Indie Fest USA 2009

CARLOS starts his day at the Home Depot, waiting to pick up work. He doesn’t know that his abusive boss HENRY will become the catalyst for change he’s been waiting for. Nor does TERESA, stuck with her lousy job at the pet shop, and her dead-end relationship with ZACK. He’s happy to string her along long enough for him to get together with SIRI, his songwriting partner. But Siri’s not ready for anything more than a one night stand with him. She’s got unresolved issues with LEE, the father of her son. Lee’s trying to keep himself together directing at a tiny theatre in Hollywood. He wants to reunite with Siri, but he’s struggling to get SUSAN, his lead actress, to find her role. Susan’s can’t confront her character’s truth, or her own—that her husband TOM is having an affair with one of his students. That student, AMANDA, meanwhile is tired of the illicit afternoons with Tom. She’s ready to bust out with JULIA, a bartender who parties more than she should—so far it’s cost her custody of her daughter. But reality is about to come knocking on her door in the form of Henry, the man she’s known all her life as her uncle. So begins the first of three days destined to spell major changes for this mixed bag of Angelinos, whose lives are connected by invisible threads.

One woman’s secret to winning at life is to “act as if”, which transforms her from a feisty blue collar Boston kid into the championship basketball coach at Harvard where she masterminds one of the greatest victories of all time and overcomes cancer using the power of positive thinking. ACT AS IF is the story of Kathy Delaney-Smith, a diminutive jester-who-became-queen. “She’s from another planet. That woman, she’s wild,” says her assistant coach shaking her head, “She asked our Director of Operations if she ‘got any’ last weekend.” Kathy’s homegrown affability beguiles a 27-year reign as the winningest coach in the league and the biggest upset in men’s or women’s NCAA playoff history in 1998. She picked up the whistle forty years ago as a favor to a friend, clueless but determined to do a good job faking it just as Title IX passed.The mantra she lives by becomes the cornerstone of her coaching methodology. Like Kathy, the girls must never act tired, or hurt, or nervous—which is a particular challenge for her star player. ACT AS IF lays bare the contradictions between public and private selves and exposes the immense fragility of perfectionists. The film is not about patronizing whimsy, game winning shots, or “giving it your all” clichés. Instead, the curtain is pulled back to reveal an irreverent and accidental philosopher who teaches a tribe of women that the way to win—at everything—is by convincing your mind that you already have.

The traces left by the era of the samurai are still with us today. From this rich history of this ancient warrior culture comes a tale of honor, vengeance and redemption with a dark, sense of meaningless fatality. It is the origin story of a cursed vigilante, Ai, hell-bent on disposing those responsible for her clan’s demise.The young female sensei and savoir, Yoshizo, has molded Ai into a deadly and ruthless warrior. When Ai injures her master in the heat of a training battle, Yoshizo demands that she kill him.Ai, angered and confused by this, flees the scene only to be assaulted by a group of samurai. Ai easily dispenses the samurai but the leader of the group, Kyuzaemon, takes her down. He exposes a birthmark on her wrist, a bizarre clue to her identity as a cursed child, confirming this is the girl he has been searching for.Ai tries to escape with no success. But Yoshizo makes a sudden return and forces Kyuzaemon to a deadly face off. Whoever wins the battle must then deal with Ai before her curse kills them both.Inspired by the great tradition of samurai cinema, Ai is an exploration of the era of the samurai and explores the themes of dormant fury for those who have lost loved ones and are driven to the point of madness with revenge.

The aspiring 'All American Director', Neil Hearst (Drew Wade Taylor) is in search for one actress that can fulfill his desire for capturing fear on camera. His passion and enjoyment become too close when he interviews an actress; Iris (Kelly Marchand). Iris has more then a beautiful face and great acting, it is the desire to do anything to be in the spot light and pursue her career into hollywood. But how far is too far for hollywood fame? Iris is chosen for the lead, and is asked to do more than act...From sex to overcoming her fears, Drew pushes Iris to her limits to capture the true beauty within a frame. With manipulation and his charm Drew is able to obtain a fear that creates more than shame. Curiosity. When the professional becomes too personal more than her career is at stake.

