Schedule Virtual Experience (online)

Sept. 24, 2021 Friday

6:30 PM

Virtual Experience (online)
1h 15m

Events Transpiring Before, During, and After a High School Basketball Game

Ted Stenson1h 15mCanadaEnglish Narrative Feature
It's 1999 and the Middleview Ducks high school basketball team are about to play the most low-stakes game of their lives. As the team prepares for another certain loss, the dramas around the game become more of a focus than the score. Pot-smoking, existentialism, radical theatre kid protests, and a dog on the loose, all unfold before, during, and after the high school basketball game.

8:15 PM

Virtual Experience (online)
1h

Nick Scalise In-Studio Performance

In this Program
Nick Scalise In-Studio
1hEnglish Music

8:45 PM

Virtual Experience (online)
1h 37m

The Catch

Matthew Ya-Hsiung Balzer1h 37mEnglish Narrative Feature
*Suspense/Drama* A woman returns to her estranged family, and reconnects with a former lover. When the robbery they plan goes awry, she must choose between abandoning her family again or taking responsibility for the chaos she's created.

Sept. 25, 2021 Saturday

6:30 PM

Virtual Experience (online)
1h 53m

The Penny Black

William J. Saunders1h 38mUSAEnglish Documentary Feature
Will, the estranged son of a conman, was left holding the bag, literally. His shady Russian neighbor, Roman, asked him to hold a million-dollar stamp collection, then swiftly disappears. Driven by fear and the desire to "do the right thing," Will goes on the hunt for Roman with the intention of returning the valuable goods. But when a significant piece of the collection goes missing, the filmmakers are forced to reexamine Will's capacity for honesty.

8:15 PM

Virtual Experience (online)
1h

Kate Hinote Trio In-Studio Performance

In this Program
Kate Hinote Trio
1hEnglish Music

8:45 PM

Virtual Experience (online)
2h

Opening Night Shorts

In this Program
Under the Lights
Miles Levin11mEnglish Narrative Short
Ellipse - Felixe
Alexandre Richard5mCanadaEnglish Narrative Short
Blocks
Bridget Moloney12mUSAEnglish Narrative Short
PHX
Jon Felson8mUSAEnglish Narrative Short
Cerdita (Piggy)
Carlota Pereda14mSpainSpanish (English Subtitles)Narrative Short
We Got a Monkey's Paw
Aaron Pagniano9mUSAEnglish Narrative Short
Smelly Little Town
Zach Neumeyer26mEnglish Documentary Short
PEW! PEW! PEW!
Loren Dunn13mUSAEnglish Narrative Short

Sept. 26, 2021 Sunday

6:30 PM

Virtual Experience (online)
2h 15m

Mother's Day

Travis Carlson2hUSAEnglish Narrative Feature
A Mother struggling with mental illness and financial strain mentions her plan to impulsively move across the country, again. Her Son learns with each question that he, alone, has literally one-shot to save his mother from a potentially deadly setback. We witness the true story of two complex minds fighting to find love, and their loved one, in the darkness.

8:45 PM

Virtual Experience (online)
1h 23m

How To Stop A Recurring Dream

Edward Morris1h 23mGBEnglish Narrative Feature
Faced with a split custody break up, a family's older daughter kidnaps her hostile younger sister to embark on a journey to reconnect before they part.

Sept. 27, 2021 Monday

6:30 PM

Virtual Experience (online)
1h 44m

Friday Evening Shorts

In this Program
A Gray One
Matt Enlow8mUSAEnglish Narrative Short
Girls Are Strong Here
Scott Burkhardt16mUSAArabic, English (English Subtitles)Narrative Short
Dieorama
Kevin Staake11mEnglish Documentary Short
7AM Wednesday
Julie Herlocker10mUSAEnglish Narrative Short
Feeling Flush
Erin Brown Thomas10mUSAEnglish Narrative Short
Babs
Celine Held, Logan George13mGBEnglish Narrative Short
Relationship Deli
Ian Van der Werff4mUSAEnglish Narrative Short
Fantasy Pony
Caitlin Carleton20mUSAEnglish Narrative Short

8:45 PM

Virtual Experience (online)
2h 2m

Itchy Fingers

Anna Nilles, Marco Jake1h 47mUSAEnglish Narrative Feature
In this biting satire, an aspiring teenage comedian joins a theatre group and is cast to play a school shooter. Will this "funny man" be able to pull off such a heavy role? A film that satirizes the way buzz culture feeds national tragedies and reckons with the way social media shapes our engagement of violence and comedy.

