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QCFF 2018

The Queen City Film Festival (QCFF), Western Maryland’s premiere film festival, is held each year in early Fall in Cumberland, Maryland. Founded in 2012, and currently in our seventh year, QCFF 2018 offers a four-day program of screenings and educational panels, and welcomes filmmakers from around the world. Located in Allegany County, Cumberland offers a delightful blend of hospitality and history; mingled with charming shops, delicious dining, arts and entertainment and lots of events and activities. We are also pleased to introduce visiting filmmakers to local media.

Thursday, October 4

Filmmaker & Media Reception (12pm-2pm)

These informal, unstructured “meet & greet” sessions allow networking time for filmmakers, staff, and media.

Educational Panel: Appalachia (2pm-4pm)

The Thursday festival program kicks off with the Appalachian category, and Thursday’s educational panel will be dedicated to Appalachian subjects. The program will encompass the following subject areas: Defining Appalachia, Appalachia in Film, Social Justice

Kara Rogers Thomas – Dr. Kara Rogers Thomas is an Associate Professor of Folklore and Sociology at Frostburg State University. Her work as a Folklorist is supported in part through a grant from Maryland Traditions, a program of the Maryland State Arts Council. Her areas of interest include folklore and folklife studies, Appalachian studies, religious experience, and interdisciplinary learning in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Appalachian Block 1 (4pm-6pm)

Family Medicine T% – 4:00 PM, 15:30, Joe Kraemer, USA: It is Dr. Susan Hardy’s first day on the job at her father’s rustic small town family practice after taking over when a heart attack forces him into early retirement. Susan is determined to make the best of what she sees as a bad situation until her loquacious assistant, Betsy, and an unruly first patient cause everything to spiral out of control. Things only get worse when her father arrives to meddle in her affairs.

The Mountain Minor —%– 4:16 PM, 1:29:00, Dale Farmer, USA: In the 1920s-1950s, millions of Appalachians left their homes in the mountains and migrated to urban Midwestern centers in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio. The Mountain Minor is the story of a life-worn Charlie Abner, a generation later, as he struggles with leaving his present life and family in Cincinnati, Ohio to return to the Kentucky Mountain home and musical heritage that once defined him. The story is partially told in flashbacks to depression era Eastern Kentucky, when Charlie’s parents, Oza and Vestal Abner, face the difficult decision to leave the way of life they know and move to Ohio for employment and better opportunities.

Appalachian Block 2 (6pm-8pm)

erson  – 6:00 PM, 5:57, Don Swanson, USA: He ran. She stayed. A brief meeting with Trevor, home to bury his mother, offers Evelyn a chance to make things right.

Down and Yonder – 6:07 PM, 1:27:00, Christopher Flippo, USA: “Down and Yonder” is a story about two friends having a belated coming-of-age in their mid-twenties. When one of them becomes convinced to move away, they both begin to examine their futures. The film is about a friendship that becomes tested by time and distance, and it is ultimately a love letter to growing up in a small, Southern town.

Opening Night Feature (8pm-10pm)

Only In A Day —% – 8:00 PM, 1:27:00, José Luis Noriega and Rafael Álvarez-Espejo, Spain: What if they told you, two guys want to make a documentary about jazz in Madrid, I guess you would consider it a good idea, right? But if they told you they’re going to shoot it as a road movie, in classic American car from the 70’s, wouldn’t that be better? And if on top of that they do it in only 24 hours and mostly improvised, wouldn’t you want to meet those two mad men? Self-confessed jazz addicts will research from journalists to the owners of some of the best jazz clubs in Madrid as well as some of the most influential musicians in today’s scene will help unravel the mysteries of the most revolutionary music of the 20th century.

Friday, October 5

Filmmaker & Media Reception (12pm-2pm)

These informal, unstructured “meet & greet” sessions allow networking time for filmmakers, staff, and media.

Performing Arts Block (2pm-4pm)

Life’s A Stage —T – 2:00 PM, 41:00, Annie Danzi, USA: Life’s A Stage is a documentary that explores the importance of performing arts high school education through the extraordinary work of artist and educator, Gwen Lehman.

