COMEDY SHORTS PROGRAM
Friday, August 23, 2024 at 8:00 PM
SHORTS PROGRAM | 93.5 min
General Admission $10 | Student + Children $8

WHO'S ON TOP
SHORT NARRATIVE | 4 MIN | ENGLISH | USA
Directed by Kristy Hasen, Greg Ainsworth

In Who's on Top (a 4-minute saga in the French countryside) , bumbling confidants analyze the mysteries of love. And somehow in their cluelessness, they crack the case! Just then, the outside world barges in, revealing an even bigger secret.

Director, Kristy Hasen

Kristy Hasen is a New York based actor and filmmaker. She did her undergraduate work at Yale, film school at Columbia, and studied acting with Maggie Flanigan and Anthony Abeson. Beyond performing in award winning features & short films, Kristy has created 1-woman shows at HERE and Ars Nova, done improv at Magnet, and told stories at the Moth. She has made trailers and promos for Sundance, BET, Food Network, USA, Oxygen, E!, MTV, Paramount+ and Nickelodeon. Each July, she teaches at an acting and filmmaking program she co-created in France.

FAIR
SHORT NARRATIVE | 10 MIN | ENGLISH | USA
Directed by Taylor Gruver

Based on the TRUE STORY of one woman’s fateful day as a hired party princess at the mansion of her high school nemesis:
Sarah has returned home to Hawai'i and finds herself confronted with an imperative question: What if life hasn't turned out so "happily ever after" after all? FAIR is a 10-minute film that questions societal expectations internalized by women and asserts that a real-life “Fairy Tale Ending” might not be what you expect.

Starring Elizabeth Rian, Noelle Yoza, and Kaipo Dudoit (David, Disney's Lilo & Stitch 2025)

Director, Taylor Gruver

Taylor Gruver is a freelance filmmaker with experience in multiple areas of filmmaking including sound design, editing, writing, directing, and producing. After serving in the United States Coast Guard from 2009 to 2016, Taylor attended film school at City College of San Francisco. She received an Associates in Cinema Production and began working as a sound effects editor and assistant editor in the Bay Area. Her directorial debut short film Highway 1 won multiple awards in festivals across the country. Taylor currently lives on Oahu and works across all aspects of production and post-production for commercials, television and feature films.

THE TROUBLE OUT THERE
SHORT NARRATIVE | 18.5 MIN | ENGLISH | GEORGIA
Directed by Danielle Arden

West Berlin, 1967: Shirin's husband is desperate for her to make a good impression on his new German work colleagues, but protests against the Shah of Iran's visit to Berlin and a misunderstanding about a missing ring cast suspicion on the Middle Easterners, sending the party spiraling into disaster. Starring Pegah Ferydoni.

HOLY MOLY METEORITE!
SHORT NARRATIVE | 3 MIN | ENGLISH | USA
Directed by V. Leigh

A meteorite is headed to earth and Patty and Bobby are on their first (and last) official date. What could go wrong?

Director, V. Leigh

V. Leigh is a dream maker, a lover of imagination, and a storyteller. She earned a BFA in Motion Pictures & Television from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, where she studied both visual storytelling and writing for the screen.

V. Leigh has worked in the entertainment industry for the better part of the past twenty years and spends her time supporting artists and helping their dreams come true. She is excited to finally share her own stories in the written and visual form.

Although V Leigh has spent years on both coasts, she currently lives in the Hudson Valley, NY, where she grew up. And, it only took her thirty plus years to learn to tolerate cold winters. She spends her time lovingly harassing her husband and hugging her mother. She wouldn’t get anything done if it weren't for their support.

V. Leigh loves music, her MacBook Pro, camels and has The Office playing on repeat... all day, every day.

UNDERCOVER WRESTLER
SHORT NARRATIVE | 5.5 MIN | ENGLISH | USA
Directed by Roe Moore

Leonard thinks he's all clear to steal a few of his sister's crinkle-cut fries. That is true until he becomes the unsuspecting victim of Undercover Wrestler's justice -- living through punches, slams, and Undercover's signature move: the Suspect Smash.

