Manhattan Film Festival

Whitney’s stuck on a road trip with her dad, en route to her freshman year of college. Dad’s hoping for some quality time with his daughter—despite the ongoing tension between them—but Whitney can’t give an inch. When “goodbye" proves harder than she ever imagined, Whitney finds peace in a desert dream.

Two strangers, an Iraq War Veteran and a stay-at-home mother of three, decompress at a bar after their first ever therapy sessions. Having opened the lid on their lives for the first time ever, they flirt, play a drinking game, and tempt disaster, all while avoiding the very real consequences waiting for them at home. This is a story of what happens when you open the floodgates on your life and let in the truth, whether you're ready for it or not.

Cecile moved to the United States in search of a more prosperous life for herself and those she left behind in the Philippines. Now decades later, she lives alone, working the night shift as a nurse, going to bed as the sun rises. Her days are spent in solitude: saying her prayers at church and calling family overseas, her only company. She packs a “Balikbayan” box full of clothes, toys, and goodies to send to those she hasn’t seen in years, some she hasn’t even met yet. But today is different. Today she is expecting company.

After a gentle alien becomes stranded on Earth, the being is discovered by a young cadet named Ava (Pamela Baldeon) who works for the ANV agency. The ANV agents bring the extraterrestrial into their secret base, Ava is forced to perform a living autopsy on the alien, this triggers a series of fantastical events that no one in the agency can explain. The alien helps Ava with a secret physical condition she has. Thas results in all the agency turning on her and trying to kill the both. Ava, alongside the alien, teaches a lesson to the ANV agency commander about the greatness of the unknown.

Although completely unknown, menhaden are the most important fish in American waters. As a keystone species, predators such as whales, striped bass, and birds rely on menhaden for their sustenance. A Canadian company, Cooke/Omega Seafood is taking vast amounts of the fish to feed salmon in Canada. The removal of menhaden are upending the ecosystems of the Chesapeake Bay and Gulf of Mexico.