Announcing Official Selections, Schedule and Tickets for the 2022 Art of Brooklyn Film Festival

The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival is proud to present a full slate of over 70 new independent films in all genres for our 12th annual edition (June 1-12, 2022.)

Brooklyn's most talented emerging filmmakers join their peers from around the world for 2 full weeks of in-person screenings and special events. Our Virtual Festival platform will feature premieres and encore screenings that can be streamed everywhere.

Our 2022 screening venues are Brooklyn's iconic Cobble Hill Cinemas, the stunning auditorium of Sunset Park High School, the amazing new music venue The Atlantic Bkln, and the Mary White Ovington School in Bay Ridge.

Full Schedule, Film Guide & Tickets

2022 OFFICIAL SELECTIONS:

Narrative Features:

Dark Tales From Channel X
74 Minutes | United States | 2021
Horror, Thriller, Scifi, Lgbtq+, Body Horror  
A babysitter, Cassie, finds an old TV set in the basement which pulls her into the world of The Viewer; an anonymous entity in a mask who broadcasts seven stories of horror from monsters under the bed and ominous stalkers, to ancient curses and personal demons in this anthology.
​
Ghost Amber
60 Minutes | United Kingdon |  2021
Animation
Directed by Tim Grabham
In the wake of analogue film’s great vanishing from the commercial film industry, a celluloid ghost materialises inside the ruins of a mysterious phantom cinema, beginning a phantasmagoric drift through death, rebirth, and the bardo like spaces in between.

Hideout
119 Minutes  | Taiwan  | 2021
Crime, Mistery, Thriller 
Directed by Yen Kuang Chen
Drug dealer Guo-hao hopes to make enough money so that he and his girlfriend can leave their life of crime behind. One day, he is contacted by Michael, a drug broker with an offer to buy a batch of rare cocaine. Guo-hao teams up with long-time buddy Da-wei to borrow money from local crime boss Uncle Ma to complete this deal. 
On the day of the exchange, however, Michael is found dead and the drugs are already gone. The owner of the cocaine threatens to kill Guo-hao if he fails to come up with the drugs or money. At the same time, Uncle Ma dispatches his henchmen to recover the loan. In the middle of the night, Guo-hao receives a phone call from a mysterious man claiming to be in possession of the lost cocaine, telling Guo-hao he has a new deal for him…

Rock Paper Scissors 
100 Minutes | United States | 2021
Thriller, Horror
Directed by Doug Bollinger
Sam and Missy Wagner have reached a crossroads in their mundane, suburban relationship. One night of horrific events lead them down a path of fear, retribution, and renewal.  

Silent River
121 Minutes | United States | 2022 
Supernatural Spychological Drama
Directed by Chris Chan Lee  
On the road in a desperate attempt to reunite with his estranged wife, Elliot takes respite at a desert motel. He encounters Greta, a mysterious woman bearing a striking resemblance to his wife. Elliot soon discovers her secret and descends into a mind-bending journey that forces him to question exactly who she is and where they are. Haunting and hallucinogenics, “Silent River” is a layered and nuanced film that boldly challenges the very notions of reality and illusion. 

Shamrocks
106 Minutes  | United States  | 2021
Crime, Comedy
Directed by Greg Lofrano
Shamrocks tells the story of Barry a low-level crook who takes what he wants, when he wants. We soon learn that he owes money to Donato, a local loanshark. In order to pay his debts, Barry sets up a plan to rob the home of the Joneses, a host family that his Au Pair "girlfriend", Luisa, works for. 

Skagit
104 Minutes | United States |  2021
Psychological Horror 
Directed by Nick Thompson
Four friends leave Seattle for a weekend in a remote, rain-soaked corner of Washington State's rustic Skagit Valley. The foreboding October landscape begins to warp their minds, plunging each of them into alternate realities where they must grapple with personal demons, sexual tensions, and a sinister natural world as they claw their way back to sanity.

