Shortz! Film Festival

Winner - 3rd Place Audience Choice

Johnny Davis struggles to attract customers to his empty village bar. With the threat of losing his livelihood looming large, Johnny locks himself away to become a Flair Bartending Cocktail King in an attempt to win his customers back and to inadvertently save the day for the village church.

Winner - 1st Place Judges and 1st Place Audience Choice

A little girl, still dealing with her mother's death, comes across a seemingly destitute man who bears a striking resemblance to Santa Claus, and despite his protestations, takes comfort in helping him.

David and Owen's values are put to the test as they fight for their fruit.

A mother and daughter visit a special place.

'Chateau Sauvignon: terroir' follows the isolated adolescent son of a storied vintner family who finds himself torn between obeying his father’s callous restrictions and preventing his ailing mother from deteriorating further. When a doting woman and her indifferent son arrive seeking a tasting and tour of the winery, Nicolas sees an opportunity to help care for his mother, as well as prove his worth to his choleric father. However, his wayward plan quickly takes a turn for the worse, and his missteps puts his family’s secretive murderous ways in peril of being unearthed.

A man must confront the unconditional love for his family before he loses it forever.

A young man, shaped by generations of his family’s connection with its land, and the nearly extinct plants that reside within, tracks down someone trespassing on his property. When he is charmed by this sassy, young woman intruder, his protectiveness quickly melts away, so much so, that he shares with her the transcendent flowers and his deepest secret. He will be the one breaking the four generation chain of stewardship. “The world is warming, and my inheritance is running out of time.”

They meet again, by chance, in a grocery store, and this time she pushes herself into his life. Her charisma and wit weaken his resolve, and he accepts her invitation to dinner. When she offers a toast “to monastic life,” he reels back, disappointed that she really doesn’t understand. But then she softly and succinctly lays bare his soul, while also questioning his resolve not to have children.

She deserves an explanation, so he uses part of their dinner as a canvass to expose how the complexity of climate change has to abide by a basic and universal biological principle. One that seems to be entirely missing in the public discourse. Together, they poignantly expose this thesis, until she despairs about whether all is lost. “Actually,” he says, “I think global warming is our best hope.” He goes on to explain why, and she falls in love in that moment.

With two good bottles of wine to lubricate their imaginations, they tipsily exchange creative solutions to the greenhouse gas problem. One bizarre contrivance triggers an idea, a crazy leap of faith that subsequently gets set into motion. When they meet again, this time for a picnic on his property, the pendulum has begun to swing, and it will crash into their lives, and reshape the entire world. “We are going to be so happy.” Will they be?

From Roadie to Restorer, Steve Benjamins focuses on bringing the art and beauty of pianos front and center.

Glorious Victory is an animated short film about two beetles fighting over a fig fruit which leads both of the beetles to a complete disaster. Will Kim uses watercolor to tell a story of ambition, greed, and selfishness with an original soundtrack composed and performed by Tatenori Hamasaka.