When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.
The WYO Film Festival was honored to screen these films as part of the programming for our festival in 2023. We're proud to consider these WYOFF alumni part of our festival family and continue to celebrate the projects that have made the WYO Film Festival what it is today.
A Place of Peace: A Century at the Ranch
Short Film/Documentary
In the quiet hills of Montana lies the West Butte Ranch, a place with a deep and meaningful 100 year legacy. This land has been the home of a beloved family for generations. Everyone here finds a sense of peace and belonging, surrounded by nature and each other. Despite financial woes and an ever-changing landscape, the family manages to persevere and protect their legacy. Join the Clark family in a journey through their peaceful haven as they pass the ranch down to the next generation.
2023 / United States / 5 Minutes, 30 Seconds
DIRECTOR: Jennifer Moore
PRODUCER: John Saunders, Leann Saunders
Two old friends agree to meet up to make up for lost time, but it turns out that one of them has a unexpected proposal.
2023 / United States / 3 minutes, 57 seconds
DIRECTOR: JonHenry Justice
WRITER: Tori Pearce, Aaron Bujans, and JonHenry Justice
SOUND: Aaron Bujans
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: Tori Pearce
Chicken Stories
Short Film
On a start-up farm outside Oakland, various chicken flocks surmount daily obstacles while the newbie farmers attempt to Google their way to help.
2023 / United States / 17 Minutes
DIRECTED AND PRODUCED BY: Jonathan Pickett
Gotcha
Future Filmmakers/Short Film
A young woman receives a mysterious invitation to an old theater, where she discovers the past isn’t the only thing that can come back to haunt her.
2023 / United States / 4 Minutes, 15 Seconds
DIRECTOR: Gabriella Wright
WRITER: Victoria Smith, Gabriella Wright, Anastacia Graves
ORIGINAL SCORE: Victoria Smith
Heartbreak Country
Short Film/Documentary
The remains of thousands of undocumented immigrants lie undiscovered in the remote and inhospitable landscape of Brooks County, TX. The bodies that have been found were often buried in poorly marked graves, many interred in trash bags and other makeshift containers, a consequence of one of the poorest counties in the United States being overwhelmed by a migrant death crisis that has been unfolding for decades. Heartbreak Country explores attempts by the non-profit organization Operation Identification and the South Texas Human Rights Center to locate, exhume, and identify the dead from this heartbreaking humanitarian crises. The film also explores the search and recovery efforts of the Texas State Guard and the apprehension efforts of the Border Patrol Tactical Unit. Through interviews and observational footage, the film adds another important facet to the ongoing discussion about migrant issues and immigration reform in the United States.
United States / 25 Minutes, 30 Seconds
DIRECTOR: Edward Tyndall
PRODUCER: Edward Tyndall
Jesselyn Silva, a 15-year-old girl from New Jersey, is a 3x national boxing champion. She has her sights set on becoming the best in boxing. Jess’s father, Pedro, navigates what it means to support his daughter’s dreams in an extremely dangerous sport. As Jess is on the cusp of making the Olympic team, she faces her toughest battle yet, a cancer diagnosis. JessZilla is a coming-of-age story about what it means to be a champion.
2022 / United States / 90 Minutes
DIRECTOR: Emily Sheskin
PRODUCERS: Benjamin Kainz, Emily Sheskin
EDITOR: Katie Turinski
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Paul Yee
Leaving Yellowstone
Short Film/Thriller/Wyoming
What starts as a romantic trip in the wilderness, turns ugly as Tessa fights for her life in the winter of Yellowstone National Park.
Tessa is excited to visit Yellowstone National Park with her new boyfriend, Mark. However, when they arrive, Mark changes, aggression and cruelty building as Tessa starts finding disturbing artifacts around his cabin. What begins as an idyllic winter weekend slowly becomes a nightmare as Tessa realizes she’s alone in the woods with a man she really doesn’t know at all.
2022 / United States / 22 Minutes, 51 Seconds
DIRECTOR: Kayla Arend
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Spike Lee
PRODUCER: Katie Chew, Dominic Stewart, Kayla Arend, Alexandria Wallace
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Jeff Hogan, Andrew Weller, Kristy Arend
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Shiyu Li
How do you go on living when everything is taken from you in the blink of an eye? A young artist confronts his inner demons while apprenticing with a northwest totem carver after the death of his beloved.
