SHORTS PROGRAM A-24

In November 1967, in Honmoku, Yokohama, a guy (Shinsuke Kato) is chasing his dream of becoming famous while performing live, but it is not coming true. One day, he breaks his cherished silver glass, and after gathering up the fragments, he drove off somewhere.

SHORTS PROGRAM A-24

Official music video for Wagon Christ's "Alright" from the album "Recepticon" on People of Rhythm records. Derek Sajbel made edits of the album art by Celyn Brazier, using them with modular video synthesis to create this brain bending ride through an acid house castle wonderland.

SHORTS PROGRAM A-24

Decoy is a short film that introduces its audience to a post-apocalyptic world, where robots have turnt against human beings. The film tells a short and action-packed story featuring a group of robots who are hunting down a cyborg girl. Decoy uses 100% computer generated images to build an imagined world that aims to surprise and entertain its audience.

SHORTS PROGRAM A-24

Super Powers is a film about a young college girl who has to take over as the primary caregiver for her younger sister with Down Syndrome. Despite the challenges they face, the two sisters have a special bond that is unbreakable. The older sister learns valuable life lessons about love, acceptance, and perseverance through her relationship with her sister. Super Powers showcases the sisters' unique perspectives in life and their unwavering support for each other. The story is a heartwarming tribute to the power of sisterly love and the importance of family.

SHORTS PROGRAM B-24

Annie (Kathleen Quinlan) wants to enjoy the next chapter of her life. She partners up with her dear friend, Faith, to turn her Airstream into a romantic Airbnb. One problem, her son, Jimbo, has been living in the camper ever since his divorce was announced. Faith and Annie need to set up the rental before their first guests arrive and convince Jimbo to move out in the process.

SHORTS PROGRAM B-24

On New Year's Eve, two couples discover that they've been partner-swapping - in surprising configurations. A French bedroom farce for the faithless.

ROM-COM SHORTS PROGRAM C-24

Perspectives is an ode to the triumphs and trials of love and dating.

Valentina and Cole are dating and have all the potential for a great future: compatibility, connection and of course major chemistry. But like any burgeoning relationship, there are challenges, crossroads and decisions to be made. In this fun romantic comedy, as these two navigate their journey of attraction, emotion and communication, the audience quickly discovers there are always three sides to every story: he said, she said and the truth!

ROM-COM SHORTS PROGRAM C-24

Audrey, a struggling Hollywood actress is having a really tough go at things, but perhaps her luck is about to change when she receives a mysterious last minute audition that may change the trajectory of her life and force her to face her past.

DRAMA SHORTS PROGRAM D-24

Filmed during the height of the pandemic, this amazing true story of a black American actor from New York City in the 1800’s who immigrates to Europe, overcomes racism in the Shakespearian theater community, and achieves worldwide fame....including becoming the first black man to perform Othello on a London stage.

Early in life, he learned how the impact of theater shaped societal norms. Ira also learned that black actors were not allowed to play major roles in major theaters. His struggles to overcome this led him to the theater community in Great Britain. There he perseveres through racism to become the most famous actor of his time.

DRAMA SHORTS PROGRAM D-24

Mikael changed.

Mikael was cheerful, hopeful and hungry to utilize all he had learnt from his dad when he moved to LA. Unfortunately, sometimes life serves you a curveball and this time the curveball was cancer. It took away his sun, his compass and love. Mikael is now cynical, angry, unfiltered and, as his mental health deteriorates, Mikael will find himself seeing things. Thanks to his best friend, some new ones, a specialist and a new love Mikael will be able to find a new center, or not?

COMEDY SHORTS PROGRAM G-24

Ella, an impoverished chimney sweep in Hollywood, finds Millicent, a lonely mouse puppet on Hollywood Blvd. Ella's realistic world is brought into musical fantasy as Ella is inspired by Millicent to explore her biggest wish ever: her wish of becoming a... movie star!

COMEDY SHORTS PROGRAM G-24

Several groups of people find themselves in a wooded area. They are hunted by an unknown entity of an unknown origin. This results in a brutal and primal fight for survival as groups of people clash with their counterparts. The plot unfolds to reveal everyone's actual motives in a dark turn of events.

COMEDY SHORTS PROGRAM G-24

A young American woman a bit lost and lonely since her broken engagement ands desperate for a new beginning, impulsively moves to the charming Coyoacán, in Mexico City, where she plans to live with her aloof father and controlling stepmother.

Unfortunately, she quickly discovers that her dad can not be trusted, and now, not only is her childhood hero a possible villain, but she is without a home. Thanks to an absurd sequence of events, she meets the eccentric Iñárritu's who inadvertently come to her rescue.

Out of her comfort zone with a lot to learn, with a foreign family and unknown culture becoming exactly what she needs to breakout of her girlhood mentality and into her own empowerment.

AWARD SHORTS PROGRAM E-24

Set in an unknown time and universe, the story takes us to the premises of "StatsOrgaPro", an old-fashioned bureau filled with utmost reverence to its CEO (Richard Riehle). Workers lounge around and pass the time by doing, as it seems, anything but actual work, except the only two interns in place - a young and full of hope Seth (Isaac Jay) and Intern #2 (Greg Smith) - who try to be dutiful as time ticks by. It is their last day in the office and Seth believes that his revolutionary suggestions on how to optimize the company's work will get him hired.

Little did he know that no one cares about his bright ideas, including his future boss, who sends Seth to be directly interviewed by the CEO - he is the one to decide on the "right qualities" this company needs. Seth's true values are about to get challenged as he awaits for the coveted interview to take place.

