Set against busy streets before sunrise, 5 AM IN MANAMA follows a solitary driver as he observes the city awakening, and reflects on routine, happiness, attention and the hidden complexity of other people’s lives. As he judges the strangers around him, contradictions subtly emerge between his observations and his own behavior. Filmed entirely during blue hour across three days, the film quietly examines self-importance, habits, hypocrisy and the stories we tell ourselves before the day’s chaos begins.

5 AM IN MANAMA

A glimpse into The Antagonist's world, filled with contradictions. He drives alone at 5am, contemplating, judging what is around him, while unknowingly committing the acts he looks down upon.

Beate, 43, lives with her husband Uwe and their eight-year-old son Benjamin in a small town. On the surface, they appear to be an ordinary family—yet they are still reeling from the tragic bus accident that claimed the life of their eldest daughter, twelve-year-old Jana. The loss continues to weigh heavily on Beate, piercing through her daily life like a wound that refuses to heal.When Benjamin is unexpectedly summoned to the police for questioning, Beate learns that her own son carries partial responsibility for the accident.This revelation shatters her. A storm of emotions begins to rage within her, pushing her into a psychological limbo between grief and maternal love. She can barely look Benjamin in the eyes without seeing in him the cause of her daughter’s death.How is she supposed to face her child now? How can she reconcile his innocence with the unbearable weight of guilt?

A MOTHER'S LOVE

As the threat of deportation looms in the background, Sam, an undocumented Chinese immigrant, finds joy in a classic night out with his two friends, Aidan and Bryan. The group joins up with Aidan’s friend, who Sam has a huge crush on. After some encouragement and jokes from his friends, Sam gets a chance to talk to his crush about their hopes for the future, and he even gets her number. The friends drive as Sam is over the moon, but the celebration is cut short when they get pulled over by a mysterious police vehicle, and ICE agents order Sam out of the car.

English

American Boy

On a night out with his friends, a young undocumented Chinese immigrant works up the courage to talk to his crush -- until his dreams are cut short by ICE

A slovenly man in his 30s shows up at the doorstep of his former first grade teacher, Mr. Telluride, now in his 60s. The man gives his name— Grant Porster— and asks Telluride: “Do you remember me?” The old man says he doesn’t, but he’s flattered by the visit, and invites him in. The two of them make strained small talk about the neighborhood, Telluride’s retirement, and Grant’s parents, who are now deceased. Eventually, Grant levels a disturbing accusation against his former teacher, which Telluride emphatically denies. What ensues is a game of chess between the two men, as Grant attempts to seek the truth from a man who is unable—or unwilling—to give it.

Around August

A troubled man pays an unexpected visit to his former elementary school teacher.

Two hitmen are working on their latest assignment. When things take a sudden turn , it results not just in tension and mistrust, but also causes them to fall back to the only person they can really trust...

Big Bad Boys

(Oscar-Nominated Short Film): Samir, a Palestinian butcher working at an Israeli supermarket, is accused of tearing down the Israeli hostage posters in the break room. Samir sets out to prove his innocence in order to keep his job he desperately needs.

Arabic/Hebrew

Butcher's Stain

Casual Vignettes of Gilded Vulgarity is an allegorical account told through a series of vignettes that connect the origin of American systemic and structural racism to its contemporary manifestations. The film’s 12 characters are flawed archetypes found within English aristocracy and classism that carried over to form our American foundations. Through historical satire, CVGV is a blunt indictment of America’s English peerage roots which created the culture of privilege, entitlement and racism that continues to perpetuate today.

Casual Vignettes of Gilded Vulgarity

Through historical satire, CVGV is a blunt indictment of America’s English peerage roots which created the culture of privilege and entitlement that continues to perpetuate today.

Not to come back

This is their first meeting in a long time. The cramped space of the family home witnesses the collision of reality and longing.

&quot;Otra Zotehuela&quot; is an emotionally charged short film that unfolds in a tiny alley nestled somewhere in the chaotic expanses of Mexico City. Within one continuous tableau, a young mother looks for a temporary escape from the overwhelming, unceasing cries of her young baby. Her search for a lighter brings her an unexpected encounter with a mysterious stranger in a neighboring apartment. Amid the The two women share a fleeting yet profound moment of connection and support across their wildly vastly different life circumstances and cultures. This poignant narrative delves into themes of isolation, empathy, and the possibility of finding solace and understanding in the most unlikely urban settings.

Otra Zotehuela

Unemployed and aimless, Courtney spends most of her time at the window of her upstairs apartment. One hot summer day, she notices a car parked across the street with the driver inside, erratically flashing the lights. She grows curious about the driver and involves her friend and confidant, Russell. Together, they begin to investigate the mysterious car and discover that simply unmasking the driver's nefarious plans won't change a thing.

