Best Documentary Short Film (Chandler International Film Festival) – Chandler, AZ

Last Of The Nobodies

Directed by: Colter Olmstead

Run Time: 21 minutes 33 seconds, United States

Premiere status: Arizona Premiere

A group of Montana hip hop artists come together to create a collaboration album to uplift the Montana sound.

From Pen To Paper

Directed by: Paul Sutton and Lori Sutton

Run Time:28 minutes 18 seconds, United States

Premiere status: Arizona Premiere

Twenty-four prisoners–mostly lifers–sat across from a dozen college students on a maximum security prison yard in southern California as part of an innovative and inspiring creative writing program. For 14 weeks, prisoners learned to express themselves openly and honestly, many for the first time in their lives, to a group of strangers, in a setting where survival often demands alienation, disaffection, even violence. And the students–at first apprehensive, even hateful–discovered that the men across from them were far from the callous and unfeeling monsters they had expected to meet. Though their often intimate collaboration, both groups found hope and humanity in a place where they had expected neither.

TAGLINE: Behind bars, ink flows and barriers crumble as lifers and students unite in a transformative writing experiment.

Beyond the Herd

Directed by: Michelle Fenn

Run Time: 19 minutes 59 seconds, United States

Premiere status: Arizona Premiere

Interweaving the rhythms of daily life on the ranch and wild horses on the range, “Beyond the Herd” tells the story of Mexican-American equestrians Amber and Isidro. Their kinship with mustangs echoes their own experiences with discrimination and ‘otherness.’ As resources dwindle for wild horses, their bond becomes a symbol of resilience, transforming once-wild mustangs into lifelong companions.

We Are Arizona

Directed by: Randy Murray

Run Time: 29 minutes 33 seconds, United States

Premiere status: Phoenix Premiere

We are roughed individuals who actually agree more than we don’t, we are Arizona.

The Dolphin Dilemma

Directed by: Olivia Andrus-Drennan

Run Time: 18 minutes 3 seconds, United States

Premiere status: World Premiere

Imagine, waking up being covered in third-degree burns, that’s what it’s like for the Burrunan dolphins in Australia. But why is this happening? That’s what Dr. Duignan, Director of Pathology at The Marine Mammal Center, Dr. Stephen’s from Murdoch University, and Dr. Robb from the Marine Mammal Foundation had to find out. This film explores this international collaboration that proves for the first time that these lesions being found on cetaceans around the world are only caused by climate change.

Bridge Of Curiosity

Directed by: Frank J Fazzio

Run Time: 11 minutes 30 seconds, United States

Premiere status: Arizona Premiere

Bridge of Curiosity is a heartful journey of wisdom and wonder, with conversations with young and old worldwide, illuminating the profound significance of curiosity, wisdom, and inclusion across generations … Highlighting the invaluable benefits of knowledge transfer from the elderly, forging connections that enrich both young and old alike.

As we witness the significance of these connections, it challenges us all to take steps toward a more inclusive, connected, and enriched future for all.

Ancient Lands and Lives-Above the Grand Canyon Rims

Directed by: Carol J. Amore

Run Time: 9 minutes, United States

Premiere status: North America Premiere

Ancient Lands & Lives- Above The Grand Canyon Rims is a high impact and fast-paced short Docu-music video that embraces Arizona’s Grand Canyon wildlife experience through versatile animal habitats and its resilient pinyon-juniper evergreen trees on the Canyon’s Rims. Its vast colorful canyon rock formations reveal layers in geological time, dramatic thunderstorms with rising cloud formations, dark night skies (Milky Way Galaxy visible) and sacred tribal lands.