The Dayton Independent Film Festival (DIFF) celebrates regional filmmaking and stories from Midwestern filmmakers who offer their DIFFerent and unique vision. This weekend they host their 3rd annual Film Festival at The Neon Movies. The festival will showcase films from established professionals, emerging filmmakers, and students. Celebrating impactful stories from narrative, documentary or animation— everyone has a story to tell, DIFF cannot wait to showcase these films and filmmakers.
Melanie Reindl, Director of Programming festival explains that this started out a class a the Univeresity of Dayton and has now grown into a 3 day festival that runs Fri, Sept 23- Sun, Sept 25th.
Opening night on Friday starts with a welcoming ceremony for all our filmmakers on the Neon patio followed by a local shorts 7pm screening, from documentary to drama—that celebrates stories and filmmakers from Dayton that includes:
SHATTERED: A City Under Pressure
Directed by UD Documentary Class
What was once a booming city of innovation and creation has seen its once former glory eroded by time and circumstance. Called home by bright minds such as the Wright Brothers, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and John H. Patterson, Dayton, OH was a homing beacon for creative minds with a drive to better themselves and their community.
Paul Laurence Dunbar: An American Poet
Directed by Kane Alan Stratton
Dayton, Ohio 1903. A world renowned poet delivers the incomparable verse, “I know why the caged bird sings.”
Stowaway
Directed by Benjamin Hollinger
Sam, a financially struggling car thief, and his partner Mia find a toddler in the back seat of the car they just stole. Now Sam must decide between protecting the toddler or giving up the car that could save his family from financial crisis.
SIA
Directed by Ashlei Shyne
”Sia” is a poetic short film that follows Nola & Sia, a Black queer female couple whose vibrant life together is upended when a global pandemic threatens to tear apart their entire world.
Analog Rainbow
Directed by Henry Czerwonka
A young woman plagued by her past gets a chance to revisit her earliest memories and discovers her childhood may not have been as carefree as she remembers.
Safe Haven
Directed by Faith Marsh
Monica Kelsey turns her own past into a passion for saving abandoned babies.
A Near Constant and Escalating State of Panic
Directed by Jason Polevoi
A young father grapples with the pressures of modern parenthood during a 10-day COVID-19 quarantine.
The Year That Passed
Directed by Grace Simmons
The Year That Passed (2019) is an animation about loss, addiction and togetherness. Chronicling three successive, deeply traumatic events, this narrative explores grief as a recurrent process with its own unique setbacks and silver linings.
Memoria(l)
Directed by Ian Kelly
This beautifully animated documentary takes us back to Memorial Day, 1937, when Chicago police killed ten striking steelworkers. How do we remember this history?
Never Again Para Nadie
Directed by Anna Feder, Dan Frank, Justin Reifert
A peaceful demonstration in August, 2019 coordinated by a Jewish-led organization, Never Again Action, attempted to shut down a for-profit prison holding ICE detainees, only to be met with violence by correctional officers. In the smallest and poorest city in Rhode Island, citizens took a stand and learned how difficult it is to challenge the status quo.
Sons of Toledo
Directed by Monty Cole
After receiving the early morning news of his younger brother’s murder, a mourning barber pushes through the muddy waters of grief to find the courage to do the impossible – give his brother one last cut.
Last Chance Moms
Directed by Mandy Fabian
Two best friends in their 40s, one pregnant and unexpectedly dumped by her man-child boyfriend, the other unable to get pregnant despite countless efforts, decide to raise a baby together.
Snow Globe & The Cat
Directed by Rick Page
‘Twas the Day after Christmas, when all through the house, ex-wife Lydia returns to get her revenge on Frank. Poor bastard.
Got Your Back
Directed by Mitch Hudson
In the 1960s, a group of high school buddies decide to climb their local water tower… Based on a true memoir, and produced in loving memory of Steve Cruea and Jim “Turd” Swanson.
Don’t Worry About It
Directed by Melissa Kong
After her father’s death, a young woman’s obsessive-compulsive disorder spirals out of control. She enters an intensive therapy program, where she must learn to deal with his death and OCD before it takes over her life.
A Balanced Breakfast
Directed by J.W. Cox
A neurotic, workaholic father sets out to find his favorite childhood cereal during an unexpected day off with his 13 year old daughter.
The Guitar Thief
Directed by Miguel Lepe Jr
Two mariachi players cope with rent increases, a changing neighborhood and a stolen guitar.
Wild Card
Directed by Tipper Newton
Two strangers are brought together by a video dating service.
Gone Gray
Directed by Spaceship, Koura Linda
An under cover Special Agent finds herself in an interrogation room, facing off an interrogator determined to get her to give up. She will never let go of what she wants the most – and she will let no one stand in her way to get there.
One Foot In
Directed by Eric Schabla, Jack Whaley
A pair of eccentric graverobbers navigate the land and their tenuous kinship in search of the score of a lifetime.
Recuperación de los Caídos (Recovery of the Fallen)
Directed by Curtis James Matzke
A lone man wanders a barren landscape on a foreign planet, salvaging items off of bodies that have fallen to the surface. Recuperación de los Caídos was shot and produced in the Canary Islands under the advice and mentorship of director Werner Herzog.
We Are Nowhere
Directed by J. Cody Spellman
After aliens abduct her husband, Minnie receives a visit from a mysterious man in black.
Last and First Woman
Directed by Adnan Siddique
A passionate astronomy student disengages from her college curriculum upon the discovery of an illusive artifact.
The lineup includes:
Catcalling by Leigha Strozier
Reflections of Myself by Makayla Curington
Deceiver by Skylar Tucker
Valentine’s Day by Caleb Earick
Mortem by Danaysha Woodard
Barber by Danaysha Woodard
Keys by Joshua Molina Guiterrez
Cat by Caleb Earick
Get tickets for the Dayton Independent Film Festival online or at the Neon’s box office. The 2022 Winning films have been announcned:
