Tuesday 11 July 2000

Phoenix Film Festival 2015

The Phoenix Film Festival is the premier festival from the Phoenix Film Foundation and the largest film festival within the city of Phoenix, now celebrating its 15th anniversary. I counted 131 films screening this year: 47 features and 84 short films. In addition to the regular finals of the year's IFP Phoenix film challenges, this year also incorporates the Arizona Student Film Festival, screening 20 short films made by high school students.

All that's excluding the International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival, which I still think of as a separate event even if it technically hasn't been since 2010. I maintain separate index pages for IHSFFF.

In 2015 it starts on my birthday, 26th March, with an opening night party and screening of Danny Collins, starring Al Pacino. It will fill six screens at the Harkins Scottsdale 101 for all of Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday, with a few films playing on a seventh, the historic Cine Capri: Manglehorn, another Pacino movie, My and Earl and the Dying Girl on Saturday and Sleeping with Other People on Sunday evening.

Of course, it isn't over with the weekend, even if many filmmakers fly home after the awards ceremony. The festival continues in the evenings until 2nd April, with repeat screenings of all the winners, showcase features from the International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival and selected others. The last screening will be of While We're Young, the 2014 film by Noah Baumbach, who is honoured with a mini-retrospective this year of four of his films.

Of course, nobody should miss the stunning performance of my left arm in a couple of background shots in the IFP challenge film, Flight Fright, screening in the IFP Finals set. My left arm has now been in two movies and it's interesting to note that both of them screened at the Phoenix Film Festival.

Here are all the films scheduled to screen this year, with titles linking to my reviews and the IMDb pages added for reference. Films screened as part of the International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival are covered on a separate page.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Competition Feature Films
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Angel of Nanjing 2015 5 5 Jordan Horowitz & Frank Ferendo IMDb
Bad Exorcists 2015 5 5 Kyle Steinbach IMDb
Bread and Butter 2014 5 5 Liz Manashil IMDb
A Dog Named Gucci 2015 Gorman Bechard IMDb
Far from Home 2014 5 5 Galen Knowles IMDb
Half Brother 2014 Anthony Grippa IMDb
Listening 2014 6 6 Khalil Sullins IMDb
The Strongest Man 2015 Kenny Riches IMDb
The Surface 2014 6 5 Gil Cates IMDb
WildLike 2014 6 6 Frank Hall Green IMDb

Arizona Feature Films
1/10 of a Second 2014 Kurt Kubicek IMDb
Seven Hours in Heaven 2015 6 6 Kyle Gerkin IMDb
Unsound 2013 Darious Britt IMDb

World Cinema Feature Films
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
All My Tomorrows 2014 Rudolf Havlik IMDb
Burden of Peace 2014 Joey Boink IMDb
Dennis Rodman's Big Bang in Pyongyang 2015 5 4 Colin Offland n/a
Glories of Tango 2014 5 5 Hernán Findling IMDb
In Silence 2014 5 5 Zdenek Jirasky IMDb
Journey to the Mother 2014 Mikhail Kosyrev-Nesterov IMDb
Of the Land 2014 Bryan Law IMDb
WAX: We are the X 2015 5 5 Lorenzo Corvino IMDb

Showcase Feature Films
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Best of Enemies 2015 Robert Gordon & Morgan Neville IMDb
The Business of Recovery 2015 Adam Finberg n/a
Car Dogs 2015 Adam Collis IMDb
Danny Collins 2015 Dan Fogelman IMDb
Desert Dancer 2014 Richard Raymond IMDb
F(l)ag Football 2015 Seth Greenleaf IMDb
Frances Ha 2012 Noah Baumbach IMDb
Going Bongo 2014 Dean Mathew Ronalds IMDb
Havana Curveball 2014 Ken Schneider & Marcia Jarmal IMDb
Kicking and Screaming 1995 Noah Baumbach IMDb
Kill Me Three Times 2014 5 5 Kriv Stenders IMDb
Makin' Wookiee 2014 Heidi Burkey & Tim Larson IMDb
Manglehorn 2014 David Gordon Green IMDb
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl 2015 Alfonso Gomez-Rejon IMDb
Miss India America 2015 Ravi Kapoor IMDb
Monkey Kingdom 2015 Mark Linfield IMDb
Results 2015 Andrew Bujalski IMDb
Sleeping with Other People 2015 6 6 Leslye Headland IMDb
Slow West 2015 John Maclean IMDb
The Squid and the Whale 2005 6 6 Noah Baumbach IMDb
Sunshine Superman 2014 Marah Strauch IMDb
Tangerines 2013 Zaza Urashadze IMDb
Where Hope Grows 2014 Chris Dowing IMDb
While We're Young 2014 Noah Baumbach IMDb
White God 2014 5 5 Kornél Mundruczó IMDb
X+Y 2014 Morgan Matthews IMDb

Animated Shorts
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Sumer 2014 Alvaro Garcia IMDb
My Big Brother 2014 Jason Rayner IMDb
The Present 2014 Jacob Frey IMDb
Speed Dating 2014 Meghann Artes IMDb
Love Bugs 2014 Teresa Hooper IMDb
Love in the Time of March Madness 2014 Melissa Johnson & Robertino Zambrano IMDb
Hold My Handle 2013 Ethan Barrett IMDb
In Capricious Hands 2014 Stephan Larson IMDb
Monstro! 2014 Christopher Romano IMDb
The OceanMaker 2014 Lucas Martell IMDb