Andre Van Damme & The Story of the Charleston Ballet – 2:42 PM, 57:00, Deborah Novak, USA: Founded by Andre Van Damme, a premier danseur etoile and a Belgian Resistance Fighter of World War II, this program traces the surprising history of the Charleston Ballet, one of America’s oldest ballet companies.

LGBT Shorts (4pm-6pm)

Unicorn p – 4:00 PM, 12:49, Devin Tau, USA: A single father deals with the balance of raising his daughter and navigating his newly out gay dating life.

Seeing Glory p – 4:13 PM, 14:18, Rick Hamilton, USA: Gloria prepares a feast of the senses for the rapidly ailing Eva in an attempt to share a perfect evening and be seen for
the woman she truly is. Writer-director Rick Hamilton’s newest film is a bittersweet story of fine wine, dementia and the immortal words of Virginia Woolf.

Dragtivists p – 4:32 PM, 6:55, Savannah Rodgers, USA: Dragtivists is a short documentary about the intersection of activism and drag performance.

Heaven’s Rage p – 4:39 PM, 13:37, Mark Crane, UK: Heaven’s Rage is based on the novel of the same name by author Leslie Tate. Leslie Tate’s memoir is by turns an elegy for a lost childhood, a tribute to the power of literature and a demand for the right to identity in world that turns too easily on those who differ from the conventional.

Fighting Two Wars: The Story of Thalia Jane Ainsley —Tp – 4:54 PM, 8:29, Aaron Curtis, USA: The story of a Vietnam war veteran who transitioned into a woman
later in life.

X p – 5:02 PM, 9:17, Alanna DePinto, USA: An exploration of the filmmaker’s complex relationship to gender drawing on the formal techniques of feminist counter-cinema.

Sink p – 5:11 PM, 6:34, Cloudy Rhodes, Australia: Jess is a young woman living in a rural community who has fallen in love for the first time. She hasn’t told family and friends because her first love is also a woman. When Jess learns that her secret lover has committed suicide, Jess keeps her grief to herself, fearing being mocked, judged or disapproved of by her family, but desperately
needs to express her feelings. In the short space of a meal time, Jess’s grief ferments and turns inward, culminating in a violent act of self-harm, the only voice that she can give to her emotions.

A Girl From Beacon Ridge p – 5:18 PM, 8:34, Kirk Demorest, USA: Two best friends, one big problem! Phoebe and Blaze, two middle school best friends, suddenly find their lives upside down when Phoebe’s homophobic parents decide the girls shouldn’t play together any longer.

Documentary Shorts (6pm-8pm)

BackBurner Dreams T – 6:00 PM, 38:00, Brenda Hayes, USA: In 1951, Langston Hughes asked “What happens to a dream deferred.” BackBurner Dreams explores the deferred dreams of Stephanie, Melanee, and Carla. Three ordinary women, doing an extraordinary thing, following their dreams. I challenge three women of color, ranging in age from 30 – 50 to revisit and try to revive the dreams for their lives they put on hold to raise children, work, support the dreams of everyone else but themselves; they had nine months to try to bring their dreams to the fore. What possibilities lay in wait when we remember our dreams.

Back In The Ring – 6:39 PM, 9:00, Luke Baker, USA: Dominique Thompson, as he’s known in the ring Jett Black, is on the rise in the world of independent professional wrestling.
Coming back from an ACL injury, he’s looking to stake his claim as a wrestler.

Without Water – 6:48 PM, 14:00, Daymon Long, USA: In the isolated Andes Mountains of Ecuador, the village of Curingue struggles constantly with their lack of access to clean water. With their health and well-being at stake, they’re going to incredible measures to assure the construction of a clean water pipeline for their village.

The High Sierra Trail – 7:03 PM, 39:00, Chris Smead, USA: This exciting documentary bounces back and forth between the modern experience of hiking the High Sierra Trail, and the early 1900’s when the trail was created. Join Chris as he drives his friend John to insanity over 6 days in the Sierra Nevada. Together they have some close calls with lightning, climb the highest mountain in the continental US, and discover the history of the trail brought to life via 3d animations created from historic photos provided by the NPS.

