Back by popular demand, this third and final screening for 2019 from the 38th annual tour of the renowned Black Maria Film Festival at Princeton University, follows the February Festival Premiere screening that had a standing-room-only audience, and a spring program focusing on documentary. These eight new short narrative and animated films, introduced by Festival Director Jane Steuerwald, focus on fiction-based storytelling through live-action and animation.
FEATURED FILMS IN PROGRAM:
TIGER, OAK & ECHO
Narrative, 19 min.
by Cy Kuckenbaker (San Diego, CA)
Young Echo longs to join his older brother in the guerilla war against the Soviet army occupying his homeland, Lithuania. He persuades his brother, Tiger, to let him join in a risky ambush. But when he makes a mistake before the battle, he has to choose – tell the truth and be left behind or stay quiet and join the fight. Set in 1950, the story is based on real political events and is the first English language fiction film about the Lithuanian conflict.
STONE ON STONE
Narrative, 8 min.
by Mohsen Serajian (Tehran, Iran)
An Iranian family decides to kill an innocent woman because of her alleged adultery. Her husband’s friend is commissioned to do the murder. While he drives her outside of the city to do what is expected, their conversation takes an unexpected turn.
RECHARGE
Narrative, 12 min.
by Christopher Meyer (Seattle, WA)
Employees at a battery-testing facility are regularly attacked while commuting across a hostile dystopian wasteland. When his car breaks down, Employee Number 235-4 is forced to confront one of the attackers, face to face.
BRAINWORM BILLY
Animation, 3 min.
by Emily Hubley (East Orange, NJ)
A young man is haunted by a famous comedian.
MEETING MACGUFFIN
Animation, 10 min.
by Catya Plate (Brooklyn, NY)
In a post-apocalyptic future where humanity has fallen apart, a group of scientists and an animated sign complete the construction of a new human race and meet a groundhog climatologist who prepares them for their mission to restore balance to a decimated Earth.
BLACK DOG
Narrative, 6 min.
by Wooseok Shin (Seoul, South Korea)
“Black dog syndrome” is the name for the phenomenon in which dark-coated dogs are overlooked in shelters in favor of lighter-colored dogs. Don’t overlook that dark-coated beauty waiting in the shadows. You may be overlooking your new best friend.
mOT
Narrative, 21 min.
by Andrew Kastenmeier (Florianópolis, Brazil)
An odd homeless boy with a mysterious past invades a stranger’s home, befriends him, and protects a goldfish with which he has a curiously powerful bond, in this quiet tale of love and mortality.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Animation, 7 min.
by Steven Vander Meer (Arcata, CA)
Having recently completed a film made of circles and personal health problems, our hero ships his masterpiece off in a box to a film festival. As he makes his way to the festival on foot, his thoughts reveal how inspiration can come to a creative spirit from anywhere, about anything, at any given time. After the festival, on his walk back home, the filmmaker feels super inspired and can hardly wait to start his next project – until, that is, he gets to his mailbox…
