HIGHWAY 61 FILM FESTIVAL • 2016 SCHEDULE OF FILMS

Director: Miranda Pla • Student Short • Los Angeles • 2 min

A girl is chased through worlds by the creature that festers inside of us all.

Director: Radheya Jegathev • Student Short • Australia • 3 min

An animated depiction of the poem, “The Tyger” by William Blake.

Director: Radheya Jegatheva • Student Short • Australia • 4 min

Moving from one apartment to another has consequences when things go bump in the night.

Director: Mykee Steen • Action/Horror Short • Portland • 9 min

When would-be writer Jonas accidentally invokes the spirit of his great-grandmother, he opens a door to another realm.

Director: Shiyuan Guo • Animation • Canada •  2 min

Every day, a girl leaves for a a different place, though she is only living in her mind.

Director: Rudy Capirio • Drama Short • United Kingdom • 6 min

When two worlds collide in a cloister, it might take something drastic to set things right.

Director: Jehad Al-Khateeb • Comedy Short • New Mexico • 15 min

After new laws force a theater owner to show imaginary films, a mysterious visitor offers him an intriguing solution.

Directors: Reem Al-Shihabi, Deema Al Therman, Layal Mooti • Student Short • United Arab Emirates • 2 min

A young woman reflects on the things that make her who she is, the contradictions that make her whole.

Director: Matthew Knarr • Student Short • Canada • 4 min

A documentary exploring the quiet, empty world of the last subway train of the night, and the stories of the people riding it.

Director: Shira Moolten • Student Short • Philadelphia • 2 min

An exploration through language and images of human frailty and the wonder of existence.

Director: Julie Annlie • Student Short • Denmark • 10 min

A boy begins dreaming of a girl, dreams that become more and more his reality.

Directors: Neema Sadeghi, Keyan Kazemian • Student Short • USA • 5 min

A teenage boy comes to a difficult place in his life, and realizes he needs to face the truth regarding his lack of emotion.

Director: Heather Nicole • Drama Short • Austria • 2 min

When it comes to love, timing is everything.

Director: Lana Bregar • Student Short • Slovenia • 2 min

The truth about the end of things lies in all the objects we  see and experience every day.

Director: Anthony Nion • Comedy Short • Belgium • 13 min

When Valentin meets Ludivine, he is convinced she’s the girl he has been dreaming of for weeks – but Ludivine is not so sure.

Director: Farhad Pakdel • Drama Short • Canada • 13 min

A Qashqai family lives in a village in Fars province of Iran. Mitra is expecting her nomad fiancé to come back from the winter pasture. Knowing about her sister’s imminent departure, Mitra’s blind brother Ardeshir is restless and sleepless.

Director: Mandy Wong • Animation • Philadelphia • 3 min

A city landscape is deconstructed and reconstructed through the artist’s visual imagination.

Director: Felix Swahn • Animation • Sweden • 13 min

After the family matriarch dies, she asks to have her ashes spread in the place of her youth. Her wish is the beginning of an unusual family road trip.

Director: Maria Lavelle • Documentary Short • Sioux Falls • 18 min

An exploration of homelessness in South Dakota.

Director: Laura Malatos • Student Short • Portland • 2 min

During WWII, an evacuee child tries to remain in contact with his mother through their only means of connection: words.

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Director: Radheya Jegatheva • Student Short – 1st Place 2016 • Australia • 8 min

An astronaut drifting through space tries to find his way back home.

Directors: Morry Engler and Dell Gross • Not for competition • Pine City/Rush City • 36 min

The rich agricultural heritage of East Central Minnesota is reborn each year at the Almelund Threshing Show, and that history comes to life in a whole new way in this warm and nostalgic documentary film. Learn about the hardships and joys of pioneer life and experience the passion of those who keep its traditions alive.

Director: Justin Carter • Action/Horror Short – 1st Place 2016 • United Kingdom • 10 minutes

A young couple enjoy a romantic camping trip in Devon, but their getaway becomes a nightmare when Ellie starts to experience visions of death.

Director: Andrew Martin • Drama Feature – 1st Place 2016 • United Kingdom • 1 hour 31 min

The year is 1959. Guy is an experienced British fighter pilot in Britain’s first manned mission to space. Now he is alone in space with a malfunctioning capsule. He has limited contact with the UK, and some unusual communication with the US and Soviet Russia. Can he get home? Who will help him? Will he make the right choice?