Cult Shorts (8pm-10pm)

P – 8:00 PM, 2:25, Tatiana Skorlupkina, Russian Federation: This is an old joke, in which every word starts with the same letter. Philologists and literary enthusiasts often cite it as an entertaining example of alliteration. Nobody is quite sure where it came from, but one popular theory is that a Teacher gave a pupil detention on account of misbehavior, and as punishment made him write an essay where all the words started with the same letter. The pupil made up a story about the teacher himself. Regardless of the fact that the story was somewhat obscene, the pupil completed the task, and was forgiven.

Craniac! – 8:03 PM, 17:15, Paul M Villanova, USA: A young filmmaker is obsessed with the idea of projecting his film across the sky of the city he lives in. Unbeknownst to him, the creative choices he is making in his film are being driven by a tiny Martian that lives inside of his brain.

Lew – 8:21 PM, 11:40, Tom Colley, USA: An aging radio DJ who lives for music grows increasingly restless when the head of the station takes away his freedom to choose his own setlist.

LULU —p – 8:34 PM, 18:00, Diana Cignoni, USA: Lulu is a modern day fable exploring first love, gender & sexual identity in a thoroughly unique way. To inhabit Lulu’s world is to enter the Alice in wonderland rabbit hole and discover that nothing is as it seems. In memory of German Playwright Frank Wedekind’s 100th Death Anniversary March 9, 2018.

Hotel Oswald p% – 8:52 PM, 21:58, Kim Hotterbeekx, Netherlands: Hotel Oswald tells the story of Helen who checks into a hotel. She is there to meet Naomi, who should arrive the following day. The hotel seems rather peculiar. It is very outdated, the hotel employee behaves factitiously/unnaturally and when Helen sits in the garden the next day she realises that something is wrong. However, she forgets about it when Naomi arrives. Helen blossoms and the two of them have a romantic night together. But when Helen comes back to the hotel after going out to buy cigarettes, Naomi is gone and the hotel room is empty. Helen starts looking for Naomi but then it appears that she is being worked against in order to prevent solving this mysterious vanishing.

Girl and A Scar – 9:11 PM, 14:57, David Cave, UK: A self-harming Goth girl suffers a psychological trauma where her dark, fantastic journey within allows her to find self-acceptance within her life.

Horror/SciFi Feature (10pm-12am)

A Quiet Room in Walthamstow – 10:00 PM, 15:45, Tiago Teixeira, UK: When a young woman moves from Eastern Europe to a room in London, she must figure out what is behind the strange happenings in her new house share before she becomes a victim of the mysterious presence living upstairs.

Lost In Apocalypse % – 10:16 PM, 1:30:00, Sky Wang, China: A group of seemingly unrelated individuals fight their way out of a virus-infested hotel, only to find themselves at a worse place than before.

Saturday, October 6

Kids/Family Feature (12pm-2pm)

Charlotte and Charlie – 12:00 PM, 10:12, Artemis Anastasiadou, USA: When a young woman suffers vision loss, she realizes that she has to give up her beloved car, Charlie. She can’t bring herself to say good-bye until Charlie roars to life and takes her on a final, fantastical journey. Charlotte and Charlie is a sweet, narrative short film that explores loss, disability, and how the things we love define us.

A Wish For Giants % – 12:10 PM, 1:18:00, Don Swanson, USA: Sophie, a young volunteer, meets her kindred spirit in Roxie, a girl with a life threatening medical condition and a unique wish to meet Bigfoot.

Kids/Family Shorts (2pm-4pm)

Stella 1 – 2:00 PM, 15:00, Roberto D’Ippolito and Gaia Bonsignore, Italy: Someone in the deep space is calling, she needs to complete her mission and become a real captain. Her name is Stella 1 and she’s an astronaut girl.

Shame and Glasses – 2:15 PM, 5:00, Alessandro Riconda, Italy: Mirko has to face his worst fear: wearing glasses. That is the only way to do his school test, but what would happen if the little girl he is secretly in love with could see him?

9:58 – 2:20 PM, 15:00, Les films d’ AVALON, France: Like his idol Usain Bolt, he dreams of running. But Djal is sixteen.

