Mystic Film Festival is an annual event showcasing independent feature-length and short-form narrative films and documentaries from around the world. Our festival was created by local filmmakers and artists to nurture regional talent, to promote works made in Connecticut and New England, and to bring unique films to our community. The festival unites a diverse group of filmmakers and audiences to explore ideas, discuss the filmmaking process, and celebrate creativity. Through engaging community and industry events, panels and workshops, and film screenings by acclaimed and up-and-coming talent, the festival is a special experience for filmmakers and audiences alike.

Event Schedule

October 19, 2023

The Nana Project
Mystic Luxury Cinema - 4

Director: Robin Givens
Screenwriter: Eric Ulloa
Producer: Anthony Del Negro, Carl Moelleberg, Shane O'Brien, Zach O'Brien
Cast: Mercedes Ruehl

Set in the competitive world of chess, we follow Nana’s (Academy Award Winner Mercedes Ruehl) journey in a heartwarming feel-good comedy about reuniting her grandsons (Will Peltz and Nolan Gould) and supporting her retirement community.
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October 20, 2023

11:30 AM - Finding Her Beat
United Theatre

A master of Japanese drumming and a Korean adoptee from Minnesota boldly convene an all-female troupe to perform Taiko, the Japanese drumming art that has been off-limits to women for centuries. As the early menace of Covid rumbles in the background, the group faces down hurdles to prepare for a historic performance in snowy St. Paul. Buoyed by dynamic drum performances and do-or-die spirit, FINDING HER BEAT is an energizing and uplifting story of music, cultural expression and sisterhood. In the midst of a frozen Minnesota winter, a Japanese drum master and Korean adoptee from North Dakota join forces to assemble the world’s best Taiko drummers in a bold effort to claim a cultural spotlight that has historically been reserved only for men. Their rhythm revolution includes rock stars from the world of Taiko: Tiffany Tamaribuchi, Kaoly Asano, Chieko Kojima, Megan Chao-Smith, and Jennifer Weir. Through grueling rehearsals, Jennifer weaves together their disparate voices and styles. Vulnerability, pain, and joys are shared—and we quickly see the bonds of friendship form as these talented women navigate their way through differences in culture, age, language, and performing styles. As the clock ticks toward their first performance, it becomes clear that their story has become much larger than Taiko.

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1:00 p.m
Student Film Block - 1
Out of Water
Cold
Where's My Money, Tommy
Our Shadows
Blue Period
Concetta
Artboy
Memento Mori
Location: La Grua Center

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2:00 PM- Documentaries
Seeds of Change
Out There: A National Parks Story
Location: Mystic Luxury Cinema - 3

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2:00 PM - Karaoke
United Theatre
A bittersweet comedy about a middle-class suburban couple in their 60s who are drawn to their new neighbor, a charismatic bachelor who has karaoke evenings at his apartment.

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3:30 PM - Student Film Block - 2
The Tale of Captain Fortyhands (2023)
Neon Rage
Every Other Kid
Ovaryacting
To Somewhere, With Me
Gale
Connecticut's Connection to the Sea - The CT River and Atlantic Salmon
Post Term
Location: La Grua Center

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4:30 PM - Thriller - Short Film Block
Nine Miles
Perception
Scam
Split Ends
The Erratic
Women and Elephants
Location: Mystic Luxury Cinema - 3

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4:30 PM - My Neighbor Adolf
United Theatre

South America, 1960. A lonely and grumpy Holocaust survivor convinces himself that his new neighbor is none other than Adolf Hitler. Not being taken seriously, he starts an independent investigation to prove his claim, but when the evidence still appears to be inconclusive, Polsky is forced to engage in a relationship with the enemy in order to obtain irrefutable proof.

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7:00 PM - Intermedium
Mystic Luxury Cinema - 3

An obsessive-compulsive teenager searches for a way to rid her home of the ghost that haunts it, but their unexpected connection makes it hard to let go.