”American Soil” is a murder mystery and an ethical dilemma. An African American couple (Aldo Billingslea and Leontyne Mbele-Mbong) moves their family from the big city to a rural White area, to find a safe place to raise their children. They discover evidence of an unsolved murder on their property, and then they have to confront the suspicious White sheriff (Terry Lamb). As it turns out, everyone has something to hide.

A film crew is visiting the quaint Midwestern town of Centerville to film a piece about “small town politics”. Centerville is an amazing setting with its picture-perfect town square, “ma and pa” restaurants, 15 traffic lights, and friendly faces that say ‘hello’ as you pass them on the streets ... Norman Rockwellesque picture of America. Unexpectedly, the film crew encounters an astonishing change in the town's history. The mayor announces that he will not be running for re-election and instead they will elect their next mayor through a beauty pageant style event. Suddenly, Centerville becomes a place buzzing with enthusiasm as citizens embrace their opportunity to change America’s election process. A charismatic group of aspiring mayors throw their hats into the ring and eager political campaigns launch in anticipation of the “Election Pageant”. The motley crew of mayoral hopefuls include a pampered sorority girl, a dim-witted Mafioso, a Mr. Rogers type, a charismatic alcoholic, a jittery Machiavellian, a ladies’ man, and a two faced artist. In the public eye, the candidates are charismatic, engaging, and out to make great change. Behind closed doors, hidden cameras catch temper tantrums, back stabbing, hysterical exchanges, and jockeying for attention as the Election Pageant approachesThe Election Pageant is reminiscent of an “American Idol” show with Jerry Springer as master of ceremonies and an audience armed with electronic voting devices. The candidates boldly fight it out in categories such as “Handshaking”, “Photo Op”, and “Talent” in front of a live audience. When Jerry announces “and the winner is”, things take an even more bizarre turn in this telling story of American politics.

Emily has been accepted into Art School, but there’s a catch: she has to provide her own supplies. Rather than getting herself further into debt, she opts to go back to her old high school late one night to steal the art supplies she needs. But when she hears someone approaching as she’s pilfering school supplies, she hides herself under a still-life display. The person she heard coming is Mr. Loomis, her former high school art teacher. Not knowing that someone is hidden in the room watching her, Loomis proceeds with his bizarre late night ritual. He pours himself a shot of whiskey, puts a pair of handcuffs in his belt, tears a large sheet of construction paper off a roll, lays it on the floor, and then removes the clothing off a mannequin. As Emily watches in horror, Loomis begins to hump the nude mannequin. Suddenly, Emily’s cell phone rings, making Loomis aware of her presence. Enraged at having been spied on, he captures his former student and handcuffs her to a shelving unit. After explaining to her that he is a necrophiliac who fantasizes that his mannequin is a dead body, he decides to kill Emily in order to keep his secret safe. He comes toward he with a hunting knife, but she is able to get the best of him, knocking him unconscious with a paint can. After unlocking herself with his keys, she runs down the hall toward freedom. But Loomis follows and attacks her, having regained consciousness. She again gets the better of him, but finds herself trapped in the building. Left with few choices, she returns to the art room and seeks a way to defend herself. Moments later, Loomis follows her into the art room, and the two face off in a final showdown to the death.

