Features

All of the films below are in competition unless otherwise noted

The Actress

Saturday, 2:45 – 4:45 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre – lower
North Carolina Premiere

(91 minutes) Centering around a 20-something, hormone-charged Perth, Australia household, the film features Tom — the desperate-for-a-girlfriend supermarket manager, Kevin — an office administrator with a constant itchy right hand, and Claire — a gay arts student. When Claire’s girlfriend moves out, the three housemates go in search of a fourth renter and Tom finds Emma, an actress visiting from Melbourne, checking out the housing vacancies. As Emma manipulates and seduces her three housemates, they become pitched against each other and conflicts escalate, culminating in a near fatal incident at Emma’s birthday party. This film contains adult language and material.

Director: Zak Hilditch Producer: Zak Hilditch, Antony Webb Editor: Antony Webb Production Company: Quagmire Productions Cast: Matt Hardie, Jodie Passmore, Steve McCall, Caitlin Higgins

Apart From That

Friday, 2 – 4:15 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre – upper
North Carolina Premiere

(120 minutes) A character-driven drama/comedy that follows the little moments and everyday lives of three strangers living in the Pacific Northwest. Ulla is an introverted student beautician who rents a room in the home of Peggy, an elderly exhibitionist with a habit of placing misleading phone calls to local fire departments. Leo, a Native American road striper, remains in constant search for any distraction that might allow him to forget that his best friend is dying. And Sam is a Vietnamese banker who must make a decision at the office that will instigate a seemingly irreconcilable divide between himself and his adopted American son. This film contains adult language and material.

Director: Jennifer Shainin, Randy Walker Producer: Jennifer Shainin, Peter Shainin, Randy Walker Editor: Jennifer Shainin, Randy Walker, Rosa Tyabji Production Company: ForeignAmerican Pictures Cast: Alice Ellingson, Gary Schoonveld, Jessica Marlowe-Goldstein, Kathleen McNearney, Kyle Conyers, Susan Alotrico, Toan Le, Tony Cladoosby

Carbabes

Friday, 4 – 6 p.m.
Diana Wortham Theatre

Saturday, 4:45 – 6:45 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre – upper
World Premiere

(87 minutes) Ford Davis is fresh out of college and out of a job. After damaging a rental car from his father’s car dealership, Ford is forced into working on the lot as a salesman until he can pay off his debt to his dad, Big Len. While at the dealership, Ford befriends the other car salesmen, who refer to each other as ‘CarBabes.’ Ford comes up with one final plan to save the dealership from impending doom: a blowout sale to sell 300 cars in a month. Impossible? Not if you’re a CarBabe.

Director: Nick Fumia, Chris Wolf Producer: Ben Rekhi, Liz Destro, Blake Dirickson Editor: Cary Gries Cast: Ben Savage, Blake Clark, Donnell Rawlings, Jon Gries, David Shackelford, Marshall Manesh, Carolina Garcia

Disappearances

Friday, 5 – 7 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre – lower

(103 minutes) A Prohibition-era whiskey-running adventure film, comedy and drama based on the award-winning novel by Howard Frank Mosher. It tells the story of Quebec Bill Bonhomme, a hardy schemer and dreamer who, desperate to raise money to preserve his endangered herd through the rapidly approaching winter, resorts to whiskey smuggling … a traditional family occupation. This film contains adult language and material.

Director: Jay Craven Producer: Jay Craven, Hathalee Higgs Editor: Beatrice Sisul Production Company: Border Run Pictures Cast: Kris Kristofferson, Genevieve Bujold, Gary Farmer, William Sanderson, Lothaire Bluteau, Luis Guzman, Charlie McDermott

Elizabeth Gunness

Friday, noon – 2 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre- lower

(92 minutes) A black comedy about a middle-aged woman in a small Southern town. Elizabeth is a conservative, self-righteous, opinionated woman, but considered by most to be harmless. In Elizabeth’s world, there are no complex problems — everything is simply right or it’s simply wrong — and things that are wrong must be corrected. She is a strong believer in the concept that justice must always be done, that punishment should be swift, and that being precise in all things makes for an orderly world. And where there is no order, she creates it — by any means necessary.

