Super Saturday at Mammoth Lakes Film Festival 2026

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Feature film fun was the order of the day at Saturday’s edition of the 2026 Mammoth Lakes Film Festival.

First up was the zany tour de force for filmmaker and actor Tristan Wheeler, Toronto Apartment.

After being left with an apartment he can’t afford anymore, hapless tenant Lock comes up with a plan to sublease his unit for an hour or two at a time, becoming a community meeting space for musicians, dating groups and clandestine terrorist cells, and an attractive opera-singing video artist in need of a green screen.

According to Wheeler, the freewheeling film “cost $7000 and was a lot of pressure as the main guy; I had to make sure I was as much on it as I can be in a kind of intense eleven days.”

He was aided by a donated practical effects creator, and a diverse soundtrack created by the filmmaker’s friend, Creative Suites.

“Its a very Canadian movie and a commentary on the housing market with a character who is a heightened version of myself,” Wheeler reports.

Next up was a first for the fest, a local food and wine tasting, Reel Flavors & Fine Vines with Rachel Stellareese Davies, owner, designer, and vintner of Stellareese Wines.

Wine tastings included Sauvignon Blanc, Grenache, and Cabernets,  paired with curated small plates from the chef at Limelight Hotel, a stunning new property with a stellar mountain view.

Food selections included fine cheeses, Wagyu sliders, beet and carrot hummus, and charred octopus.

Returning from fine wines to the fine film selection at MLFF, we viewed the intense,deeply moving, and highly personal documentary, Sugarfly.

Filmmaker Max Schoenfeld followed
subjects Skye Thomas and Kenneth “Big Jake” Madsen as they navigate a treacherous path of addiction and mental illness in Seattle.

After a suicide attempt, Skye resolves to get sober, leaning on Big Jake, a longtime addict with rapidly declining health. The failures of the health system that should have been supporting them underscores the difficult family histories of both men and the fragility of their situation.

Schoenfeld creates a haunting, harrowing, and bravely connected conversation between the filmmaker and his subjects, movingly depicting hope and hopelessness, friendship, fear, and the fragility of human life.

Touchingly, Big Jake passed away before the film was completed but asked not to be cut from the film.

Schoenfeld explains that his relationship with the two men was “a tender one…it was very intense. We waited eight to ten months to edit the footage.”

There was some 55 hours of footage to compile, shot over a six month period.

“It’s a film about addiction and mental health, traumatizing situations, and the failures of Skye’s social worker and the overall system” to address these issues.

This is a rewarding, important film about the human lives caught up in pain, addiction, and a system that struggles to keep up much less recognize their stories. Brave and powerful.

Next up for the filmmaker and his incredibly talented editor – now a married team – is a comprehensive look at agriculture in America.

Debt to the Dead is a beautiful noir narrative feature from Mexican director Daniel Castro Zimbróna.

The moody, layered film tells the story of aging, demoted Cipriano Zuzunaga a police officer relegated initially to collecting pay outs for a corrupt department.

But when the son of a prominent congressman is kidnapped, Zuzunaga is assigned to carry out a solitary investigation in a city neighborhood well-known to him and filled  with suspects.

There is a lot to unpack from Zuzunaga’s past to a murdered lover and an estranged daughter in this beautifully woven, dark, and involving film.

Based on a novel of the same name, initially filmmaker Zimbrona felt disconnected from the source material, but after rewriting for the screen “I felt the character had much more connection to me. I made the experience mine.”

The stunning visualization was part of a long-time collaboration with his cinematographer and producer. Shot in 6 weeks on an Alexa 35 mm on a $1.5 million budget, this is an impressive tapestry of a work that “confronts the effects of toxic masculinity” as well as unraveling the story’s central whodunit.

The filmmaker says he was inspired in part by the American film Bad Lieutenant, as well as work by Lars Van Tier.

The film already has distribution in Mexico and is making its U.S. debut here.

Rather than embracing a melodramatic style, the film is artistic, the director explains, as well as richly nuanced.

Next up: Zimbróna is working on documentsry about his grandfather, a contradictory man who was “very saintly externally but violent and abusive in personal life.”

Closing out the day: partying with the filmmakers for karaoke, pizza, and brews at the tasty, convivial Main Street Pizza & Tap.

