World, North American, and U.S. Premieres
WORLD PREMIERES
- Aspie Seeks Love: A humorous and inspirational look at love in the digital age, through the eyes of an artist and journeyman who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s.
- Astraea: After a mysterious plague, in an empty world where you make your own rules, a clairvoyant girl and her brother search for their family in the wilderness.
- Bad Exorcists: With the awkward teen sensibility of Superbad, three high school friends set out to make a horror film starring the dreamy, popular girl at school. But, they never realized that posing as exorcists would lead them to having to perform a full-fledged exorcism.
- Booze Boys and Brownies: Dance, sing, and have a blast poking fun at living in Hollywood, featuring the talents of Bay Area actors and artists.
- The Center: Executive produced by Jonathan Demme, a visionary tale of a man brought into a company where not everything or anyone is exactly what they seem.
- Clew: When a man orders a “muse” (who happens to be the latest in artificial intelligence), he finds out more about himself than he anticipated.
- Crushed Lives – Sex or Kids?: With humor and wit, Crushed Lives – Sex or Kids? takes on the probing but taboo question: what happens to our sex lives after children?
- Desire in New York: A bold and riveting exploration of sex and alienation through the world of a businesswoman who pushes her obsessions to the limits.
- Dirty Beautiful: It takes two to make a relationship crazy in this funny and edgy story that redefines our perception of the romantic comedy genre.
- Eadweard: A complex portrait of Eadweard Muybridge, the father of motion pictures, whose searing jealousy of his young wife eclipsed his genius, leading to one of the most infamous legal cases in history. Starring Sara Canning (The Vampire Diaries), Michael Eklund (Bates Motel), Torrance Coombs (Reign) and Christopher Heyerdahl (True Blood).
- Elsewhere, NY: Elsewhere, NY is the story about what happens when you’ve fallen in love with the wrong person, only for the right one to appear at the wrong time.
- For Here Or To Go?: A fresh look at ambition, ambivalence, and the struggles of immigration through the eyes of Indians working in Silicon Valley.
- Forever Into Space: The (you have to) Do-It-Yourself generation takes center stage in this coming-of-age story that shows what life is like for those searching for a place and a purpose in today’s world.
- The Happiest Place on Earth: Jonah’s mysteriously disappeared, leaving his wife, Maggie, with a financial mess. But, there is much more to the story of Jonah’s disappearance, and the puzzle unravels in an elaborately crafted, edge-of-your seat suspense.
- Healing a Soldier’s Heart: The story of courage as four Vietnam veterans return to the sites of their trauma to begin the healing process from PTSD.
- The House on Pine Street: Seven months pregnant and in a new home – the strange noises, moving furniture, and apparitions are only the beginning in this chilling and unnerving psychological twist on the “haunted house”.
- In the Company of Women: A lonely, elderly, and well-to-do gentleman enlists the help of a male escort to help him resolve his views of love, monogamy, and the meaning of life.
- Malady: Diving into the dark underbelly of forbidden love through a dreamlike tale of unconventional romance, Malady explores long-buried secrets and the possessive intensity of motherly bonds.
- Milwaukee: In the wake of a bad break-up, a young woman joins her friends for a getaway weekend where they will test the limits of monogamy, friendship, betrayal, and freedom…and nothing is what they expect.
- Miss India America: Pure delight on the screen as a young Indian-American woman takes on the beauty pageant world, with unexpected results. Starring Tiya Sircar (The Internship), Hannah Simone (New Girl), and directed by Ravi Kapoor (Crossing Jordan,Heroes).
- One Day in April: One Day in April spectacularly captures the pride, glory, and heartbreak of one of the world’s greatest biking races: The Little 500.
- A Photographer’s Journey: A captivating focus on the work and life of famed Mexican-American photographer Pedro E. Guerrero.
- Sea Horse: In the stunningly beautiful Alaskan wilderness, Sea Horse portrays a surreal journey through a strange reality, where three women struggle to survive while being haunted (or hunted) by a menacing supernatural entity.
- Wax: We Are the X: The first “selfie” film captures the fateful journey of three millennials on a trip through the French Riviera – where the course of their lives will be altered.
- When I’m With You: Tragedy strikes when a neighborhood gang kills a gay man, and three characters’ stories come to a head on the dark streets of New York.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERES
- Bad City: Billed as “Canucksploitation”, Bad City oozes hilarity, unbridled chauvinism, and lots and lots of body hair. This is the Grindhouse movie we’ve always wanted, but just didn’t know it until now.
- Dermaphoria: Adapted from a well-known novel, this film noir mystery takes place in steamy New Orleans. Starring Joseph Morgan (Vampire Diaries), Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Kate Walsh (Grey’s Anatomy), and Walton Goggins (Justified).
