ONE WORLD. ONE VOICE.The following 13 films were announced Saturday, October 12, 2013 as Official Selections of the 2013 edition of the 24fps International Short Film Festival. This announcement brings the 2013 Official Selections to a final field of 31 worldwide projects. All public exhibition program screenings take place in the landmark Paramount Theatre, a restored movie palace from 1930 listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 24fps, a premiere international short film competition, is now in its 15th year.

EXPLOSIONSDirector: Christopher FreyProducer: Christopher FreyAustraliaNarrative/Experimental, 2012, 6 min.

Set to an original piece of classical music, this silent film takes place in the semi-industrial landscape of outer suburbia at night, where a girl witnesses the citizens of the surrounding area floating into the night sky.About the DirectorChristopher Frey is an Australian based writer/director whose work gravitates between performance-based narrative films and stylized audio-visual projects. His short films have won numerous awards on the international festival circuit, and his music videos have received over 2 millions hits on Youtube. In 2002 he was named Best Emerging Director at the WA Screen Awards. In 2011, Chris was selected as the recipient of the AFTRS Creative Fellowship, an annual commission awarded to an Australian visual artist or filmmaker to complete an innovative, screen based project. Chrisʼ Fellowship project, Explosions, is his third fully-funded short-form film.

SEQUENCEDirector: Carles TorrensProducer: Brett ForbesUSANarrative, 2013, 20 min.

A man wakes up one morning to realize the entire world has dreamed about him the night before.About the DirectorCarles Torrens was born in Barcelona, where he lived until the age of 18. After moving to the United States, he graduated from Chapman University. He has

directed short films, TV movies, and music videos. After directing the music video Momentos for Sony Music, he directed his first feature film, Apartment 13, which won the Audience Award at the Morbido Film Fest and was released internationally. Sequence, His work has been nominated for the Catalan Academy Awards, and Sequence, which marks his return to the short film format, was recently named Best of the Fest at the 2013 LA Shorts Fest.

THIRD (FINAL) WAVEOfficial Selection Films

THE ROPERDirectors: Ewan McNicol. Anna SandilandsProducers: Ewan McNicol, Anna SandilandsUSADocumentary, 2012, 6 min.

A black man with hip-hop and zydeco roots hard-grafts though the local, all-white rodeo circuits in the Deep South as he dreams of competing in the National Finals Rodeo inLas Vegas.About the DirectorsDocumentary filmmakers Ewan McNicol and Anna Sandilands are co-owners of Lucid Inc., a documentary studio based in Seattle, Washington. Ewanʼs work has received numerous accolades, including a BAFTA nomination, a Royal Television Society award, and a Silver Cub nomination at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Sandilandsʼ career began in advertising, garnering Effie nominations and an award for Lucid from The One Club, McNicol and Sandilands are in final production on their first feature-length documentary, Uncertain, and in pre-production on Rookie (working title,) a feature length version of The Roper. The short version of The Roper has been seen at numerous festivals in 2013 including Sundance and SXSW.

ATTITUDE 3Director: Isaac GoodwIIneProducer: Georgette BonvinUSANarrative/Experimental, 2013, 6 min.

Part of a film project that uses dance as a catalyst to express race issues, this third piece in the trilogy focuses on the controversial NYPD “stop and frisk” policy. About the DirectorIsaac GoodwIIne is a 23-year-old filmmaker from Valais, Switzerland now living in New York City. He is attracted to the beauty of darkness, and his

films continually strive to explore difficult topics, while not offering conclusions regarding right or wrong. His bio states he would rather “get them to feel, understand, and learn something new.” He has worked almost exclusively in the world of music videos, which garnered him the Represent Award for Best Hip-Hop Music VIdeo in 2012, along with the Stammplatz Festival Award for Best Short Film in 2011.

GRÜNES GOLD(Green Gold)Director: Barbara MarheinekeProducers: Kai Kunnermann, Karibufilm/Barbara MarheinekeGermanyNarrative/Mockumentary, 2012, 13 min.

Why has the USA waged two wars with Iraq within only a few years? Manipulation of real footage from those wars uncovers a hidden “motive”--and proves that truth and lies are sometimes so closely tied together that at a certain point anything seems possible.

About the DirectorSince 1993, director Barbara Marheineke has been a filmmaker and Art Director/Producer at RTL Television in Cologne, Germany. She has studied at the Film Academy Baden Wurttemberg in Ludwigsburg, Germany, and, prior to that, received a Foreign scholarship to the Pannonia Animation Film Studio in Kecskemet, Hungary. Her studies also include graphic design (The State Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart), and visual communication (School of Design, Kiel Germany). Grunes Gold has been screened at over 20 festivals worldwide.