Documentary Features: 

Cycle of Memory 
72 Minutes | United States | 2021
Directed by Alex Leff
Cycle of Memory follows filmmaker Alex Leff and his Younger sibling Koby as they try to uncover the past and capture the present, in order to be remembered in the future. Guided by old photographs of teh 1945 trip, they search for places aged by time. But while searching for Grandpa Mel’s past, the two are confronted with their own fraught history. If they’re going to complete the turbulent journey, they’ll have to face their own emotional potholes and tumultuous relationship.  With the help of a grandmother learning to l ive alone for the first time, Mel’s lifelong friend and co-adventurer on the bike trip, and a family collection spanning 1950s film reels to 1990s video tapes, Cycle of Memory explores the importance of intergenerational connection, healing apinful pasts, and leaving a meningful time capsule for the future. 

More Than Academics
93 Minutes | United States | 2021
Directed by Elizabeth Mealey
Dejinay Reed is a 7th grade English teacher defying the status-quo curriculum that prioritizes test scores over social-emotional literacy and independent thought. Under her guidance, Harlem charter school students learn their love languages, repair family relationships, and start their own small businesses, all while the Covid-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter uprising combine to make 2020 the most challenging school year in recent history.   

Nasima
86 Minutes | United States | 2020
Directed by Heather Kessinger 
A little girl’s dream of riding the waves threatens to change the course of history for an entire nation. Selling trinkets on the beach, 7 year old Nasima’s attention is caught by something out on the water and immediately she is transfixed: surfing has come to Bangladesh. Nasima instantly knows what she wants and that is to surf the waves. She will become the first female surfer in Bangladesh, a place where women don’t even swim in public, let alone ride waves.

Squatters
89 Minutes | United States | 2021
Directed by Catalina Santamaria
At the end of the 1980s, two abandoned buildings in Manhattan's Lower East Side neighborhoods of the "truquito" and the "maroma" were occupied by a group of young artists, mostly immigrants, who renovated them and turned them into self-sustainable homes outside the boundaries of the law. Santamaría gathers records from multiple sources to chronicle the transformation of Puerta 10 and Umbrella House based on the stories of their singular protagonists. Part of the material in this documentary comes from video recorded by them during the renovation of the buildings in order to document a community that built these houses by hand in order to inhabit them in their own way. This film pays homage to that desire by showing some of the difficulties that come with being a collective utopia, including fragility in the face of time and the looming threat of the system.  

The Sun Rises In The East
58 Minutes | United States | 2021
Directed by Tayo Giwa
The Sun Rises in The East chronicles the birth, rise and legacy of The East, a pan-African cultural organization founded in 1969 by teens and young adults in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Led by educator and activist Jitu Weusi, The East embodied Black self-determination, building more than a dozen institutions, including its own African-centered school, food co-op, newsmagazine, publisher, record label, restaurants, clothing shop and bookstore. The organization hosted world-famous jazz musicians and poets at its highly sought-after performance venue, and it served as an epicenter for political contermporaries such as teh Black Panther Party, the Young Lords and the Congress of Afrikan People, as well as comrades across Africa and the Caribbean. In Effect, The east built an independent Black Nation in teh heart of Central Brooklyn. 


Film As Art - Experimental & Non-Linear Shorts:

ArtMinute1 - The Perfect Selfie
4 Minutes | Denmark | 2019
Animation
Directed by Asta Wellejus & Teddy Kristiansen
The story is about the Danish painter Jens Juel, who through his travels and inspiration from the old masters (Rembrandt) gains a unique inspiration and expertise. This is shown in the light/ colors he gathers on his travels and a special light/ glow that emerges from his brush.

Beatings of the Devil
8 Minutes | United States | 2021
Experimental Documentary
Directed by Bradly Dever Treadaway
"Beatings Of The Devil" is based on the concept and weather event called sunshowers, or, as my grandmother would often say when it rained while the sun was shining, “The devil is beating his wife”. This wildly inappropriate, and outdated colloquial phrase, which resonated deeply within me as a child, provides a point of departure and interpretation for this work.

