Social & External
Marioneta
When a trans Latinx mermaid defies her mother’s warnings, she is forced to confront the violent legacies of colonialism, environmental destruction and the danger of being desired in the human world. The BlackStar Philadelphia Filmmaker Lab is presented with support from Independence Public Media Foundation, William Penn Foundation, and Wyncote Foundation. This project has been supported by The Philadelphia Independent Media Fund administered by Scribe Video Center with funds provided by the Independence Public Media Foundation and the Wyncote Foundation.
An imaginative telling of the story of a Vietnamese American mother-daughter duo who, in their attempt to heal the rift between them, reenact and satirize scenes from celebrated Vietnam War films while depicting a diasporic reality. Two inventive storylines complicate The MOTHERLOAD to levels of absurdity. Both of these glide in and out beneath the narrative backbone of Jessca and Kim’s personal story, and reflect the stunning disconnect between the Vietnamese diaspora and the world’s understanding of their presence.
Fernando is a young aspiring comedian who suffers from social anxiety; this makes it difficult for him to connect with people and deliver his jokes well. Because of this, he starts using Pipo, a teddy bear that speaks clearly. But as Pipo comes to life, Fernando begins to question who is really in control — and what is real.
Two little gnomes go on a grand quest to retrieve what just may be the solution to all of their problems.
An alien duo arrive on earth and begin to enslave humans, using a local Public Access Children's show as a front. Things get out of hand when a human is forcibly turned into one of them and joins a resistance to overthrow the aliens.
Hamlet and Ophelia reckon with their doomed narratives against the backdrop of the similarly doomed pre-Wende Germany and 2020s United States. A short-film adaptation of the 1977 East German Heiner Müller play of the same name.
An anthology of surreal films by Patrick McGuinn featuring Vincent, a puppet who is obsessed with Twinkies and pasta.
Just another day for this guy’s hand.
A young girl mysteriously awakens from a deep coma, drawn by the eerie sound of a child playing with shadow puppets nearby. Captivated and unsettled, she embarks on a quest to uncover the hidden meaning behind the other child's strange performance.
In a world where felt and ambition collide, a quirky puppet named Phoebe navigates humiliating auditions to chase her big break on a children's TV show, only to have an unexpected connection force her to confront what it truly means to feel and be felt.
An award-winning cynical journalist, Lloyd Vogel, begrudgingly accepts an assignment to write an Esquire profile piece on the beloved television icon Fred Rogers. After his encounter with Rogers, Vogel's perspective on life is transformed.
Akira wakes up with Ticket stuck to his hand. Along with Right, they fight off another puppet which has attached itself to Schwartz.
Ian, a commercially successful stage director, mounts an avant-garde production of "Othello" for the sole purpose of destroying Tyson, the actor who stole his fiancee Anne from him. Fanatic in his commitment to art, personal integrity and Zen Buddhism, Tyson makes the mistake of accepting the role of Othello in good faith at Anne's urging, only to find himself trapped in Ian's vengeful scheme, an escalating nightmare of absurdly bad theatre that threatens to spin out of control and push them all to the breaking point.
Worlds collide when a secret passage way to the dying world of Fraggle Rock is discovered in the U.S. Officer Lamb and Officer Chops are on the case, when a seemingly targeted string of murders begin to take place against the people of Fraggle Rock. Gobo Fraggle and his friends face new threats, and adventure, in their new home, Earth.
A young man is forced to confront his thoughts and memories by the unusual puppet, Dracula.
After a first date, two women find themselves in a magical hairy situation.
Humanity's only hope against the evil Alf, who plans to take over the world, is the superhero Şahika, who stands out with her beauty and courage. Şahika is determined to overcome this threat with her intelligence and superpowers. In this fun and exciting adventure, good and evil face off once again.