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Director: Cole Johnson • Student Short • USA • 2 min

Little Billy wakes up in the middle of the night hungry. As he walks toward his fridge, someone is following him…

Director: Nico Fulton Lavachek • Student Short • USA • 10 min

John and Oliver start a lemonade stand to raise money for an inflatable pool, but their competition’s lemonade is just too delicious.

Director: Kevin Saxby • Comedy Short • Canada • 5 min

Jerry’s bath time is interrupted when a mysterious stranger calls his home. It gets worse before it gets wetter.

Director: Tony Morales • Action/Horror Short • Spain • 9 min

Tonight Hada comes to visit Daniel because her last child tooth has fallen out. What Daniel doesn’t expect is that his worst enemy is the light.

Director: Montana Hall • Animation • Los Angeles • 5 min

A girl walks home at night and has to come face-to-face with the monsters lurking in the darkness.

Director: Dempsey Tillman • Action/Horror Short • Los Angeles • 10 min

A young boy must by saved from execution by his last hope. Starring James Walters and Edward James Olmos.

Director: An Pham • Drama Short • Houston • 23 min

After a broken marriage, Kim threw her life into the shadow. When her mother’s health fails, dreams and passion are awakened again.

Directors: Josh Clarke and Jack Kelly • Comedy Feature – First Place 2016 • United Kingdom • 61 min

Love is like a bus… you wait all your life for one to turn up, then three turn up at once. A young man must decide which girl to pursue when three potential loves-of-his-life walk into his world on the same night.

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Director: Christian Washington • Animation • Muncie, Indiana • 5 min

Sometimes the people in our lives we find hardest to love end up being the most important people we should cherish.

Director: Ariel Jew • Animation • San Francisco • 3 min

When his grandfather passes, a young Haida boy decides to finish the totem pole that they had started, using the memories that they had together.

Director: Keith Mullin • Animation – First Place 2016 • Brooklyn Center • 5 min

An artist’s creation comes to life and explores its new surroundings.

Director: Otalia Causse • Animation • France • 3 min

With two musicians performing on stage, the lighting guy goes berserk.

Directors: Jay and Amy Albrecht • Made in Minnesota • 2 min

Blue Peep and Pink Peep make their way through the big world while trying to find a marshmallow mate online. A chance encounter while waiting for the train blossoms into a sweet love story.

Director: Jing Sun • Animation • California • 5 min

A hungry old man begs for a pear, but the peddler refuses him. A little boy spends his last coin to buy a pear for the old man. Finally, a magical form of justice emerges.

Director: Viktor Lakisov • Animation • Russia • 1 hour 22 minutes

While the grownup ducks argue, the young ducks must join together to defeat the villains who seek to destroy the sun.

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Director: Keith Mullin • Animation – First Place 2016 • Brooklyn Center • 5 min

An artist’s creation comes to life and explores its new surroundings.

Director: Jesse Rubbelke • Not for competition • Pine City • 4 min

Unpaid debts come back to haunt a man and his visitor.

Director: Martin Blanco, Clayton Stansberry • Made in Minnesota – First Place 2016 • 6 min

An industrial worker in St. Paul, Minnesota, seeks purpose while escaping his past.

Directors: Diana Fraser, Sam Dunnewold • Made in Minnesota • St. Paul •  9 min

A 20-something leaves her girlfriend at home to catch up with an old college friend, and during their night on the town sparks fly.

Director: Callie Jones • Made in Minnesota • Minneapolis • 4 min

A short, poetic documentary about what four young women believe makes them beautiful.

Director: John Akre • Made in Minnesota • 3 min

An animated treatise on the must fundamental of rights, the right freely to associate.

Director: Sean A. Skinner • Made in Minnesota • Brooklyn Park • 7 min

The story behind the game, “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” is finally set straight.

Directors: Justin Berrisford, Cole Meyer • Made in Minnesota • White Bear Lake • 7 min

After a young boy finds a magical ring in his backyard, he becomes his favorite superhero: Golden Light. But when the evil General Zorg comes to retrieve the ring, Bobby must use his newfound powers to protect his family.

