“Maddie’s Secret”

(Director/Writer/Producer: John Early; Producers: Harris Mayersohn, Luca Intili)

Comedian, writer, and actor John Early’s directorial debut starring himself as Maddie, a plucky dishwasher who leaps to viral superstardom at a trendy food content creation company. While her life seems picturesque — complete with an adoring husband, ride-or-die best friend and a cupboard full of woman-owned ethically-sourced chili crisp to boot — mounting professional pressures threaten to reawaken a hidden secret from her troubled past.

Cast: Kate Berlant, Eric Rahill, John Early, Claudia O’Doherty, Conner O’Malley,Vanessa Bayer, Chris Bauer, Kristen Johnston

“Miss Representation: Rise Up”

(Director/Writer: Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Writers/Producers: Camille Servan-Schreiber, Gretchen Miller)

A deep dive into the cultural backlash against women’s mental health, agency, and political power with technology exacerbating sexism and misogyny towards women and girls.

Cast: Hillary Clinton, Safiya Noble, Frances Haugen, Reshma Saujani, Jameela Jamil, Jim Steyer, Gretchen Carlson, Nancy Pelosi, Amy Klobuchar

“Personal Courage”

(Director: Lucian Read; Producer: Samuel Kahn)

The intimate story of Army veteran Jeffrey Derma and his wife, Rebecca Cristina. Beginning in the final days of Jeff’s military service and continuing through the next two and a half years, the film captures their relationship as they work to reestablish what it means to live life together, as a family.

Homegrown Competition

Films created by filmmakers from Arkansas and/or filmed in Arkansas.

“Baby/Girls”

(Directors: Jackie Jesko, Alyse Walsh; Producers: Melissa Leardi, Alex Waterfield, Kelly Rohrbach Walton)

Teen birth rates in America’s Heartland are among the highest in the nation. Against this backdrop, a maternity home for teenagers becomes a crossroads in the lives of Olivia, Grace, and Ariana. Filmed over two years with intimate vérité access, Baby/Girls follows them as they give birth and fight to break the generational cycles that marked their own childhoods.

Cast: Grace Dulaney, Olivia Malott, Ariana Green, Crystal Widger, Audra Dulaney, Brian Rivera

“Welcome to the Fishbowl” – WORLD PREMIERE

(Director/Writer/Producer: Cheryl Glubok; Writer: Donald Rae; Producer: Iana Dontcheva)

With 40 receding in the rearview mirror, Elizabeth Ford, a Denver mother of two and an aspiring writer, gets a sudden career-making opportunity. All she has to do is chaperone a narcissistic, literary legend by the name of Storm Grandquist across the Rocky Mountains to an awards ceremony in Telluride. What could possibly go wrong?

Cast: Natalie Gold, Jeremy Swift, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Marin Hinkle

Homegrown Short Films

“Cycling Without Age,” USA (Director, Isaac Seigel-Boettner)

“Filthy,” USA (Director, Lisa Cole) – WORLD PREMIERE

“IAKWE: Hello, Goodbye,” USA (Director, Nathan Fitch)

“Project NEO: Building a New Way to Work,” (Director, Allyson de la Houssaye)

“We Are Cyclists: The All Bodies on Bikes Story,” USA (Director, Robin Sansom)

Narrative Competition

“BRB”

(Director: Kate Cobb; Writers: Sydney Blackburn, Michael Waller; Producers: Kevin Bigley, Kelly Aisthorpe Waller, Mark Glassgow, Michele Girgis)

Set in the era of dial-up and AIM away messages, a love-sick teenage girl and her older sister embark on a road trip to meet her online boyfriend, but what begins as a fun, sisterly quest quickly devolves into chaos as each girls’ ulterior motives are revealed and the lies pile up faster than the miles.

Cast: Autumn Best, Zoe Coletti, Beth Lacke, Keith Kupferer, Richard David, Daniel Haller

“Dead Deer High”

(Director: Jo Rochelle; Writer/Producer: Joshua Roark; Producer: Scott Segal, Jim Bellinson, Randy Weiss, Michelle Segal, Carolyn Bellinson)

A team of high school slam poets and their English teacher prepare for a national poetry competition one year after a tragedy changed their lives forever.

Cast: Zack Kozlow, Holden Goyette, Kyla Brown, Christian Cruz, Ayanna Berkshire, Joseph Bertót

“Hot Water”

(Director/Writer: Ramzi Bashour; Producers: Jesse Hope, Max Walker-Silverman, Josh Peters)

In this unconventional and comedic road odyssey, a Lebanese mother and her American son drive across the United States, revealing the fractures and bonds between them.

Cast: Lubna Azabal, Daniel Zolghadri, Dale Dickey

“If I Go Will They Miss Me”

(Director/Writer: Walter Thompson-Hernández; Producers: Josh Peters, Saba Zerehi, Ben Stillman)

Twelve-year-old Lil Ant transforms his working-class neighborhood beneath the LAX flight path into a living mythology, where family members become gods and the sky is crowded with endless departures. As he searches for connection with his god-like yet conflicted father, he finds support in his close-knit community that helps him reconcile myth and reality.

Cast: Danielle Brooks, J. Alphonse Nicholson

“Jersey Boy”

(Director/Writer/Producer: Jaskaran Singh; Producer: Pulkit Datta; Co-Producer: Eman Pathan)

Shattered by a family tragedy in the wake of 9/11, a young Sikh boy struggles to hold onto love, family, and identity as he grows up in a country feeling like he doesn’t belong.

