TV SERIES/PILOTS
The Chelsea Film Festival 9th annual edition in 2021 presented 141 Films from 21 countries. The Official line up included 24 Features (Narrative and Documentary), 94 Short Films, 17 TV Series/Pilots and 6 VR experiences showcased on Film Festival Plus from October 14-17, 2021.
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B-SIDES By Lin Que Ayoung
33 min | Comedy, Drama, LGBT | United States | 2021
Synopsis: While attending Aston University, Alexis, Lynn, Reagan and Viv formed a sisterhood that only grew stronger over the years; but when professional expectations, societal pressures and internal conflicts collide, public personas fade and their alma mater becomes the crossroad where the duality of being black and a woman is reconciled.
CHECK, PLEASE! By Éléa Claire
17 min | Comedy | United States | 2020
Synopsis: Episodes 1,2 & 3
CHECK, PLEASE! is a comedic web series about a French immigrant who just moved to NYC to pursue the American dream and starts working in a small chaotic restaurant. She will learn how to survive this urban jungle the hard way because serving in NYC is not an easy ride.
GRAFTON By Bryan Santiago
26 min | Psychological Thriller | United States | 2020
Synopsis: A psychological thriller about a woman who gets lost on the interstate and stumbles upon a small town where she reluctantly assumes the identity of someone else.
GRINDING DOUBT By Alexandra Ann Spieth
18 min | Comedy | United States | 2020
Synopsis: In a misguided attempt to impress a movie producer, a group of small town degenerates party way too hard at their kid nephew’s confirmation party. Things really take a turn when the kid gets in on the debauchery.
HUDSON FALLS By Elias Plagianos
22 min | Mystery, Drama | United States | 2021
Synopsis: The secrets of a small upstate town that revolve around an eccentric scientist (William Sadler) begin to unravel when a private eye from the city (Richard Kind) takes on a seemingly mundane job in an effort to rekindle a relationship with his ex wife (Jessica Hecht). Filmed during the COVID pandemic , the first week production was allowed to start in New York, with no crew other than a cinematographer, a sound recordist and a set dresser.Starring an all star cast including Richard Kind, Tara Westwood, Jessica Hecht, Robert Burke, William Sadler, and Chiké Okonkwo.
JEREMY SCHAFTEL: THANKS FOR COMING By Jeremy Schaftel
47 min | Comedy | United States | 2021
Synopsis: A unique Stand-Up Special edited together from years of different sets in front of rude NYC comedy club audiences.
NEW TO THE CITY By Lulu Lopez
21 min | Comedy | United States | 2020
Synopsis: A comedy about a young girl raised to serve God, but on her 25th birthday decided she wanted to experience love and life as the romance novels she would read and decided to leave the convent to move to NYC with her cousin. Oblivious and Naive to the City life her adventures in the big city begin.
SAFU – FUNGE AND SASHIMI By Wilson Mbiavanga
40 min | Drama | United States | 2020
Synopsis: When superstar NY Chef and notorious playboy, James Masala runs away from his successful career and his overbearing traditionalist father he finds himself “crash landing” in Tokyo, Japan with his only belonging, a mysterious old diary called “Safu”. Without a cent to his name and no where to go he is forced to stay with his ex-girlfriend, Kaori, in her families modest Japanese bed & breakfast.
Temperatures rise when he clashes with the manager of the B&B who also happens to be Kaori’s stubborn little sister, Hanae.
SHUT UP, ASTORIA By Neil Fennell
32 min | Comedy | United States | 2020
Synopsis: As twins Scott and Laurie turn 40, they have no careers, no love lives, and they’re losing their home.
But they do have amazing friends. Maybe that will be enough? Shut Up, Astoria is a sitcom pilot, recorded live, in front of a studio audience.
SOLUS By Adrian Carr
45 min | Sci-Fi, Adventure, Action | United States | 2020
Synopsis: The year is 985 and for decades a horrible plague has been killing the children of the colony on SOLUS before they reach puberty. The crumbling society clings to the dogmatic and despotic Church of Cereus. David Bradford , a Holder in the Church and member of the last generation to not get the sickness, takes it upon himself to break the sacred doctrine and go into the Forbidden Zone in search of a cure. He enlists the help of James Collins, a Reclaimer indebted to the Church and with nothing to lose, to guide him beyond the boundary. What they discover, however, is something neither one of them could have possibly imagined and will change their entire history…
STUCK! By Lauren LeBeouf, Omri Anghel
24 min | Comedy | United States | 2020
Synopsis: An oddball, a hothead, and a former child star become unlikely friends as they band together to fight for their shared dream of becoming actors as they discover that it really is about the long ass journey, not the destination.
THE FUSE By Sasha Santiago
30 min | Drama, War | United States | 2020
Synopsis: THE FUSE is a series that follows a group of Seattle-based female ex-military services members seeking reputable careers as military contractors (AKA: Mercenaries) in the private sector. When their first mission goes awry, the MERCs are wrongfully accused of terrorist activities and become wanted fugitives with a bounty on their heads.
THE GILBERT DIARIES By Frank Modica, Paul Venier
28 min | Comedy | United States | 2021
Synopsis: Episodic Comedy TV Pilot. Gilbert writes his daily escapades in his diary.
Gilbert and his brother Paulie can never stop with their daily antics which gets them into trouble constantly. From Bra’s to stock tips, to The Mob, to fancy restaurants, the diary builds with antics that get him in trouble wherever he goes.
THE GILBERT DIARIES “NILLIONAIRE”
By Janet Cutugno, Frank Modica, Anthony Ferro, Paul Venier
19 min | Comedy | United States | 2021
Synopsis: Gilbert Ferrari hustles for jobs. Gilbert is unaware he’s in trouble with the mob after trashing the mob boss’s car in a car wash.
THE HUNTER’S ANTHOLOGY By Robert Smithline
38 min | Mystery, Thriller, Anthology, Supernatural | United States | 2021
Synopsis: Six strangers find themselves trapped in a New York City subway by Mac, a mysterious man who claims to be a demon hunter. Insisting one of them is evil, he peeks into their souls discovering five eerie, supernatural tales. It’s then up to Mac to solve the mystery and destroy the demon amongst them.
UNDER THE INFLUENCE By Hailei Call
19 min | Comedy | United States | 2020
Synopsis: Under the Influence is a quirky, quick-witted dramedy that tells the story of six connected New York millennials on the day social media collapses. The pilot is anchored by Chloe Kendrick, who has just quit her full-time job to become a social media influencer.
WELLNESS INC. By Kylie Hitchcock
26 min | Comedy | United States | 2020
Synopsis: When an over-confident Gen-Z’er is expelled from med-school and her parents cut the credit card, she is forced to take a name-tag job at a struggling spa to pay off her college debt.