Caprice x²
4 Minutes | Austria | 2021
Animation
Directed by Claudia Ungersbäck
Forms and gestures, situations over a copy (is_t) existance. marks and notes happening while light resounds.

Chiaroscuro
7 Minutes | United States | 2022
Experimental
Directed by Asia Vo
Chiaroscuro is an immersive sound and video installation that follows an anonymous glowing figure as they traverse an empty, black and unknown plane.

Collage 38.2 (Version Multiple)
4 Minutes | Spain | 2021
Experimental
Directed by Luis Carlos Rodriguez
Collage 38.2 is an Intervention (construction / deconstruction), in the form of an audiovisual collage, on the film in the public domain: Of Human Bondage (1934) by John Cromwell.

Echo’s Answer
3 Minutes | United States | 2021
Music Video
Directed by Cat Tassini
This is a proof of concept video for "Echo's Answer," a feature-length psychedelic reimagining of the life and legacy of Trish Keenan of Broadcast. Although Keenan died in 2011 at only 42, the enchanting world she created with her music, writing, and art lives on through her influence on other artists. This film is an answer to that echo.

Haptic Memory 
1 Minute |  United States |  2021
Animation 
Directed by Mike Enright
Paint on glass with monotype animation. The images are captured with Dragonframe stop motion software and composited together in Adobe After Effects. This piece is part of research into the tension between hand made and digital animation.

Ma1nframe
5 Minutes | United States | 2021
Music Video
Directed by Qieer Wang
MA1NFRAME is the story of an artificial intelligence created to bring us together as a planet after so many millennia of divisiveness. 

Pursuit of Sadness
3 Minutes | United States | 2020
Poetry
Directed by Lea Wülferth
‘Pursuit of Sadness’ is an audiovisual collaboration built around the following repeating words displayed on screen and interspersed with other images: he gets himself a balloon / he lets it fly away / he flees to the attic / he cries.

Secrets of the Galleries
7 Minutes | United States | 2022
Experimental
Directed by  Peter Meng
This is your ticket to unlock the secrets in the galleries of Mount Kilimanhattan. Follow the Arthouse players as they go beyond the realm and revel in this magical, mystical world.

Social Distancing 
5 Mintues  | United States | 2022
Animation
Directed by Kayoko Nakamura
Social Distancing is a video piece, visualizing the data of the Covid 19 pandemic, and the audio is also converted from the numerical values of the data. It explores new ways of communicating with the audience by presenting the data in a different perspective.

The Animal 
9 Minutes | United States | 2021
Animation
Directed by Nora 6592
A poem that explores girlhood through the lens of poverty and alienation in the American South.

The Dark Forest
10 Minutes | United States | 2021
Videopoetry
Directed by Martin Del Carpio
“To honor the memory of his father who passed away in 2019, Martin Del Carpio opts for the medium of film once again, and delivers his most lyrical work to date. At once deeply personal, carefully veiled in a delicate fabric of pure emotions, and absolutely immersive in its dreamlike, mysterious beauty, ‘The Dark Forest’ transmutes its author’s innermost life into an admirable piece of introspective cinema.”

The Sixteen Showings of Julian of Norwich 
8 Minutes | United States | 2020
Animation
Directed by Caroline Golum
This actor-less, handmade work is an exercise in texture and tableaux, depicting the visionary experience and historic significance of the first woman to write a book in English.
  
Three Pride Flags
2 Minutes  | United States |  2022
Music, Animation
Directed by Tom Bessoir
Inspired by Jasper Johns in anticipation of the joint retrospective exhibitions at The Whitney Museum of American Art and The Philadelphia Museum of Art, this is three pride flags permutating at different speeds. Music by Matthew Fritz.

Universal Frequencies 
2 Minutes | United States | 2020
Experimental
Directed by Paul Arsenault
The history of the universe through 1590 hand painted frames. 

Utera
5 Minutes | United States | 2021
Experimental
Directed by Alexandra Tahereh Kaucher
The director’s thoughts on her influences as a young girl to want children.

