Film Competition Finalist screenings

Name: Film Competition Finalist screenings
Start: 2024-10-12T10:00:00-04:00
End: 2024-10-12T14:30:00-04:00
Location: Eaton House

Film Screening

Saturday, October 12 @ 10:00 am - 2:30 pm

Eaton House

1201 K Street
Washington, DC 20005

Debuting In 2016, The Student And Emerging Filmmaker Competitions Allows Filmmakers To Use Cinematic Storytelling To Answer Important Themes Like “what’s Your Civil Right?” And “Speaking Truth To Power.” The Annual Short Film Competition Receives Over 150 Submissions From Across The World. An Esteemed Jury Of Civil Rights, Industry Leaders, And Established Filmmakers Select The Winners, And The Shortlisted Films Are Screened During The Festival. Now In Its Eighth Year, The Competition Has Continued To Attract Industry Supporters, Including A Diverse Portfolio Of Funders. Prizes For This Competition Are Funded In Part By The Generosity Of Deborah Zipser And Craig Emanuel.

Student Narrative Shorts

(TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 33 MIN)

Mon Afrique | Director/Producer: Michael Thomas Solomon

The Ally | Director/Producer: Jennifer Marie

Anywhere the Wind Blows | Director: Jay Liu; Producers: Dalton Zongshian Lu, Allegro Yang

Student Documentary Shorts

(TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 48 MIN)

For Those That Lived There | Director/Producer: Shawn Antoine II

Freedom Waders: The Struggle to Integrate Chicago’s Rainbow Beach | Director/Producer: Alex S. Hinton

Half-Brother | Director/Producer: William J Jenkins

TALKBACK WITH FILMMAKERS AFTER SCREENINGS

SNACKS DURING THE BREAK

Emerging Narrative Shorts

(TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 43 MIN)

Fannie | Director/Producer: Christine Swanson

Lyrical | Director: Carter M. Stewart; Producers: Tristan Daley, Carter M. Stewart

A Lien | Director: Sam Cutler-Kreutz, David Cutler-Kreutz; Producer: Tara Sheffer

Emerging Documentary Shorts

(TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 44 MIN)

“I Identify as Me” | Director/Producer: Tina Colleen, Monick Monell

The Purpose | Director/Producer: Dan Abrusci

1001cuts | Director/Producer: Sarah M Temkin

Ticket price: Free with RSVP

2024 Jurors

Student Narrative Shorts

Filmmaker Competitions, Student Narrative, Student Narrative Shorts

Of Silence and Song

Directors: Leyi Dai
An Asian American single mother seeks a way of abortion in recent Texas after her recent divorce.

Filmmaker Competitions, Student Narrative, Student Narrative Shorts

Project & Serve

Directors: Espie Randolph
When a Black teen is pulled over by an angry cop, he must use his father’s advice to navigate the struggle and quiet his own rage in order to survive the traffic stop that threatens to put an end to his night and possibly his life.

Filmmaker Competitions, Student Narrative, Student Narrative Shorts

GO DANI GO

Directors: Chelsea Patricia Ramirez
A spunky girl helping her mother in the fields must choose between putting soccer or family first.

Filmmaker Competitions, Student Narrative, Student Narrative Shorts

Words Between Phrases

Directors: Ben Bernard
When a college student fights for the removal of a whipping post in his hometown, he is forced to reevaluate his priorities and his intrinsic biases.

Emerging Narrative, Emerging Narrative Shorts, Filmmaker Competitions, Student Narrative, Student Narrative Shorts

SHIKATA GA NAI [it cannot be helped]

Directors: Kevin Kodama
A fantasy romance set in the ruins of a Japanese American internment camp where a young couple attempts to reconcile their relationship as ghosts.

Filmmaker Competitions, Student Narrative, Student Narrative Shorts

The Bond

Directors: Jahmil Eady
Pregnant and incarcerated, Aria fights for her most precious connection against a system designed to isolate her.

Student Documentary Shorts

Filmmaker Competitions, Student Documentary, Student Documentary Shorts

I Am More Dangerous Dead

Directors: Majiye Uchibeke
A poetic tribute to writer, poet and environmental activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed alongside eight other activists for opposing the environmental damage done in their oil-rich homeland, Ogoni.

Filmmaker Competitions, Student Documentary, Student Documentary Shorts

Grandpa Cherry Blossom

Directors: Maddox Chen
The life of Francis Uyemastu, a Japanese immigrant, told through the words of Mary Uyematsu Kao, his granddaughter, and Chuck Currier, a local historian and former teacher. Francis Uyematsu created a successful flower nursery, owning over 130 acres of land, until the Japanese Internment during World War 2, where he was forced to sell his land. Entire neighborhoods now sit on his former land, filled with hundreds of homes and high schools, and the flowers he created are no longer his.

Filmmaker Competitions, Student Documentary, Student Documentary Shorts

On Language

Directors: Cameron Joy Gray
“On Language” is an essay film that combines archival footage, video, and on-screen text to discuss the intersections of language and culture and race in everyday life.

Filmmaker Competitions, Student Documentary, Student Documentary Shorts

#BlackAtSMU

Directors: Aysia Lane, Crislyn Fayson
#BlackAtSMU is an experimental documentary that uses an amalgamation of dramatic retellings, experimental explorations, and investigative interviews to explore a critical question: what is it like to be a Black student at a Predominantly White Institution? The film depicts five Black students’ encounters with racism at Southern Methodist University, a private college in Dallas, Texas. The stories explored originate from the hashtag “BlackatSMU” which trended on Twitter in the summer of 2020 following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. They range from a student-athlete navigating the lonely confines of becoming an activist in a suppressive system to Black students evacuating campus after fraternity brothers shouted racial slurs following Trump’s election.

