UnLonely Film Festival 5
Welcome to the UnLonely Film Festival!
Here, you’ll find a collection of 40 short animated, narrative and documentary films that bring diverse perspectives on loneliness. We invite you to watch, share, and discuss these films as an unlonely step towards connection.
Stay Connected
Sign up for the free Film Club, and every Friday you’ll get our Featured Film delivered right to your inbox. Enjoy occasional creative activities and invitations to special events featuring the filmmakers and engaging conversations about the films. We’ll be tossing in a few surprises along the way, too. It’s an easy way to connect, and that’s what the UnLonely Project is all about!
Select a Film
Coming to Terms
A young woman comes to terms with being an alcoholic.
Union County
A young man in rural Ohio navigates a drug court recovery program
Basta
A young woman who was sexually assaulted while working as a night janitor in Los Angeles starts a grassroots movement to change the janitorial industry.
The Black Wolf
An alcohol addiction had a grip on Drew Robinson’s life and was leading him down a destructive path. After three near death experiences, he decided to get sober using Muay Thai and his Blackfoot culture.
Bear With Me
A short animated documentary on immigrants who left their home and crossed borders for love.
Moment to Moment
Carl and Susan, husband and wife, scientist and artist, navigate the challenges of Carl’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
Nest
After her parents passed, Janna takes over the family farm where she lives with her disabled brother.
Keep Moving Forward
A Vietnam veteran finds peace from his PTSD through Disney.
2 Black Boys
Giovanni Adams’ poetry on his black queer journey from boyhood to manhood, isolation to intimacy.
Clouds
A young boy struggling with depression navigates through his daily routine, while being followed by a grey cloud.
Golden Age Karate
Inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame at 10 years old, Jeff Wall is a teenage karate pro who wants to pass along his passion for the dojo to a community he felt needed
Grandpa’s Hands
A young professional, Jackson, makes a rare visit with his grandfather and struggles to reconnect due to his grandfather’s dementia.
Cosmic
A woman and man in their early sixties try to overcome loneliness on a second date.
This is the Closest to How the Last Weeks of March Felt Like
A personal account of COVID-19 pandemic in America and its effects on an immigrant family through the eyes of a student quarantined at his barren university.
The Starr Sisters
After overcoming a dark past, these sisters are committed to living out the childhood they never had.
Shelter in Place
Vicky Chavez, now in her third year living inside a Utah church, joins weekly Zoom calls with other asylum-seekers in sanctuary churches.
Jonah Stands Up
New Orleans artist, activist, and comedian Jonah Bascle faces his mortality.
Factory Talk
Factory Talk is a spoken-word artist film exploring identity, sexuality and masculinity in a modern day working factory.
Anna and the Inexpressible Feeling of Being Lost
Anna hides in her room, paralyzed by her fear of the future. A short film exploring the inner turmoil that stems from alienation and anxiety.
Keep Calling
Lilian, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, sings at home alone and lonely, until Michael, himself suffering mental health challenges, joins a volunteer group phoning the elderly for company.
Riding My Way Back
A veteran on the brink of suicide begins caring for a horse and the difficult process of reconnecting to the world.
Dafa Metti
Under Paris’ Eiffel Tower, undocumented Senegalese migrants sell souvenirs of the monument to support their families back home.
Translucent
A self-portrait of the filmmaker stumbling his way through self discovery.
Routine
A young man trapped in a daily routine where every single day is so very similar to the previous one.
PLUS
Zaire is diagnosed with HIV, a condition that still has a heavy social stigma. He carries this burden alone until he finds the strength to confide in a friend.
Mr. Christmas
Every Christmas, Bruce Mertz lights up the neighborhood with the 50,000 lights covering his house.
The Poet and the Plant
A poet loves his new houseplant so much he kills it. A meditation on true love, loneliness, and listening.
Come On Eileen
In attempts to save her broken relationship, depressed Eileen goes to her ex-boyfriend’s party to dance with him and prove that she is better.
SOLO
An introspective exercise on loneliness.
Doublespeak
A young woman grapples with the aftermath of reporting sexual harassment in the workplace.
The Paint Wizzard
A 60-year-old housepainter in Texas wrestles with questions of identity and self-acceptance after coming out as a transgender woman.
Singularity
An animated exploration of poet Marie Howe’s poem, “Singularity,” a meditation on the surprising connections between the grandly cosmic and the intensely personal.
Meet Me at the Stairs
An essential emergency worker grapples with the emotional toll of living with her immunocompromised spouse during COVID-19.
The Seeker
A lyrical portrait of an excommunicated Amish woodworker struggling with spirituality, poverty, and life as an outcast from his strict, insular community.