People Watching

When a restless young woman starts fixating on a mysterious car parked outside of her apartment, the night takes a dangerous turn.

When two best friends in New Orleans realize they'll never be able to afford an apartment, they go house hunting for a grave.Starring Monique Coleman (High School Musical) and Bonnie Discepolo (Superman).

Perpetual Care

When two best friends realize they'll never be able to afford an apartment, they go house hunting for a grave.

I made this film after a friend, prominent New York City drag queen Thee Suburbia America, and I struck up a conversation after one of their performances in early 2018. We wanted to portray drag in a way that it hadn't since earlier queer cinematic classics like Jennie Livingston’s iconic 1990 documentary 'Paris Is Burning'. In an era where iconic drag queens were buying ranches and leasing fracking rights to oil companies, what did it mean to be a big young black drag performer in rural places like Upstate New York?I wrote a short script for my college thesis film based around the loose narrative of a teen discovering their father's roots as a drag performer. We wanted to make this film collaboratively, and for its core to draw you in just like a great performance might at a club. The film would be as much an expression of Suburbia's talent as a performer as it was a narrative of discovery. It had to rely on camera work and an atmospheric sense of place in a rural trailer park. It also had to draw the viewer closer in a slow cinema sense, not so heavily referencing the camp and gore of 'Pink Flamingos'.Shot on Super 16mm, this film took six years to finish. While drag continued to increase in prominence in the public eye, we chose to depict a social and geographic landscape that is foreign to many iconic drag portrayals in the queer cinematic landscape of the 2010s and 2020s. We did reference early John Waters as well as experimental minimalist films about working-class characters in small communities like those of Kelly Reichardt.In the end, it became Queen. It's a film about Suburbia's evocative home life with a teenager, as well as their explosive drag persona. Suburbia's story, while avant-garde, is a portrait of binaries. They are socioeconomic, environmental, racial, and gendered.

Queen

In a rural, Upstate New York trailer park, a teenager slowly uncovers the drag persona their reserved, working-class parent has kept hidden. A life of glamour and defiance is built in a landscape that seems determined to reject it.

Steakout!

Sean's going to a steak dinner. Patrick's going to a stakeout. Unfortunately they're both in the same car.

One morning, Dana—a drifting young Palestinian-American woman—wakes hungover, unaware that the world has just shifted. Still hazed from the night before, she’s startled by a familiar presence: her father, Saleh Said, a legendary Palestinian activist. He appears as his younger 1960s self—charismatic, revolutionary, and urgent. Whether he’s a ghost or a figment is unclear, but the stakes are real.In a tense Chicago afternoon, Dana feels the cost of being visibly Arab as the city grows sharper to her presence. A keffiyeh draws stares. Her phone floods with news of violence and looming retaliation. Panic takes hold. Her father pushes her to speak—to reclaim her voice at a peace symposium she’s scheduled to attend that night.Through memories and unresolved grief, he insists on a deeper history—exile, erasure, and resistance.STUCK explores the intimate turmoil of children of immigrants navigating loyalty, loss, and legacy. As Dana faces an expectant crowd, she must choose: silence—or stepping into her voice and her history.

Stuck

Amidst a rising tide of anti-Arab sentiment, a young Palestinian woman, haunted by a ghost from her past, faces an urgent choice: speak out and risk everything, or stay silent and be erased forever.

Eleanor, a talented actress, doesn't believe she is notable in any sense. At an audition, she bumps into Sophia, her beautiful and charming former co-star, who does everything to confirm this belief, pointing out Eleanor's many flaws. As the two wait for their turn to perform, Eleanor’s anxiety and doubt get the better of her, and she breaks down, ruining, in her eyes, any chance of securing the part. When Eleanor’s turn comes to enter the audition room, she takes a leap of faith, deciding to embrace the things she always felt held her back.

The Part

When two co-stars unexpectedly meet before an audition for the same role, Eleanor an insecure yet talented performer, must learn to embrace her individuality to secure the part.

The Whole Thing

Two strangers meeting at a crematorium while picking up their loved ones' remains. They decide to spend the day together, killing time and watching the world go by.

In the heat of a comment war it’s easy to forget that the alt-right, manosphere goon / entitled, woke idiot you’re arguing with is actually a person. Someone knows them. Someone loves them. And, occasionally, that someone is you.

This Conversation Has Been Removed

A man and woman engaged in a prolonged, hostile exchange over social media begin to realise something peculiar...

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