In the year 2025 most surviving human beings are empty of understanding and hope because of the massive destruction and desecration visited upon the earth by the world cataclysms unleashed by the American led Iraq War and global warming. In New York a racial war has divided Manhattan into two. The whites hold all of Manhattan except the area of “La Republica” (previous known as Washington Heights and beyond), where all the people of color have fled and are dominated by a gang led by EUGENE, a cruel ruler seeking total domination of people through fanning their fears and brainwashing them into sacrificing their freedoms for “security”. La Republica is made up of endless alleys with low level hovels for living situations, and a polluted always overcast sky. Then he cuts out the tongues of the youngest children and puts them out on the street, branding them as a gang, “Los Niños”. Eugene convinces the adults that the children are cursed and dangerous, and that in the daytime the alleys should be surrendered to Los Niños so that at night the alleys will belong to the young adults. An unconscious XAVIER, in a temple full of candles where for five years a witch doctor has been nursing him. One day while Almantina is out, Xavier awakens. He has no memory of his life and Xavier stumbles out into La Republica, not knowing where he is and where he is going. He meets ARIANNA when he saves her from a crazed elder man. She recognizes Xavier as the boyfriend of her dead sister, ARLENE, and the father of their child, ALVIN, who Ariana has been hiding from the bloodthirsty Eugene for the past 5 years. When Ariana realizes Xavier does not remember, she does not tell him the truth, wanting to test his trustworthiness. When Xavier and the five year old Alvin meet they don’t know who they are to each other, but they immediately take to each other. Unbeknownst to Ariana and Xavier, they had been followed to Ariana’s hovel by one of Eugene’s henchman who recognizes Xavier. The informant goes to Eugene at “The Club”, which is run by Eugene and where Ariana works. As Ariana prepares to go to work, she tells Alvin to go back into hiding. She takes the disguised Xavier with her. Passing whispering people in the alleys, Ariana and Xavier hear talk about the “dead man who has come back to life”. Ariana realizes that they are talking about Xavier and that he is in danger. She tells him the truth – that Alvin is his son and Arlene was his girlfriend. She tells him to go back to her hovel and to protect Alvin. When Ariana gets to The Club, Eugene is already waiting for her. He accuses her of hiding Xavier for five years. He takes Ariana hostage and sets off with his henchmen to go raid Ariana’s hovel. In the alley they pass Xavier, who hurries after them when he sees the struggling Ariana. Back at Ariana’s hovel, the emboldened Alvin has come out of hiding and when he hears the door he rushes to it, thinking it is his new friend Xavier. Eugene stands in the doorway, and both Eugene and Alvin are surprised by the sight of each other. Before Eugene can react, Alvin uses a trick to distract them and rushes by them out into the alley. Meanwhile Xavier has caught up with the henchman who guards Ariana. Xavier overwhelms the guard and he and the freed Arianna rush to the door of the hovel just as Eugene is about to pursue the already out of sight Alvin. Xavier confronts Eugene and they fight. Xavier gets the better of Eugene, and as he is about to throwing a killing blow, Ariana yells that Eugene is Xavier’s brother. In Xavier’s pausing, they decide to leave Eugene's unconscious body and look for Alvin. They flee and shortly after, Eugene regroups with his henchmen and starts after Xavier and Ariana.Meanwhile the fleeing Alvin has paused in the dark alley to look back to see if he’s being followed. Suddenly the wall behind him moves and Los Niños come out and pull Alvin in, closing the wall behind them.Eugene starts to preach that Alvin is the Boogy Man, who has join with Los Niños to terrorize La Republica. He tries to convince his henchmen that those he would kill have magical powers that make them capable of mass destruction. And only Eugene can keep people safe.Meanwhile, we see the witch doctor returning to her temple to see Xavier has awoken and left after 5 years.She cheers and continues her prayers for the new leader and new hope of La Republicas fate.

Ballbusters is a comedy about seven guys in their early 30’s who have become close over the years. These guys are an odd group of friends who are led by Frank, the ultimate Ballbuster. Joining Frank, are Sargon, Jesus, Trevor, Jerry, Jason and Patrick. These guys just can’t seem to stay out of trouble and take Ballbusting to the limit. These guys are joined by their girlfriends Beth, Diana and Maria who try painstakingly to try and help them. Being the Ballbusters that they are, nothing ever seems to work. As Trevor and his pregnant fiancé’ Diana moves through their engagement, wedding and reception, there are ample opportunities for our boys to prove that they are the ultimate Ballbusters!