Step By Step – 2:35 PM, 10:00, Thi Doan, USA: Van, a young Vietnamese immigrant and aspiring dancer, overcomes poverty, a language barrier and other adversities to gain acceptance in a ballroom dance studio.

A Drawing – 2:45 PM, 5:30, Brad Condie, USA: A young boy misses the chance to say goodbye to his dying Mother. Through a deep desire he wills himself to try to see her again.

Rag Dolls – 2:51 PM, 4:42, Justin and Kristin Schaack, USA: Playtime turns into uncontrolled shenanigans when a child discovers rag dolls in an antique chest. Her imagination runs wild, but for the dolls’ real-life doppelgängers, self-control is out of their hands.

Goes Without Saying – 2:57 PM, 11:37, Pierre Sabrou, France: 1920s style short movie. 1927, Charles meet Marguerite, a beautiful washerwoman. By trying to seduce her, Charles triggers a series of unpredicted events that will separate them. He then finds himself in an unknown world…

Are You Volleyball % – 3:09 PM, 15:00, Mohammad Bakhshi, Iran: A group of Arabian spoken asylum seekers arrive to an English spoken country border and can’t keep going. They conflict with border soldiers everyday till a deaf-mute baby becomes a catalyst for better communication between two groups.

Operation First Light —T – 3:24 PM, 15:45, Irving Nestor, USA: In this creative, high-energy story, a group of boys at summer camp plan a mischievous raid on the girls’ cabins only for the advantage to be reversed as the boys face an ambush unleashed by a ruthless, well-oiled pranking machine.

Happy Hour (4pm-5pm)

Origin by Kerai – 4:00 PM, 4:25, Kitty Von-Sometime, Iceland:  “ORIGIN” gives life to the genderless non-human being the members of KERAI are giving voice to. Their upcoming album expresses the anxieties and desires of this being as it explores Earth, observing and trying to take part in the human activities of the anthropocene era.

Head Like A Hole – The End Of Life – 4:05 PM, 3:40, Marc Swadel, UK: The end of life. It murmurs murder.

Leave Today by Fainting Ghost – 4:09 PM, 3:38, Zoran Maslic, Canada: The voice is telling her to do something. But who is “the voice” and who is she?

Rupture – Johaine – 4:14 PM, 3:51, Nyck Maftum and Bernardo Deque, Brazil: This music talk about the hurt of women who are victims of the physical and moral aggression of their partners, “Rupture” is a freedom of this abusive relationships.

The New Alpha p – 4:17 PM, 3:50, Elena  Nazaroff, USA: Billboard Top 40 glam artist Ricky Rebel released the title track from “The New Alpha” featuring ex Adam Lambert guitarist Tommy Joe Ratliff.

Dardem: El Reloj – 4:22 PM, 4:34, Lorenzo Ayuso, Spain: Dardem’s surreal video for ‘El Reloj’ depicts band’s singer, Pepe Rodríguez, struggling to win over time and running after his future self.

Fall Apart – 4:27 PM, 3:28, Mark Crane, UK: Music video for the band ‘Nervus’ Em Foster, Paul Etienne, Karl Woods and Jack Kenny. Em Foster describes the song as a cry against how we continue to test the limits of our planets ability to cope with pollution and capitalism destroying our resources and our governments and corporations seem unwilling to address the situation. Using the Em’s outcry and lyrics Director Mark Crane re-interpreted and explored the Greek myth of Icarus, touching on Daedalus and the hubris of humanity.

Too Weird For You – 4:31 PM, 1:57, Dan Warren, Germany: A nanobudget stop motion music video for an indie pop song.

Scandal % – 4:33 PM, 4:10, Pablo Mengin-Lecreulx, France (Réunion): This animation made of 2500 paintings tells the story of a man who tries to run away from his fate. He is seeking for success, fame, happiness and love… But the city is too strong and he can’t win. Sadly, he becomes a powerless witness of his own fall, just like a bee trapped in a spiderweb.

Untitled #1 – 4:38 PM, 5:43, Ernie Smith, USA: A mysterious drummer collects his pay.

Nín thở – Gỗ lim – 4:44 PM, 3:14, Vincent Baumont, Vietnam: A music video for the most praised Vietnamese post-punk band in Hanoi.