NOMINATIONS: Best Comedy, Pasadena International Film Festival

FILM SNOBBERY REVIEW: "This situational is just what the doctor ordered if you’re looking to escape the real world... there’s more than a few laugh out loud moments...just enjoy the ride."

Director, Roe Moore

Filmmaker by day, cookie lover by night. Just won "Lady Director of the Year" Award at the 2024 Women's Film Festival-Nashville for her work on short film How We Met. Directed award-winning play Recess (dramedy, Brisk Fest). Former associate director and script supervisor whose work includes HBOMax's Fresh Prince of Bel Air Reunion show, VH1's RuPaul Drag Race, Disney+ talk show Earth To Ned, and CW's magic-based variety show Masters of Illusion. When it comes funny, Roe pulls from her experience as a standup comedienne and her time at Second City's Conservatory program.

She is an active participant in Black Magic Collective's Future Women of TV, The New Hollywood Collective, Gold Comedy's sketch team Crop Top, and is a featured writer for ScriptMag, Backstage, and Final Draft publications.

GREETINGS
SHORT NARRATIVE | 13 MIN | ENGLISH | USA
Directed by Stephanie Bencin

Greetings is the story of Trish, a shy cubicle dweller in an office that’s big on birthdays. After struggling over what to write in a coworker’s birthday card, Trish discovers that whatever she writes comes true. At first this goes great, but when her coworkers accidentally forget her own birthday, things...take a turn. Fed up with middle managers who act like they're in middle school, Trish takes her revenge. Armed with a stack of kitten cards and her ball point pen, Trish shifts the power of her toxic work environment, only to be consumed by her own long-simmering resentments.

Director, Stephanie Bencin

Stephanie Bencin has lived a double life as a comedy writer on house teams at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and as an Archival Producer on award winning documentary films and series (Including the Tribeca premiere The Captain and Sam Pollard’s Black Art: In the Absence of Light), allowing her to engage with storytelling from many different angles. She married both dark comedy and social issues in my suburban thriller Safe Space, which was a Nicholl Semifinalist. Additionally, her writing has appeared in Vulture, McSweeneys, and was twice an official artist at New York Television Festival along with a finalist for the WGA East Made In New York Fellowship. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter.

THE DEMON OF DUMBO
SHORT NARRATIVE | 7 MIN | ENGLISH | USA
Directed by Stefanie Sparks

Things haven't been the same in Brooklyn since the pandemic but what else is new? Not the treadmills at Planet Fitness.

When various body parts are found in The North Woods section of Prospect Park, two hapless NYC murder detectives wind up on the case. Between the deceased's sugar baby, the city's response and a reporter that just won't give up, it's chaos. When a snitch tries to warn the detectives there's actually a demon loose in Brooklyn, they blow her off. She always did have a drug problem. But wait...what's this about "bite marks" and why are there so many cut off dicks in the North Woods? And will somebody PLEASE fix the treadmill at Planet Fitness! Featuring performances from 1923's Aminah Nieves, indie filmmaker Kristen Abate and stand up comedian Chanel Ali (to namedrop just a few), this horror comedy has midnight movie written all over it.

Director, Stefanie Sparks

Stefanie Kay Sparks is a writer, director & actor based in NYC. Stefanie grew up on a farm in Western Iowa where she intended to spend the rest of her life until her father told her she could not take over the family farm because she was a girl. She headed to Seattle to “sow her wild oats” at the age of 21 and found out it was also frowned upon for women to do this. She finally made her way to NYC to attend college, a place where anyone can do whatever they want, and considers it home. She is working-class (!!) and this heavily influences how she makes her films.