- Drift: A brooding and tense drama, Drift toes the line of a quiet thriller as it steadily pulsates through the buried past of its characters.
- The Hamsters: They are a very dysfunctional family. And, each has their own secrets. Until now.
- Happy Endings: The owner of a massage salon refuses to add “happy endings” to her menu even though it would solve her financial troubles. Yet, she must do something, and an act of desperation leads to crime and even more trouble than she expected.
- How to Lose a Job & Alienate Girlfriends: Not everyone in Thomas’ life wants to be a part of his creative journey, and when he begins to use his documentary to analyze those around him, he had better be prepared for the fallout.
- In the Heart: Passion and humor blend with heart-wrenching emotion for a poignant tale of the fragility of love.
- Marry Me: Will they survive their own wedding day? A magnificent romantic tale that runs the gamut from tragicomic to downright hilarious, Marry Me is a brilliant and exuberant story of vastly contrasting people in love.
- Plan Bart: Sarah has it all…almost. She wants a baby, but her boyfriend, Alex, is not on board. Enter ex-flame and very grungy Bart. But, Sarah’s no-strings plan becomes very complicated in this funny, naughty look at the intersection of sex, procreation, and love.
- Snow: Crumbling veneers and rising tensions loom over a single day in the life of a family in Iran as they try to keep the lid tight on their scandalous secrets.
- Sweden’s Coolest National Team: Sweden may be the host of the Nobel Prize, but it is also home to another variety of the mentally gifted: Grand Masters of Memory. This is their world. This is their time for glory.
- The Trace of the Butterfly: Discovery and transformation take place during the Egyptian Revolution as a young woman rises to carry on the work and the name of her brother, who was killed at the hands of the military.
U.S. PREMIERES
- Ally Was Screaming: When two men discover their best friend Ally bought a winning lottery ticket before her unexpected death, they must decide how far they are willing to go to become millionaires themselves.
- Amnesia: A romantic weekend ends with terror when a man reveals his inner psychopath. But, when an accident causes him to have amnesia, the romance begins to blossom. How long will this last?
- The Anniversary: The weirdest wedding anniversary party you’ve ever seen leads to embarrassed guests, a hallucinogenic dessert, shameful confessions, and whims.
- Antoine et Marie: Impactful and powerful, a story about one night gone horribly wrong and how one woman’s life is changed forever.
- Chasing Berlusconi: A down-on-his-luck harness racer, an unscrupulous stable owner, a hitman, two overly eager cops, and a nymphomaniac wife make for a madcap comedy – from the director of Cinequest Audience Award-winner King Curling.
- Factory Boss: A highly topical tale of a man running a toy company in China where he struggles to meet the demands of the workload while still being fair to workers. With an award-winning performance by lead actor Yao Anlian.
- Fever: When a woman realizes that two young men are behind a murder, she is drawn into their web of danger and deceit, forming an unusual bond.
- Guard Dog: Like a Peruvian Taxi Driver, a captivating thriller that follows the ethical struggles of a hitman and the reawakening of his conscience.
- Halfway: When a man buys a new home, he can’t seem to get rid of the previous occupant…who happens to have passed away.
- The Life After: A road trip revives the past for two brothers in this look at the nature of familial bonds and the obligations they may create.
CQFF Partners: Applied Materials (NYSE: AMAT), City of San Jose, Barco, Kaiser Permanente, Knight Foundation, Harmonic (NYSE: HLIT), Synaptics (NYSE: SYNA), Quantum (NYSE: QUAN), National Association of Broadcasters of America, Canon (CAJ), Yellow Pages, Panasonic, Hint Water, NBC Bay Area, Metro, KGO 810, KFOG 97.7, Cisco (NYSE: CSCO), Dolby (NYSE: DLB), Stella Artois (NYSE: AHBIF), Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Adobe (NYSE: ADBE), eBay Foundation (NYSE: EBAY), Macy’s (NYSE: M), The Fairmont San Jose (NYSE: FHR), Seagate (NYSE: STX), VTA, and Agile Ticketing Solutions. Picture The Possibilities Partners: Kaiser Permanente, The Hearst Foundations, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The David & Lucile Packard Foundation, Morrison & Foerster Foundation, Capital Group, Hewlett Packard Workstations (NYSE: HPQ), Brett Company, Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), Liquid Agency, Seagate (NYSE: STX), Litepanels, Cisco (NYSC: CSCO), AudioTechnica, Media Center, Adobe (NYSE: ADBE), Eddie Lira, GlideCam, CreaTV, Rhino Camera Gear, Manfrotto, Red Giant (NYSE: REDG)