THE FUTURE OF VIDEO IS LOOKING BRIGHT.
Nine filmmakers on the rise were up for the first-ever Brightcove Illumination Award—but only one took home the title: The Fallout.
MEGAN PARK
The Fallout is a film about the unseen faces of a tragedy, those who can’t turn their pain into effecting positive change in the world because they are too afraid to leave their bedrooms. Three teenagers form a unique and dynamic bond as they navigate the never linear, often confusing journey to heal in a world that feels forever changed.
MARTIN EDRALIN
Joshua, a timid, middle-aged Filipino immigrant has lived in the comfort of his parents’ home his entire life. He pleads with God to find him a wife for fear of being alone forever. When his mother suddenly passes he quits his job to look after his father full-time. Inexperienced at taking care of anyone, including himself, Joshua struggles with his father’s care. Help arrives when a cousin visits from abroad whose warmth and nurturing breathes new life into the home and stirs confused emotions in him. ISLANDS playfully explores the Filipino diaspora experience in an offbeat story of filial duty and adult puppy love.
LISSETTE FELICIANO
In 1960’s San Francisco, bright and talented catholic school girl Celina Guerrera (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s Lorenza Izzo) survives a difficult home life by following the rules. That is until an indiscretion creates a series of devastating consequences. As Celina faces the compounded obstacles of being young and alone, she sets out to rise above the oppression of poverty and invest in a future that sets new precedents for the time. The film is inspired by real women and the Janis Joplin song of the same title.
JUSTINE BATEMAN
Violet follows “Violet Morton,” a 32 year-old film executive who is living her life listening to the “Voice,” resulting in fear-based decisions. She has made these decisions to avoid potential “worst-case scenarios” in her romantic life, her family life, and her professional life, and they have taken her away from who she really is. She has grown accustomed to this, to not being quite “herself,” and sees nothing amiss, until a friend’s comment makes her realize that The Voice has been lying to her. Her entire life.
LEAH PURCELL
In 1893 on an isolated property, heavily pregnant Molly Johnson (Leah Purcell) and her children struggle to survive the harsh Australian landscape; her husband gone, droving sheep in the high country. Molly then finds herself confronted by a shackled Aboriginal fugitive named Yadaka (Rob Collins). As an unlikely bond begins to form between them, he reveals secrets about her true identity. Realizing Molly’s husband is missing, new town lawman Nate Clintoff becomes suspicious and sends his constable to investigate. The deadly encounter between Molly, Yadaka and the constable results in a tragic chain of events with Molly becoming a symbol of feminism and anti-racism.
DANTE BASCO
Four vignettes follow one four brothers while their Fil-Am family prepares for the ultimate Filipino event, a wedding. A blue collar family, they share the same house save one, the Golden Child. The Eldest Brother must secure his pride and position in the family by paying for the wedding, This leads him to revisiting his old life as a hustler to make ends meet. The Golden Child is stuck in The Philippines the day before the wedding, and meets a lover from the past. The Youngest and most single connects with a new love...who may be his cousin. The Middle Brother breaks out of a deep depression following the loss of a child using a dating app for the first time.
STACEY GREGG
When a new family moves in next door, their young daughter, Megan, quickly captivates Laura, stirring up painful memories of her own daughter who died several years previously. Before long, Laura’s memories turn to obsession as Megan’s unsettling behaviour begins to convince her of something supernatural. As Laura’s determination to get to the bottom of it becomes all consuming, her family begins to fracture and the line between the extraordinary and the real becomes ever more obscured in this haunting story about a mother’s love.
Mei Makino
Teen artist Angie Chen does NOT like Liam—she just likes getting rides home from him after soccer practice. Okay, so he has great eyebrows, but he’s with Sheryl, the instagram princess of their Episcopalian private school. After Angie is blindsided by her parents’ sudden divorce, Liam serves as a welcome distraction. But when that distraction knocks on her window in the middle of the night, a secret hookup will set Angie on a journey of sexual awakenings, racial insecurities and artistic expression as she comes to discover what she wants—and who she wants to be.
KELLEY KALI
Danny, a recently widowed hairdresser, and her 8-year-old daughter Wes are houseless. Shielding Wes from the truth, Danny pitches a tent and convinces Wes that it’s a fun camping trip. As Danny works to find permanent housing, Wes grows increasingly tired of weeks in the heat, so Danny promises her that they will go home by the end of the day. With clients lined up, Danny is confident that she will have the final cash she needs to secure an apartment, but a series of mishaps threatens to derail her plans. Under mounting pressure, and with roller skates as her only means of transportation, she has to somehow manage to get the money she needs in order to keep her promise to her daughter.
