Thank you for attending the Catalyst Content Festival! We are excited to welcome you to Duluth, Minnesota - the Zenith City & a home for all artists.
The below sessions are meant to be used as a guide to help plan your time at the festival and track real-time schedule adjustments. This digital guide will always be the most accurate and up-to-date.
Seats for each session and screening will not be held for individuals. We encourage everyone to lineup for each block and attendees will be admitted on a first-come basis until capacity is reached.
Please note that the majority of content screened at the festival is not suitable for children and contains adult content. Parental guidance is suggested.
Cleaner Daze Welcome to The Cliffs, the one and only teen drug rehab in Santa Cruz, California. Nobody wants to be there, not even the staff. As the pent-up teens sneak around trying to do whatever they can to get high, Jasmine and her eccentric co-workers, addicts in recovery themselves, do their best to “treat” them. And once an addict, always an addict.
Zero Point Consumed by the strange and abrupt death of her son, Dr. Alex Embry investigates a mysterious disease that she alone believes will bring about human colony collapse starting with the youngest generation first.
No Place To Fall Clinging to his unsuccessful music career, a soon-to-be-father is offered a recording gig with a beautiful young up-and-comer, but soon finds that the demands of the music and needs of his growing family are impossible to balance without sacrificing part of himself.
Americana A few years after the landslide victory of a new political party, a war for the very identity of America rages within the country. As violence and toxic policy infects the nation, Charlie Stanton is forced to leave his family farm and journey north; his fate, uncertain.
Dirt Set on a Paiute Native American reservation, a girl named Nina struggles to find her missing sister, forced to navigate jurisdictional issues, corruption, and even resistance within her own family.
ON In the near future, a weekly meeting of Device Addicts Anonymous (DAA) is the refuge for six strangers consumed by their virtual worlds. But when a new member joins the group, bringing with him something beyond addiction, they all begin to realize that their connection to the virtual and to each other may be far more than coincidence.
Shepherd Fed up with the crime and murder plaguing his inner city New Orleans community, a Catholic priest with a violent past decides to take matters into his own hands.
Dreamer Set in the near-future, a Latino comes home one day to discover he's been replaced by a "whiter" version of himself.
Dad Man Walking Meet Johnny - a jingle writer in Chicago and single dad with full custody of his whip-smart daughter, Trudy. In the midst of a costly legal battle in family court, Johnny has to keep pushing forward in this dark comedy set to the cool sounds of the Quin Kirchner Group.
This Is Desmondo Ray A peculiar man searches for love in a dark and troubling world.
Nothing to See A visible girl in an invisible world.
New Neighbors The Blackwell family moves into a new, predominantly white neighborhood. One day, in reaction to the rash of deaths of young Black men; Faye, the mother, decides to combat fear and treat with an age old strategy of door knocking. A gesture meant to create harmony only escalates tension in relationships, freak incidents, and absurd micro-aggression to a point where the family learns up close what it means to be an outsider.
The Rug A young woman invites her siblings over to see her new rug.
Evie Facing either the wrath of her parents or a forced marriage to a man more than twice her age, fifteen year old Evie makes an impossible choice.
Lose It That feeling when you lose something you just had in your hand a moment ago.
Work/Friends Sam is a sharp but indecisive millennial, torn between what a professional should be and what she is. When Sam is promoted ahead of her older and more experienced best friend Angie, unspoken tensions about class, age and sex erupt, jeopardizing the personal and professional relationships of everyone in the office.
Trouble A talented, yet troubled, young movie starlet attempts to claw her way back onto Hollywood’s fickle A-list after her third stint in rehab, but it will take forming an unlikely union to find her way.
Celebrating 11 years of independent filmmakers, artists, screenwriters, actors and creative community, Angaelica is partnering with Catalyst to showcase dozens of powerful short films throughout the festival week.
Celebrating 11 years of independent filmmakers, artists, screenwriters, actors and creative community, Angaelica is partnering with Catalyst to showcase dozens of powerful short films throughout the festival week.
Celebrating 11 years of independent filmmakers, artists, screenwriters, actors and creative community, Angaelica is partnering with Catalyst to showcase dozens of powerful short films throughout the festival week.
Birthing Sovereignty Birthing Sovereignty” features five Anishinaabe women on the Fond du Lac Reservation sharing Indigenous traditions for raising babies in this instructive and spiritual documentary produced by the Ojibwemowining Digital Arts Studio. After 200+ years of colonization, Ojibwe resilience is helping to revive the use of cradleboards, moss bags, and belly button pouches.
