AGBO and Slamdance Create Summer Showcase For New Artists in Downtown Los Angeles
AGBO and Slamdance are partnering for a multi-faceted showcase including digital, interactive and gaming work, stand up comedy, screenplay workshops, award-winning short films, and a program dedicated to filmmakers with visible and non-visible disabilities at AGBO’s Los Angeles campus.
The showcase represents a continued collaboration between AGBO and Slamdance in discovering groundbreaking talent led by festival alumni and recognizes Downtown Los Angeles as an important place to do it.
To attend the AGBO Slamdance Summer Showcase, please email [email protected]. All programs are free.
SHORTWAVE – AUGUST 9
An award winning shorts film program that pushes visual storytelling to the edge with a focus on Los Angeles based filmmakers. Program includes AGBO’s 2023 Fellowship award winning film Lollygag by Tij D’oyen.
Red Threads
Director: Yuchi Ma
RT: 12 minutes
Experimental Grand Jury Winner.
Red Threads (我很爱你) is a single-channel video that navigates the simultaneous existence of filial love and filial guilt within the experience of a Chinese Parachute Kid, utilizing a combination of live-action cinema, Sims 4 Machinima, Browser / Webcam aesthetic as well as lots of sewing, redness, and thread!
Reality Isn’t Good Enough
Director: Rashayla
RT: 22 minutes
Much to her daughter’s chagrin, a glamorous biracial adoptee from a Trumpmaniac family dreams of being a reality TV star, no matter how exploited she might become.
Director: Brandon Rivera
RT: 21 minutes
NS Grand Jury Winner
A documentary film crew follows a contractor who leaves his mark on concrete sites throughout a North Texas town.
Cold and Sara
Director: Brenna Power
RT: 12 minutes
Emmy mourns a tragic loss while her sister, Sara, relentlessly tries to lighten her spirits in this increasingly frenetic interaction between real life siblings.
Lollygag
Director: Tij
RT: 10 minutes
2023 AGBO Fellowship Winner
A woman recounts her sensual yet macabre memory about the boy next door.
Director: Frank Volk
RT: 8 minutes
Animation Grand Jury Winner
A hot dog man has a crisis of faith.
Slower Animals
Director: John Kelley
RT: 7 minutes
While aimlessly following a winter goose migration across the American south, a professor slips in and out of childhood memories that all surround a forgotten trauma. This short animated film explores the ways we are shaped; both by what we remember and what we forget.
Hubbard’s
Director: Kevin Ralston
RT: 5 minutes
An intense dive into the world of one man and his quest.
DIG (BRAVE NEW WORLDS) – AUGUST 11
DIG’s “Brave New Worlds” program recognizes creators using new and emerging mediums and future storytelling has no boundaries.
Director: Chris Peters
RT: 15 minutes
Can an A.I. be creative? An artificial intelligence computer watched the Mario Bava classic “La Maschera del Demonio” for six straight days, then it made its own disturbing movie.
Be Your Own Dentist
Director: Jon Sims
RT: 6 minutes
In this VR short film, drag icon Katya Zamo guides you on a journey of meditation and oral surgery. CW: blood, teeth.
Bystanding: The Feingold Syndrome
Director: Nim Shapira
RT: 18 minutes
Bystanding is an immersive docufiction sharing the confessions of people who witnessed a kayak-rower drown for four-and-a-half minutes and did not jump in.
Director: Aaron Harris
RT: 3 minutes
2023 Spirit of Slamdance Winner
A father attempts to teach his five children the value of using their superhuman abilities more responsibly.
Kin_
Director: Charlotte Triebus
RT: 3 minutes
Kin_ is a performative dance piece by Charlotte Triebus exploring human corporeality with digital technology.
Inside and Outside the Wall
Director: Yihan Lin
RT: 11 minutes
During the 14-day mandatory quarantine in a hotel room after I went back to China, I “raised” some virtual animals in my phone. Somehow, we look very alike.
Director: Alani Ilongwe
RT: 16 minutes
March with Dr. King and the thousands who journeyed to Memphis in support of the 1300 sanitation workers, striking for higher wages and better working conditions in this musical VR experience to find your calling.
The Long Fall
Director: Cade Mirabitur
RT: 6 minutes
Bodies and objects chaotically collide in a small house as it plummets down a deep hole. Created using Valve’s 2004 Machinima game Garry’s Mod during COVID-19 self isolation.
Undiscovered Country
Director: Sam Crane
RT: 10 minutes
What happens when you try to perform Shakespeare inside Grand Theft Auto?
UNSTOPPABLE – AUGUST 16
A curated program of films by and for creators with visible and non visible disabilities.