Sept. 28, 2021 Tuesday

6:30 PM

Virtual Experience (online)
2h 2m

Vinyl Nation

Kevin Smokler, Christopher Boone1h 32mUSAEnglish Documentary Feature
A deep dig into the crates of the vinyl record resurgence to discover what an old technology says about our relationship to music and each other in a divided time in America.
Vinyl Nation & Panel Discussion

Following the screening of Vinyl Nation listen to the conversation as director & producer Kevin Smokler joins Jay Glysz of Lightning Licks Vinyl Preservation Society, Jim Gleason of Radio Wasteland (Midland), and Jordan Pries of Electric Kitsch (Bay City) in a panel discussion guided by Peter Rose-Barry, festival programmer.

Also in this Program
Vinyl Nation Panel
30mEnglish Workshop/Panel

8:45 PM

Virtual Experience (online)
1h 30m

The Last Porno Show

Kire Paputts1h 30mCanadaEnglish Narrative Feature
Wayne, a struggling method actor, inherits the city's last porno cinema from his estranged father, Al. Seeing this as an unconventional opportunity to reconcile their relationship, Wayne absorbs himself in the underworld of the pornography business. While running the cinema Wayne meets a cast of characters. Each character acts as a piece of a puzzle in helping Wayne rediscover the father he barely knew. But the old cinema turns out to be much more than Wayne anticipated.

Sept. 29, 2021 Wednesday

6:30 PM

Virtual Experience (online)
1h 49m

Pinbox

Devin Cameron1h 34mUSAEnglish Narrative Feature
Socially out of touch Eddie is obsessed with old school pinball. When he's not fantasizing about 1970s pinball champs he's working as a repair man. After discovering a mysterious old pinball table, Eddie starts a quest to repair it and learn of the game's origins. As his focus deepens and his desire to fix the machine turns into paranoid obsession, he seeks out help to uncover the game's secrets. Is this the greatest game ever made?

8:45 PM

Virtual Experience (online)
1h 15m

Queens of Pain

Cassie Hay, Amy Winston1h 15mEnglish Documentary Feature
Three women at different stages of life - Suzy Hotrod, Evilicious, and Captain Smack Sparrow - struggle to balance their lives in New York City with the dedication and stamina needed to maintain their place on the world's best roller derby team.

Sept. 30, 2021 Thursday

6:30 PM

Virtual Experience (online)
1h 30m

A Michigan Morning: Shorts (Saturday)

In this Program
Something Blue
Brennan Huizinga23mEnglish Narrative Short
Last Day for Videos
Chad Campbell8mUSAEnglish Documentary Short
Boxes for Rox
Chelsey Raegen Knapp5mUSAEnglish Animation Short
Burnt
Colton Fromhart5mUSAEnglish Narrative Short
Replica
Christopher Jarvis11mUSAEnglish Narrative Short
Fire Flower
Stephan Leeper6mUSAEnglish Animation Short
Ice Fishing in a Climate Crisis that Precedes a Global Pandemic
Peter Johnston9mUSAEnglish Documentary Short
The Way I See Maria
Jeremy Berkowitz9mUSAEnglish Narrative Short

8:45 PM

Virtual Experience (online)
1h 31m

Golden Arm

Maureen Bharoocha1h 31mEnglish Narrative Feature
*Comedy* A tough lady trucker trains her wimpy best friend to compete in the National Ladies Arm Wrestling Championship.