Denver Underground Film Festival

Join us Denver Underground Film Festival

Schedule:

06:00 Pm Doors Open

06:30 Pm Ukrainian Film Program

A Benefit For Ukrainians Of Colorado

Street Musicians Under Maidan Square

Director: Eduardo Mendez Taylor. Denver, Co.

Music Video. 1:47 Minutes. 2018.

Folk Musicians In The Tunnels Under Maidan Square 

Play The Bandura And Sing For The Citizens Of Kyiv.

Huliali (Гуляли)

Artist: Kozak Siromakha.

Director: Igor Pavluk. Ukraine.

Music Video. 2:37 Minutes. 2019. 

Award: Honorable Mention For Representing 

The Culture Of Ukraine Through Music And Spoken Word.

Wonderwall

Director: Aleksandr Denysenko. Lviv, Ukraine.

Music Video. 7:07 Minutes. 2018.

Oleg And Sasha Go On A Musical Journey Through 

The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Meshes Of The Afternoon

Director: Maya Deren. 13:29. 1943.

A Woman Returning Home Falls Asleep And Has Vivid Dreams 

That May Or May Not Be Happening In Reality.

Eighteen Mill Street

Director: Josh Weissbach. East Haddam, Ct / Sweden / Kherson, Ukraine.

Experimental Documentary. 14:05 Minutes. 2024.

Ukrainian Artists Marianna Tarish And Nikita Gryshko Relocate To Sweden

From Kherson, Ukraine After The Russian Invasion. We See The Impact Of Their 

Experiences As Part Of Their Journey To Sweden.

Sml

Director: Eleni Morchadze. Ilysa Spencer. Milwaukee, Wi / Republic Of Georgia / Ukraine.

Documentary Short. 10:00 Minutes. 2023.

While In Service, My Six Year Old Neighbor Eleni, Wanted To Make A Film With Me.

Petrikyvka

Director: Anne Ciecko. Amherst, Pa. 

Experimental Short. 3:52 Minutes. 2022.

Petrykivka Reconjures Stories Of Heroism, Everyday Artifacts And 

Spaces Decorated With Floral Folk Imagery, Remediated Viral Video, 

And Footage Of Acts Of Resistance And Survival.

Inundations

Director: Anne Ciecko. Amherst, Pa. 

Experimental Short. 3:34. 2023.

An American Traveler Meditates Upon The Unsettling Discovery That 

Climate Change Has Transformed Rivers, Towns, And Roads Of The 

Northeast Into Floodlands.

Zhuyka (Cud)

Director: Anne Ciecko. Amherst, Pa. 

Experimental Short. 5:00 Minutes. 2023.

Almost One Year After The Start Of The War, Cows Are Among The 

Victims Of The Devastation, But Their Remaining Kin, Their Fabled 

Primordial Bovine Ancestors, And The Tenacious Humans Point To 

Miraculous Possibilities For Cultural Survival.

Award: Honorable Mention For Representing Ukrainian Culture On Film.

Golden Sea

Director: Erik Sémashkin. Ukraine / France.

Narrative Short. 2:34. 2023.

A Fish That Survives In An Ocean Despite Internal And External Threats, 

Seeks A Way Out To A Better World.

Golden Love

Director: Pavel Ostrikov. Kyiv, Ukraine.

Narrative Short. 12:20 Minutes. 2016.

Hesitantly, Viktor Finally Decides To Look For Love.

Black Raven

Director: George Wyhinny. Ukraine / Los Angeles, Ca.

Documentary. 39:57 Minutes. 2024.

A Gripping Documentary, Featuring The Witnesses Of Joseph Stalin’s 

Holodomor Genocide Of Ukrainians In 1932-33. The Survivors' Stories Of Resilience And Defiance 

Have Kept Ukraine’s History And Culture Alive.

Award Winner: Best Documentary

Intermission

Narrative And Experimental Film Program

Syn Valley Coup

Director: William Briggs. Denver, Co.