Aleeya
Director: Nina Mahesh Aleeya
Runtime: 13 minutes
Aleeya follows a transgender woman as she embarks on a day long journey to buy a gift for her lover, while attempting to persevere through India’s societal inequities and prejudice, as well as the growing rape culture of male youth.
Broken Hearts
Director: Alessandra Lichtenfeld
RTY: 16 minutes
When a sheltered teenager with congenital heart disease befriends a young rebel set for a heart transplant, she breaks free from her overbearing New Age parents and lives like she never has before.
JamieSonShine
Director: Phoebe Jane Hart
RT: 6 minutes
Through a blend of animation and home videos, Phoebe explores her relationship with her older brother Jamie, who lives with schizophrenia.
Director: Peter Hoffman
RT: 16 minutes
2023 Unstoppable Grand Jury Award Winner
Entirely in American Sign Language and featuring an all-Deaf cast, this is is a dark, emotional thriller about a desperate, grieving couple who think they have found the only therapist who can give them what they want: to make them forget they had ever had a child.
Roommates
Director: Ashley Eakin
RT: 10 minutes
When two disabled college students get placed together as dorm roommates, they embark on a quest to experience a hangover.
Selahy (My Weapon)
Director: Alaa Zabara
RT: 13 minutes
2022 Unstoppable Honorable Mention
The story of a young, deaf, Arab girl, born in the ravages of a war zone, whose only weapons are her hearing aids and an old video camera.
Director: Clare Barnett
RT: 6 minutes
A slice-of-life documentary following a visually-impaired married couple as they prepare for a trip to the grocery store.
The Multi
Director: Storm Smith
RT: 19 minutes
An isolated Black Deaf woman has constructed a world of order to keep a childhood trauma buried deep in her psyche, but an unexpected turn of events forces her to confront demons from her past.
PUNCH UP – AUGUST 18
A new stand-up comedy showcase celebrating seven emerging comedians, selected and hosted by Slamdance Alum & Ambassador of Comedy Kristian Mercado.
Nataly Aukar is a Lebanese born and raised stand up comic based in NYC. She talks about her past and present lives, how one affected the other, her family, dating, her sexuality and her fears.
Nori Reed is a LA based comedian, writer, and actress who wrote for Disney’s Raven’s Home, creating Disney Channel’s first-ever live action trans character.
Joey Dardano, Brooklyn-Based comic, actor and writer. Half-Cuban, Half-Italian, Joey can be seen on HBOMax, AmazonPrime, and the upcoming 21st season of WildNOut*
Yedoye Travis is a standup comedian, actor, and writer from Atlanta, GA. He has appeared on TBS, Comedy Central, CBS, and Netflix and written for MTV, IFC, and more.
Sasha Merci is a Second-generation Dominican American comedian, actress, and digital creator. She can be seen on her series Like, Subscribe Dimelo (FUSE), and in Group Therapy (COMPLEX).
Danielle Perez is a comedian, actor, and writer whose work emerges from the intersection of (dis)ability, race, culture, gender, sexuality and so much more.
Steve Way is a comedian, writer, and speaker. He was born with Muscular Dystrophy and is an activist for disability rights. Steve can be seen in the Hulu show Ramy.
SLAM SCRIPT SHOP – AUGUST 19
A day of screenplay workshops formed and led by Slamdance alumni dedicated to emerging screenwriters.
Storytelling On The Edge
Dekker Dreyer
Runtime: 90 minutes
Slamdance’s Digital, Interactive and Gaming program has very few limits on the kinds of work it considers because, according to multi-disciplinary artist and DIG programmer Dekker Dreyer, “we understand that the future of storytelling has no boundaries.” Join Dekker in the new writing landscape of emerging and experimental media.
Worldbuilding
Jessica Jones and Jamie King
Runtime: 90 minutes
Join Slamdance competition reader and Jessica Jones writer Jamie King in the craft of worldbuilding for both independent and studio work.
Defy Convention and Succeed: Unlocking Opportunities with Unconventional Stories
James Allerdyce, Steven Pierce
Runtime: 90 minutes
On this panel, seasoned and visionary professionals gather to share their experiences, strategies, and invaluable tips for thriving with stories that challenge traditional norms. The panelists will share their insights on the art of defying conventions, breaking molds, and pushing boundaries, emphasizing the power of trailblazing material to resonate with audiences on a deeper level.
Screenwriting Tips To Get Passed the Gatekeepers
Beverly Neufeld
90 minutes
Let Slamdance competition reader and screenplay anylyst Beverly Neufeld guide you and your work through industry gatekeepers.