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7:00 PM - Scrap
United Theatre

After getting laid off, a young single-mom (Vivian Kerr) finds herself living in her car and struggles to hide her homelessness from her estranged brother Ben (Anthony Rapp) and his wife (Lana Parrilla). "Kerr evokes questions of femininity and motherhood a story of redemption and reconciliation that invites us to find what is really significant in our own lives." - Thomas Perillon, Le Bleu de Miroir "a Woody Allen-style American chronicle that evokes complicated subjects with lightness and humor."  Antoine Corte, Bulles de Culture "Vivian Kerr succeeds in placing cinematic accents with Scrap in a portrait that illustrates the contrast between dream and reality in sunny Los Angeles."
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October 21, 2023

10:00 AM  - Production Assistant Workshop by WIFVNE
Mystic Aquarium - Milne Center

What do you need to know to get that first job on a film set? Alecia Orsini walks you through some of the lingo, gear, and best practices for becoming a production assistant.
Do you know how to properly wrap a cable? Fly in a pancake? Or lock up a set? When should you expect to be paid and how much? Review set safety concerns to protect yourself and other crew members. Learn all about this and more, and a few lucky participants will get to prove that they have what it takes.

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11:30 AM
Heart-lightening - Short Film Block
Ms. Rossi 2 : Ms. Rossi Takes The Cake
[subtext]
Between Floors
To Make Chickens Laugh
The Cookbook
Castles in the Sky
Location: Mystic Luxury Cinema - 3

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11:30 AM - ELLIS
United Theatre

ELLIS is the first feature-length documentary about Ellis Marsalis Jr. and the Marsalis Music Family, often called the First Family of Jazz. The film chronicles the life of this exceptional New Orleans composer, performer, and educator, the profound influence that the city had on him and that he had on the jazz that came out of New Orleans. It is also a story of how one man transcended racial injustices he faced from his birth during segregation to his death from COVID 19. Made with the full cooperation of Ellis, his family and everyone around him, ELLIS is told from an insider perspective with never-before-seen footage. For three years until his passing in April 2020, I worked closely with Ellis Marsalis on this film about his life. He tells it in his own words and he guides us through the events of his life in his own way: With his music. We filmed Ellis' last concerts at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York and Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro in New Orleans, and a solo concert at the Marsalis Center for Music performed exclusively for the film. These concerts are interlaced with verité scenes that place Ellis in his city and with interviews with his sons Wynton, Branford, Delfeayo, Ellis III., and Jason, and colleagues, and disciples. Archival footage and photos take us back to New Orleans of the early twentieth century, to California of the fifties where Ellis served in the Marines and played with modernist giant Ornette Coleman, to New York of the seventies where he toured, and to his classrooms throughout the years. The result is more than a biography of one of jazz's heroes. The film interweaves Ellis' accomplishments with key threads of American cultural history, placing him in historical context as someone who was both deeply affected the by world around him, and who, by responding to it helped to shape that world.

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2:00 PM
Heartwarming - Short Film Block

The Firefly Jar
Not the Same Clarence
My Dear Aunt Sally
The No Problem Zone
Tart
sister
Location: Mystic Luxury Cinema - 3

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2:00 PM
Inside the Beauty Bubble & Deep Ambition
Inside the Beauty Bubble
Deep Ambition
Reel Rock: Resistance Climbing
Location: United Theatre

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2:30 PM - Ten Tips On The Way To A Sellable Script
Mystic Aquarium - Milne Center

Screenwriting Workshop with Janet Roach.

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4:30 PM
Spotlight on Women Directors - Short Film Block
Discovering Ella
DADDY'S EYES
ORDER MY STEPS
Misophonia
Mandy's Voice
A Feminist Lens: The Art and Activism of Photographer Joan Roth
Location: Mystic Luxury Cinema - 3

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4:30 PM - Inshallah a Boy
United Theatre

Jordan, nowadays. After the death of her husband, Nawal, 30s, has to fight for what she thinks is her inheritance for her only daughter in a region where having a son is a game changer.

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7:00 PM - Melges: Wizard of Zenda
Mystic Luxury Cinema - 3

A documentary film exploring the life of sailing legend Buddy Melges. He won Olympic medals and world championships. But sailing’s biggest prize eluded him, the America’s Cup. Follow Buddy’s extraordinary journey as seen through interviews with some of sailing's biggest stars and unprecedented access to over 100 hours of archival footage.