Director/Producer/Editor: Eric Maconaghie Rogers Production Company: Anomaly LLC Cast: Wendy Overly, Roy Fluhrer, Daley Fricks, John Knauss, Kerry Murphy

Hiding Victoria

Friday, 4:45 – 7 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre – upper
World Premiere

(119 minutes) Hard as nails 22-year felon Victoria Walker is given a tough choice by a judge: get a legal job or go to jail. Her bad attitude and demeanor slams the door on all her job opportunities except for a helpmate position with a wealthy elderly woman. When Althea Jaffery, age 70, hires Victoria, it is the beginning of an unusual relationship between the two women. Unconditional love from Althea brings Victoria to the point of trust, allowing her to reveal her tortured past, while the persistent and confrontational Victoria helps open a painful secret in Althea’s life. This film contains adult language and material.

Director: Dan Chinander Producer: Dan Chinander, Mike Madden Editor: Dan Chinander, Mike Madden, Craig Schafer Production Company: Hiding Victoria Productions Cast: Anita Gillette, Avery Sommers, Margo Harshman, Michael Wiseman, Todd Sherry

Instant Dads

Friday, 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Diana Wortham Theatre
World Premiere

(70 minutes) Steven’s ex-girlfriend from high school, Nancy, shows up with a surprise: their 10-year-old son Luke! Nancy never told Steven that she got pregnant with his child on prom night but has reappeared in his life, now dying of cancer. She informs Steven that her last wish is to have him, “the natural father,” adopt Luke. This film contains adult language and material.

Director: Derek Maki Producer: Anise Maki, Heather Lee, Victoria Katz Editor: Derek Bauman, Matthew Wood Production Company: Coolwaters Productions Cast: Steve Hasley, Nina Kaczorowski, Dominic Janes, Derek Maki

The Last Adam

Friday, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre – upper
North Carolina Premiere

(104 minutes) When middle-aged Bobby Jackson returns home to Lake City, Al., he wonders about the lives of “the Bama Rascals,” a band of misfits he led in the ’70s. Thankfully, when they were growing up as the most diverse bunch in a military mostly-white town, Coach Billy Adams and his wife Betty rescued them with the all-American pastime of baseball. But it’s been years since they’ve been together and now that Coach Billy has died from a massive heart attack, the Rascals must face their past as they serve as pallbearers for his funeral. Tormented by their current life situations and haunted by troubled pasts, will their homecoming be more bitter than sweet?

Director: Edford Banuel, Jr. Producer: Erroll Bailey, Shandra McDonald Editor: Florent Retz Production Company: Descending Dove Productions Cast:Anita Gillette, Leonard Roberts, Carl Lewis, Jose Yenque

Last Stop For Paul

Friday, 2:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre – lower

(80 minutes) Cliff and Charlie work together selling bathroom supplies. Charlie’s the seasoned traveler, having been to over 50 countries before his 30th birthday. Cliff dreams of traveling but always finds an excuse not to go. When Charlie asks Cliff to go to the Full Moon Party in Thailand, it is no surprise to anyone when Charlie is rejected. Things suddenly change when Cliff gets a phone call informing him that one of his childhood friends died unexpectedly. At the funeral, Cliff learns his buddy had been planning a trip around the world. Cliff decides to make sure his friend still makes that trip, even if it means carrying his ashes in a thermos to do it.

Director/Producer: Neil Mandt Editor: Eric Wing, Nick Scown, Stephen Butler Production Company: Mandt Brothers Productions Cast: Eric Wing, Greg Poppen, Heather Patrone, Marc Carter, Neil Mandt

On Oak Island

Friday, 8 – 9:45 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre – upper

Saturday, 3 – 5 p.m.
Diana Wortham Theatre
North Carolina Premiere

(89 minutes) Born with furious ambition but a weak heart, Owen Irving is a prodigious movie producer who must face his own mortality when a severe heart attack rips him from the life he loves. Convinced by a longtime friend to get as far from the pressures of life and work as possible, Owen begins his recovery on North Carolina’s Oak Island, where he meets Jery Norman — a local girl with a dark past. Just as Owen is settling in, he gets news of a powerplay from within the studio he’s left behind and must now choose between fighting to get back into a life that might kill him … or embrace one that would ask him to give up everything he has worked for. Filmed in North Carolina.

