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Shorts 7: Hard Feelings
September 27, 2025 @ 8:30 pm – 10:00 pm EDT
Love, loss, libido, and the occasional second penis—Hard Feelings dives headfirst into the chaos of human connection with a lineup of short films that are as emotionally raw as they are hilariously unhinged.
From pharmaceutical side effects and romantic misfires to cults, time capsules, and handball rivalries, these stories explore the absurdity of desire, identity, and self-discovery. Whether it’s a wellness influencer gone viral for all the wrong reasons or a man waking up with unexpected anatomy, each film in this program finds comedy in the uncomfortable and catharsis in the bizarre.
Filmmakers and artists from a selection of these shorts will be attendance at the screening for a post-film discussion. Please see details for individual films below.
About the Program
- Erection And Destruction (10m)
- The Release (11m)
- Other Kinds Of Pleasures (14m)
- The Time Capsule (6m)
- Endowed (11m)
- Handball (9m)
- The Princess Of Coyote Palms (10m)
- The Night Has 1,000 Desires! (15m)
Theater #2
*Individual tickets available for purchase the day of the show at door. Seeing more than a few films? Buy a pass!
A film by Eddie Mullins
Chip (Joshua Burge) is depressed. His girlfriend insists he get treatment, but when a therapist prescribes a wonder drug that leaves him impotent, she breaks up with him. Now even more depressed, Chip joins a support group where he meets others suffering the effects of the drug. Among them are Vollmann (Matthew Jarzyna), an awkward virgin who’s struggling to concoct a home remedy, and Loretta (Chloë Levine), who has a more aggressive scheme in mind.
2023 | 11 mins | US | Color | Comedy, Drama
About the Filmmaker
Eddie Mullins is the former chief film critic for Blackbook Magazine. His award-winning debut feature, Doomsdays, starring Leo Fitzpatrick and Justin Rice, was released theatrically in 2015 before streaming on Netflix. He has since taught screenwriting at Longwood University, worked in the story department at Amazon Studios, and fought valiantly to make more movies.
A film by Clare Austen-Smith, Sofia Dobrushin
A wannabe wellness influencer goes viral for all the wrong reasons — but a mysterious cult might just hold the key to her redemption.
2025 | 11 mins | US | Color | Comedy
A film by Alfio Foti
A middle aged writer and video journalist compromises his working relationship with his much younger producer when he professes his love for her.
2024 | 14 mins | Canada | Color | Comedy, Drama
A film by Michael Charron
Four childhood friends reunite to dig up a time capsule after 30 years… and encounter some unexpected visitors.
2024 | 6 mins | US | Color | Comedy, Midnight
About the Filmmaker
Michael sees the movie theater as a place where traditions are subverted–where the status quo gets turned on its head. And this is where his writing sensibilities lie–in taking an established concept or idea and finding a way to turn it into something different. From slasher films where the “sexy” girls are the most competent ones to a rom-com where the meet cute takes place during casting for a snuff film, there’s no trope he’s unwilling to push to its limit.
Michael’s written more than a dozen feature films (and produced four of them) as well as written and produced a series of successful shorts. Michael has had several feature scripts both place as finalists and win in festivals and has had multiple short films win awards in recent years, including several that took top honors.
A film by Ben Caplan
After a wild night out, Casey wakes up with a terrible hangover… and to his and the world’s surprise, a second penis. Unsure of what to do, his girlfriend, Sasha, brings him to her ob-gyn, who offers to speak with other specialists about treating his situation.
2024 | 11 mins | US | Color | Comedy
About the Filmmaker
Ben Caplan is a filmmaker dedicated to pushing the boundaries of cinema. Driven by a desire to challenge conventions while honoring the legacy of those who came before him, Caplan seeks to weave classic techniques and new styles into his work to forge a voice that is uniquely his own. His vision is to provoke thought and emotion, always walking the fine line between the profound and the provocative.
A film by Eli Beutel
When his girlfriend expresses interest in opening their relationship, Charley turns to a handball rival for advice.
2025 | 9 mins | US | Color | Comedy
A film by Danielle McRae Spisso, Stephen Vanderpool
2024 | 10 mins | US | B&W | Sci-fi, Comedy, Horror
The filmmakers are expected to be in attendance for a post-film discussion.
About the Filmmakers
Danielle and Stephen are a wife and husband team in Los Angeles, CA. They have been creating together for the better part of a decade, but finally made it official in 2023 when they started their production company, Picture 304. And also got married.
Danielle’s love of nostalgia (for any decade really) and Stephen’s love of the macabre lead to darkly funny pieces that typically make audiences squirm uncomfortably in their seats. In a good way (probably). They recently won a Director’s Award for Tone and Execution for their short, Too Slow, at the genre fest Filmquest.
A film by Vance Osteen
After the death of his mother, an emotionally stunted young man goes on a bizarre odyssey into the depths of his own perversion.
2024 | 15 mins | US | Color, B&W | Comedy
The filmmaker is expected to be in attendance for a post-film discussion.
About the Filmmaker
Vance discovered that they wanted to be a filmmaker while majoring in epidemiology in undergrad. Instead of watching germs, they spent their time watching movies. After discovering where their true passions were, they changed majors and have been making short films ever since. Vance wants to tell cutting-edge stories while steeping their style in Old Hollywood filmmaking techniques. In their free time, they play bar trivia and drive around Florida aimlessly.