  • Genie Davis; photos by Davis and Cheryl Henderson

Wildly Eclectic and Exciting Friday at Mammoth Lakes Film Festival 2026

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Inventive, provocative, and exciting films for Friday at the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival – a great way to start the weekend.

Our filmgoing day began with the Narrative Shorts 2 block.

Boat Movie was “originally supposed to be shot entirely on a boat” according to filmmakers Anna Torzullo & Stephanie Ibarra. But between insurance and the necessity for a second boat to shoot from, they settled on a private beach location which presented its own set of challenges, including a lack of bathroom facilities.

Despite location challenges, a very funny film resulted from a script about a group of friends who take a boat to the beach to view an unusual natural phenomenon involving the sun, Mercury, and plenty of social anxiety, along with a sweet vulnerability projected by the “outsider” in the group.

The Sandman, described in the program as “a geological fairy tale.” It is also virtuoso filmmaking from David Auerbach & Erich Wilhelm Zander, using a screenplay written by Auerbach 33 years ago.  “I am always interested in how kids apply logic, like how did sand get from the beach to the desert,” he relates. Here, it’s driven there by the title character.

The visually gorgeous work uses models, green screen, stop action animation, and live visuals to create a stunningly layered and charming work.

Terry’s Calendar tracks the situation that develops when a lonely and neurotic man orders a calendar that seems to portend his imminent death — and yes it’s a zany comedy. Chris Connor created the film using mini-DV for “just about $500 on a three day shoot.”

Be a Man is a riveting, lush, and brilliantly acted film from Spanish director Lucas Parra, depicting the outcome of a hunting expedition undertaken by a 7 year old with his father and grandfather. The young Miguelito is forever affected by the experience which includes firing his first gun. Haunting and brilliant.

Afternoon within Afternoon is another fine and evocative film, with a teen pregnancy altering the dynamics of a social family afternoon.

The film from Brazilian director Rafael Ramos was inspired by a cousin’s pregnancy and an aunt’s family tales.

Next up was Narrative Shorts Block 3, beginning with a gentle coming of age story, Cold Feet, about outgrowing friendships, and navigating the path to adulthood in small town Pennsylvania.

Writer/director Heather Hill creates a touching story about a time when “things feel like the end of the world growing up. Its all uncharted territory.”

Brain Rot tells a frenzied story of phone addiction in Chicago, expressing how for many of us, the phone becomes “a pacifier.” The film was directed by Jackson Coates.

Also screened was the harrowing tale of two young British men on a bar crawl in Budapest, To All The Girls I Never Banged: I’m Sorry. The Hybrid Narrative/Animation film came from Harry Plowden.

Also using animation was Busy Bodies, screen printed, vibrant and charming animation depicting an at-home factory with a “flow of moods” and SoCal’s annual beach grunion run as inspiration for creator Kate Renshaw-Lewis.

Finally, there was the moving, and ultimately devastating Together Up There, in which a caretaker/son climbs a mountain with his dementia ridden mother, recreating her honeymoon trip with his father.

Discussing this masterful work through a translator, Japanese director Hiroyuki Seki says the inspiration for the film came from his grandmother’s caretaker experience as well as thematic self-sacrifice and illusion.

Poignant and surprising, as well as being visually poetic.

The U.S. documentary feature The MOTHS & the FLAME by Kevin Contento was a deliberately paced depiction of black fatherhood in rural Florida, subverting cliched tropes about caring fatherhood or the lack thereof.

The final viewing experience of the day was the galvanizing, shocking, and 100% intense Ten Will from MLFF alumni Max DeFalco.

Frenetic energy, infusions of comedy and desperation mark this completely unexpected film following  a newly-released sex offender as he tries to survive on the streets of Los Angeles, and a seeming sanctuary at a home in Bakersfield. DeFalco is a cinematic guerrilla filmmaking wizard, making the viewer care about even the most unsavory humans.

DeFalco notes that “90.000 sex offenders a year don’t register.” Noting that he did not want to “condemn” his lead character, his goal was to “provoke discussion” through a bold, even brave film thst is also a total original.

A charming line-drawn animated short, BLINKS IN MIMI’S SINGING VOICE accompanied the feature.

Together these films made a “wow” ending for an impressive Friday film line-up here in the Sierras.

– Genie Davis; photos by Davis and Cheryl Henderson

A Fine First Full Day at the 2026 Mammoth Lakes Film Fest 2026

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Welcome to the first full day of the 2026 Mammoth Lakes Film Festival.

