Muskegon Film Festival 2009

'50 States' is the story of 12-year-old Jane and her father Charlie, who must get to know each other better as they travel together on a road trip across the Midwest. Jane dreams of visiting all fifty states, but instead finds herself traveling the familiar confines of the Midwest with a father she hardly knows. As their trip draws to an end, Jane realizes she must find her own road to happiness, because growing up, there is no map.

Johnny is a twentysomething stuck in a mid-level job. He lives with his long-time friend Cal. Things aren't good, but they're not bad either.Johnny's life is about to become both at once.One morning Johnny finds a CD player in his room which does not belong to him. Upon further investigation, Johnny discovers that it does not, in fact, belong to anyone he knows. Johnny, therefore, comes to a logical conclusion: this CD player is in fact a time machine sent back to him. From him. In the future. To him. In the now.Johnny's life and ties to reality slowly begin to fray as he tries desperately to activate the time machine. Or CD player.Already Happened is not sci-fi, it's not funny, and it's not a drama. And it's not about time travel.

A loaded six-shooter, shady business talk and a chain-smoking blonde set this picture up to play out like a classic Hollywood Noir, but its timeless ambiguity and deceitful misdirection make for an unpredictable outcome and a mystery that will keep you guessing to the last sip of brandy. Gene (Collins Schude) stumbles home visibly distraught, inebriated and unhinged by the absence of his wife, Sophie (Robin Phelps), who has yet to return from a party. In his fragile and manic state Gene calls his friend and mentor, Don (Tony Cronin), for advice. Still glistening with sweat from a late night rendezvous, Don gets an earful from Gene, whose compulsive behavior finds him mouthing off about everything from his wife's affairs, to his run in the military and his failures as a litigator. As tension and anxiety soon replace the playful clamor of two friends, a haunting truth is revealed just before the curtain drops with a bang.

Executive Celia Webster has a secret... She is pregnant. When she is chosen to give the coveted Landon presentation, her life is turned upside down. Torn between her unborn baby and her career, she has to endure sabotage attempts by her jealous co-workers. On the morning of the presentation, she is hit by a terrible tragedy, forcing her to make one of the most difficult decisions of her life...

Joe Mielenski has a chip on his shoulder. He's thinks he's been dealt a short deck of cards, but trudges through life the best he can as a taxi driver. One morning, at about 4AM, he receives an assignment to pick up a customer in one of Chicago's roughest neighborhoods. He initially objects, but to avoid suspension from work he submits and proceeds to fulfill the task he's been given. Upon arriving at his destination, he discovers that his passenger is different from most of the clients from this area. It is Grace Stevens, a terminally ill woman who needs his help to get to a hospice to live out her final days. As they travel along her chosen route, it becomes a farewell trip through memory lane. Eventually their generational contrasts and differences of opinion surface, but in the long run they find a way to influence each others' lives.

The film is about a young girl named Alexandra: lost in her job, worn out from her nagging mother, and looking for companionship. Also, she was born with the rare condition of telephones dangling from her torso. We follow this girl as she struggles to find self-identity and someone to love (and love her back). It ends happily when she meets a young man with a similar disability - an attached answering machine. Ultimately, it is a story about belonging and being comfortable in your own skin. Or telephone. Filmed in the classic style of 1940s Hollywood, CALL WAITING will seem timeless; there will be no references to modern-day pop culture or technology, no up-to-date fashion, and no clear setting. This, I hope, will help give the viewer a feeling of nostalgia and offer the idea that the themes of the story are ageless and applicable to everyone.

It's the dead of winter in a Great Lakes beach town, and Seth has just been dumped by his girlfriend of two years. While walking the icy streets he makes his way into a hometown coffee shop and runs into his estranged best friend, Kevin. As they pick up the pieces to their derailed friendship, Kevin introduces Seth to the underground of a hibernating beach town, including a homeless man, a would be mobster and a beat poet - not to mention the coffee jockeys.