Disparager: FALL – 4:47 PM, 4:20, Rob Maloof, USA: A music video thriller: A predator becomes prey as the Red Light Slasher looks to claim his sixth victim.

Bad Clown – 4:51 PM, 2:18, Martin Kolembar, Czech Republic: schizophrenic clown trying to find himself in a nonchalant way

Forest Queen – 4:54 PM, 5:45, Don Swanson, USA: This music video for FOREST QUEEN by The New Mutiny follows a young girl that met a violent end embracing her vengeful rage.

Music (Double) Feature (5pm-8pm)

Istanbul Punk % – 5:00 PM, 11:00, Ali Kanibelli, Turkey: A brief history of Punk music history in Turkey and today’s society.

I Can Only Be Mary Lane – 5:12 PM, 1:00:00, Jesseca Ynez Simmons, USA: At 82, Mary Lane is one of the last legendary Blues musicians that made the Great Migration from America’s south. Although Mary is widely respected in Chicago, she has never gotten the wider recognition she deserves. I Can Only Be Mary Lane follows Mary as she records just her second studio album and first in over 20 years. Her producer thinks it could potentially win her a grammy, if only they can get it done.

Up To Snuff – 6:12 PM, 1:21:00, Mark Maxey, USA: Millions of people have been touched by his music, yet few know the journey, hardships and triumphs of American musician and composer W.G. Snuffy Walden. In UP TO SNUFF, friends and collaborators share personal stories, laughs and insights about this generous soul who overcame the excesses of rock and roll to find success as one of the most beloved composers in television history. Infused with Snuffy’s music throughout, the film features luminaries from television, film and music, including Aaron Sorkin, Martin Sheen, Tom Arnold, Timothy Busfield, Fred Savage, Marshall Herskovitz, Steve Lukather, Chaka Khan and Eric Burdon, and scenes from The West Wing, Wonder Years, and thirtysomething.

Horror/SciFi Shorts (8pm-10pm)

Moonchild – 8:00 PM, 5:23, Bruno Mazzocchi, France: The melancholic space odyssey of a daydreamer…

The Watch % – 8:06 PM, 19:41, Paul Prache, France: In a close future. Planet is at war and many want to flee. But not Anouar the Old, who wants to save Knowledge.

Operation: Safe House – 8:26 PM, 3:20, Alex Sitnik, Germany: Executive Summary: a spy-themed presentation of the biggest Salon in Thuringia (Germany) based on the actual events and history of its location.

She Came From The Woods — – 8:30, 12:15, Erik and Carson Bloomquist, USA: A campfire story comes to life for a group of counselors on the last day of the summer of 1987 at Camp Briarbrook.

BEC – 8:42 PM, 12:17, Tony Morales, Spain: Since 1998 the appearances of the BEC has been constant, and the consequences of looking directly into their eyes has been irreversible.

Crazy Night – 8:55 PM, 14:58, Dídac López, Spain: It’s dinner time for four friends. By the way, have you read something about the serial killer?

Rose Castle – 9:10 PM, 26:00, Emmanuel Duchez, France: 1890, a tavern for sailors in Scotland. old Captain Amberlynn, drunk, gives to Walter, a sad and romantic sailor, a magic blazon for a dangerous mission. Walter accepts to go to “Rose Castle”, an old manor in which a sect adorer of the demon Yog-Sothoth devotes itself to a secret ceremony…

Cult Feature (10pm-12am)

The Theta Girl % – 10:00 PM, 1:35:00, Christopher Bickel, USA: Billed as an “existenploitation film,” THE THETA GIRL follows the trials and tribulations of young drug-dealer, Gayce Delko. “Theta” was a “fun drug.” A drug that blew people’s minds. Theta was supposed to be a door to Heaven, but when her best friends get methodically and brutally murdered, Gayce realizes theta might also be a door to Hell — and it’s up to her to shut it. Warning: THE THETA GIRL contains graphic violence, drug use, nudity, and sexual situations. UNDER 17 NOT ADMITTED.

Sunday, October 7

Animation Shorts (12pm-2pm)

L E N D I N – 12:00 PM, 2:26, Piero Tonin, Italy: Who are they? Where do they come from? What do they want from us?

