Award-winning films from George Mason’s Film and Video Studies program illustrate our shared need for connection and community. This program of inventive shorts highlights directors innovatively working across genres including web series, documentary, drama and comedy. Mason students produce their films in collaboration and community, working with student artists studying screenwriting, producing, cinematography, sound design and editing.

The Unfortunate and Accidental Death of Mr. Gregory
Ashley Adams | 2018 | Narrative | 3 min
This pilot webisode follows a cleaning crew of outsiders who arrive to find themselves in quite a mess.

Sunny Side Up
Marie Karkehabadi | 2018 | Narrative | 8 min
A man overwhelmed by existential doubt transitions from married to divorced, exploring the inescapability of ordinary suffering. Best Experimental Film and Best VFX, Mason Film Festival 2017; premiered at Brooklyn International Film Festival.

Fillers
James Woolard | 2018 | Narrative | 5 min
Fillers is a workplace comedy web series following the mundane existence of two friends who are employed solely to occupy space in retail stores. Pilot episode.

Cultivation and Community
Alicia Rodriguez | 2018 | Documentary | 5 min
Amid histories in the U.S. of racialized food inaccessibility, this documentary portrait focuses on Jenn, a black woman who has immersed herself within community-based food systems of growing with the intent of building sustainable networks.

The Day
Andy Riddle | 2018 | Narrative | 6 min
Will faces challenges as he stumbles about his day.

Gloria: An Immigrant
Adam Reforzo | 2018 | Documentary | 12 min
A documentary portrait of Gloria, the filmmaker’s mother, who intimately shares her experience leaving El Salvador to join her father in the United States and the sacrifices endured by her and the growing family she left behind.

Lune
Naod Haddish | 2018 | Narrative | 9 min
Melanie learns to grieve through the music shared between her and her deceased Grandpa. Best Editing and Audience Award, Mason Film Festival 2018.

909 Nights
Ryan Judge | 2018 | Narrative | 10 min
A former classical music prodigy struggles as he pursues a career in electronic music, his true passion. Best Experimental Film, Mason Film Festival 2018.

Typewriters Today
Kyle Finnegan | 2018 | Documentary | 3 min
Most people think the typewriter is a thing of the past, but Ed Michael knows this to be false. Best Short Documentary, Jersey Shore Film Festival.

Sugar Babies
D’Andra Welch | 2018 | Narrative | 9 min
Three girls try to make money in the most unconventional way. Special Faculty Jury Award for Directing Actors, Mason Film Festival 2018.

Reflection
David Mason | 2018 | Narrative | 12 min
After a tragic family event, a woman returns home to discover that her little sister has gone missing. Will her sister’s diary and the bedroom mirror help the woman find her? Best Horror/Thriller, Audience Award, Distinction in Cinematography, Mason Film Festival 2018.

Filmmakers will participate in a Q&A following the screening.

Adventure Not War is the story of three U.S. veterans traveling back into the mountains of Iraq on a mission to heal wounds and experience the country and its culture without the shadow of war.

Fascinating conversation will follow the screening of short films Letter to the Free and Black America Again with Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Bradford Young (Selma, Arrival, Solo: A Star Wars Story) and Academy Award-winning, Grammy Award-winning, Golden Globe Award-winning, rapper and activist, Common.

Conversation will be moderated by Hans Charles (13th).

A red carpet will precede the screening and a reception with light appetizers and drinks will be available following the screening.

The Flood is the love story of Mick and Lily. After fifty years of marriage, Mick (Ed Asner) loses Lily (Patty Pell) to a chronic illness, and faces the question whether their love is eternal, while his family struggles to understand his bereavement.

Filmmakers will participate in a Q&A following both screenings.

Ty Burrell walks our red carpet before talking with a Washington West audience about two passions – his nine seasons as Phil Dunphy on ABC’s Modern Family, and his non-profit work with Kids In The Spotlight. Ty is a multiple Emmy-winning actor, but his greatest work in Los Angeles might just be the change he is creating for foster kids who are learning to therapeutically tell their challenging life stories through film art. Ty will provide the laughs, so you show up with the questions. Ty will introduce a few KITS example short films*. Kids In The Spotlight will be one recipient of Washington West 2017 box office funds.

*Some films may not be suitable for young children.

Films in this program include – 57 min:

Team Spirit – 9 min
A young woman dealing with the passing of her mother soon discovers an unlikely angel is the heart of her soccer team.
Director: Mo McRae
Lead Actor: Kimberly Cook

Blind But Now I See – 9 min
A group of private school students are tired of being good, but a quick trip to the bad side lets them know it’s not all it’s cracked up to be
Director: Aundre Johnson
Lead Actor: Alexia Olivan

Fade Away – 10 min
A young man faces his greatest fear in that everything he loves or touches begins to fade away
Director – Grant Housley

I’m Not Normal – 10 min
Young man deals with the consequences of drug and alcohol abuse
Director: Robert Munic
Lead Actors: Christian Vargas, Christina Vargas

The Other Side – 9 min
A young woman in a relationship with a troubled young man discovers his dark and twisted secret.
Director: Mo McRae
Lead Actor: Maria Sanchez

Death’s Possession – 10 min
Darkness lurks just at the edge of shadows. Three girls band together to challenge the darkness.
Director: David Mahmoudieh
Lead Actor: Noel DiBrell

Mari Yoshimori holds the U.S. record for the fastest 400 meter time in track and field. Shortly before Olympic trials, she learns that she has a potentially career-threatening torn hamstring. The news crushes her soul. Ignoring her doctor’s and mother’s advice, Mari keeps training and pushes herself too far—so far that the powers of nature thrust her into the depths of a psychological purgatory. While there, she meets her spiritual sidekick, Bettari. Petite, cute and mysterious, Bettari communicates through a handwritten sign as she playfully lures Mari deeper into her domain. Only Mari can decide whether Bettari intends to guide or destroy.

As a daughter grinds away as caretaker for her father, she discovers some memories are best left hidden under the veil of dementia.

A writer on the verge of suicide catches an insect in a glass, and instead of following his first impulse and killing it, he lets the crave grow up in his favor. Over time, however, the animal earns a different and more gloomy function, and soon they fight a match for the roles to be exchanged between them: The waiter will be champion.

This is a short film about a struggling father who uses a bedtime story to convey an important life lesson to his son.

Scarlett-Angelina, pampered daughter of wealthy parents, takes it all in stride when she is kidnapped by Ralph, who poses as the family chauffeur. Ralph finds out the reason for her attitude when the exchange doesn’t go as planned.