BJC to NYC

Logline: A short documentary film with a story of a Chinese voguing practitioner joining ballroom scenes in the US, featuring my friend, a voguer and a college student from NYU, as the protagonist.

Advisor: Louis Massiah, Swarthmore College

 

 

 

ROUND 1

GRADUATE

Arta Barzanji - Kamran Shirdel

Logline: A documentary about Kamran Shirdel, the forgotten pioneering Iranian documentary filmmaker who mysteriously stopped making films after four creating significant shorts in the 1960s. Or was that the case? The film explores how Shirdel maintained a constant lifelong commitment to cinema despite constant attempts at censorship and repression of his work for over 50 years.

Advisor: Rea Tajiri, Temple University

CJ Wattley - Orphan

Logline: Orphan is a work of cojah art which explores the role of ritual and sacred space in the spiritual self-identity of black boys.

Advisor: Kristine Weatherstone, Temple University

Laura Jingyi - I'm They

Logline: I'm They explores the struggle of the main character's relationship with their mom, the unborn siblings, and their own gender identity under the Chinese One-Child Policy.

Advisor: Joshua Mosely, University of Pennsylvania

Lindsay Gary - Who Yo' People

Logline: Who Yo’ People? is a documentary film that explores the African heritage of Louisiana, taking the audience on a journey through the vibrant history and culture of the peoples who would become known as Louisiana Creoles, while interrogating ideas of identity.

Advisor: Keda Sharber, Independent

Yinan Wang - She Is Another Me

Logline: In 2018, the birth of our daughter Zijin (Wangwang, we often call her) gave us the opportunity to reunite as a family. A year later, we decided to have my parents take Wangwang, to visit her relatives in China. Then came the epidemic, which forced them to postponei their return to the United States indefinitely.

Advisor: Rea Tajiri, Temple University

Zardosht Afshari - She Does Not Smile

Logline: Samantha, a 21-year-old music composing student, hears someone playing an eastern music instrument in the next door. She decides to find the player.

Advisor: LeeAnn Erickson, Temple University

UNDERGRADUATE

Ethan Pham - Containment

Logline: Containment is a fictional narrative about an escaped prisoner with supernatural abilities, who goes on the run from those who created him, all to further discover his mysterious new powers and identity.

Advisor: Prudence Katze, Temple University

Jared Huggins - Sheet Music

Logline: In 1930s Harlem, two black musicians sit backstage at a white-owned Jazz club, the Kitty Kat Matinee, where one of them forgets their sheet music, which ensues an argument that could put their careers - and their freedom on the line.

Advisor: LeAnn Erickson, Temple University