American Film Institute Conservatory

Two soldiers in a small unit stranded in the field await a signal from their radio. When the signal finally comes as they stand apart; they must confront the possibility of the tenderness they’ve protected against erasure.

A thirteen-year-old science prodigy journeys into her grandma's deteriorating mind to save one precious memory they have together.

When a manual scavenger cannot continue her work, her 11-year-old daughter picks up where the mother left off.

Amidst his wife’s flourishing career, a once hotshot director turned stay-at-home dad becomes convinced his hands are inexplicably shrinking. In a desperate search to re-enlarge his hands, he risks his family and sanity.

When her boyfriend is taken off life support by his family, a brilliant but obsessive college student risks everything to steal his body and DIY cryogenically freeze him.

In the haze of a California summer, two best friends must reckon with their feelings for one another.

Trapped in the monotony of his office job, a disillusioned accountant begins to imagine himself as a masked luchador locked in a brutal wrestling match.

When her son’s life is put at risk, a hard-of-hearing mother must decide how to seek help for her bipolar husband in order to keep her family safe.

At arts summer camp, Basia, a reserved 13-year old girl, struggles to connect with other kids. She feels seen for the first time when an equally reserved 19-year-old camp counselor takes her under his wing. When a late night encounter with him leads Basia to lie to impress her roommate, she must reckon with the consequences of her exploration.

Marion and her husband host a private dinner for four. One of the guests turns out to be a woman she had an affair with during the Second World War.

When a young risk analyst at a major US oil company in 1982 learns that the climate research department has just discovered a rapid rise in global temperatures, he has to decide on which side of history he wants to be.

In 1970s Los Angeles, rebellious queer teen Margaret gets thrown out of yet another foster placement and finds herself in the company of a mysterious social worker who's tasked with finding her a new home before the break of dawn. At odds and forced to travel the city together, Margaret realizes that running may not be her only option.

When a Latina transwoman in East LA is on the verge of losing her daughter to child services, she begins to unravel as she is forced to confront her buried traumas and fears.

Thirteen-year-old Olivia, a biracial girl from an inner-city neighborhood, commutes to an elite private school where she struggles to fit in. At home, her mother urges her to present a version of herself that will be accepted— safe. But when Olivia forms a friendship with a bold, free-spirited girl from her neighborhood, she begins to glimpse another way of being, questioning the image she's been taught to uphold. Torn between who she is and who she’s expected to become, Olivia takes a quiet, courageous step toward self-acceptance.

A farcical comedy about ex-bullfighter, Felipe Fernando de la Fernand, a once extraordinary figure now trapped in an ordinary world. He gets a job as a parking attendant to stage one final bullfight… triggering a past he’s yet to reckon with.

After hours at a mobile repair shop, a routine fix takes a strange turn.

Imagine for a moment, you're a child again. You find a note from your mother. It reads, she won't be coming home tonight. Would you call up all your friends and throw a party? Would you break all the rules and stay up past your bedtime. Wouldn't you feel the least bit excited? Not for David and Dee who are ages 9 and 7.

Mace, an enslaved man forced to kill in brutal underground fights, must confront his faith, his heritage, and his humanity when he discovers an unexpected connection to his latest opponent.

When Day Breaks is a silent, visually driven meditation on loss, memory, and the fragile thread between the living and the dead. Set against the chaos of armed conflict, a daughter killed as a civilian lingers between life and memory as she observes her mother grief from beyond. Her final presence becomes an unspoken act of comfort, reaching across the divide. What does it mean for the living to hold on? And what does it take to keep living?

In 1972, the ever-smiling mother of a family band struggles to keep the family's TV variety show and wholesome image going when her estranged husband doesn’t turn up to the season finale taping.