Two terrific shorts blocks made up our daytime viewing.

Narrative Shorts Block One ran the gamut from the ominous to the hilarious.

On the ominous side was Kralik, an Italian dramatic short about a father and son on an isolated farm, with the father’s fears of being murdered by his son closing in. The film was a dark and effective fable from director Alessandro Marchiori Rocca.

Chaika is a blurred, black and white vision of an elderly Russian cosmonaut stranded in remote, agricultural Cuba. Is her mission real or a delusion? This dreamy Columbian film from Ingrid Paola Bonilla Rodríguez leaves this question mysteriously open ended.

U.S, filmmakers Gabriel Bernini, Alexandra Jade offer a mix of humor and the ominous in UFO in which an unhappy couple attempt day-to-day normalcy even as a UFO hovers over their home.

Conceived after the devastating 2025 fires in Los Angeles, the high tensions from that time period plus an experience with a harassing neighbor led the couple to”monetize our lives” after a planning session at a Toluca Lake diner. Shot on Black Magic, with a UFO image developed with the assistance of Google images, the film is a funny/eerie way to express the disintegrstion of “normalcy.”

In The Strange Performances at the Church, sibling rivalry and the surprise success of what could be a disastrous live-stream concert are on display by writer/director Ray Smiling. 

He notes that “I like to use different formats -digital film, go pro and effx 30 all mixed together and have a reason for using each one.”

Drawing out and out laughs was the frenetic fun of Nicky and Mike are in Beach Formal. Set on Coney Island, two friends get sidetracked by the amusement park scene en route to a friend’s wedding – at which, one was supposed to officiate.

A joyous potential pilot and truly delightful film from Talia Light Rake was a favorite for me. Too Romantic details the musical collaboration between two influencers and its unexpectedly turns romantic turn which leads to many likes if not true love.

According to Rake, “it’s a love story with magical realism about the power of love – a rom/com that breaks between a bright start and a darker, handheld approach to the second half with an impressive practical effect to conclude a film that begs to be continued.

The afternoon’s documentary shorts block were equally strong: Gold Man offers a few days in the life of the ‘Gold Man of Bihar.’ The Indian icon of wealth and good luck poses for photos wearing five kilos of gold jewellery every day. Director  Rishi Chandna ably captures element of satire and fleeting fame.

Hyodo’s Paradise lets sex doll and mannequin collector —and museum owner – discuss his lonely life and suburban Tokyo museum. Both touching and spooky, Hydro’s life is movingly portrayed by director Jacque Rabie in this entry from Japan.

Canadian director Dylan Paffe’s Going Nowhere Fast reveals the private life and emotional complexities of three adults with traumatic brain injuries.

.As a primarily narrative filmmaker creating his first documentary, he “wanted to make Wuthering Heights with comedy, but  it turned out differently among these autonomous adults” one of whom is his aunt.

Jar of Time is a long-form work depicting the life of one of the last nomadic Pomaks in Bulgaria, on their  search for fertile grazing land and their navigation of a more regukated age.

Director Nevena Semova is well connected to  “the Bulgarian Muslim community from childhood visits to the region, when the last Pomaks disappear, with new, strict regulations on food safety, the way they have lived for generations is disappearing.”

The Mojave to Mammoth shorts ick brought a mix of narrative and documentary films to screen. including the documentary My Grandfather was a Mountainclimber from UK director Tabitha Ellis, and a narrative short about a fateful meditative hike in the woods, Reunion, in which  two high-school classmates reunite for a coincidental comeuppance.

 Filmmakers Kyle Montgomery and Judd Myers worked together previously on commercial shoots and successfully convey “rising tensions and an ambiguous bullying back story.”

The lush Materia is an experimental short that vividly transforms stones and gems and even human hair into macro and microscopic images of texture, light, and connection between all aspects of the natural world by Canadian filmmaker Alisi Telengut.

300 is a beautifully constructed story of tackling and abiding in nature to overcome grief by a professional skier and guide, Miles Clark.

Filmmaker Liam Abbott relates that it was “like a found footage story, a challenge in editing the story of processing grief after losing a brother at age 13, and his mother years later.”