Narrative Shorts:

Always for the First Time
20 Minutes | United States | 2021
Drama
Directed by John Caliendo, Victoria Meade
Loosely based on the first meeting of surrealist writer Andre Breton and surrealist artist Elisa Latte Elena Bindhoff Enet.

Angst
10 Minutes | Austria | 2021
Sci-Fi
Directed by Béla Baptiste
In a distant future fear has been completely eradicated in order to find relief and peace beyond the hectic pace of life. That's where Bobby comes in: selling pills to those who wish to get back in touch with their primal instincts.

Bitten, A Tragedy
20 Minutes | United States | 2021
Horror
Directed by Monika Estrella Negra
Bitten, a Tragedy follows Lydia, a Black queer woman living in Philadelphia. At a Philly rave, ancestral warfare wreaks havoc on the bloodline of an unfortunate party goer, connecting Lydia to a world of blood, ritual, secrets and vengeance.

Breakfast at the Bodega
15 Minutes | United States | 2021
Comedy
Directed by  Marina Barham
A talented young Brooklynite/Palestinian-American attempts to live out his dreams of becoming a French pastry chef despite his first-generation father's wishes. Struggling to fill his first big order for a gig, tensions arise when the father forbids him from using their family bodega to cook.

Bridge 
15 Minutes | United States | 2021
Drama
Directed by Shannon Morrall
When her grandfather passes away, a young girl sets off on a quest to find him and bring him home. "Bridge" explores a child's journey experiencing grief and loss for the first time.

Bygone
8 Minutes | Spain | 2022
Thriller
Directed by Mickey Tetrov
A young woman wakes up in the middle of an apocalyptic, deserted world. As she meanders through the abandoned remains, she encounters a looming presence.

Cameo
16 Minute | United States | 2021
Thriller
Directed by Ryan G. Kelly
A graduate student questions her reality after she receives a mysterious necklace.

Community Service 
15 Minutes | United States | 2020
Dark Comedy
Directed by Grayson Tyler Johnson
A young man gets too drunk one night and is arrested in the street. He now must perform community service, delivering spaghetti to home-bound adults throughout Brooklyn. The last stop on his route is Shecky…

Daytrip Massacre
11 Minutes United States 2021
Horror, Comedy
Directed by Artie Brennan & Anthony Giordano
In the late 1970's a group of young adults go camping near the old abandoned Freak Show Camp. Legend has it, the bearded lady's son, a half-fish-half-child monster called "Fishboy" still roams the woods slaying anyone in his stream. Will they make out? Probably. Will they make it out? Probably not.

Detour
15 Minutes | United States | 2020
Drama
Directed by Bobby Webster
Two broken people have a chance encounter one night in New York City.

Fish Story
20 Minutes | United States | 2021
Comedy, Drama
Directed by Annique Witdoeckt
A grieving father and daughter struggle to connect, until Mom returns…as a fish.

From Water Comes Melon 
13 Minutes | United States | 2021
Sci-Fi
Directed by Micah Vassau
A woman finds the last watermelon on earth. 

Homebound
19 Minutes | United States | 2021
Drama
Directed by Usher Morgan
HomeBound is the story of Jamie Rockwell, a woman burdened by severe agoraphobia. After losing her therapy dog, she must muster the courage within, not only to find her dog, but ultimately, to find herself.

I’m Fine
17 Minutes | United States | 2019
Dramady
Directed by Justin Ho
Allyson and her father join after years of separation and are both forced to revisit their past together.

In Defense of Civil Society
8 Minutes | United States | 2021
Dark Comedy
Directed by Rafeh Mahmud
A (non)Muslim refugee becomes entangled in government-subsidized terrorism!

In the Mountains
6 Minutes | United States | 2021
Animation
Directed by Wally Chung
A couple goes on a hike and run into some trouble.