Big Booom – 12:03 PM, 4:00, Marat Narimanov, Russian Federation: The history of humanity and of our planet in four minutes. An eco-friendly statement developed in a single shot that has it all: humor, action and tragedy.

Railment % – 12:08 PM, 10:00, Shunsaku Hayashi, Japan: In a continuous scenery, his physical movement stays in the same position. The speed of the continuity and his movement have accelerated and gradually cause a distortion.

Reds Barbershop: The Sandbox and the Desk – 12:19 PM, 1:24, Daniel Maw, USA: A continuous, animated loop providing an intimate look at various quiet, contemplative spaces I’ve created throughout my life.

The Night Sky Diver – 12:21 PM, 1:00, Allison Brown, Canada: A venturesome diver plunges from outer space down to the ocean floor to retrieve a fallen starfish.

Reverie – 12:22 PM, 5:01, Emily DeWoolfson, USA: A girl dreams of the way she wishes the world could be… or perhaps the way the world already is.

Negative Spaces – 12:28 PM, 6:00, Michaela Wadzinski, USA: What if your sketchbook drawings came to life? This is the idea that Negative Spaces explores. However, being erasable has its drawbacks.

The Fox – 12:35 PM, 9:45, Sadegh Javadi Nikjeh, Iran: A young fox on the verge of experiencing the first love got trapped by a hunter. The Hunter ties his dog collar bell on the fox’s neck and leaves her in the wood. And then the fox begins his effort to survive and love and revenge.

Little Doll  – 12:46 PM, 1:07, Silene Barralon, France: Curiosity leads a little doll in a strange world…

Pour 585 % – 12:48 PM, 4:40, Patrick Smith, USA: A timid character with a wine glass for a head grows larger than his numbered peers while participating in a prosaic cycle of pouring. The conflict occurs when the sequence is interrupted and a new order is established, possibly more tyrannical than the first.

I can’t Bring You Away – 12:53 PM, 5:23, Lin Li-Wei, Taiwan: When the sun shines into the room early in the morning, the man gets up and dresses and wears a tie. He tells the world outside the door and the difference of ”his” imagination. The music in front of him can cause people to fall and fall. The endless desire makes people fall into the abyss. Although he was eager to go out with ”him”, the man was determined to say goodbye to ”him” and walked out the door, and ”he” was a man’s doll bear.

The Inescapable Arrival of Lazlo Petushki – 12:59 PM, 11:10, Sven Werner, UK: A scruffy young man is about to arrive in a mysterious city by boat, when he finds himself lost in the labyrinthine hull of the ship. On his surreal journey through the boat, he is chased by the inescapable; himself, the very luggage he was hoping to leave behind.

Charlotte and Charlie – 1:11 PM, 10:12, Artemis Anastasiadou, USA: When a young woman suffers vision loss, she realizes that she has to give up her beloved car, Charlie. She can’t bring herself to say good-bye until Charlie roars to life and takes her on a final, fantastical journey. Charlotte and Charlie is a sweet, narrative short film that explores loss, disability, and how the things we love define us.

A Drawing – 1:21 PM, 5:30, Brad Condie, USA: A young boy misses the chance to say goodbye to his dying Mother. Through a deep desire he wills himself to try to see her again.

Billie – 1:27 PM, 4:00, Maki Yoshikura, UK: The Labradoodle Billie’s happy life comes to a sudden end when, one morning her beloved owner doesn’t wake up anymore. She is taken away to a place she does not recognize. She is sad and lonely until one day her life takes a new turn… Billie’s story is brought to life by Francesca Gambatesa’s illustrations.

Adelaide McCarthy and the Making of a Legend — – 1:31 PM, 3:45, Dewi Evans, UK: Comedic educational film staring Adelaide McCarthy as he explains how stop motion puppets are made.

The Old Woman And The Sea — – 1:35 PM, 3:35, Wolfgang Purkhauser, Germany: Every single day an old fisherwoman takes her little fishing boat out to the ocean. One day she forgets to take along enough bait. So she tries to use a small fish she already caught to catch a bigger one. It’s working. The fisherwoman catches fish after fish, one bigger than the last until her greed gets out of control.

