31ST ANNUAL CUCALORUS FILM FESTIVAL
presents
Pufferfish Shorts
THU · NOVEMBER 20 · 2025 · 10:15 AM · THALIAN BLACK
Pufferfish Shorts
Thursday / 10:15 AM / Thalian Black
Saturday / 7:30 PM / Jengo’s Playhouse
77 minutes
Whether breaking free, powering through, or simply trying to grow, each character faces a moment of transformation–bold, funny, and incredibly relatable. It’s a cinematic celebration of resilience, rebellion, and the power to choose your own rhythm.
Elaine & Trina
Director: Ron Fallica / 2:20
Best friends learn to navigate adulthood together with a few plot twists along the way…
The Truck
Director: Elizabeth Rao / 13:00
A teenage couple tries to buy the morning-after pill in a post Roe America.
Mango
Director: Joan Iyiola / 11:00
Producers: Joe Bell, Dr Christine Ekechi, Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor, Thomas Hawkins, Elisabeth Hopper, Alison Holder, Mary Iyiola, Joan Iyiola, Laura Jumel
Zadie is an independent florist, privately suffering from fibroids, but determined to take her career to the next level. When a dream job arrives, Zadie searches for help in order to control her morphing body but the unwanted growths threaten to take over.
Ways to Fly
Director: Kirby Marshall-Collins / 14:55
Producers: Musau Onwubiko, Efa Akutekha
When her barrettes mess up her pirouettes, an excitable, hyper-focused Black girl must power through the distractions -- and her mother's expectations -- to fly like the ballerinas do.
The Power of Ink
Director: Karen Elaine Lutz / 6:28
Producer: Karen Elaine Lutz
When society divides into sectors and drones are everywhere, who can you really trust?
HEADBANG
Director: Anna Khaja / 14:19
Producers: Raelle Tucker, Cameron Fife
An American perspective on the hijab and female empowerment that resonates with universal questions of selfhood and freedom. Through the lens of two different young women, Leila, from secular background, and Amara, from a religious one, HEADBANG explores the complex power of the hijab, and how a seemingly simple piece of cloth embodies both what the wearer imbues it with and what society project onto to it.
Rosa's Dilemma
Director: Maya Simone / 15:00
Producer: Maya Simone
Rosa finds herself in a whirlwind of emotions as she navigates an unexpected love triangle between her two coworkers at a fast food joint.