She has made 3 no-budget feature films (all with budgets under 100k) in the last 10 years. She graduated from the New School where she earned an MA in Media and Film. She was granted a Jerome Foundation New York Filmmaker Grant for her debut feature, CATHY COPPOLA, which was nominated for the audience award at Brooklyn Girl Film Festival and Best in Show at the Female Eye Film Festival (Toronto). Stefanie's 2nd feature film the gross-out girl comedy IN CASE OF EMERGENCY (starring Jenni Ruiza, Phoebe Robinson, Catherine Curtin, Lisa Haas) won the audience choice award at Bushwick Film Festival after being selected as the opening night film. IN CASE OF EMERGENCY was the feature film debut of 2 DOPE QUEENS star and writer Phoebe Robinson. The film went on to win audience awards at Broad Humor, New Filmmakers and screened along side some of the top female directors in the world as part of Citizen Jane Film Festival. In Case of Emergency was selected as a finalist in the Sundance Creative Distribution Fund and is available on iTunes & Amazon. Stefanie has taught filmmaking at the Ghetto Film School's Midwinter Institute, Bushwick Stories and Montclair State University. Her comedic web series SCREWED has screened at Citizen Jane Film Festival and UCB East. She has been a finalist for the Sundance Development Labs and the MOME & Winston Baker Finance Labs for her feature script RAT RACE. She received the New York Women’s Fund Grant for BLUEBERRY in March 2020. BLUEBERRY premiered at Sarasota Film Festival in May of 2021 in the Indie Visions Competition. BLUEBERRY was awarded a Special Jury Award for Performance and has been distributed by Leomark Entertainment.

THE LAST LESBIAN LIBRARY
SHORT NARRATIVE | 9 MIN | ENGLISH | USA
Directed by Christina Isabel Rodriguez de Conte

The dystopian film, "The Last Lesbian Library," imagines a time in the way too near future when LGBTQ rights and reproductive rights have been radically altered and the younger queer generation no longer has access to the wisdom of the elders that came before. This short film follows two baby dykes as they search for the elusive "Lesbian Baby Making Recipe" and the hope for a queer future.

Director, Christina Isabel Rodriguez de Conte

Dr. Christy Rodriguez de Conte is a Director, Writer, Performer & Activist. Her artistry and scholarship reflect her feminist queer camp aesthetic as seen in her films, The Last Lesbian Library and Queer Oz. Theatre is always present in her world and informs her filmmaking. Representative roles include Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, the Mad They in The Cursed House of Ravesnmadd, and Eddie/Dr. Scott in The Rocky Horror Show. Directing credits include The Cuban Swimmer, Murderous Moveable Macbeth, and Rent. In 2019 Dr. Rodriguez de Conte wrote and directed her original musical, The Mystery of the Violated Vagina, an absurdist comedy that takes place in a uterus just minutes after the host body has been raped to explore rape culture. Her newest comedy, Butch, Pregnant & Pissed (on myself)! travels through a comedic recollection of her own pregnancy to investigate the dichotomous experience of a pregnant butch woman.

JOHN DOE
SHORT NARRATIVE | 10.5 MIN | ENGLISH | USA
Directed by Rebecca Faulkenberry

When Real Estate Agent Kevin is supposed to meet his client in a park, a woman named Jenna mistakenly believes that he is her date, set up by her mom. After a brief awkward exchange, they realize they are not there to meet each other. However, upon further discussion, they discover they have some things in common and share a chemistry. When Jenna's actual date shows up, whom she was supposed to meet, she finds herself needing to make a decision on what to do.

Director, Rebecca Faulkenberry

Rebecca Faulkenberry is a British/American dual citizen; born in Texas but moving to the British colony of Bermuda when she was 2. She was educated at Choate Rosemary Hall, Indiana University and received her Masters from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, all by the time she was 21. She started her career in London, performing in the West End and on the BBC. She then moved to New York and within 3 months was Sherrie on the National Tour of Rock of Ages, and came off tour to make her Broadway Debut in the same role. She was Mary Jane in Spiderman: Turn off the Dark, and Nancy Taylor in Groundhog Day. After her third Broadway show, she began working more in TV and film, which has led to guest stars, recurring roles and interesting film roles including Al Pacino's daughter in Martin Scorsese's The Irishman.