Sebastian Pardo

Carpet Cowboys

The unsung creators behind the psychedelic carpets lining casinos, offices, and hotel hallways. Chief among these textile honchos is Roderick James, a Scottish expat with a self-styled outlaw-country manner—and countless schemes to grab himself a larger share of the American dream.

Margie Soudek's Salt and Pepper Shakers

An artist and VFX instructor connects with her aging grandmother, Margie, in a documentary short on collecting, artmaking, and obsessiveness as a way to enhance our realities. Margie has been collecting salt and pepper shakers for 73 years -- at 94, her days are spent repeating the same, simple routine. When her granddaughter pays her a visit, the collection, now in the thousands, takes on a new life. With a score by Dan Deacon, the film -- part love letter, part documentary, part experiment -- merges the real, the fantastical, and the world of a computer desktop.

The Computer Accent

What does music composed by artificial intelligence sound like? American synthpop group Yacht is embarking on a radical creative experiment: letting a computer write their next album.

Crows Are White

For over a thousand years, a secretive Buddhist sect has lived on an isolated monastery in Japan performing acts of extreme physical endurance in their pursuit of enlightenment. A filmmaker, struggling to reconcile his desires with his faith, sets off to the strict monastery in search of answers. When he arrives, his presence is not welcomed and the only monk who will speak with him is an outcast who prefers ice cream and Slayer to meditation. Together they forge an unlikely friendship that leads them to higher truths and occasionally, a little trouble. Shot over five years on three continents, Crows are White is an exploration of truth, faith and love, from the top of a mountain to the bottom of a sundae.

El Planeta

Amidst the devastation of post-crisis Spain, mother and daughter bluff and grift to keep up the lifestyle they think they deserve, bonding over common tragedy and an impending eviction.

All Light, Everywhere

Filmmaker Theo Anthony offers a far-ranging look at the biases in how people see things, focusing on the recorded image.

Crestone

In the desert of Crestone, Colorado, a group of SoundCloud rappers live in solitude, growing weed and making music for the internet. When an old friend arrives to make a movie, reality and fiction begin to blur.

Subject to Review

SUBJECT TO REVIEW charts the rise of the instant replay system Hawk-Eye in professional tennis, probing how the technology exposes deeper questions of spectacle, justice, and imperfect human knowledge.

Shakedown

‘Shakedown’ was a series of parties founded by and for African American women in Los Angeles that featured go-go dancing and strip shows for the city’s lesbian underground scene. Inspired by transwoman Mahogany who, as the mother of the scene, presided over queer strip shows and balls for non-heterosexual audiences in the 1980s, butch Ronnie Ron created, produced and presented the new shows. In them, the largely female clientele from the ‘hood’ slipped dollar notes into lap dancers’ panties while celebrating lesbian sexuality to pulsating hip-hop beats.

Midnight Confession

West Berlin, 1989. Manny Jumpcannon prowls his dingy apartment, phoning various degenerates from his past. He's hoping for some uncertain vindication but the ensuing conversations only reveal his own sordid history of deceit.

Rat Film

Across walls, fences, and alleys, rats not only expose our boundaries of separation but make homes in them. "Rat Film" is a feature-length documentary that uses the rat—as well as the humans that love them, live with them, and kill them--to explore the history of Baltimore.

Fraud

A family's home movies document a desperate crime spree and the bid to outrun the consequences. Born from a colossal trove of innocuous uploads to YouTube, Fraud is an impressionistic meta-fiction thriller that reveals one family's struggle for the American Dream and the mutability of the stories we tell online.

Another Evil

After encountering a ghost in his family's vacation home, Dan and his wife Mary hire an "industrial-grade exorcist" named Os to get rid of the beings.

Hang Loose

Wade is an aimless surfer who chases his whims up and down the California coast. When he returns to his former hometown, he takes the opportunity to visit his ex, who has moved on, and is wary of his attempt to reconnect. Wade sets out to regain her trust, but his old ways quickly come calling.

Actress

An aspiring actress moves to Los Angeles to pursue her dream, and finds herself orbiting the periphery of show business, while everyday life muddies what exactly her path might be.

Ma

In this modern-day vision of Mother Mary's pilgrimage, a woman crosses the American Southwest playfully deconstructing the woman’s role in a world of roles.

Life After Death from Above 1979

A documentary about the history and reformation of Toronto punk band Death from Above 1979.

Mountain Low

A lonesome game warden spends one final afternoon with his estranged daughter before she moves to Tampa. When he sidetracks their Arby's lunch to inspect a strange sound heard deep in the woods, he risks their safety and jeopardizes his deep desire to re-connect.

Palo Alto

A lack of parental guidance encourages teens in an affluent California town to rebel with substance abuse and casual sex.

Casino Moon

A debt-ridden goofball on the run from the mob in Las Vegas falls for a roulette dealer.

Casino Moon

A debt-ridden goofball on the run from the mob in Las Vegas falls for a roulette dealer.