The year is 1955, and a great flood is coming to Northfork, Montana. A new hydroelectric dam is about to be installed in the mountains above the town, ready to submerge the valley in the name of progress. It is the responsibility of a six-man Evacuation Committee to relocate the townsfolk to higher ground. Most have duly departed, but a few stubborn stragglers remain – among them a priest caring for a sickly orphan, a boy whose fevered visions are leading him to believe he is a member of a roaming band of lost angels desperately searching for a way home.
Suffering from a severe case of depression, toy company CEO Walter Black begins using a beaver hand puppet to help him open up to his family. With his father seemingly going insane, adolescent son Porter pushes for his parents to get a divorce.
A bureaucrat interviews five souls to decide which of them will be given a life on Earth. But he soon faces an existential challenge of his own.
Ivy Morgan, a college student in New Orleans, falls for Ren Owens, the last person she expected to enter her rigidly controlled life.
After an affair with a queen leads to his demise, an eager traveler encounters a mystical bird with the power to give him another life.
The story of Prince Hal who sets out to avenge his dead father against the city's rivals, the Zeriths, little knowing it was his wicked uncle Nezo who is the real killer, with his own designs on the throne.
Vincent, an artist with unresolved inner demons, meets a mysterious girl who helps him come to terms with his creative legacy… and eventual death.
A mother and her teenage daughter must confront Death when it arrives in the form of an astonishing talking bird.
In the anarchic town of Seaside, nowhere near the sea, puppeteers Judy and Punch are trying to resurrect their marionette show. The show is a hit due to Judy's superior puppeteering but Punch's driving ambition and penchant for whisky lead to an inevitable tragedy that Judy must avenge.
Jack McCall is a fast-talking literary agent, who can close any deal, any time, any way. He has set his sights on New Age guru Dr. Sinja for his own selfish purposes. But Dr. Sinja is on to him, and Jack’s life comes unglued after a magical Bodhi tree mysteriously appears in his backyard. With every word Jack speaks, a leaf falls from the tree and he realizes that when the last leaf falls, both he and the tree are toast. Words have never failed Jack McCall, but now he’s got to stop talking and conjure up some outrageous ways to communicate or he’s a goner.
When his mother dies, young Peter Ibbetson leaves Paris and his best friend, Mary, behind to live with a severe uncle in England. Years later, Peter is an architect with little time for women, until he begins a project with the Duke and Duchess of Towers. When Peter and the duchess become great friends, she reveals that she is Mary — but the duke soon suspects his wife of infidelity and challenges Peter to a duel, threatening the pair's second chance.
When a proud noble refuses to kiss the hand of the despotic King James in 1690, he is cruelly executed and his son surgically disfigured.
A man searches for his father, Pedro Páramo, in a town doomed by violence and the fury of a frustrated love.
A botched faith healing bestows supernatural Shaman powers on a bullied teenager. When his lifelong tormentors pull a prank that kills someone he loves, he uses his powers for revenge and goes on a bloody rampage to settle the score.
After her estranged brother's sudden death, young wife Lucia bonds with his fiancée through their shared grief and finds herself falling in love.
A series of uncanny déjà vu events force a man to re-examine his tragic past, memory, instinct, and future.
Taken into slavery after the fall of Jerusalem in 605 B.C., Daniel is forced to serve the most powerful king in the world, King Nebuchadnezzar. Faced with imminent death, Daniel proves himself a trusted Advisor and is placed among the king's wise men. Threatened by death at every turn Daniel never ceases to serve the king until he is forced to choose between serving the king or honoring God. With his life at stake, Daniel has nothing but his faith to stand between him and the lions' den.
An otherworldly journey through a Europe in decline - a collection of darkly humorous, fantasy tales about ill-fated characters and doomed fortune.
On Christmas Eve, a fighter pilot on his way home becomes lost while flying over water and needs a miracle to land safely.
In a strange world where people share numerous deformities, the same problem we all face challenges each of them: to find someone who accepts you as you are. Sometimes, that means finding yourself first.
