Indie Spirit Film Festival 2009

Tyler Clarke is on the redeye to New York City. Her sister is in some kind of trouble and her phones been disconnected. But when Tyler arrives to the city, Jessica is nowhere to be found. In order to discover the truth, Tyler must delve into a world of darkness and lies, the underbelly of a spiritually depraved community living in a deconsecrated cathedral. She finds that these people have formed a group called 'The Collective.' And Jessica is one of them. In order to save her sister, Tyler must face the real possibility of loosing her, and maybe even loosing her own life. But Tyler will stop at nothing. When their Mother died, Tyler promised that she would take care of her sister, and now she intends to make good.

A masked Serial Killer with a morbid voyeur fetish is targeting and terrorizing convenience stores. The Killer tortures and murders his victims in creative ways, then steals the surveillance tapes as his personal trophies.With the reward upped to $500,000 the serial killer is the hot topic at a downtown Los Angeles liquor store owned by STEVE (Eduardo Garcia-'No Country for Old Men'). When the beer delivery guy MORTY (Steve Guttenberg-'Cocoon', 'Police Academy', '3 Men and a Lady'), shares his concerns about the recent killings, Steve and his motley friends fantasize about their big plans on what to do with the killer and the reward money. Assured that the store is safe, Steve and his poker buddies JIMMY (James Duval-'Donnie Darko', 'Independence Day', 'Gone in 60 Seconds'), JESS (Elizabeth Nicole - WB's '7th Heaven'), DONNY (Peter Story-'Ugly Betty','CSI'), and MONA (Ellia English-'Good Luck Chuck', 'Jamie Fox Show'), lock themselves in and settle down for their nightly game. As the night progresses, drunken fun quickly turns into heinous murder as players begin to disappear. Their only hope for outside help eliminated when the resident bum JACKO (David Jean Thomas-'GI Joe', 'Star Trek') is gruesomely killed.Is there a way to stop the killer before he finds the basement filled with butcher's tools and puts them to his demonic use? A refreshing spin on the classic horror film...'Cornered!' will have you captivated as it dives into the mind of a demented killer. Witness the transformation of man into murderer in this suspenseful 'who-done-it.' But be careful what you say... someone may be listening!

'Crystal' is a music video and a short horror film. A boy is seduced by a beautiful girl named Crystal who leads him into a horror chamber of addiction and torture. 'Crystal' dramatizes the descent into addiction experienced by crystal meth abusers, for whom the effects of addiction are the equivalent of torture - teeth falling out, skin covered in lesions, even bugs crawling on your skin.

The Dark Side of the Sunny Moon, follows the story of a wolf who finds himself alone amongst darkness in a world full of nature. Before he knows it, he falls into a puddle and lands on the moon. Within this parallel world he becomes his innocence, as a boy in a wolf suite. In this detached transient space, he must confront his inner being in order to reconnect with his femininity to once again experience the world around him.

The Wild West.A bounty hunter is tracking down a criminal. He catches up with him in a small half-abandonned village where he soon discovers that the few remaining locals have unusual customs.

Don't tell Mom the babysitter's Death... When violent media, handguns and nihilism are ubiquitous, who fears the Reaper? In the tradition of E.C. Horror Comics, this cautionary tale examines life through the eyes of Death who gets derailed when an impatient single Mom carelessly mistakes the scythe-carrying cloaked one for her tardy babysitter and leaves Death to care for her precocious 9-year-old daughter for the evening. Whitney teaches Death about life?s many marvels through violent video games, macaroni and cheese and the magic of Sea Munkees. But when Whitney reveals some dark tendencies of her own, it?s up to Death to lighten things up before returning to the grim duties that lie in wait?

Martin is a shy guy with an unusual physical anomaly. When he notices that a girl who waits at his bus stop every day shares the trait, he can't get her off his mind. After trying in vain to attract her attention without actually introducing himself he decides on a more direct strategy. As he approaches though she mistakenly thinks he is trying to order a hot dog from a nearby vendor and he is too timid to correct her impression. Day after day his attempts to approach her continue to result only in the daily purchase of unwanted hot dogs. Martin perfects a heartfelt and comprehensive monologue but still finds himself unable to deliver it. They continue without really speaking until one morning a chance encounter across the street leads to their first real conversation and a palpable spark of attraction. However, that chance encounter also sets off an extraordinary chain of events that ultimately leads to a shocking surprise ending.

Steve Nelson can't wait to meet Evan Peterson - the man he blames for the death of his marriage. Julie left Steve about 3 months ago. She left no forwarding address and has refused to talk to Steve ever since. Steve is left alone with nothing but his thoughts and regrets. His passion for woodcarving has disappeared and he will likely lose his office job any day. One morning, upon discovering that Julie's dog has died, Steve decided that he will no longer wait for her to come home - he will go find Julie himself. Her new lover, Evan Peterson, is the key.No one knows, however, that Steve has already found Evan - an acquisitions manager at Twilight Corporation in Denver. Every day since then, Steve parks in front of Twilight and debates about going in. He's afraid that if he does, he might do something he will regret for the rest of his life.Mark, Steve's supervisor and friend of many years, has determined that he will no longer defended Steve's inappropriate behavior. After arriving late from a lunch break, Mark gives Steve an ultimatum - his work needs to improve or he will be fired. Steve tries to take the chastisement to heart, but deep down knows his attitude will continue to decay until he talks to Julie. Steve attempts to wood carve for the first time in 3 months. His unsteady hands cause him to slip and scratch his latest frame. He throws the frame across the room, hitting Julie's painting supplies and knocking her paintbrushes to the floor. After a moment of recollection, Steve places her things gently back on the table. The next afternoon, Steve attempts to enter Twilight Corporation. After being confronted by the security guard, Steve leaves with nothing more than Evan's office number. Phillip, a fellow coworker who has been helping Steve finish his work, also confronts Steve. Phillip tells him that if he doesn't start finishing his work on his own, he will immediately inform their supervisors. Feeling that his job is all but lost, Steve decides that he is going to break into Twilight.With knife in pocket, Steve sneaks into Twilight. After being spotted by security, Steve takes off and manages to finds his way to Evan's office. Now Steve is face to face with Evan.

Inspired by Busby Berkeley, mass gymnastics and experimental cinema from the 20s and 30s, 'Divers' is a short animation that explores large-scale choreography, the abstraction of the human body into shape and the absorption of the individual into the mass. Parts of the film were animated with the help of a custom animation toolset developed by the director.