2025 FESTIVALApril 2-12, 2025Lansing, MI
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Thursday, April 11

Red Carpet Premiere Party

Come celebrate the ninth annual Capital City Film Festival with us on the red carpet! Plenty of beer, wine, and spirits for sippin', appetizers to go around, and live music at this year’s party hosted by Impression 5 Science Center.

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Guest Artist

*OPENING NIGHT FEATURE // MIDWEST PREMIERE* The story of a young man coming face to face with his hero (Jeff Daniels) and exploring the tangled relationship between the dreams of youth and the wisdom of age. Screens with the short film Hair Trigger.

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Sen Morimoto

Sen Morimoto is a multi-instrumentalist composer and songwriter born in Kyoto, Japan. His powerful grasp of jazz composition, pop songwriting, and hip-hop styling are fully articulated on Cannonball!, an LP that he wrote, arranged, and produced by himself.

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Guest Artist [Encore Screening]

*MIDWEST PREMIERE* The story of a young man coming face to face with his hero (Jeff Daniels) and exploring the tangled relationship between the dreams of youth and the wisdom of age. Screens with the short film Hair Trigger.

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Friday, April 12

Friday Evening Shorts

*DIRECTOR IN ATTENDANCE* A curated collection of international short films with subtitles. Selections include: Broken Pipe / Luana / Moderately Satisfied / Accident / The Old Man and the Dead / Until Forever (Hasta Siempre)

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Detroit 48202: Conversations Along a Postal Route

*FILMMAKERS IN ATTENDANCE* A documentary in Five Acts that examines the rise, demise, and contested resurgence of Detroit through the lens of African-American mail carrier, Wendell Watkins, and the residents he has faithfully served for thirty years. Screens with the short films Danny's Super 8 and Detroit Hives.

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House of More: Opening Night

*FREE* A video art exhibition including immersive experiences and live experimental performances. Open 7:00 PM - midnight. Join us for Opening Night soundtracked by BLVCK ICE.

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Her Smell

*MICHIGAN PREMIERE* A self-destructive punk rocker struggles with sobriety while trying to recapture the creative inspiration that led her band to success.

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Animated Shorts

*MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY* Selections include: The Juggler / Your Eyes, Will I Ever / Gumamel / Fuse / Beauty Fall / Darling / Carlotta's Face / Things Were Better Before / Back to the Moon / Undersee / In the House of Paper Flowers / Age of Sail / Starvation

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The Cowboys

Bloomington, Indiana has something to really be proud of in hometown heroes The Cowboys. One of the most exciting and indescribable bands of the last five years, this band manages to escape all of the pitfalls of modern DIY punk/garage and break out into a field of their own instantly.

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DeadTectives

*MICHIGAN PREMIERE* DeadTectives follows a team of hapless paranormal investigators on a reality TV series who go on a quest to Mexico’s most haunted house in the pursuit of better ratings.

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Destroy All Cinema ft. Funny Girls

CCFF brings you DESTROY ALL CINEMA! Join the Funny Girls as they riff on our favorite 1997 slasher film, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER.

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Red Letter Day

*MICHIGAN PREMIERE* RED LETTER DAY is a dark comedy/thriller that asks the age-old question: Just how well do you know your neighbors? Screens with the short film The Glimpse.

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Saturday, April 13

Spartan Shorts [FREE]

*FREE // FILMMAKERS IN ATTENDANCE* Selections include: Bags to Butterflies / The Boogie Man / Incandescent Hearts / GRIND / Hours Left / Blackout Shades / Juice / Party Foul / Shattered / The Fisherman / Routine Cops

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House of More

*FREE* A video art exhibition including immersive experiences and live experimental performances. Open 1:00 - 11:00 PM. Live performances by Wing Vilma and Normandd.

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Owned: A Tale of Two Americas

*MICHIGAN PREMIERE* Owned is a fever dream vision into the dark history behind the US housing economy. Tracking its overtly racist beginnings and its unbridled commoditization, the film exposes a foundational story that few Americans understand as their own. Screens with the short film Due Process.

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Saturday Shorts @ 2:30

A curated collection of international short films with subtitles. Selections include: The Big Shot / Nomad / First Disco / Dare Not Fly / Incommunicado / Darling / Carlotta's Face

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About A Donkey

*MICHIGAN PREMIERE // DIRECTOR IN ATTENDANCE* When Tim brings home a donkey in a mixture of wanting to rescue both it and himself, all of the characters’ lives are shaken up and pushed forward. Screens with the short films Dearly Departed and Only a Movie!

