Jennifer Ruff

Maria Schneider, 1983

In 1983, French actress Maria Schneider gives an interview for the TV show Cinéma Cinémas. The conversation takes an unexpected turn when she challenges film industry practices and is asked to talk about the controversial film Last Tango in Paris (1972).

Superior

On the run, Marian returns to her hometown in upstate New York to hide out with her estranged identical twin sister, Vivian. Struggling to put the past behind her, Marian lies about the reason for her return, leaving her sister in the dark until their two worlds begin to collide.

Bambirak

When 8 year old Kati from Afghanistan stows away in her fathers truck, Faruk must juggle his responsibilities as a single dad while holding down his first job in a new country.

Sisters Rising

"Sisters Rising" is the story of six Native American women fighting to restore personal and tribal sovereignty in the face of ongoing colonial violence against indigenous women in the United States. Dawn was in the Army, now she’s a tribal cop in the midst of the North Dakota oil boom that threatens to pull the last threads of her Native culture apart. Patty teaches indigenous women’s self-defense across the Great Plains of her people. Sarah is an attorney and scholar fighting to overturn restrictions on tribal sovereignty and increase legislative protections for Native women. Loreline and Lisa are grassroots advocates working outside of the system to support survivors of violence and influence legislative change. Chalsey is writing the first anti-sex trafficking code to be introduced to a reservation’s tribal court.

30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing

Over 30 filmmakers and friends of Strand Releasing have come together to honor the company’s indelible contribution to independent cinema over the past thirty years. The participating filmmakers have each created a short film for the project, all shot on iPhones.

For Maria

Elisabeth’s short for 30/30 Vision is a tribute to the French actress Maria Schneider.

A Woman, a Part

An exhausted, workaholic actress, Anna Baskin, 44, abruptly extricates herself from a successful but mind-numbing TV role, returning to her past life in New York to reinvent herself.

Lyle

Leah's grief over her toddler's death turns into paranoia when she begins to suspect her neighbours are part of a satanic cult.

Glass Chin

After going down in the fifth round, boxer Bud Gordon bowed out of the limelight. Now residing in a fixer-upper apartment in New Jersey with his girlfriend, Bud longs for his former Manhattan glory. In an effort to get back in the game, he makes a deal with a crooked restaurateur. But quick schemes rarely bring easy pay-offs and as the consequences of his business negotiations unfold, Bud has to make a choice between his integrity and his aspirations.

Engram

An elderly woman enters a Manhattan subway station only to find herself sitting on a bench beside an elderly man of roughly the same age. As they sit and wait for their train in silence, two complete strangers on a bench, what the audience soon learns that they themselves don't know, is that they once shared the happiest day of their lives, playing together as children. Yet it's now too far back for them to remember anymore, too far back for them to recognize each other anymore. The story then shifts back and forth between the breathtaking landscape of their unconscious', as Isabel Lucas and Oliver Ackland play more youthful representations of how they see themselves inside, and search for the memory they once shared.

The Primitive

The Pharmaceutical Empire Emoxx revolutionizes mental health, inventing a meta-chip capable of blocking any unwanted emotion. After the Great Famine in 3013, implantation of the EmoxxChip becomes mandatory, blocking all forms of love and affection in order to immediately halt the birth rate. One woman, Ilu, a feisty prostitute is immune to the chip, leaving her alone and exposed to her scrambled feelings. Her only hope to escape this cold world is her own sheer will and the unlikely help of one man.

The Primitive

The Pharmaceutical Empire Emoxx revolutionizes mental health, inventing a meta-chip capable of blocking any unwanted emotion. After the Great Famine in 3013, implantation of the EmoxxChip becomes mandatory, blocking all forms of love and affection in order to immediately halt the birth rate. One woman, Ilu, a feisty prostitute is immune to the chip, leaving her alone and exposed to her scrambled feelings. Her only hope to escape this cold world is her own sheer will and the unlikely help of one man.

The Color of Time

A poetic road trip through Pulitzer prize-winning CK Williams' life over the course of 40 years.

The Business of Strangers

A dark thriller about a successful businesswoman and her young assistant who toy with a slow-witted businessman while stuck at an airport hotel.

Y Tu Mamá También

In Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life, friendship, sex, and each other.

The Confession of Julien Donkey-Boy

Making of/behind the scenes featurette from the Julien Donkey-Boy DVD.