Director: Aaron Goodyear • Documentary Feature – First Place 2016 • Minneapolis • 1 hour 31 min

The progressive rock band Gypsy roared out of the Twin Cities, landed in Los Angeles in 1969, scored a hit on the record charts and built a fervent nationwide following.  Six years later they called it quits. This is their absolutely true rock ‘n roll story.

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Director: Dániel Füzes • Comedy Short • Hungary • 10 min

Bar owner Józsi is in an unpleasant situation. Somebody caused a problem and now he needs a cleanup. Unfortunately, his silent partner Badger sends a hitman to do the “dirty work,” while Józsi is expecting a plumber.

Director: Linnea Ritland • Comedy Short • Canada • 4 min

Either an absurdist, nonsensical comedy or a musing on confronting one’s own fears of love and rejection—or both.

Director: Keith Hopkins • Made in Minnesota • Duluth • 12 min

While working to restore an old derelict home, a handyman encounters the unexplainable.

Director: Alice Shindelar • Made in Minnesota • 13 min

An introverted teenage girl searches for her boyfriend when he mysteriously disappears after they share an intimate moment.

Directors: Sean Skinner, Edward Linder  • Brooklyn Park • Made in Minnesota • 8 min

You’d think it would be a simple task. Some people just can’t do it. That’s where the Help Desk comes in.

Director: Ryan Becken • Not for competition • 8 min

Dan has lost his job and his girlfriend. Will he lose his life now too?

Directors: Amber Rhodes and Ryan Shaddelee • Not for competition • 8 min

30-year-old Jenny likes playing with her dolls and hanging out with her parents. But what will happen when her dolls come to life?

Director: Ray Flint III • Made in Minnesota • White Bear Lake • 9 min

“After Effect” and his evil minions must be stopped by the “Z.E.T.A. Force” before hidden technological weapons sway the battle between good and evil forever.

Director: Mike Cheslik • Comedy Short – First Place 2016 • Milwaukee • 22 min

The League of Interplanetary Process Servers’ finest agent attempts to deliver 30 subpoenas throughout the universe in 10 minutes.

Director: Kye Loren • Drama Short • United Kingdom • 29 min

The host of a scandal-mongering television program has a personal life that rivals those of the guests on his show.

Director: Nic Barker • Drama Short • Australia • 16 min

A relationship is like a shark. It has to move forward or it dies.

Director: Sébastien Vanicek • Action/Horror Short • France • 13 min

Michel, subject to violent hallucinations, must overcome the imminence of death during his extradition flight towards United States.

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Director: Maurice Hicks • Drama Short • North Carolina • 10 min

A tired and worn would-be father pens a hypothetical detailing his perspectives and fears to his unborn son.

Director: Wyatt Cagle • Drama Short – First Place 2016 • Texas • 30 min

During a race riot in Beaumont, Texas in June 1943, worlds collide at a roadblock. Tensions explode on that hot summer night, forcing all involved to make decisions that will question their morals and loyalty.

Director: Martha Gorzycki • Made in Minnesota • 11 min

The Karen People of Burma, many of whom now live in Minnesota, believe no one hears their pleas for help as their country remains ravaged by a war that has lasted more than six decades.

Director: Jennifer Higgins • Animation • Milwaukee • 3 min

One of the things that makes us human is our ability to tell stories. Eugene Burger narrates the Hindu creation myth. Brahma creates, Vishnu sustains, and Shiva destroys, but that is not the end.

Director: Leya Hale • Made in Minnesota • St. Paul • 27 min

Minnesotan American Indian communities are reclaiming traditional practices around Sacred Tobacco while educating their people on the growth of commercial tobacco’s frequent use in sacred traditions in order to untangle the two and promote a healthy lifestyle for future generations.

Director: Jeffrey Blake Palmer • Drama Short • Boston •24 min

Two young women from disparate backgrounds share a ride to western Massachusetts. A story of unexpected friends navigating life’s bumpy roads and moving forward with hope.

Director: Rene Erickson • Documentary Short – First Place 2016 • Inver Grove Heights • 30 min

What would it be like to do exactly what you wanted with your life?  Explore the life, music and motivation of eclectic guitarist and prolific composer Reynold Philipsek in this documentary portrait.