Charles Mandracchia

In the early 1900s, the fictional Catfish Row section of Charleston, South Carolina serves as home to a black fishing community. Crippled beggar Porgy, who travels about in a goat-drawn cart, loves the drug-addicted Bess, who lives with stevedore Crown, the local bully.

An intimate portrait of an oft-forgotten character in Hollywood: the screenwriter. Raised in Baghdad, screenwriter Mardik Martin was infused with an early love for movies when he was sent to the U.S. by his family to avoid being drafted into the Iraqi army. Mardik discovered the NYU cinema department, and there he met Martin Scorsese; their friendship would lead to some of the greatest films in American cinema.

A wronged woman takes revenge on her wheelchair bound father-in-law.

Claire Makes It Big, Jeremy Workman's award- winning short comedy, follows the travails of a talented overweight actress and her difficulties landing a decent movie role. A sharply written and briskly directed satire of the acting and filmmaking professions that then turns into a hilarious wish-fulfillment fantasy, it also features a lovely lead performance by Mara Hobel (whom Joan Crawford-heads may recognize as the child Christina Crawford in Mommie Dearest) and funny supporting turns from more recognizable folks like Clancy Brown, Paige Turco and Peter Bogdanovich, along with a voice cameo from the late Don LaFontaine.

Irish Republican Army member Fergus forms an unexpected bond with Jody, a kidnapped British soldier in his custody, despite the warnings of fellow IRA members Jude and Maguire. Jody makes Fergus promise he'll visit his girlfriend, Dil, in London, and when Fergus flees to the city, he seeks her out. Hounded by his former IRA colleagues, he finds himself increasingly drawn to the enigmatic, and surprising, Dil.