The Dances With Films Festival began on June 22 and runs through Sunday, July 2 in Los Angeles. This year’s slate featured a number of interesting films running a variety of styles and topics. Below is a look at a couple of the films featured in this year’s festival. To learn more, visit the festival site at www.danceswithfilms.com/

The Black Guelph

About: The film takes its name from a group in 1300 Italy that defended the Papacy’s influence on the economic welfare of the people. But the focus of this drama is on the present, where we meet Canto (Graham Earley), who is 30, living in Ireland and dealing drugs to get by. That puts him in hot water with his girlfriend Leah (Lauren Larkin), who worries about what the criminal lifestyle will do to their daughter.

In the meantime, Canto’s father, Dan (Paul Roe), comes back into the picture. Canto pushes him away, forcing Dan to see shelter in an abandoned building. There, he crosses paths with Virgil (Tony Doyle), a troubled young man living with his mother (Denise McCormack). Virgil needs guidance, providing Dan with a second chance to be a father figure to someone.

This essentially becomes a tale of two men moving in seemingly opposite directions. Dan is fighting to put his life back together and overcome trauma. Canto is slowly losing his way and his family, as debts create mounting danger.

The film is directed by John Connors, who co-wrote the script and appears in the film. He does a nice job of creating a world and populating it with these characters, exploring trauma and how it cascades from one generation to the next. The connection to the failings of the Catholic Church isn’t strongly drawn but exist. This film doesn’t serve as a great exploration of that topic. But it’s well constructed and delivers a tough to watch but engaging story of these characters.

Farewelling

About: This drama from co-writer/director Rodes Phire looks at the toll grief can take on someone. In the film, a group of friends led by Jenna (Cristen Coppen) are dealing with an ongoing pandemic and the loss of a friend, who committed suicide. Jenna takes it rough as she’s navigating financial woes and an uneven relationship with Mikey (Rob Evors).

When a group comes together for the weekend to spread their friends’ ashes, secrets and tensions bubble to the surface leading to a surprising result. Phire, who appears in a cameo in the film, does a nice job with the meditation on grief early in the film. From there, the whole narrative spirals—as does the mental state of Jenna, Mikey and others in the group.

The final act of this film is quite surprising and more than a little eerie. I didn’t see the ending coming and I’m still thinking about what it does for the film. Coppen takes the lead here and does a decent job as the focal point for the narrative. It’s not an easy watch but there is something haunting about the final act and the way the script from Phire and co-writer Sarah McMaster brings the whole thing home.

Be sure to check out all the films from this year’s Dances With Films slate!

Matthew Fox is a graduate of the Radio, Television and Film program at Biola University, and a giant nerd. He spends his free time watching movies, TV, and obsessing about football. He is a member of the FSWA. You can find him @knighthawk7734 on Twitter and as co-host of the Fantasy Football Roundtable Podcast.