PENNY DREADFULDirector: Shane AtkinsonProducer: Rob CristianoUSANarrative, 2012, 18 min.

A novice crook gets involved in a ransom plot, but winds up kidnapping the wrong girl.About the DirectorShane Atkinson is one of six children born and raised in Northern California. His work is often inspired by his early years growing up in chaos. He is a graduate of Columbia Universityʼs Graduate Film Program, and in 2010 was selected for the Nickelodeon Writing Fellowship. The following year, he was the winner of the Columbia University Screenwriting Competition. In 2012, he was listed on The Tracking Boardʼs “Top 100 Writers on the Verge.” This short version of a feature-length project premiered at Clermont-Ferrand where it won the Prix du Public. The film has also won awards from the Independent FIlmmaker Project and the National Board of Review. It has been seen at over 35 international festivals.

FERALDirector: Daniel SousaProducer: Daniel SousaUSAAnimation, 2012, 13 min.

A solitary hunter finds a wild boy in the woods and brings him back to civilization. Alienated by his strange new environment, the boy tries to adapt by using the same strategies that kept him safe in the forest.About the Directora 2008 Creative Capital grantee, Daniel Sousa was born in Cape Verde and grew up in Portugal. He is a graduate of the Rhode Island

School of Design and has worked as a director and animator with Cartoon Network, Olive Jar Studios, and Global Mechanic. Sousa has taught at Harvard University, the Museum School, and RISD. His previous film, Fable, was an official selection of the 2006 Sundance FIlm Festival. Feral has won numerous international awards including Best Animation at the Busan International Short Film Festival in Korea,and the Junior Jury Award, Fipresci Special Distinction, and Festivals Connexion Awards at the Annecy International Animation Festival in France.

BAGHDAD MESSIDirector: Sahim Omar KalifaProducer: A Team ProductionsBelgium/Iraq/United Arab EmiratesNarrative, 2013, 16 min.

A young boy living in a remote area of Iraq is totally obsessed with football. Just before the Champions League finale, his television breaks down. To fix it, he and his father must make a dangerous journey to war-torn Baghdad.About the DirectorSahim Omar Kalifa was born in Kurdistan-Iraq and immigrated to Belgium in 2001 where he worked as an interpreter while he studied Audiovisual Arts at the University of Art and Design Sint-Lukas Brussels. His first professional short film Land of Heroes received over 20 international awards, including the Jury Award for Best Short Film at the 61st International Film Festival in Berlin. The production of Baghdad Messi was supported by the Flanders Audiovisual Fund, the Dubai Entertainment and Media Organization, and Belgiumʼs uFilm. The films has been seen at over 15 international festivals in 2013, winning numerous awards including Best Short Film at Dubaiʼs Gulf Film Festival.

GASPÉ COPPERDirector: Alexis Fortier GauthierProducers: Hany Ouichou, Yanick Letourneau (Peripheria Productions)CanadaNarrative, 2013, 14 min.

Murdochville, 1957. A family is forced to move as the father, pained by a long minerʼs strike, finds a new job in the city.About the DirectorsQuebec CIty filmmaker Alexis Fortier Gauthier is the director of After All (Apres Tout), which won the Genie Award for Best Live Action Short Drama in 2008, as well as the award for Best Canadian Short FIlm and the Kodak Award fro Best Cinematography in a Canadian Short at the 2007 CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival. He is the graduate of many filmmaking programs in his native province, including the CEGEP Francois-Xavier Garneau, the University of Quebec at Montreal, and LʼInstitut national de image at du son (INIS). He is currently in the process of developing his first feature film with longtime collaborator Geraldine Charbonneau.

ESPANTALHOS(Scarecrows)Director: Marcelo DominguesProducer: Marcelo DominguesBrazilNarrative/Experimental, 2013, 15 min.

Passion, life, and death in the grim world of two scarecrows, lifeless dolls during the day, beings with life and feelings during the night.About the DirectorMarcelo Domingues is a director, writer, producer and currently Secretary of Culture for the city of Votorantim, Brazil. He is one of the founders and CEO of Votorantim Cinefest national festival of cinema. His videos Goodbye Horror and Inversions are part of the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels, Belgium. Domingues was the central force in the development of the itinerant Art Cinema Project which promotes the exhibition of films in Sao Palo. He is the author of book of poetry The Light of Lunatics, and his films have received awards from numerous international festivals.