Arizona Shorts
The Tent 2013 5 5 Marcus Stricklin IMDb
Kitty 2014 5 4 Josh Kasselman & Stephanie Lucas IMDb
Keep Running 2015 5 5 Sean Oliver IMDb
Project Daisy 2014 4 5 Adolpho Navarro IMDb
Ouroboros 2014 5 5 Alexander Broderick IMDb
The Most Important Meal of the Day 2014 4 4 Randy Murray IMDb
Blue Copper 2014 5 5 Diane M Dresback IMDb

Arizona Student Film Festival
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Herbert the Killer Kitten 2015 Alyssa Bartlett n/a
Kids with Autism Can 2015 Hans Kuyper n/a
The Candy Dealer 2015 Isaiahs Rivera n/a
The Attack of Scorpazilla 2015 Sarah Jordan n/a
Lucky Pin 2015 Holly Milosevich n/a
Determination 2015 Bryan Hanlon n/a
Just Listen 2015 Devany Dellis n/a
Split 2015 Lucas Garvey n/a
Someday in California 2015 Shelly Ortiz n/a
Ruth Daemon 2015 Daniela Mock-Zubia n/a
Kids with Autism Can 2015 Sydney Dang n/a
Too Young to Drink 2015 Sierra Vaught n/a
Now He is Praying 2015 Daniela Mock-Zubia n/a
Late for Work 2015 Eric Nakamoto n/a
Paranoid 2015 Angela Houston n/a
Pining 2015 Nina Nandin n/a
Final Exit Trailer 2015 Dominic LaRovere n/a
PTSD 2015 Chance Roberts n/a
And So You Saw 2015 Sydney Burdick n/a
Top of the World 2015 Dominic LaRovere n/a

College Shorts
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Cootie Contagion 2012 Joshua Smooha IMDb
OstrichLand 2013 David McCracken IMDb
Lambing Season 2013 Jeannie Donohoe IMDb
Drone 2015 Justin S Lee IMDb
Liv 2014 Gwyneth Christoffel IMDb
Miracle Maker 2014 Kate Marks IMDb
Grange to Garage 2014 William Johnston-Carter IMDb

Documentary Shorts
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Tomgirl 2014 Jeremy Asher Lynch IMDb
Sugar Coated 2014 Chris Parson IMDb
Half Sour 2013 Mary Anne Rothberg & Sean McGing IMDb
Dockery & Son 2014 Jack Truman IMDb
Sandorkraut 2014 Emily Lobsenz & Ann Husaini IMDb
Anna 2014 Eric Latek IMDb

Home Grown Shorts
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Grace of a Stranger 2014 6 6 Troy Hollar IMDb
Stolen Afternoon 2014 5 5 Aaron Kes IMDb
The Class Analysis 2014 6 6 Webb Pickersgill IMDb
Fighters Move Forward 2014 4 4 Jake Lee IMDb
Duty 2014 4 4 Rob Burson & Victoria Rincon IMDb
Fish Hook 2014 6 5 Nickolas Duarte IMDb
Logan Must Make Star Wars 2014 5 5 Nathan Blackwell IMDb
Thrasherland 2015 5 5 Joshua J Provost IMDb

IFP Shorts
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Keep Running 2015 5 5 Sean Oliver IMDb
Split Three Ways 2014 Adam Dub, Jose Meza & Jonathan Baden n/a
Playtime Strikes Back 2015 4 5 Adolpho Navarro IMDb
Amor de las Chicas 2014 Travio Molinos, Santiago Alirez & Genoveva Nesbito n/a
Flight Fright 2015 5 5 Jim Politano IMDb
Alienated 2014 Sean Oliver n/a
Project Daisy 2014 4 5 Adolpho Navarro IMDb
Petey 2014 Sean Oliver IMDb
Kitty 2014 5 4 Josh Kasselman & Stephanie Lucas IMDb
Criminal 2014 Darien Marion n/a

Live Action Shorts A
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Contrapelo 2014 Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer IMDb
Protocol 2014 Elliot Feld IMDb
Muse 2014 Christopher Leps IMDb
Daddy's Little Girl 2015 Chad McClarnon IMDb
Lucid 2015 Kevin Shah IMDb
Truckin' 2014 Diane Newman IMDb
Wild & Precious 2013 Cusi Cram IMDb

Live Action Shorts B
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Isolation 2014 Kristin Skye Hoffmann IMDb
Une Libération 2015 Brian Crewe IMDb
The Listing Agent 2014 Jared Hillman & Matthew Helfgott IMDb
The Little Violinist 2014 Yang Wang IMDb
Catching Fireflies 2014 Lee Whittaker IMDb
Birthday 2015 Chris King IMDb

World Cinema Shorts
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Live 2014 Wenceslao Scyzoryk IMDb
Dead Hearts 2014 5 5 Stephen W Martin IMDb
Sunflowers 2014 Shio Chuan Quek IMDb
HTM 2015 Sachi Ediriweera IMDb
In the Clouds 2014 Marcelo Mitnik IMDb

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