Feature Films in 2023 UMFF

2023 UMFF Feature  Films
     Acts of Service
|United States|1:21:13
Director:Anthony Rizzo
A feature-length documentary film, Acts of Service is an intimate, touching portrait of an 85-year-old man as he reflects on his life. As the son of Jewish immigrants, young student, pentathlon participant, veteran, researcher, educator, author, business owner, parent and grandparent, husband, retiree, world traveler, and philanthropist, the film showcases the themes that emerged during the course of filming. Interviews and scenes of the subject, his wife, and several family members along with video and photographic archival materials are included.
   

 Anemone
|United States|1:39:05
Director:Bobby Ciasulli, Frank Modica
Anemone is a coming together movie about a biracial couple and the struggles they face in trying to be together. Only divine intervention could put forth a chain of events leading to a place where no one could have imagined

           
 

 Between Two Worlds
United States|1:43:00
Director:Alice Larson Scott
Between Two Worlds is a fictionalized story based on the Old Testament Prophet, Daniel. Technology and old world clash as government leaders are corrupt and failing the people. Territory lines are being redefined and loyalty is a thing of the past. Daniel Abrams, a young man facing the reality of imminent invasion from the rising city of Babylon and its sadistic ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel is forced to embrace the unknown and confront his doubts as he finds himself caught Between Two Worlds.

   

 Experiments in Freedom
|United States|01:08:25
Director:Yehuda Sharim
During a time of compounded crisis, from environmental, social, racial, and economic drought, Ana stands by her eighteen-year-old son, Marcos, as he decides to work in the fields together with other migrant workers. Experiments in Freedom is a lyrical meditation that retells the stories of being young in a world of limited (or no) opportunities in rural parts of the USA with a clarion call for present-day action.

           
  I Am Not
|Israel|1:39:49
Director:Tomer Heymann
Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Tomer Heymann’s latest film is a deeply emotional work that follows an outcast teenager’s life-changing journey. Oren was adopted from Guatemala by an Israeli family when he was a baby. Long unable to find his place in society, the teenager has been subject to ridicule and racism for years, while at the same time dealing with recurring false diagnoses of mental illness. Oren decides to take up a small video camera and document his own life. He embarks on a quest back to the country of his birth to seek out his biological family in the hopes of better defining his own identity.
   Quatre Raons(Four reasons)
|SPAIN|86:00
Director:PEDRO PÉREZ-ROSADO
A little story. It tells the story of María Cuixart Belmontes, twenty-seven weeks pregnant, who is a victim of gender violence at the hands of her partner Alejandro and since then remains in a coma debating between life and death. In such a situation of unconsciousness that will last up to almost 8 years – the same age that her daughter currently has Raquel – in Maria's mind are agitated the bad memories and episodes of violence lived with her partner and those that have led her to be where she is. He wants to settle accounts with his aggressor if only through his thought.
           
 

 Running The Bases - Feature
|United States|2:00:00
Director:Marty Roberts, Jimmy Womble
A small-town high school baseball coach gets the offer of a lifetime from a large 6A school. He uproots his family and leaves the only home they have ever known. He soon learns that things run differently in the big city. For this nine-time state championship coach, winning is secondary to creating young men of character and integrity. As a man of faith, he faces extreme opposition to his coaching methods from the school superintendent. After the loss of his wife, the superintendent struggles with faith and builds emotional walls that even his own son cannot breakthrough. He turns his bitterness towards the new coach, chipping away at the very thing that makes the coach who he is.

 

 STEM Roots
|United States|60:00
Director:Marcell L Pickens, Jr.
Many families are turning to genetic engineering to better connect with the family roots from where they originate. When applied to hands-on projects in genetic engineering, this knowledge can be used to help students build confidence in the STEM capabilities, while learning more about their ancestral history. ESTe2M Builders is a company that aims to further Science, Technology, Engineering, Entrepreneurship, and Math (STe2M) education 

           
     THE TALE OF THE FROG AND THE GOLDEN ORB
|Germany|1:30:00
Director:Chau Ngo
Two brothers make a living by swindling valuable goods from royal houses through false courtship. They also try to obtain the dowry of the marriage candidate Princess. When the older brother Gai falls in love with her younger sister Matilda and thus gives up the actual plan. The young fairy Fingerhut awkward transformation Gai becomes a frog…
     The Story of Me and the Class Teacher
|China|1:45:00
Director: Feng Gao
A story about a rebellious high school girl with the lowest academic performance who, under the careful care of her personal homeroom teacher, corrected her attitude towards life and finally entered her ideal university
           
  Thirsty
|China|88:46
Director:Quanwei Liu, Yaning Lu
Two friends who grew up together are forced by life to stray into black gold mine, almost take a life; Something happened on the way out and it turned into a feud.