Narrative Short. 7:05 Minutes. 2024.

Fed-Up With The President's Abuse Of Power, Evie Stages An Hoa Coup, 

But Is Citing Past Grievances Enough To Sway The Board? 

Award Winner: Honorable Mention For Continuous Excellence In Filmmaking In Colorado.

Feedback Loop

Director: Thomas Nelsen. Denver, Co.  

Experimental Short. 4:44 Minutes. 2023.

What Makes Otherwise Rational And Educated People Fall Into Cesspools Of 

Dangerous Rhetoric That Make Them Act Against Their Own Self-Interest - 

And Who Reaps The Benefits?

Award Winner: 

Ithinkijustfigureditout

Director: Colleen Lee. Evergreen, Co.

Experimental Short. 4:46 Minutes. 2024.

A Journey To Explore The Connection Between Language And Thought.

Award: 

Revelation To The Disembodied

Director: Andre Silva. Wilmington, Nc.

Experimental Short. 9:20 Minutes. 2023.

Fragments Of A Collective Post-Human Dream Construct A World 

That Straddles Hyper-Technological, Ecological, And Mythological Dimensions.

A Mountain Is Like A House.

Director: Stephan Hillerbrand, Mary Magsamen. Houston, Tx.

Experimental Short. 2:30 Minutes. 2024.

An Exploration Of Personal Identity, Memory, And Home Through 

Digital Deconstruction And Reconstruction.

Award Winner: 

Comply

Director: Padrick Sean Ritch. Michigan, Usa.

Experimental Short. 3:05 Minutes. 2024.

Comply Is A Satire Of Our Relationship With Mass Communication In A Post-Truth Era. 

Award Winner: Second Place, Found Footage Experimental Short.

Dear, When I Met You

Director: Craig Smith. Los Angeles, Ca. 

Found Footage Experimental Short. 06:00. 2023.

Performer Yvette Rugel Knew That Film Would Affect Stage Performers' Careers In The 1920s. 

Art Can Be Both Ephemeral And Immortal In A Badly Deteriorating 1928 Musical Short. 

Award Winner: First Place, Best Found Footage Film.

Fragments Of An Echo

Director: Martin Del Carpio. Venezuela/Nyc.

Narrative Experimental Short. 3:29 Minutes. 2024.

Fragmented Static Shots Evoking A Sense Of Nostalgia And Abandonment 

Of A Medical Facility Soon To Be Torn Down.

Award Winner: Honorable Mention For Continuous Excellence In Experimental Filmmaking.

Oscillating Sporadically

Directors: Gabby Follett Sumney, Hogan Seidel. State College, Pa.

Experimental Short. 6:03 Minutes. 2024. Shot In 35mm.

A Conversation Spread Over Time, Distance, And Hand Painted Film. 

Also Available As A 2 Monitor Installation With Headphones.

Award Winner: First Place, Best Experimental Short Shot On Film.

Tides

Director: Andre Silva. Wilmington, Nc.

Experimental Short. 8:00 Minutes. 2020.

A Contemplation Of The Liminal Space Between The Modern Technological World And That

More Ecological Dimension We Label As “Nature” Or “The Environment.”

Award Winner: First Place, Best Natural Experimental Short.

Lurker

Director: Savanna Wrobel. Usa.

Narrative Short. 8:13 Minutes. 2023.

While Chelsea Is Living At Home With Her Penny-Pinching Parents 

She Finds Herself Facing An 

Unexpected Adversary.

Award Winner: Second Place, Narrative Short Screen Writing.

Wellness Check

Director: Tyler Holme. Denver, Co.

Narrative Short. 13:32 Minutes. 2024.

A Young Woman Struggles With Her Well Being During A 

Tense Dinner Party With Family And Friends.

Award Winner: First Place, Best Colorado Screenwriter.

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