The title refers to Clark’s commitment to skiing “up to 5 ski resort runs or just surviving back country skiing” for 300 days over the course of a year after his mother’s death to cancer.

Abbott culled footage from over 12 hours of interview footage and “many terabyte’s” of ski footage.

Bears in Hot Tubs was a deeply touching and humorous film about having bears as pool loving neighbors in the hills of Los Angeles.

The film, which credits subject Maddie Bear as co-director with Claire Musser, is dedicated to Maddie’s deceased child Cubby,  and to “learning how to live side by side with and learn about the individual creatures” who are neighbors to humans.

What Lies Unseen – Convict Lake explores rewarding volunteer clean up efforts beneath the trash-ridden surface of Convict Lake in Mono County. Director Colin West was part of the crew working under the auspices of advocate Jenny Revera who welcomes continued clean-up support from volunteers at jenny@cleanupthelake.org.

We finished our filmgoing with the improvisational feature comedy Danny is My Boyfriend, that ably expresses the pure creative delight of a group of friends just enjoying making a film together.

There was no script, a pervasive sense of zany joy, and an extended cameo by former Silence of the Lambs “girl in the well,”  Brooke Smith.

Lucy Sandler & Mechi Lakatos as co-directors stressed that “fun is the thing that is usually a missing part of the filmmaking process but not here.”

The loosely woven comedy tells the tale of Lucy, who moved back in with her mother after a bad breakup, and her new boyfriend Danny’s request that she dog-sit while he’s away – when a stranger recognizes the three-legged dog as her boyfriend’s pet.

Concluding the full day: late night happy hour at Mammoth’s Distant Brew, serving up tasty IPAs, sours, blondes, and more to a thirsty and convivial group of filmgoers and makers.

– Genie Davis; photos: Davis and Cheryl Henderson

 

Scott A. Trimble Illuminates Human Emotion

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As an artist, Scott A. Trimble possesses the unique capability of illuminating emotions and feelings through his palette, subject, and even within the evocative titles of his work. Each picture tells a story: his paintings are inherently narrative, both poetic and fairytale-like, interwoven with feeling, memory, and the wonder of dreams. His writerly titles lead the viewer deep into imagery that evokes two worlds: ours, and another more surreal landscape of the mind and spirit.

Trimble says that his art revolves around events, memories, and feelings, which combined create involving visual narratives that are unique and spirited. His work is inspired by “the same things that inspire me as a human being: love, kindness, and tolerance above all else. My paintings tell stories that are distilled down to emotions. Some people may find my images dark — and some of them are in fact dark. But my aim has always been to engage people’s curiosity long enough for them to find something relatable about my work.  As far as I am concerned, if that happens, then i have achieved my goal of fostering as much tolerance as possible.”

Throughout his many years of painting, he notes that his work has kept “an identifiable personality” albeit one which has shifted in approach as time goes on.  “Change is constant and unstoppable,” Trimble says, “I am not the person I was two seconds ago. Everything changes and I love that fact!”

Thematically, he says his work is “focused on love and pairing.” It’s a natural for for his work and his personal life, and the overall rebuilding process he expresses that he is going through after a year away from work due to illness. “That is my first priority. I have a sizeable stock of work,” he says, adding that, “My work is alive, meaning that I work frequently with existing paintings. If there is one you love please let us know before it gets reworked!”

Three times in the past, Trimble has reworked canvases only to find art lovers who wanted to own the original art. Like his motion-filled art, which often seems to capture a perfect, but brief snapshot in time, the artist himself is always in motion.

His prefered medium is oils. In fact, he’s never painted with anything other than oil paint. However, in his second life working in a law firm,  he has used cardboard shipping material during lunchtime hours, working with “highlighters, sharpies and whiteout” to create beautiful on-the-fly mixed media works. In case you can’t tell, Trimble is constantly creating. He is an artist’s artist, in love with the act of making art.

These small works are treasures that he occasionally gives away, and will in fact be giving some at the closing of his current solo exhibition at Diversions Fine Arts in Manhattan Beach. The show concludes with an artists’ talk on May 30th from 1:00 to 3:30. “I have a box of those handy and I will be happy to give one to anyone who is at Diversions Fine Arts on May 30th,” Trimble asserts.

Diversions Fine Arts Gallery is located at 1069 N. Aviation Blvd. in Manhattan Beach.

  • Genie Davis; photos provided by the artist and by Davis