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7:00 PM - Perfectly Good Moment
United Theatre

This psychosexual thriller asks the question: what happens when the things that make your relationship passionate and exciting are the same things that make it toxic? Ruby and David have been together on-and-off for 8 years, since she was 19 and he 34. Six months after Ruby last ran out on him, she has returned. Once the initial bliss of the reunion wears off, old toxic patterns re-emerge. Is David too demanding and controlling or is Ruby just too sensitive? Is Ruby as delicate and demure as she appears to be…or is there something more sinister behind the surface? Why did Ruby really come back? Perfectly Good Moment is Lauren Greenhall's narrative directorial debut. It features Broadway star Stephen Carlile in his cinematic debut and Amanda Jane Stern (1 Angry Black Man, Lifetime's Amish Witches). It marks Stern's first feature screenwriting credit, and boasts an original score by Mdou Moctar's Mikey Coltun.

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October 22, 2023

9:30 AM - Love Your Antagonist
Mystic Aquarium - Milne Center

Screenwriting Workshop with Janet Roach.

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11:30 AM - Joan Baez: I Am a Noise
Mystic Luxury Cinema - 3

Since her debut at the age of 18, musician, civil rights campaigner and activist Joan Baez has been on stage for over 60 years. For the now 82-year-old, the personal has always been political, and her friendship with Martin Luther King and her pacifism have shaped her commitment. In this biography that opens with her farewell tour, Baez takes stock in an unsparing fashion and confronts sometimes painful memories.

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11:30 AM - Pianoforte
United Theatre

Young pianists take part in the legendary International Chopin Piano Competition. A unique chance of a lifetime, portrayed from backstage and set to Chopin’s music.

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12:00 PM - Making Documentaries
Mystic Aquarium - Milne Center

Making Documentaries Panel with Jason Connell and Alec Asten.

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2:00 PM
Drama - Short Film Block
Above the Desert with No Name
Supper
Consider the Sparrow
In The Grey
Police Three
Inmate
Location: Mystic Luxury Cinema - 3

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2:00 PM - Aurora's Sunrise
United Theatre
The story of how Aurora Mardiganian (1901-94), a survivor of the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire (1915-17), became a Hollywood silent film star.

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2:30 PM - From Development to Distribution: Producing a Movie from A to Z
Mystic Aquarium - Milne Center

This discussion will be moderated by Jonathan Black (Chair 10 Productions) and presented by The Connecticut Film and TV Alliance. Panelists will be announced soon.

Developing a script (writing, optioning, copyright), Script (writing to budget, writing for pitching and production), Pitching and Attaching Talent (Pitch Decks, Producers, Director, Cast), Creating a Production Plan (Budgets, Schedules, Tax Credits and Financing), Physical and Creative Production, Post Production (editing, music, delivery items), Film Festivals as well as Sales and Distribution.

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3:30 PM
Documentary Shorts Block with Wine Reception
Witch Hunt
The 29th Connecticut
Make a Mark
MOLTEN
The Thread
Camera and Clay
Location: United Theatre - 2

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4:30 PM
Documentaries - Requiem for a Whale & IN THE WHALE
Requiem for a Whale
IN THE WHALE
Location: Mystic Luxury Cinema - 3

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4:30 PM - Ramona At Midlife
United Theatre

Ramona At Midlife is a dark comedy about a single mother and former Literary It Girl who discovers that her unflattering current reality is the subject of a hot filmmaker’s newest project. As Ramona faces up to her disappointments and wrecked friendships, she finds true creative power and is finally ready to become her best self.

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Date: October 19-22, 2023

Location

Mystic Luxury Cinemas, 27 Coogan Blvd Ste. 1-B, Mystic, CT 06355
United Theatre,  5 Canal St, Westerly, RI 02891
La Grua Center, 32 Water St, Stonington, CT 06378
Mystic Aquarium - Milne Center, Mystic, CT 06355

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