AWARD SHORTS PROGRAM E-24

On the heels of a breakup with his boyfriend, 30-something year old Alex moves in with his parents who live in a community for 55+ year old adults. Forced to confront his own insecurities, and faced with his parents’ own relationship dynamics, Alex wonders if he’ll ever be able to move forward.

AWARD SHORTS PROGRAM E-24

Anton Nassif and Diane Franklin star in this gripping sci-fi drama about the human need for discovery and what we leave behind in search of it. 1957. A Russian interpreter working at the CIA discovers what he thinks may be an extraterrestrial signal. He'll risk his job and marriage to locate its puzzling origins.

AWARD SHORTS PROGRAM E-24

The true story of a 15 year old boy contemplating the biggest decision of his life in the year 1918. Americans from across the country are hurriedly joining in the First World War, and young Wellesley wants to be one of them. The only thing stopping him is his Pacifist aligned anti-war father, forbidding him to enlist underage and who’s vision he's unable to shake in every person he sees. Wellesley is left with the decision.. run away from home to start adult life, filled with patriotism and camaraderie in a foreign land, or honor his fathers word and adopt the family’s Pacifist way of life.

5:15pm to 6:45pm - RED CARPET PRESS EVENT

5:45-6:15pm - Press Photography

6:15-6:45pm - Staff Photography

Join HRIFF Celebrity Guests, Award Winners, and film fans at our HRIFF Red Carpet Press event.

Press, Media Photographers, and Paparazzi will be on hand from 5:45pm to 6:15pm to shoot celebrity guests and festival filmmakers.

Festival Staff Photographers will be on hand from 6:15pm till 6:45pm as well as sporadically throughout the evening to take photos.

Award Ceremony requires purchased Award Ceremony Ticket for entry. But the Red Carpet Press Event is open to all festival guests and filmmakers.

Award Ceremony Line Begins at: 6:10pm.

Award Ceremony Doors Open at: 6:30pm.

Award Ceremony begins promptly at 6:35pm.

*Guests arriving after 6:45pm may be required to wait until a break in the ceremony - for ushers to help you to your seat.

The HRIFF Award Ceremony is a star-studded event not to be missed! Cheer on your favorite filmmakers both emerging & legendary, and get ready to be surprised, as this event always has few unexpected celebrity guests!

Pierce Brosnan, Joe Mantegna, Gary Cole, Dominic Purcell, Grace Zabriskie, Frances Fisher, Tyler Blackburn, John Robinson, Lee Meriwether, Dee Wallace, Uwe Boll, (as well as friends no longer with us: Martin Landau, John Heard, the wonderful Joe Polito, and the legendary Harry Dean Stanton) are just a few of the fantastic folks who've stopped by in recent years. Come join the celebration and find out who is stopping by the Award Ceremony stage this year.

No Entry to Award Ceremony without commemorative Award Ceremony Hard Ticket.

Preceded by the Red Carpet Press Event Ceremony from 5:45pm - 6:15pm

Joey, a stand-up comedian with cerebral palsy, is engaged to Lean, a physical therapist. But her mother Michelle does not want the marriage to happen— life will be too hard, taking care of a husband who can’t even dress himself. But when Leah is paralyzed in a car accident, Joey and Michelle have to find a way to move forward. And Joey becomes Leah’s guide into the world he knows only too well, of living with disability.

Based on real life events, Above the Clouds follows the story of Jay as he returns to Los Angeles after his father passes. After finding out his room has been rented out to a feline animal influencer, Da Pussy King, Jay escapes to a coffee shop to prepare for his standup debut at a comedy show later that night. He meets Dani, who is distraught after losing her dog Meatloaf. The two decide to embark on an adventure together that leads them into a magical day that neither of them will ever forget.

On a hot summer day, young couple Mel and Zach sneak into an up-scale Los Angeles home to use the pool, under the impression no one is there. Soon, they are discovered by the homeowner, a middle-aged influencer named Terry, who invites them to stay and hang out. As the day becomes increasingly interesting, Mel and Zach begin to question if Terry is indeed the actual owner.

The Road Dog tells the story of Jimmy Quinn. Jimmy is a veteran of stand-up comedy's glory days; he is also an alcoholic. His life changes when his son David, who he abandoned as a child, shows up at his door, professing his desire to be a stand-up comedian. Jimmy offers to take his son on the road, mainly because David's car is preferable to the bus. With each encounter, we learn a little bit more about Jimmy's past. With David's help, Jimmy gets a second chance at life, making peace with his dying father and reconnecting with the love of his life Laura. But he finds that sobriety comes with a price.

Ira and Josh’s weekend escape to their beach house didn’t include Ira’s estranged childhood friend Roger. Ira must confront long suppressed feelings that threaten to upend his relationship with Josh as the boundaries of friendship, love, and sex are tested in the romantic drama "Shoulder Dance.”

After seeing celebrities on our Red Carpet at the HRIFF Press Event Red Carpet, and later purchasing tickets to see even more celebrities with our honored festival filmmakers standing together on-stage at the star-studded HRIFF Award Ceremony: you should also make sure to purchase tickets to the biggest & best party of the festival: The Award Gala After-Party!

Join HRIFF for our BIGGEST and WILDEST party celebration of the fest.

The AWARD AFTER PARTY takes at a secret location in LA LIVE only a few hours after our Award Ceremony Gala. All the Award Day Events are also nearby the Regal Cinemas at LA LIVE - where most of this year's festival film screenings are taking place.

Get a ticket to the Award Night After Party to find out the secret party location, somewhere near L.A. Live. Don't miss the most talked about, and biggest, nighttime party extravaganza of the HRIFF festival!

Explore LA LIVE, drink, dance, & meet your fellow filmmakers to have fun after a day evening of celebrity sightseeing.

Who's to say what stars may come to party and rub elbows with you?

21 and up only. No Minors.