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Saturday Shorts @ 5

*FILMMAKERS IN ATTENDANCE* Selections include: Little Church / Thirsty Eyes - 838 / Newborn / Bennifer / Nevada / I Can't Even / Hair Trigger / June

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The Journey

*MICHIGAN PREMIERE* Sara enters Baghdad station with sinister intentions for its reopening ceremony. As she braces to commit an unthinkable act, her plans are drastically altered by an unwanted and awkward encounter with Salam, a self-assured and flirtatious salesman. Screens with the short film 1-0.

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The Crane Wives & Olivia Millerschin

In Japanese folklore, the crane wife is a bird disguised as a woman who spins fine silks from her own feathers, until her identity is discovered. The Crane Wives spin fine songs from whole cloth, and you will never want the melodies to leave your head.

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Bernadette

*MICHIGAN PREMIERE // DIRECTOR IN ATTENDANCE* 1994 was the perfect summer… for heartache. At 15, Archie Kinsler has an impossible goal: to win the heart of Bernadette, a much older French foreign exchange student and local lifeguard, before she returns home at the end of the season. Screens with the short film Brain Engagement.

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Saturday Shorts @ 7:30

Selections include: A Picnic Table, At Dusk / Magnolia & Clementine / Terminally in Love / Safe / Self Tape / Wonderwall / Four-Ninety

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Albanian Gangster

Albanian Gangster

*MICHIGAN PREMIERE // DIRECTOR IN ATTENDANCE* Leon was once the righthand muscle of a legendary Albanian mafia boss. Once a legend, respected, feared, with the Bronx and NYC at his feet, a man who took six bullets and survived with the scars to prove it, a man now—after 18 years in the joint—today, a legend only in his own mind. Screens with the short film Four-Ninety.

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The Free Bleeders

As the Free Bleeders, we sing songs of unity, steeped in Feminist ethos, aimed at challenging people to question individual and group participation in systems of oppression and confront racist, sexist, classist, homophobic, ableist, and all other marginalizing and aggressive behaviors.

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Comedy Shorts

*FILMMAKER IN ATTENDANCE* Selections include: The High Wire / Nico or (Head of the Family) / Clueless / College Town / Cannonball / 2019: A Home Odyssey / Chirp, Buzz, & Other Sensations / Only a Movie! / Dearly Departed / First Kill

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Ms. Purple

*MIDWEST PREMIERE* A young woman who works as a karaoke hostess in Koreatown, Los Angeles reconnects with her estranged brother in the final days of their father's life.

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Sunday, April 14

Fortnight Film Contest [Screening & Awards]

CCFF presents the Fortnight Film Contest – a competition for filmmakers in Michigan – in conjunction with the festival! Come see the top films made as part of the 2019 contest as determined by a wide panel of judges. More than $5,000 in cash prizes will be awarded!

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House of More

*FREE* A video art exhibition including immersive experiences and live experimental performances. Open 1:00 - 6:00 PM. Live performances by Lu Fuki & Divine Providence and Pete John.

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I Can Only Be Mary Lane

*FILMMAKER IN ATTENDANCE* At 82, Mary Lane is one of the last legendary Blues musicians that made the Great Migration from America’s south. Although widely respected in Chicago, she has never gotten the recognition she deserves. This film follows Mary as she records just her second studio album and first in over 20 years. Screens with the short films The Bastille Concerto and Off the Grid.

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Workshop: Crowdfunding for Filmmakers [FREE]

*FREE* Learn the tools for creative independence by studying the techniques of successful crowdfunding campaigns: how to identify your audiences, bring them on board, build meaningful partnerships, and create the most enticing possible pitch to audiences.

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Sunday Afternoon Shorts

Selections include: The King of Hearts Magic Society / I'm Sorry / Not Alone / Paynes Find / Voice / Exposure / ASIA A / I Just Wanted to See You

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The Class of 2018 B.C.

*WORLD PREMIERE // DIRECTOR IN ATTENDANCE* On the brink of their college graduation, a small-town band known as The Class of 2018 B.C., face the brutal reality of the final days before graduation, pushing each other to their limits as their friendships fall apart and their futures just begin.

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Shortly

Shortly is the creative output of Detroit-based artist Alex Maniak, whose debut EP ‘Richmond’ is out now on Triple Crown Records.

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FREE SHOW: Joe Hertler DJ Set

FREE SHOW at the Loft with J Arthur, KONG, Turtle Bugg, Joe Hertler

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Monday, April 15

House of More

*FREE* A video art exhibition including immersive experiences and live experimental performances. Open 1:00 - 6:00 PM.

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No! The Rape Documentary 25th Anniversary Screening & Panel

*FREE* NO! explores the international atrocity of rape cisgender women by cisgender men, and other forms of sexual assault through the first person testimonies, scholarship, spirituality, activism, and cultural work of Black people in the U.S.

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