Too Weird For You – 1:39 PM, 1:57, Dan Warren, Germany: A nanobudget stop motion music video for an indie pop song.

The Holy Rewrite T – 1:41 PM, 8:14, Angela Pinaglia, USA: On the verge of another birthday, Jesus finally gets his wish to return to Earth and feel useful again. But things aren’t quite as they seem and with a little help from his friends and a kind stranger, Jesus learns to put faith back into humanity.

Animation Feature (2pm-4pm)

Harvie and the Magic Museum –  % – 2:00 PM, 1:25:00, Martin Kotik, Czech Republic: It is probably the desire of each of us to meet our childhood dream in adulthood. And because childhood fantasy is unbounded and infinite, I also like a little boy to experience unusual adventures along with my childhood hero Hurvinek, whom I knew from puppet theater, television series and record labels. I admired him for his courage and sharpness with which he was able to overshadow his gruesome and awkward father Spejbl and overcome every obstacle and trap of everyday life.

LGBT Feature (4pm-6pm)

Sunset p – 4:00 PM, 15:09, Katie Ennis and Gary Jaffe, USA: In the days following Pearl Harbor, a young man must decide whether to serve overseas or stay in New York with his streetwise male lover.

Something About Alex p% – 4:15 PM, 18:33, Reinout Hellenthal, Netherlands: A 14-year-old boy, Alex, develops a close friendship with his older sister’s boyfriend, and must confront
the depth of his feelings when the couple announces that they will be moving away.

Cas p% – 4:35 PM, 48:02, Joris van de Berg, Netherlands: In the comedy-drama Cas, Pepijn and Sjors’ steady, seven-year relationship is shaken up after they allow a young student named Cas to sleep on their couch until he finds a place of his own. Gradually, both men fall head over heels for Cas’ laconic charm and it forces them to reconsider their many long-term plans. Is Cas’ presence
endangering their relationship or is he actually a blessing in disguise?

Documentary Feature (6pm-8pm)

Books Are My Weapon—p – 6:00 PM, 7:00, Alice Obar, USA: Donald Peebles is a Brooklyn librarian who swears by the power of books to help him through difficult experiences. In 2017, inspired by his own experience of homelessness, he started a homelessness outreach program at his library.

From a Valley of Talol % – 6:07 PM, 11:00, Sam Simonds, Shineika Fareus, and Yves Pierre, USA: From a Valley of Talol follows the stories of former Haitian resteveks working within communities as a means to stop the cycle of exploitation and abuse that they were subjected to as children.

Brocken Spectre – 6:19 PM, 29:00, Adhiraj Kashyap, India: ‘Brocken Spectre’ is about a man, his theatre troupe comprising mostly dwarfs and their journey to build a kinder and a more compassionate society.

Behind Bars Are Trees Of Green – 6:48 PM, 48:00, Rafal Kolodziejczyk, Poland: A touching story about the Polish poet of the interwar period – Grażyna Chrostowska. The presentation of the poet’s short life is a universal study of female perseverance and courage. It is a story about the natural need for human freedom, about the strength of youth and the love of beauty, which gives strength for further life in front of the tragedy of the war.

Closing Night Feature (8pm-10pm)

Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy —T% – 8:00 PM, 1:48:00, R. Todd Stevens, USA: Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy is a feature-length documentary film highlighting the history of the Crownsville State Mental Hospital in Crownsville, MD. Drawing on many documentary works such as “The Thin Blue Line” and “Night and Fog” for inspiration, the film utilizes archival footage, animation and original music to unfold the story and evoke a mood. Both exterior and interior present-day footage and photos have been combined with exterior/interior archival footage and photos to capture the changes to the hospital through its 96-year lifespan. In addition, interviews with historians and former hospital workers as well as patients help to round out the experience.

Program Notes

— Filmmaker anticipated to appear

T Shot in Maryland and/or made by a Maryland filmmaker

p LGBT Content

% Category Award winner

NOTE: All content is unrated.

NOTE: All running times within programming blocks are approximate.

The Queen City Film Festival (QCFF) is a production of Allegany Allied Arts, Inc. QCFF 2018 Festival Program ©2018 Allegany Allied Arts, Inc.