Director: Joseph Ian Horn Producer: Elizabeth Willaman, Joseph Horn Editor: Joseph Horn Production Company: Night Train New Mercury Studios Cast: Elizabeth Willaman, Frank Trimble, Joseph Horn, Ben Horn

Severance (not in competition)

Saturday, 9:45 – 11:45 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre – upper

(90 minutes) Working 9 to 5 is a real killer, but teambuilding holidays can sometimes be even worse. A coach lurches out of the hustle and bustle of Budapest and heads towards the mountainous border. Aboard are seven employees of the international weapons manufacturer Palisade Defence, global suppliers of innovative weaponry for the past 75 war-torn years. The lucky group are being treated to a team-building weekend at the company’s newly built luxury spa lodge by their president, George Cinders. But things quickly go awry as the colleagues find themselves faced with the chop when their corporate weekend is sabotaged by a deadly enemy. Forget office politics, only the smartest will survive this bloody office outing.

Director: Christopher Smith Producer: Jason Newmark Editor: Stuart Gazzera Production Company: Dan Films Cast: Danny Dyer, Laura Harris, Tim Mcinnerny, Toby Stephens, Claudie Blakley, Andy Nyman, Babou Ceesay, David Gilliam, Juli Drajko, Judit Viktor, Sandor Boros

The Stone House

Saturday, noon – 2 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre – lower
North Carolina Premiere

(99 minutes) Rick Berlinger and his wife move to a beautiful home in a quiet town. When locals begin to disappear soon after their arrival, many of the townspeople begin to suspect them. Others speak of the haunting history of a local abandoned asylum deep in the woods that’s making these people disappear. Only Rick can uncover the truth.

Director: John Wattenbarger, Terri Lottman Producer: John Wattenbarger, Donnie Mayles Editor: John Wattenbarger Cast: Dee Sudimak, Dominick Scott, Jeffery Bader, John Wattenbarger, Josh Harper, Ken Denbow, Sarah McCarron, Troy Bradford

Ten ’til Noon

Friday, 10 p.m. – midnight
Diana Wortham Theatre
North Carolina Premiere

(87 minutes) Jet-lagged businessman Larry Taylor awakens to find two strangers in his bedroom at 11:50 a.m. and, over the next ten minutes, will experience the most terrifying and possibly final moments of his life. But who these strangers are and what they want can only be determined by events occurring elsewhere at the same time. We relive these ten minutes through the eyes of his wife, her lover, his former business partner and others connected to what is not a simple home invasion.

Director: Scott Storm Producer: Michael Rogers, Brian Osborne Editor: Kalman Alexander Production Company: Shut Up & Shoot Pictures Cast: Alfonso Freeman, Jenya Lano, Paul J. Alessi, Thomas Kopache, Rayne Guest

Under The City

Friday, 10:45 p.m. – 12:45 a.m.
Fine Arts Theatre – upper

Saturday, 5:30 – 8 p.m.
Diana Wortham Theatre
North America Premiere

(117 minutes) Chronicles the fact-based descent of unreformed, ex-con Nate Mayott into the secret world of police corruption and white slavery in Chicago — where anything can be bought or sold if the price is right and the demand is there. Which it is. Piece by piece, Nate sells his soul for freedom until he is finally backed into an impossible corner — he must kidnap an innocent young girl in order to save his own. Based on true events.

Director: Adam Golomb Producer: Adam Golomb, Tom Perschke, Dean Rabaiov Editor: Corey Coken, Tom Perschke Production Company: Hyde Park Films Cast: Dean Rabaiov, John Heard, Mike Starr, Richard Portnow