Already bent by the demands of his home life - fatherhood, a faltering marriage, and a submerged mortgage - a tradesman struggles to balance his own appetites and expectations with those of a friend in need. "Everything Strange and New" is an intimate portrait of ordinary people and their longing for certainty in uncertain times.Wayne is a carpenter, no longer young but uneasy with the emotional complexities of adulthood. Aimless hours spent with Leo, his newly-divorced drinking buddy, offer some relief to the heavy gravity at home, where his kids run roughshod over his increasingly unstable wife. Living between these worlds leaves Wayne feeling like a character in someone else's story. Ultimately, a violent spasm rouses him from this fevered American dream.
Mr. Jordan
A story about the transformative friendship between four young kids experiencing the fun and torment of living in a rural town, while questioning and exploring their sexual identities.
Man #1
Paris-based wine expert Steven Spurrier heads to California in search of cheap wine that he can use for a blind taste test in the French capital. Stumbling upon the Napa Valley, the stuck-up Englishman is shocked to discover a winery turning out top-notch chardonnay. Determined to make a name for himself, he sets about getting the booze back to Paris.
T.J.
When John takes his San Francisco friends to his deceased uncle's remote ranch to hunt wild pigs, it seems like a typical guys weekend with guns - despite the presence of John's sexy girlfriend Brooks. But as John and his crew trek deeper into the forest, they begin tracking the awful truth about his uncle's demise and the legend of The Ripper -- a murderous three-thousand-pound black boar!
Hector
After Dick Harper loses his job at Globodyne in an Enron-esque collapse, he and his wife, Jane, turn to crime in order to handle the massive debt they now face. Two intelligent people, Dick and Jane actually get pretty good at robbing people and even enjoy it -- but they have second thoughts when they're reminded that crime can hurt innocent people. When the couple hears that Globodyne boss Jack McCallister actually swindled the company, they plot revenge.
Draculino/Chucho
Tweek City is a week in the life of Bill, a potentially closeted, half-Latino, small-time speed dealer in San Francisco's Mission District. Bill is stuck on an endless walk from one empty experience to the next. Only Bill's friend Jerm has the ability to connect and ground him in reality. When Jerm makes an ill-advised stage dive, Bill plunges into a downward spiral that takes him on a nocturnal journey through the streets of San Francisco and ultimately down to Los Angeles where he crashes his high school sweetheart's wedding. From his sleep-deprived, hallucinogenic state, Bill fails miserably in a desperate attempt to reconnect with his first and only love. With nowhere else to go, Bill jacks a car and ends up at the deserted drive-in theater of his childhood where he is forced to confront the ghosts that he had tried to leave behind.
Vince Esparza
The discovery of a corpse threatens to unravel a bumbling local politician's campaign for governor of Colorado.
Joel Rosario
Celebrated graffiti artists 'Heir' and 'Vain' are superstars in the underground world of San Francisco's Mission District; urban outlaws always on the run. After a clash with the law, they find their lives spinning out-of-control with explosive consequences.
Man of Wisdom
Night Passage is a digital film on friendship and death. Made in homage to Miyazawa Kenji's classic novel, Milky Way Railroad, the story evolves around the spiritual journey of a young woman, in the company of her best friend and a little boy, into a world of rich in-between realities. Their venture into and out of the land of "awakened dreams" occurs during a long ride on a night train. The filmmaker elegantly depicts each encounter in two-dimensional space with a unique artistic gesture and ingeniously frames the passage as a series of rhythmic image sequensces as seen through the window of a train.
Mr. Z
An ultraconservative police officer suffers a debilitating stroke and is assigned to a rehabilitative program that includes singing lessons - with the drag queen next door.
Manny
A small, seemingly innocuous plastic reel of film leads surveillance specialist Tom Welles down an increasingly dark and frightening path. With the help of the streetwise Max, he relentlessly follows a bizarre trail of evidence to determine the fate of a complete stranger. As his work turns into obsession, he drifts farther and farther away from his wife, family and simple life as a small-town PI.
Human Buffet
Originally produced for PBS's Great Performances Series, La Pastorela is a musical retelling of the shepherds' journey to Bethlehem to see the Christ Child. We see the tale through the eyes of a modern young girl, the oldest child in a large rural Tex-Mex family. During a surrealistic dream, which brings to mind "The Wizard of Oz," the young chicana makes a fantastical journey with the shepherds and along the way; witnesses the triumph of God's Angels over Satan's diablo's. Full of drama, comedy, fantasy and wonderful music; this is a rare film the whole family can enjoy together.