Cast: Praneet Akilla, Sara Garcia, Grace Grewal, Surjun Lail, Rayaan Singh Sahni, Amit Aujila

“Moonglow”

(Director/Writer: Isabel Sandoval; Producer: Alemberg Ang)

Manila, 1979. Dahlia, a disillusioned police aide, breaks into the mansion of the corrupt police chief Bernal and steals the money from his safe, unloading the funds to slum dwellers whose settlement Bernal razed down. Commencing an investigation, Bernal unwittingly assigns Dahlia and his nephew Charlie, an ex-cop and Dahlia’s ex-lover, leading to a fraught reunion.

Cast: Isabel Sandoval, Arjo Atayde, Janina Lorelei, Jhoanna San Juan

“The Musical”

(Director: Gisella Bonilla; Writer: Alexander Heller; Producers: Rob Lowe, Greg Lauritano, Alexander Heller, Findlay Brown, Jordan Backhus)

When a frustrated playwright/middle school theater teacher finds out his ex-girlfriend has started dating his nemesis, the school’s principal, he decides to ruin the principal’s chances of winning the Blue Ribbon of Academic Excellence.

Cast: Will Brill, Gillian Jacobs, Rob Lowe

“Our Bodies & Other Shames”

(Director: Jenny Lester; Writer/Producer: Malka Wallick; Producers: Monica Arsenault, Alysia Reiner, Tony Castle, Roxy Hunt)

Growing up in their tight-knit Modern Orthodox community, Sheva, Sarah, and Tali were best friends in an inseparable girl gang until Sheva and Sarah stopped talking to each other. Now, a decade later, they’re estranged, living lives both within and outside of the community. When a devastating cancer diagnosis forces them back together, all three gather in Sheva’s childhood home, where they are confronted — quite literally — by their younger selves.

Cast: Gideon Adlon, Micaela Diamond, Malka Wallick, Pearl Scarlett Gold, Aria Kane, Josephine Bilmes

“Out of the Woods” – US PREMIERE

(Director/Writer/Producer: Sal Bardo; Producers: Tommy Anderson, Laura Maccabee)

Max is slowly losing her memory. When she reunites with an old friend, Diana, a long-buried part of herself is reawakened and she’s forced to choose between spending the precious time she has left with the woman she’s always loved or remaining faithful to her husband.

Cast: Frances Fisher, Mimi Kennedy, Bruce Davison, Stefanie Estes

“Road to L’Etape du Tour”

(Director/Writer: Julia Coulter; Producers: Julian Higgins, Luis Augusto Figueroa, Vickie Soulier, Daniel Zambrano, Andrew Koenigsberg)

Facing a turning point in her life, a woman with a congenital heart defect embarks on a journey to train for a stage of the Tour de France.

Cast: Julia Coulter, Brian Muller, Luis Augusto Figueroa, Reed Diamond, Gab Safa, Nico Greetham

“Take Me Home”

(Director/Writer/Producer: Liz Sargent; Producers: Apoorva Guru Charan, Minos Papas)

Anna, a 38-year-old Korean adoptee, cares for her aging parents in a fragile balance of meeting each others’ needs. When a Florida heat wave shatters their family and Anna’s routine, her future is uncertain until she creates a world where she can thrive.

Cast: Anna Sargent, Victor Slezak, Ali Ahn, Marceline Hugot, Shane Harper

“Valentina”

(Director/Writer: Tatti Ribeiro; Writer/Producer: Noelle Forougi; Producers: Jack Pearkes, Tracey Nyberg, Jessica Alba)

A series of bureaucratic mishaps plagues Valentina as she tries to tackle a simple to-do list at the El Paso-Juarez border.

Cast: Keyla Monterroso Mejia

Documentary Competition

“Acting Like Women”

(Director/Writer/Producer: Cheri Gaulke; Writer: Anne Gauldin; Producers: Cheryl Bookout, Anne Gauldin, Meg Linton, Liz Yale Marsh)

Revisiting the groundbreaking feminist performance art movement in 1970s Los Angeles, one artist spotlights the inspirational, transformational, radical community exploding the narrative and status quo.

Cast: Cheri Gaulke, Lily Tomlin, Barbara T. Smith, Suzanne Lacy, Senga Nengudi, Anne Gauldin, Phranc

“American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez”

(Director/Producer: David Alvarado; Producers: Lauren DeFilippo, Everett Katigbak, Amanda Pollak)

Against political resistance and industry skepticism, Luis Valdez pushes Chicano storytelling from the fields to the film screen with Zoot Suit and La Bamba, crafting iconic works that challenge, celebrate, and expand America’s story.

Cast: Luis Valdez, Lupe Trujillo-Valdez, Edward James Olmos, Cheech Marin, Lou Diamond Phillips, Dolores Huerta, Linda Ronstadt, Jorge A. Huerta, Luis C. Garza, Taylor Hackford, Rose Portillo, Sal Lopez, Phil Esparza, Socorro Valdez, Daniel Valdez

“Ceremony”

(Director/Producer: Banchi Hanuse)

In the remote village of Bella Coola, where a milky-green river winds beneath towering mountains, the ooligan run has not returned in 26 years. Through crackling airwaves, watercolour-animated ancestral lore, rare archives, and collective testimony, we are immersed in the luminous world of the Nuxalk, an Indigenous Nation who believes they must become the current that calls the fish home.