5:00 PM
Director: Deb Lacusta & Dan Castellaneta
1940s Los Angeles. Femme fatales. The Polish mob. Murder. Jewish Detective (and caterer) Marlowe Phillips must find the missing Fishfeld, even as he battles his demons of feeling trapped from his past in a German POW camp, and wrestles with an impending marriage to his secretary.
Classic noir collides with the remote technology & green screens of these socially-distanced times, in this deadpan homage to “Lady in the Lake”. Shot from the Detective’s POV, and shot during the worst of the pandemic -- with each actor isolated -- pushing the boundaries of Zoom to create a seamless noir for these times.
Directed & Written by Dan Castellaneta and Deb Lacusta (“The Simpsons”), and starring Second City and Groundlings alumni including Meagen Fay, Julie Brown, Jonathan Stark, Bernadette Birkett, Jane Morris, Lance Kinsey, and Jeff Michalski. Also starring Rick Hall, Eliza Coyle, Dan Castellaneta, and Deb Lacusta.
2022 BEST COMEDY FILM
HRIFF PREMIERE
6:30 PM
Director: Olivia Gropp
"Traders" is the first film written and directed by actress Olivia Gropp.
Summer, 1995. The time for enjoying music, trading in “junk” for quick cash, and hanging out with friends. But like the saying goes, you don’t appreciate what you have until it’s gone. This is exactly the case for a small town when their benign existence is rocked by a violent serial killer. Amidst the killings, three seemingly different characters' paths cross at the town’s local record store for a night filled with rock music, mystery, and violence.
WEST COAST PREMIERE
6:30 PM
Director: Theo Burtis
Two shipwrecked astronauts fight over how to get rescued from an alien desert.
WORLD PREMIERE
6:30 PM
Director: Michael Buchbinder
A dark comedy about Greg Vogel, a couch surfing stoner type who cat sits for his friend who has a smart home and ends up getting killed by the Alexa virtual assistant.
WORLD PREMIERE
6:30 PM
Director: Ursula Rudorfer
One family's quest for survival after a rolling blackout turns sinister.
WORLD PREMIERE
7:15 PM
Director: Alfonso Posada
A beauty company run by Aliens abducts and harvests young women for life extension.
HRIFF PREMIERE
8:30 PM
Director: Veronica Mannion & Ariel Hart
Billie (Veronica Mannion) and Charlie (Ariel Hart) are two best friends who feel invisible in their work lives, dating lives... and pretty much every other part of their lives.
After being ghosted one too many times from their latest online "soulmates", this sad pair hatches an experiment to test the age-old question: Do blondes really have more fun?
Will VIP access and lifestyle tips from viral sensation, Aquarius (E.G. Daily), help them navigate their new platinum status? Or will they become wanted criminals, sworn enemies, and bring grown men to their knees?
This duo is “dyeing” to fit in, but the ride of their lives could crash and burn if they don’t remember their “roots” and stay true to themselves.
Starring: E.G. Daily, Veronica Mannion, Ariel Hart, Jonathan Stoddard, Mark Forbes Harley, and Dave Abed
2022 BEST DIRECTOR - Veronica Mannion & Ariel Hart
2022 BEST ACTRESS - Veronica Mannion
WORLD PREMIERE
10:00 PM
Director: Corey Kupfer
Seven Days is an anthology of seven women, a tour-de-force performance, all played by the same actress; and each woman refuses simple definition. There is no one side too strong or weak, good or bad, free or bound. A homeless teacher, wealthy housewife, single mother, social activist, polyamorist, sex worker and same-sex partner, they are seven possibilities, and one woman.
WORLD PREMIERE