A Way of Life

A young Marshallese boy, Labro, wakes up one morning anxious for his grandmother to fulfill her promise of buying him ice cream. She agrees, but demands that he do some work first, commanding him -- with a sweep of her arm -- to "clean up all the garbage everywhere." As Labro goes out the door of his rustic shack, he realizes that one of his zoris is missing. His grandmother, angry because he has yet again lost one of his flip flops, gives him an ultimatum: "Do not come back to the house until you have zoris on both of your feet." So Labro begins his quest under the hot island sun to clean up 'everywhere' and to find his other zori...

When Mandie Shaw is thrust into Miss Heathwood’s School for Girls, she struggles to grasp the school’s new rules and the finer points of high society. As Mandie tries to stay out of hot water with Miss Heathwood and discover what the headmistress seems to have against Christmas, she stumbles upon a mystery in the school’s forbidden attic. Will Mandie ignore the warning to flee or try to get to the bottom of the strange noises beyond the boarded-up doors? Uncovering the truth may lead to telling a lie, but it might also unlock the memories of a long-forgotten Christmas.

In 500 B.C., during Chinas famed 'Spring and Autumn Period', Kong Ze (Confucius), a commoner reverred for his outstanding wisdom, is made Minister of Law in the ancient Kingdom of Lu. Under his inspired leadership, Lu ascends to new heights but becomes a target of conquest for the warlike nation of Qi. Threatened with annihilation by their powerful neighbour, a desperate people turn to their greatest teacher to lead their most powerful army. When Confucius delivers a stunning victory against all odds, a jealous aristocracy sets out to destroy him, but they should never under-estimate a remarkable man whose wisdom is more powerful than the sword.

Nothing - not her father, not the church - can stop unruly Angela from being with her childhood best friend turned great love, Sara. Based on a true story, Viola di Mare, presents a uniquely engaging portrait of family, community and gender roles in a 19th century Italian village.

Determined to win the Miss American Miss pageant, Mona is ready to sacrifice anything and everything to guarantee herself the crown including her own daughter! She manages to persuade her best bud to raise the kid as her own (Miss AM can't be a mom), but just when this beauty-queen wannabe thinks her prize is in sight, she's surprised by a come-from-behind competitor. Love.

A professor uses the three-card game to prove his probability thesis. He involves some of his students on his research and later realizes it was a big mistake

The Dunderheads are an eccentric Montana family who've been in the mountains for far too long. Now one step ahead of the law, matriarch Grandma Ira flees to Canada with her two wildly dysfunctional teenage grand kids, across the American West into a comic collision with the mainstream world. Montana Amazon is a both funny and poignant fable on the nature of the human family.

A group of high school teens steal a van full of music equipment and pretend to be a band called "Truckstop" in order to stay on the road. When the band starts playing gigs, their sound is largely inconsistent and incoherent, however, over time the band becomes increasingly competent in their musicianship.

When Ida, cheeks streaked by mascara tears, unexpectedly shows up at her sister's, the staid Alison bargains her way out of mom duty for the night and the two head off to an Eastside wine bar. There, they run into Will and the freshly divorced, sweatpants-attired Clark. After some slightly inebriated commiserating about mismanaged marriages and other adult concerns, the foursome head out into the night, careening from downtown lofts to pot dispensaries to midnight swims and back again, determined to prove they still have what it takes to have a good time.

Sonya, a 17-year-old Russian immigrant, lives in a claustrophobic Brooklyn apartment with her dad and his ever-growing menagerie of cats. When the Landlady threatens to kick them out, Sonya is forced to make an unimaginable decision to protect her aging father and herself.

The Man is bound in an endless loop of fascination with a woman who haunts his thoughts. On the brink of a breakdown he desperately tries to break free before he is consumed.

Two codependent roommates, on the verge of eviction, flee New York for the promise of sunshine in Los Angeles where their friendship is tested by a chance at fame, a fortune teller and an amorous wealthy aunt.

The story of a prostitute "Mona Farkha" through a meeting with the director and the scenarist of the movie who don't know anything about her world.

Olivia, an undocumented Filipina immigrant paranoid about deportation, works as a caregiver to a Russian-Jewish grandmother in New York. When the man she’s secretly paying for a green card marriage backs out, she becomes involved with a slaughterhouse worker who is unaware that she’s a trans woman.

In a former mining town in North Ossetia, a young woman struggles to escape the stifling hold of the family she loves as much as she rejects.

Pussy Have the Power is the song improvised by four girls in a recording studio. When an established music producer walks in, they face the choice of selling out their work to something that could lead to success, while they risk losing their own message

A love story of a 17 year old punk-rocker and a 15 year old runaway girl.

Talented 20-year-old Lolita dreams of a singing career. But her self-esteem is low due to her weight problem and her narcissistic father, Étienne, a literary star with scant interest in his daughter's life. Lolita finds little comfort in the attentions of her vocal coach, suspecting the woman is using her to meet her influential father. Étienne's second wife proves to be Lolita's only trustworthy ally in her private battle to find a sense of worth.

Two convicts—a white racist and an angry black man—escape while chained to each other.

21st Century Girl is an omnibus feature that is of the girls, by the girls and for the girls. The work of 15 women directors under the age of 30, each of whom contributed an 8-minute film, the package highlights a range of genres, visions and thematic concerns.