Petaki For Native students, classrooms are oftentimes the first battlegrounds. Native students oftentimes must ignore assaults on real history and also their self-esteem for survival; it is a brutal process and results in the erasure of Native figures from history and the elevation of Europeans to a heightened place in history. Petaki is just one story of what happens when one student engages that battleground armed with real history and intentions not to be erased ever again.
Finiannit Short documentary, continues the themes and work which In the Land of the Finndians -book (published in Finland in 2016) started. Featuring among others Lyz Jaakola, Rebecca and Jim Gawboy.
The Coyote Way This sci-fi docu-narrative follows Charlie, who is forced to choose between joining a Native street gang or going on an epic pilgrimage. Featuring an entirely Native American cast, the film was shot in the Minneapolis neighborhoods of Phillips and Little Earth.
New Neighbors The Blackwell family moves into a new, predominantly white neighborhood. One day, in reaction to the rash of deaths of young Black men; Faye, the mother, decides to combat fear and treat with an age old strategy of door knocking. A gesture meant to create harmony only escalates tension in relationships, freak incidents, and absurd micro-aggression to a point where the family learns up close what it means to be an outsider.
88 How one forsaken Queens precinct handled crime, policing, and politics in 1980’s New York. Detective Sica, who’s overzealous and looking to be a hero, is put under intense departmental pressure to solve a cop-killer case. When Detective Sica shoots and kills an innocent black teen, he must decide what’s more important, his freedom or self-preservation. Sica’s story dovetails with Brennan, an over-worked and anonymous assistant district attorney with mayoral aspirations. Brennan becomes a media darling after his younger brother Eddie, a rookie cop, is murdered. Brennan must decide whether or not to use his newfound political capital to jump his boss and run for mayor.
Thursday October 10, 2019 2:45pm - 3:45pm CDT
NorShor Theatre
This Is Desmondo Ray A peculiar man searches for love in a dark and troubling world.
SCRiBBLES Haunted by guilt and on thin ice at work, a disillusioned illustrator is pushed to the edge of sanity when his latest drawing springs off the page, splattering his monochrome world with color.
Stormchaser All Bonnie Blue ever wanted was to chase tornadoes with her Dad. But dreams die with time. Now, up against a recession, she's become a different kind of storm chaser - hawking storm-doors "door-to-door" around Shamrock, USA, for her charismatic boss, Flip Smyth. As she grasps that Flip's doctrine of "Flip the Switch!" is just a way to exploit customers, a different kind of switch flips inside Bonnie - unleashing an inner and outer storm of violence.
Home Turf Home Turf is an unlikely sisterhood that forms in the beige-toned half-basement of a foster home for “problem” teenage girls in the year 2000. Soon after arriving from Africa, Sahara, a mixed-race 15-year-old, is driven by CPS to a foster home in the suburbs. At the house, run by “Auntie,” she finds four teenage girls who object to her presence and make her life miserable. But little by little Sahara makes friends with the girls, turning enemies into allies against the ostracism of those around them.
Celebrating 11 years of independent filmmakers, artists, screenwriters, actors and creative community, Angaelica is partnering with Catalyst to showcase dozens of powerful short films throughout the festival week.
Space Command A new series from Marc Scott Zicree, writer for Star Trek -- The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Babylon Five and many other shows, this hopeful vision of the future features Doug Jones (Star Trek Discovery, The Shape of Water), Mike Harney (Orange is the New Black, Project Blue Book), Robert Picardo (Star Trek Voyager, Stargate Atlantis), Mira Furlan (Lost, Babylon 5), Bill Mumy (Lost in Space, Babylon Five), Bruce Boxleitner (Babylon 5, Supergirl), Ethan McDowell (Doom Patrol), Bryan McClure (Atlanta, Mindhunter) and Aungelique Scott (Breaking News, Eye Of The Heart, The Real”).
Hooked A dramedy set in 1986 San Francisco, a young man and woman meet at a video store, sparking a contentious love-hate relationship resembling an addiction that neither can quit. Together, they will commit a crime and flee to the island of Santorini, believing life in paradise will cure all that ails them.
Americana A few years after the landslide victory of a new political party, a war for the very identity of America rages within the country. As violence and toxic policy infects the nation, Charlie Stanton is forced to leave his family farm and journey north; his fate, uncertain. Clear Clear follows Ember Bearheart Johnson's first day at home after a 16-year prison sentence for a crime she didn't commit. Reuniting with her daughter (who was an infant at the time she was incarcerated) is bittersweet as she uncovers how her family's lives have gone on without her after all these years.