Filmmaker Competitions, Student Documentary, Student Documentary Shorts

Call Anytime, I’m Not Leaving the House

Directors: Sanjna Selva
Two days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lesya Verba, a Brooklyn-based artist and performer, gets through to her older sister in Odessa, Ukraine via FaceTime. Through the frame of this first FaceTime conversation since the day everything changed, Call Anytime, I’m Not Leaving the House is a film about love, memory, national identity, and the (im)permanence of home, as the sisters cling to a call that could be their last.

Filmmaker Competitions, Student Documentary, Student Documentary Shorts

Healing in Color

Directors: Nana Adwoa Frimpong
In a world where Black women are expected to be invulnerable to pain, five Black women confront their personal struggles and explore healing through art.

Emerging Narrative Shorts

Emerging Narrative, Emerging Narrative Shorts, Filmmaker Competitions

Sueños De Mi Hija

Directors: Cecilia Romo
Samantha is the strong-willed first-generation Latina daughter of an immigrant who is passionate about alternative punk rock music. Much to her mother's disapproval, she has a band performing at the local Battle of the Bands. Rosa is a stoic immigrant mother who has held various labor jobs in her lifetime and holds traditional Mexican values. Will Rosa ultimately accept and support her daughter's journey?

Emerging Narrative, Emerging Narrative Shorts, Filmmaker Competitions

JULY 4TH, 2020

Directors: Joe Juanyao Zheng
July 2020, at the peak of the pandemic in the city of Los Angeles, misunderstandings and conflicts between a Chinese immigrant father, a white restaurant owner, and a young black man escalate into a tumultuous climax...

Emerging Narrative, Emerging Narrative Shorts, Filmmaker Competitions

HERE

Directors: James Anthony
Eleven-year-old Meskerem, with the help of her immigrant Ethiopian family, finds the courage to act bravely when confronted with cultural bias.

Emerging Narrative, Emerging Narrative Shorts, Filmmaker Competitions, Student Narrative, Student Narrative Shorts

SHIKATA GA NAI [it cannot be helped]

Directors: Kevin Kodama
A fantasy romance set in the ruins of a Japanese American internment camp where a young couple attempts to reconcile their relationship as ghosts.

Emerging Narrative, Emerging Narrative Shorts, Filmmaker Competitions

Otis’ Dream

Directors: Jason & Blue
In 1946, when attempting to vote was literally deadly, some among us were willing to do whatever was necessary to vote. This film follows Otis Moss, Sr. through his day long journey to cast his ballot in rural Georgia. Powerful, poignant, and prescient as today’s struggles with voter suppression multiply.

Emerging Narrative, Emerging Narrative Shorts, Filmmaker Competitions

Thoughts Are Things

Directors: Christopher Thomas Brown
Librarian Joshua Turner has made it his life’s work to inspire young people in his community with the power of books. When a medical emergency sends him to the hospital, those seeds of inspiration come full circle to save his life.

Emerging Documentary Shorts

Emerging Documentary, Emerging Documentary Shorts, Filmmaker Competitions

Deciding Vote

Directors: Jeremy Workman, Robert Lyons
Over 50 years ago, New York State assemblyman George Michaels cast a single vote that changed the course of American history but destroyed his political career in the process. For the first time, Deciding Vote shares the story of how Michaels defied his conservative constituents by casting the critical tie-breaking vote on a bill which legalized abortion in the state of New York, laying the groundwork for Roe v Wade. The film is a moving tribute to a now-forgotten act of political courage.

Emerging Documentary, Emerging Documentary Shorts, Filmmaker Competitions

Troubled Waters

Directors: Sydnie Heslop
Troubled Waters is an experimental short that examines the relationship between the black community and water, how it has both been weaponized against us, and employed by us, to empower and resist oppression.

Emerging Documentary, Emerging Documentary Shorts, Filmmaker Competitions

BLACK STRINGS

Directors: Marquise Mays
The Black String Triage Ensemble, an all-African American string orchestra in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, performs on the scene in the immediate aftermath of incidents of gun violence, altering the notion of “first responders.” In a city with such a troubled relationship with violence, can this ensemble transform the traumatized public space into a place of recovery, healing and hope?

Emerging Documentary, Emerging Documentary Shorts, Filmmaker Competitions

The Defenders

Directors: Roderick Red
Few in number and with limited resources, lawyers representing African Americans in Mississippi lost more than they won during the early years of the Civil Rights Movement. However, with the country's conscience pricked by violent images, hundreds of lawyers became inspired to work in the state and transformed its legal infrastructure.

Emerging Documentary, Emerging Documentary Shorts, Filmmaker Competitions

Bad Hombrewood

Directors: Guillermo Casarin
Guillermo Casarín, an aspiring young filmmaker, came to the United States from Mexico to pursue his dreams of becoming a film director. Now, he is on the verge of graduating from one of the best film schools in the world, but after experiencing racism in the country and film industry, he finds himself questioning his place in Hollywood. Through compelling interviews--such as Academy Award-winning directors Phil Lord, Lee Unkrich, and Guillermo Del Toro, and Melissa Fumero from the Golden Globe-winning show Brooklyn Nine-Nine--and archival footage, Bad Hombrewood reveals the dark side of Hollywood’s history and the challenges Latinx filmmakers face while trying to succeed in the entertainment industry.

Emerging Documentary, Emerging Documentary Shorts, Filmmaker Competitions

Reclaiming Our Collective Strength

Directors: Lori Webster Fore
The black church is alive and well. See our faith in action, as we organize the church to reclaim our collective strength on the frontlines of social justice.

March On Festival

Imagining Equity

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Film Competition Finalist screenings