Burning Van
Rubber Tramp Rendezvous, a festival for the nomadic working elderly, provides a stark look into a future where financial instability has rendered the concept of comfortable retirement a cruel dream.
Eric and the Bees
When Eric Grandon discovered beekeeping, he had no idea that the bees would give him the power to transform both his own life, and the lives of many others.
No Crying at the Dinner Table
A collection of family secrets, confessions and confrontation.
Sundays at the Triple Nickel
Marjorie and her son have been hosting jazz concerts in her apartment every Sunday for the past 26 years, a pursuit of overcoming grief through music.
Huntsville Station
Every weekday inmates are released from Huntsville State Penitentiary, taking in their first moments of freedom.
Select a Film
Basta
A young woman who was sexually assaulted while working as a night janitor in Los Angeles starts a grassroots movement to change the janitorial industry.
The Black Wolf
An alcohol addiction had a grip on Drew Robinson’s life and was leading him down a destructive path. After three near death experiences, he decided to get sober using Muay Thai and his Blackfoot culture.
Bear With Me
A short animated documentary on immigrants who left their home and crossed borders for love.
Moment to Moment
Carl and Susan, husband and wife, scientist and artist, navigate the challenges of Carl’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
Nest
After her parents passed, Janna takes over the family farm where she lives with her disabled brother.
2 Black Boys
Giovanni Adams’ poetry on his black queer journey from boyhood to manhood, isolation to intimacy.
Clouds
A young boy struggling with depression navigates through his daily routine, while being followed by a grey cloud.
Golden Age Karate
Inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame at 10 years old, Jeff Wall is a teenage karate pro who wants to pass along his passion for the dojo to a community he felt
Grandpa’s Hands
A young professional, Jackson, makes a rare visit with his grandfather and struggles to reconnect due to his grandfather’s dementia.
This is the Closest to How the Last Weeks of March Felt Like
A personal account of COVID-19 pandemic in America and its effects on an immigrant family through the eyes of a student quarantined at his barren university.
The Starr Sisters
After overcoming a dark past, these sisters are committed to living out the childhood they never had.
Shelter in Place
Vicky Chavez, now in her third year living inside a Utah church, joins weekly Zoom calls with other asylum-seekers in sanctuary churches.
Factory Talk
Factory Talk is a spoken-word artist film exploring identity, sexuality and masculinity in a modern day working factory.
Anna and the Inexpressible Feeling of Being Lost
Anna hides in her room, paralyzed by her fear of the future. A short film exploring the inner turmoil that stems from alienation and anxiety.
Keep Calling
Lilian, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, sings at home alone and lonely, until Michael, himself suffering mental health challenges, joins a volunteer group phoning the elderly for company.
Riding My Way Back
A veteran on the brink of suicide begins caring for a horse and the difficult process of reconnecting to the world.
Dafa Metti
Under Paris’ Eiffel Tower, undocumented Senegalese migrants sell souvenirs of the monument to support their families back home.
Routine
A young man trapped in a daily routine where every single day is so very similar to the previous one.
PLUS
Zaire is diagnosed with HIV, a condition that still has a heavy social stigma. He carries this burden alone until he finds the strength to confide in a friend.
Mr. Christmas
Every Christmas, Bruce Mertz lights up the neighborhood with the 50,000 lights covering his house.
The Poet and the Plant
A poet loves his new houseplant so much he kills it. A meditation on true love, loneliness, and listening.
Come On Eileen
In attempts to save her broken relationship, depressed Eileen goes to her ex-boyfriend’s party to dance with him and prove that she is better.
Doublespeak
A young woman grapples with the aftermath of reporting sexual harassment in the workplace.
The Paint Wizzard
A 60-year-old housepainter in Texas wrestles with questions of identity and self-acceptance after coming out as a transgender woman.
Singularity
An animated exploration of poet Marie Howe’s poem, “Singularity,” a meditation on the surprising connections between the grandly cosmic and the intensely personal.
Meet Me at the Stairs
An essential emergency worker grapples with the emotional toll of living with her immunocompromised spouse during COVID-19.
The Seeker
A lyrical portrait of an excommunicated Amish woodworker struggling with spirituality, poverty, and life as an outcast from his strict, insular community.
Burning Van
Rubber Tramp Rendezvous, a festival for the nomadic working elderly, provides a stark look into a future where financial instability has rendered the concept of comfortable retirement a cruel dream.
Eric and the Bees
When Eric Grandon discovered beekeeping, he had no idea that the bees would give him the power to transform both his own life, and the lives of many others.
Sundays at the Triple Nickel
Marjorie and her son have been hosting jazz concerts in her apartment every Sunday for the past 26 years, a pursuit of overcoming grief through music.
Huntsville Station
Every weekday inmates are released from Huntsville State Penitentiary, taking in their first moments of freedom.
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