It’s Very Common 
11 Minutes | United States | 2021
Drama
Directed by Megan Hessenthaler
Set in a queer collective house in Brooklyn, NY we spend a day or so with Amanda as she lives through the miscarriage of what would have been her second child. Led by her need to keep things light around her daughter we witness as she manages heavy feelings with help from her wife, roommates, and her signature dry wit.

Later Daters
12 Minutes | United States | 2021
Comedy
Directed by Fred Shahadi
A widower decides to re-enter the dating world only to discover he's in way over his head.

Lioness
7 Minutes | United States | 2021
Drama
Directed by Molly E. Smith
Barricaded in a motel room, a mothers determination and primal instincts kick in to protect her child's innocence.

No Way Out
11 Minutes | United States | 2021
Horror
Directed by Caleb Bergner
Jack, a young man suffering from sleep deprivation is studying for an exam. After receiving some bad news and falling asleep, Jack finds himself greeted by disturbing figures in a reality separate from his own.

Puss
9 Minutes | United States | 2020
Comedy
Directed by ​​Leah Shore
Samantha desperately wants to get laid, but is finding it to be difficult for some reason.

Sally 
5 Minutes | United States | 2022
Comedy
Directed by Phillip Russell
After his car breaks down, a man seeks refuge at a seemingly abandoned mansion.

Sold
20 Minutes | United States | 2022
Drama
Directed by Christopher Thompson
A Downtown Artist struggles with his newly found sobriety.

‘Til Death Due Us Part
6 Minute | United States | 2020
Dark Comedy
Directed by Taylor Coriell
Bride-to-be Jill wakes up on the morning of her wedding, and starts to believe that everything she touches, dies.

‘Til Morning 
15 Minutes | United States | 2021
Drama
Directed by Ana Moioli
'Til Morning is a coming of age short film about Julia, a Brazilian student in New York City. When Julia can't pay for her tuition, she has to choose between surrendering to her conservative family and selling herself to a stranger.

The Game
21 Minutes | United States | 2021
Drama
Directed by Aldo Vassallo
Set in early 2000’s suburbia, The Game portrays a bewilderingly tense period in eight year old George’s life. One night, as he attempts to drown out his parents' constant and escalating conflicts by gluing his eyes to his Gameboy, he's startled by the sound of a deafening scream coming from his mother's bedroom. Based on a true story.

The Walk Up
12 Minutes | United States  | 2021
Comedy
Directed by Nick Brown
When a young woman from Texas moves to Manhattan, her ambition and independence are shaken by the long six flight walk up to her apartment.

The Smartest Dumb Girl
13 Minutes | United States | 2021
Comedy
Directed by  Angie Comer
With a flood of mischief, a woman with an acute sense of entitlement is persistent in her goal to get a discount for a murder-for-hire scheme from a prickly and foul-mouth female assassin.

Treehouse
25 Minutes | United States | 2021
Drama
Directed by William Austin
A reclusive construction worker is stricken with grief after witnessing the sudden, tragic death of his brother. Tortured by guilt, he struggles to build a treehouse—the unfulfilled dream of their childhood.

Wake
11 Minutes | United States | 2021
Drama
Directed by Andrew Patrick Torrez
As Jackie mourns her husband's death at his own wake, her best friend Gwen is on hand to console her amidst an unforgiving family as Jackie discovers the truth behind his untimely death.

Your Silhouette
15 Minutes | China | 2021
Directed by Haoyue “Caroline” Wu
The boy runs for his dream; The girl runs for her own life
They tries to connect with each other that ignores the gap between them which is caused by their family background. They are the medicine for each other, but they still need to face the reality.

Short Documentaries: 

Adam Milner Takes Care of the Details 
9 Minutes | United States | 2021
Directed by Lorena Alvarado
From flower petals to eyelashes, plastic gemstones, a friend’s hair or Babybel cheese wax casing, Brooklyn-based gay artist Adam Milner mixes and matches an unexpected range of objects into artworks that explore our often fraught relationships with the things that fill our lives.

Breaking Ground
6 Minutes | United States | 2022
Directed by  Phil Garrison
The story of Fred Moore, America's first black soldier to become a prestigious Tomb Guard in Arlington National Cemetery.