2023 / Canada / 6 Minutes
DIRECTOR: Tank Standing Buffalo
WRITER: Tank Standing Buffalo, Xstine Cook
PRODUCER: Xstine Cook, Amanda Miller
My Wild Land: Bischoff Ranch
Short Film/Documentary/Wyoming
Keeping a ranch afloat in a volatile market is a story that hits too close to home for Tyrell Bischoff. After a number of rough winters, and low cattle prices, Tyrell’s family faced a formidable reality: sell the ranch and lose their way of life forever or find alternate funding to keep the ranch alive. Bischoff Ranch is one young man’s story of dealing with his father’s death, working with managers to restore sheep populations, and keeping the love of ranching going.
2022 / United States / 10 Minutes
DIRECTOR: Emily Reed, Patrick Rodgers
PRODUCER: Emily Reed, Patrick Rodgers
One For All
Short Film/Documentary
Tony Drees actually considers himself to have “good fortune,” despite being born into an abusive household, surviving the deadliest bombing of the Gulf War, beating cancer, and having his leg amputated up to his hip. After it all, and through his newly found passion for skiing, Tony sets an ambitious goal for this season.
2023 / United States / 19 Minutes
DIRECTORS: Michael Stevens, Spencer Miller
A wildlife biologist in Laramie, Wyoming investigates the challenges pronghorn antelope experience on the unforgiving landscape as they embark on their annual migrations.
2022 / United States / 10 Minutes
DIRECTOR: Benjamin Kraushaar
PRODUCER: Ford Van Fossan
RETURN tells the story of a retired Green Beret who embarks on a father-son healing journey from Montana to Vietnam. Traveling in Vietnam for the first time since the war, he retraces his steps, shares his wartime experiences with his son, treats his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and seeks out the mountain tribes he once lived with and fought alongside as a Special Forces officer.
2022 / United States / 1 Hour, 30 Minutes
DIRECTORS: Peter Tolton
PRODUCER: Stan Parker
After discovering her boyfriend’s plan to propose on their weekend vacation, a young girl undergoes a crisis of commitment which attracts the attention of a sinister local cult.
2022 / United States / 13 Minutes, 45 Seconds
DIRECTOR: Will Lee
WRITER: Ian Hedman, Will Lee
PRODUCER: Katrina Ungewitter, Ian Hedman
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Rafael Gomez
COMPOSER: Marc Giguere
Sam Now
Feature Film/Documentary
What do two film-obsessed brothers do to solve a family mystery? Using every video format imaginable, they make a movie as they travel thousands of miles looking for their missing mom. Stitching together 25 years of home videos and filling the gaps in the archive with play, SAM NOW is a mosaic of love, longing and loss, as well as an attempt to overcome intergenerational trauma.
2022 / United States / 1 Hour, 26 Minutes
DIRECTOR: Reed Harkness
PRODUCERS: Jason Reid, Reed Harkness
EDITORS: Darren Lund, Jason Reid
CO-PRODUCERS: Heather Hawksford, Adam Spiro Brown
WRITER: Reed Harkness
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Sally Jo Fifer, Lois Vossen, D.D. Wigley, David Cornfield, Colin Harper Plank, Andy McDonough
Indigenous people and salmon have been intertwined for thousands of years in Bristol Bay, Alaska. The knowledge of harvesting, preserving and sharing fish is as important here as any lesson in a book. Today, kids must not only learn from their elders how to fish, but also how to fight. For the last century, corporations have sought to extract the wealth of this rich region. Now Pebble Mine threatens to pollute the pristine headwaters of Bristol Bay.
“School of Fish” offers an intimate portrait inside one family’s seasonal salmon rituals and their connection to the Bristol Bay Guide Academy, where local youth are empowered through flyfishing to serve as guides and conservationists. Can the next generation step up to defend the most prolific salmon run left on earth?
