Night Warriors
Director: Bill E Mitchell
Country of Origin: United States
Defy Year: 2022
Synopsis: Two self described independent thinkers on their search for personal truth, work themselves into a frenzy as they hasten toward a reality more shadowy than they could ever have expected.
The Nose Knows: Foreignness and Fortune in China
Director: Bill Callahan and Kieran Hanson
Country of Origin: Singapore and United Kingdom
Synopsis: What can noses tell us about Chinese identity, and the PRC's increasingly important place in the world? There are so many different kinds of noses. But what can they tell us? Can they be political? Throughout Chinese history, noses have been used to separate Chinese people from foreigners. In the present day, they can also be the key to changing your destiny. If we know more about noses, perhaps we can better understand how China sees itself and its increasingly important place in the world.
Only One Glove
Director: Fotis Zampetakis
Country of Origin: Spain / Greece
US PREMIERE
Synopsis: "I thought of all those gloves I see here and there on the street and it's like they're waiting for someone to turn around, look for them, take them back". A tale on missing gloves, loss, absence, resilience and the journey to find our other half - or ourselves.
Panic Attack!
Director: Eileen O'Meara
Country of Origin: United States
Defy Year: 2017
Synopsis: You know the nagging thoughts that start with "did I leave the coffee on?" and turn in to "am I pregnant with a devil-baby?” This hand-drawn animation explores anxiety, obsession, and one woman’s slippery hold on reality.
Paris-Bruxelles
Director: Marjorie Lhomme
Country of Origin: France
Defy Year: 2024
Synopsis: Paris-Bruxelles is a road movie that starts out as a holiday. But a different kind of adventure is in store. Today, 8-year-old Loulou is driving to Belgium with her family for the euthanasia of her grandmother, Blanche.
The Phalanx
Director: Ben Balcom
Country of Origin: United States
Synopsis: Letters from the Ceresco community trace the fragility of harmony, the dream of life in association, the frictions that give way to fracture. Members of the phalanx drift apart, lingering in private corners, suspended in speculative time.
PONYTAILHEAD
Director: Brent Michal
Country of Origin: United States
Synopsis: a tipsy young woman calls her ex over to kill a bug.
Princess
Director: Karsten Dahlem
Country of Origin: Germany
Defy Year: 2017
Synopsis: When gang leader Ole (11) and his buddies Marco (10) and Milan (12) nicked twelve year old Davie's school bag, Ole would never in his wildest dreams have imagined that a short time later he would appear on stage with Davie at a school karaoke contest dressed as a princess with makeup on... neither could his friends.
SARDINE
Director: Andrea Dratch
Country of Origin: United States
Synopsis: Chained to the grind of assembly-line life and crushed beneath society’s expectations, Henrietta is done playing tame. Her spirit snarls for release, and something raw begins to rise—a feral force long buried. As the cage of conformity tightens, she sheds the skin of civility and unleashes the wild within. This isn’t just a transformation—it’s a revolt. A primal reclaiming of power, identity, and the freedom to be unapologetically untamed.
Shelly Belly
Director: Stephanie Mishelle Ard
Country of Origin: United States
Synopsis: Belly—Shelly’s Belly—embarks a comical journey to embrace its uniqueness, challenge norms, and uncover its dreams amidst a world struggling with body insecurities. An intimate and odd exploration of what our bodies might reveal… if they could talk.
So Far All Good
Director: $eck
Country of Origin: United States
Synopsis: After a stint in prison, Ace (Rasan Kuvly) returns home with two strikes on his record and anger issues galore. Depression and resentment kick in once he realizes there are no balloons or cake waiting for him; no opportunities to be offered for a man reeling. A new lease on life and repurposed energy should be in the cards as he simply wants to start over. The reality is, his girl has moved on, money ain’t what it used to be, and this isn’t the same bustling city he left behind. Yet, what is reality to a young man who feels like the world has left him behind? But don’t worry, hustlers find a way, and in the end, it’s all good.
spot healing
Director: Ryan Woodring
Country of Origin: United States
Synopsis: spot healing explores the intricacies of illness, diagnosis, and labor in post-AI visual culture. Posing as a software tutorial from the “Image E.R.” YouTube channel, a confident host demonstrates how to “heal” sick images using increasingly experimental methods ranging from miming to machine learning while undergoing a series of intense physical and emotional transformations.
The Streetlight
Director: Sophia Parella
Country of Origin: United States
Defy Year: 2024
Synopsis: A man gains a deeper understanding of purpose after helping a talking streetlight through its existential crisis.
Sunshine Girls
Director: Madeleine Hicks
Country of Origin: United States
WORLD PREMIERE
Synopsis: SUNSHINE GIRLS follows the story of Elaine, a timid woman nearing her 30th birthday who must make the difficult choice between motherhood and medically induced photosynthesis. After prolonged environmental destruction, Elaine’s world is experiencing a dangerous shortage of oxygen. Science has created a solution to this problem: a “minimally invasive” medical procedure that allows women’s reproductive systems to host photosynthesis and cellular respiration, ultimately enabling them to give birth to air. For the first time in her life, amongst the ragtag troupe of oxygen-producing misfits called the Sunshine Girls, Elaine finally begins to grow into the woman she has always wanted to be...but not everything is always as bright and sunny as it seems. Darkly comedic and endlessly absurd, SUNSHINE GIRLS is an eccentric and thrilling exploration of womanhood and mother nature.
Supervenus
Director: Frédéric Doazan
Country of Origin: France
Defy Year: 2019
Synopsis: A surgeon creates in real time the new goddess of beauty.