Jones Aware that her drinking has become destructive, Jones takes a go at living the sober life. Not wanting to be someone else’s problem, she pushes away help and comes face to face with herself and her lack of control.
Celebrating 11 years of independent filmmakers, artists, screenwriters, actors and creative community, Angaelica is partnering with Catalyst to showcase dozens of powerful short films throughout the festival week.
Celebrating 11 years of independent filmmakers, artists, screenwriters, actors and creative community, Angaelica is partnering with Catalyst to showcase dozens of powerful short films throughout the festival week.
Celebrating 11 years of independent filmmakers, artists, screenwriters, actors and creative community, Angaelica is partnering with Catalyst to showcase dozens of powerful short films throughout the festival week.
Celebrating 11 years of independent filmmakers, artists, screenwriters, actors and creative community, Angaelica is partnering with Catalyst to showcase dozens of powerful short films throughout the festival week.
Celebrating 11 years of independent filmmakers, artists, screenwriters, actors and creative community, Angaelica is partnering with Catalyst to showcase dozens of powerful short films throughout the festival week.
This is the story of Ester, a trans woman struggling to find her path in New Orleans during the week before Hurricane Katrina. In the face of an evacuation order, Ester is forced to make a choice that will impact her future forever. Will she get out in time?
Moderator/ Panel Member: Deniese Davis (COO, Issa Rae Productions| ColorCreative)
Rowinn Amone (Lead Actress in King Ester)
Dui Jarrod (Creator, King Ester)
Saturday October 12, 2019 10:45am - 11:45am CDT
NorShor Theatre
Celebrating 11 years of independent filmmakers, artists, screenwriters, actors and creative community, Angaelica is partnering with Catalyst to showcase dozens of powerful short films throughout the festival week.
That Was Awesome! When a floor hockey team of adults with special needs gets pushed around one too many times off-the-court, they decide to stand up for themselves on-the-court in the game of a lifetime.
Promoter in Paradise Tuti, a recent college grad with big dreams is struggling to catch a break in the dog-eat-dog job market – especially with the added pressure of a mother looking to see her married. Upon stumbling into the aftermath of a major party, Tuti accidentally lands a role with Bali’s premier event manager, Tina. Tuti must not only survive the next 48 hours but also pull off the party of the year to keep her dream alive.
Celebrating 11 years of independent filmmakers, artists, screenwriters, actors and creative community, Angaelica is partnering with Catalyst to showcase dozens of powerful short films throughout the festival week.
Dad Man Walking Meet Johnny - a jingle writer in Chicago and single dad with full custody of his whip-smart daughter, Trudy. In the midst of a costly legal battle in family court, Johnny has to keep pushing forward in this dark comedy set to the cool sounds of the Quin Kirchner Group.
Inpatient An unlikely group of strangers in a NYC psych ward must learn how to cope without losing their minds – at least no more than the world already thinks they have.
Immortal A high school track star comes clean about sexual misconduct with her coach, but the teacher she confesses to may have ulterior motives of his own.
Lose It That feeling when you lose something you just had in your hand a moment ago.
Celebrating 11 years of independent filmmakers, artists, screenwriters, actors and creative community, Angaelica is partnering with Catalyst to showcase dozens of powerful short films throughout the festival week.
Currency Currency takes place in a small town one week after all banking, credit, and electronic monetary records disappear. People only have the food in their homes, the money in their pockets, and fading faith that their bank accounts will come back. A Cuban immigrant father and his daughter run the town's gas station and realize that they have the two things everyone needs as the country is plunged into crisis: food and gasoline. But the family finds itself deeply divided about what to do with its newfound "wealth."
The System A group of teenagers clash with overzealous police as "The War on Drugs” expands into a middle-class suburban community.
The Rug A young woman invites her siblings over to see her new rug.
Chosen Atara Hirsch's father has been missing for three weeks and declared deceased. But when Atara's estranged Uncle Yoni returns from Kiev, taking her father's place at the head of the table, Atara is unwilling to move on. Unable to accept her father’s death and growing increasingly curious about Yoni’s inconvenient arrival, Atara continues to search for her father in secret.
Saturday October 12, 2019 5:05pm - 5:35pm CDT
The Teatro
