Believe Psychology FIlm Festival 2022 Program Guide

GRAND PRIZE AWARDS

BEST SHORT:
SPREADING AWARENESS

From Under The Bridge: When Bullies Become Trolls

Director Biography - Paul James Houghton

Paul James Houghton is an award-winning filmmaker, screenwriter, creative producer and founder of Dreamotion Studios, currently working on a confidential project with WB in Los Angeles, California. Paul wrote and directed the film, 'From Under The Bridge: When Bullies Become Trolls', which has earned him multiple awards including 'best film', 'best director' and 'best first-time director'. Born and raised near London, England, he moved to the United States following school and now resides in Seal Beach, California. Paul is the proud father of 2 girls, an advocate for awareness on mental health and the dangers of bullying, and a proven supporter of diversity and equality in the film industry.

Film Overview

A lonely high school girl escapes depression and her bullies when she meets the perfect boy online, but is he too good to be true? A multi-faceted bullying & cyberbullying awareness story you won't believe is inspired by REAL EVENTS.

BEST SHORT:
RESILIENCY & HOPE

OUTCRY

Director Biography - p.m. lipscomb

p.m.lipscomb has passionately made awarding-winning movies since April 23, 2006. He has made three feature films and 36 shorts presented at film festivals across the country. He strives to make work as a means of escape for the audience from the everyday hardships. After receiving the Emerging Filmmaker Award in 2015 for his decade of work in film, he was hired as a documentarian in Toronto, Canada to follow Jacob Barnett. p.m.lipscomb has also taught film editing at the Academy of Art in San Francisco for a year and learned from experimental filmmakers such as Nathaniel Dorsky. His first feature film, CLOWNING is set for release in late 2021.

Film Overview

On the anniversary of his late wife’s first meeting, an aging man (Mike Starr) shares honest unrevealed truths with dishonest strangers (Tara Macri and Dashiell Connery). Over the course of the evening, everyone gets both fresh starts and overdue, second chances.

BEST FEATURE:
CINEMATICALLY CAPTIVATING

Mara: The Seal Wife

Director Biography - Uisdean Murray

Uisdean is an award winning filmmaker from the Outer Hebrides of Scotland and has been making independent films and music videos for nearly 20 years.

His work includes the award winning Gaelic language short film Siubhlachan (The Traveller) which was developed into a half hour drama for BBC ALBA, the macabre Jemima Trilogy and the award winning supernatural comedy web series Demonologist For Hire.
Uisdean’s most recent film project is Mara: The Seal Wife a tragic drama inspired by selkie folklore and filmed in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

Film Overview

After giving birth to their child on a beach during the dead of night Sine runs into the darkness leaving her husband Magnus in a state of anguish. Journeying into the past we discover the answers behind Sine’s behaviour and witness the harrowing events that brought her into the realm of the selkie, mythological creatures that take the form of seals known to shed their skin to reveal a human form.

BEST DOCUMENTARY: COMPASSIONATE & HONEST

Ezra: May His Memory Be For A Blessing

Director Biography - Walter Schlomann

Walter Schlomann has worked in film and video since the 1980s...
Born in Brazil, Walter has worked on four continents (South America, Europe, North America and Australia) on projects large and small, for an eclectic clientele ranging from CEOs to rock stars.
Walter has produced/directed a wide range of videos addressing social issues from HIV prevention campaigns to sexual abuse issues in the Jewish Orthodox communities. His music video Down At the Drugstore (1990), aired on Time Warner cable in New York and MTV. It was one of the first videos created to generate awareness for the AIDS epidemic.

Film Overview

This is a film that challenges each of us to bring the discussion of teen suicide to the table to remove the stigma and bring compassion to those that have been touched by this tragedy.

Ezra's story is unique. Teenage suicide isn't. Suicide is the second leading cause of death amongst people ages 10-24.

Ezra was a gifted artist whose passions and voice are imprinted in the drawings, collages, paintings, musical compositions and journals he generated.

As we unravel the story of Ezra’s life and death, we gain a heartfelt, personal, no-holds-barred insight into teenage suicide and surviving its aftermath.