Chilly & Milly 
9 Minutes | United States | 2021
Directed by William David Caballero
Chilly and Milly is an animated documentary exploring a father’s chronic health problems as a diabetic with kidney failure, and his wife’s role as his eternal caretaker.

DOPO YUMEmories
14 Minutes | United States | 2022
Directed by Jordan Galland
The short documentary explores Dopo Yume, a NYC-based rock band that gained traction in the late 90s, early 00s, but never quite took flight. Told through home videos and present day narration from the band’s lead singer, we experience his memories of the highs and lows, the friendships and community that formed around the music and the role that fate and tragedy played.

From Darkness to Light: The Peter Krueger Clinic 
40 Minutes | United States  | 2021
Directed by Joe Fox
“From Darkness To Light” is a documentary film that tells the story of the Peter Krueger Clinic (PKC) – one of the first HIV/AIDS clinics in the United States, which was established at Beth Israel Hospital in 1989.

Just a Broadway Baby: Mary Ellen Ashley
24 Minutes |  United States | 2021
Directed by Patrick A Riviere
A short documentary film about the career and life of Mary Ellen Ashley who made her Broadway debut in 1943 in The Innocent Voyage (as Mary Ellen Glass) and went on to do the entire run of the original Broadway Production of Annie Get Your Gun with Ethel Merman. Her career has spanned 80 years and includes: opening for headliners in Vegas; performing on Broadway, and starring in regional theatre, radio, film and early Television.

Manji
39 Minutes | Japan | 2022
Directed by Yousuke Kiname
MANJI follows Reverend TK Nakagaki, a Japanese Buddhist priest living in America for the past thirty-five years, as he travels the globe on a mission: to reclaim the swastika as a symbol of peace.

Night at Downtown Beirut
10 Minutes | United States | 2021
Directed by Mike Enright
A quasi-documentary short about the quasi-legendary East Village punk bar, Downtown Beirut, shot and assembled in 1990 and rebuilt in 2021.

Slow Burn & The Muse
15 Minutes | United States | 2021
Directed by Darah Golub
Two songs, many years and one fruitful night tell the story of a singer/songwriter's road to success.

The Savior of Coney Island 
10 Minutes | United States | 2022
Directed by Gary Beeber
Meet Dick Zigun, “Honorary Mayor of Coney Island” and learn about the beginnings of Coney Island USA.

The Brother Mike Tapes
12 Minutes |  United States |  2021
Directed by Rodd Perry
Michael Cohen secretly recorded his parents growing up, then animated their conversations decades later.

Unattached
3 Minutes | France | 2021
Directed by Fanny Texier
A young French woman on the precipice of youth and adulthood releases her long hair as a symbol of her femininity.

2022 Screenplay Competition:

Finalists:

Centurions — Written by Sally Stubbs 
Pick — Written by Bernhard Riedhammer
Sergeant Freeman — Written by Gloria J. Browne-Marshall
The Puppeteer — Written by Alexander Julian III

Semi-Finalists:

Lost Memories — Written by Bernhard Riedhammer
Prudence — Written by Sally Ann Hall
The Comeback — Written by Maurice Hicks
The Faerie Rings — Written by Zina Brown
The Heart Lies Slain — Written by Dario Marcucci and Luca Zamparini

Quarter Finalists:

American Street — Written by Eugene Martin
Amy & Angel — Written by Robert Craig
Arthur’s Yearbook — Written by Jim Norman 
At The Mercy of Faith — Written by Samuel Taylor 
Control — Written by Jacob Davis
Deep Hush — Written by Kristy Walsh
Fatal — Written by Gregory Cala
Namaste — Written by Lora Grillo
The Mojave Experiment — Written by Chinisha Scott
Wake Me Up — Written by Karen Wang

Honorable Mentions:

Avalon Farms Academy — Written by Sierra Blanco
Known Unknowns — Written by John McCloskey
Money Tree — Written by Isaac Ballesteros Barba