JUARITOSDirector: HF CrumProducer: Rick WalkerUSANarrative, 2013, 12 min.

A drug cartelʼs reign of terror in Juarez, Mexico forces a reclusive young narcoblogger out of the shadows and into the fight.About the DirectorHF Crum was born and raised on the Rio Grande in EL Paso, Texas, and spent much of his youth across the river in Juarez, Mexico. A Mellon Writing Grant led him to film school at USC, and later to writing and directing low-budget features for renowned producer Roger Corman. Before motion pictures, HF did health and development work in Cuba, Mexico, and Costa Rica.

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED AS OFFICIAL SELECTIONS(First Wave)

JONAHDirector: Kibwe Tavares

UK

IRISH FOLK FURNITUREDirector: Tony Donoghue

Ireland

SKINDirector: Jordana Spiro

UK

THE DIVERDirector: Damon Mohl

USA

GRACEDirector: Keir Burrows

UK

NIGHTINGALES IN DECEMBERDirector: Theodore Ushev

Canada/Croatia

HELLO WORLD : )Directors: Rafael Mathé, Etienne Larragueta

France

GWIZDEK (The Whistle)Director: Grzegorz Zariczny

Poland

EFIMERA(Ephemeral)Director: Diego ModinoProducer: Diego Modino, Philantiq S.L.SpainNarrative, 2013, 18 min.

Alicia dreams of becoming a ballet dancer. In the cozy windmill where she lives with her grandmother, she impatiently waits for the moment to go for the long-awaited audition. But out there the world is not as idyllic as she thinks...About the DirectorDiego Modino studied film at NYUʼs Tisch School of the Arts where he directed numerous short films. After his return to Madrid he has worked as an art director/designer for such films as The Night of the Sunflowers by acclaimed Spanish director Jorge Sanchez-Cabezudo, while at the same time writing for film and television. Efimera is his latest short film, and he is currently working on his first feature film. Ephimera has appeared at over 90 worldwide festivals, winning a total of 22 awards to date.

PLANETSDirector: Igor ImhoffProducer: Igor ImhoffItalyAnimation, 2012, 9 min.

The story of a little trip between planets. A boy and a girl start to play and then are overwhelmed by the rules of this universe.About the DirectorIgor Imhoff is a graphic and video artist from Venezia, Italy. He is a teacher of digital modeling, Flash Animation, and Toonboom animation at Scuola Internazionale di Comics. He has been a GFX artist and designer at ETA Studios, and a teacher of 3d graphics and animation at

Instituto Europeo di Design. He has extensive credits in game design, 3d animation, 3d modeling, graphics, and illustration. For this film he was the animator, VFX creator, composer, sound engineer, and producer.

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED AS OFFICIAL SELECTIONS(Second Wave)

37° 4 SDirector: Adriano Valerio

France

MARCEL, KING OF TERVURENDirector: Tom Schroeder

USA

ON SUFFOCATIONDirector: Jenifer Malmqvist

Sweden

PREMIERE AUTOMNE (First Autumn)Directors: Carlos de Carvalho, Aude Danset

France

BISHTAR AZ DO SAAT (More The Two Hours)Director: Ali Asgari

Iran

PAULIEDirector: Andrew Nackman

USA

NIGHT SHIFTDirector: Zia Mandviwalla

New Zealand

Silent TreatmentDirector: Mark Lobatto

UK

OH WILLY...Directors: Marc James ROels, Emma de Swaef

Belgium/France/Netherlands

LA OTRA CENADirector: Albert Blanch

Spain

Public Exhibitions of the competition films will be held November 1-2, 2013 at the landmark Paramount Theatre in Abilene, Texas. The films will be curated and assembled on three distinct programs, which are formally presented during the festival weekend.24fps does not follow the typical multi-venue festival format. All Official Selection Films are screened in the Paramount, a beautifully restored vintage movie palace built in 1930. The theatre is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Jury Prizes (cash awards) are awarded by vote from both panels, and announced at the closing night of the public exhibition programs.

24fps INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL ONLINE:

OFFICIAL 24fps SITE: http://www.24fpsfest.com

24fps on FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/24fpsfest

PARAMOUNT THEATRE WEBSITE: http://www.paramount-abilene.orgPARAMOUNT THEATRE ON FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/paramountabilene

Festival Information