2023 / United States / 19 Minutes
DIRECTORS: Colin Arisman, Oliver Sutro
FUNDERS: Presented by Orvis with support from Trout Unlimited
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Oliver Sutro, Colin Arisman, Matteo Moretti
WILDLIFE FOOTAGE: Jason Ching
EDITOR: Oliver Sutro
ADDITIONAL EDITING: Elsa Sebastian, Colin Arisman, Matteo Moretti
ORIGINAL SCORE: Aled Roberts
POST AUDIO: Ridgeline Sound
COLORIST: Brian De Herrera-Schenring
PRODUCED in association with Wild Confluence Media
Erratic messages from her dad sends JO deep into the California desert to sort through the remains of a frenzied, paranoid manic episode. However, along the way she makes two discoveries: the rest of her family wish to no longer support him, and the trunk of his car is filled with hundreds of slippers…
2023 / United States / 13 Minutes, 29 Seconds
DIRECTOR: Mark Ryan Walberg
Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Art Cullen and his family fight to unite and inform their rural Iowan town through their biweekly newspaper, The Storm Lake Times—come hell or pandemic.
Dark clouds hang over the cornfields of Storm Lake, Iowa, which has seen its fair share of change in the 40 years since Big Agriculture came to town. Farmers blow their life savings on new equipment they hope will keep their livelihoods intact. Migrant workers flock here—welcome and not—for their slice of the American Dream. The people of Storm Lake confront a changing and precarious existence. Enter: Art Cullen and his family members who deliver local news and editorials on a shoestring budget for their 3,000 readers. This paper means a fighting chance for their beloved hometown, and by hook or by crook, they’ll make the most of it. There’s simply too much at stake.
2021 / United States / 1 Hour, 25 Minutes
DIRECTOR: Jerry Risius, Beth Levison
PRODUCER: Beth Levison
SUCK HARD
Short Film
Reeling from an earth-shattering break up, seventeen year old Zoe must confront all that is left of her first love – a cardboard box of stuff. As Zoe prepares to meet up with her ex one last time to return his things, Zoe enlists her three best friends to help her execute a questionable plan.
2021 / United States / 11 Minutes, 36 Seconds
DIRECTOR: Eva Neuwirth
WRITER: Eva Neuwirth
PRODUCER: Joss Utting
Talk To Me
Feature Film/Horror
2023 / United States
DIRECTORS: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou
WRITERS: Bill Hinzman, Danny Philippou
Are bad men born or made?
The baddest man on earth gets even badder when he meets up with the sheriff who killed his boyhood best friend.
2023 / United States / 17 Minutes
DIRECTOR: Joshua M Thomas
WRITER: Joshua M Thomas
PRODUCER: Kari Lee Anderson Thomas
The hilariously twisted comedy-thriller stars Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi and Julianne Moore. Join the “Dude” and his bowling buddies on their journey that blends unforgettable characters, kidnapping, a case of mistaken identity and White Russians. Enter the visually unique and entertaining world from the creative minds of the Coen brothers and remember: the Dude abides.
1998 / United States / 1 Hour, 57 Minutes
DIRECTOR: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
WRITER: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
The Cowboy Pecan Pie
Short Film
When a seven-year-old boy is sexually abused by his neighbor, he transcends reality into the mystic Wild West where he meets a larger-than-life cowboy who teaches him the art of self-reliance.
2022 / United States / 29 Minutes
DIRECTOR: Paul Cadenhead
WRITER: Paul Cadenhead
PRODUCER: Yuchuan Xing
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Steven J. Mangurten
EDITOR: Guangping ‘Ben’ Niu
Wading for Change
Short Film/Documentary/Wyoming
For Latino conservationist and angler Jr Rodriguez to become “like the pictures he saw in magazines,” he had to leave behind what he loved the most. This is his story of pursuing his dream to become a fly fisherman and his efforts to make the sport more inclusive. By juxtaposing Jr’s origins in Houston, Texas, and his current home in the world-renowned fly fishing hub of Jackson Hole, we share his perspective of what it is like to participate in outdoor sports in Western mountain towns as a person of color.
2022 / United States / 12 Minutes, 27 Seconds
DIRECTOR: Sofia Jaramillo
CO-DIRECTOR: Jr Rodriguez
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Mason Trinca
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Faith E. Briggs
EDITOR: Chris Cresci
COLOR: Zachary Hetlage
SOUND MIX: Jeff Yellen
Will & Tess
Short Film
At 90 years of age, Tess must accept that it is time for roles to reverse. For decades she and her husband Will have been supportive and caring parents and now they need to allow their children to care for them.
2023 / United States / 14 Minutes, 50 Seconds
DIRECTOR: Ray Nomoto Robison
WRITER: Ray Nomoto Robison
PRODUCER: Ray Nomoto Robison
