Patty is removed from society, spending her days caring for her invalid father and socializing with her garden gnomes. Her only contact with the outside world is her neighbor Bill, who occasionally tries to get her to venture outside her rundown trailer. Everything changes one stormy day when Patty’s roof is struck by lightning. Pike shows up to fix Patty’s leaking ceiling, and she is forced to examine the life she is living.

“Coming of age” is the term loosely applied to this psycho-drama in which aging widower Michael enters into late-bloomer discovery when he encounters a “Tom of Finland” doll in a sex shop. Stream-of-conscious vignettes carry Michael through an onslaught of emotional states, from anticipation and hope to betrayal and violence.

A lonely boy on vacation strikes up a friendship with the guy who searches for treasure on the beach with his metal detector. The charmingly pedestrian premise hides darker secrets, compelling viewers to venture deeper into the film’s web of relationships, stories, identities and questionable truths.

Filmed in New York City, George & Karl is a silent, black-and-white film about two friends living on the outskirts of a big city and what they do to help each other survive.

John is a scientist whose mind is on astrophysics and whose eyes are on the stars. His wife Cynthia lives a life of quiet neglect in the same home with their only son. John’s sister Terry, who has some to visit, is determined just this once to make satisfying contact with her distant brother. Terry’s attempts to break through John’s shell are by turns funny and sad, resolving in a wistful scene between Terry and Cynthia, neither of whom can ever seem to get what they want from the elusive John.

Actress Marlyn Mason (not to be confused with performer Marilyn Manson) starred along side Elvis Presely in the 1969 film, The Trouble with Girls. Four decades into her screen career, Mason took a 10-year hiatus during which time she researched the ins and outs of working as an artist’s model. Her studies translated into a short story about an aging model who imagines a relationship with the artist sketching her. The story was intended for a fiction contest, but soon became the script for Model Rules, which screened at The Rhode Island International Film Festival and The Los Angeles International Short Festival this year.

Indie band, The Heist and The Accomplice venture into an abandoned movie theater to film their first music video. Soon they are stalked by an amorphous, black horror roaming the dark aisles of the theater.

(Not in competition) On a seemingly ordinary day, a father comes home to his wife and son after experimenting in his lab. He brings something with him. The next morning, the son becomes invisible. Did the father make his son disappear, or is there another unthinkable, unbearable explanation?

Released this year as HD and iPod/iPhone digital downloads, kayak film On the Down Low has also screened at Twin Rivers Media Festival and took first place in the shorts category at the Amelia Island Film Festival. There’s not a lot of setup: A kayaker talks his friends into ditching work and romance to paddle whitewater amidst gorgeous natural scenery.

A young woman who believes she’s being stalked thinks she’s figured out the identity of her harasser. Her psychologist, on the other hand, is certain that the stalker is a figment of his patient’s imagination. The idea for this short film came from a 48-hour Film Challenge that directors Delaney and Izbicki entered.

For every altruistic social worker and tireless human-rights campaigner, there are thousands of other hopefuls nominated for the prestigious Professional Woman of the Year award. This mockumentary follows four lesser-known nominees as they dream of being crowned the next Professional Woman of the Year.

An unsuspecting man is invited to a family dinner by his cousin, who wants to show off his lingerie-model girlfriend. Events quickly escalate from mundane to bizarre when the dinner guest notices a broken lamp. Erratic confessions, weaponry and a tube of adhesive round out the evening.

Alex, a teenager with a wallet-full of cash stolen from his father, decides to run away from home and search for his childhood crush in Los Angeles. His obsession with fine dining and fine art quickly drains him of cash and he begins to grow desperate as his dreams decay.

A young boy living in Nazi Germany asks his mother where his best friend has gone. Hiding the truth of the concentration camps from her son, the mother insists his friend has taken a train to Toyland. Delighted, the boy runs away to join his friend. Also known as Spielzeugland, this Jewish-interest film was awarded Audience Favorite Live Action Short by the Palm Springs International Film Society.

Five college students attend the funeral of a mutual friend. On the way back, the driver pulls the car off the freeway and parks on the railroad tracks. He tells his captive passengers that he believes one of them is the murderer. The next train is due in nine minutes, so the guilty party must be identified before everyone perishes.