Directors: Lucas Guilkey When a young man mysteriously dies in a Bay Area jail, his mother begins a determined quest to find out what happened to him, but quickly runs into the opaque and powerful position of American sheriffs. This intimate, fast-paced documentary follows the first six months of Barbara Doss’ search to discover the details of her son’s mysterious death in Santa Rita jail. In the summer of 2018, 23-year-old Dujuan Armstrong was serving weekends for a burglary conviction, but one weekend he never came home. Thus began Barbara’s journey for truth and justice.
Directors: Sonam Larcin Having fled his country, David had to leave behind the man he loves. He remembers him, their life together, the society that forced them to lead a clandestine life. In order to obtain refugee status, he will now have to speak for the first time about his secret life he has always kept hidden to himself.
Directors: Suzanne Andrews Correa Green, an undocumented Turkish pedicab driver unwittingly draws police attention, endangering his brother, his community, and himself.
Directors: Omer Ben-Shachar After being cast as a background tree in his annual school play, an ambitious and imaginative immigrant boy leads a revolution on stage that his intolerant drama teacher will never forget.
Directors: Brian Robau ESTA ES TU CUBA is a short film inspired by the real-life stories of the children involved in Operation Pedro Pan, the mass exodus of over 14,000 unaccompanied minors from Cuba to America. ESTA ES TU CUBA takes place in 1960’s Cuba, Castro has just come into power, and the country is beginning to change. Communism is taking hold and divides the community; You’re either pro-revolution or a dissident. We see this world through the eyes of our main character, ANTON (10). He dances, laughs, and plays with his friends. Anton’s life begins to spiral out of control as he realizes his beloved Cuba is changing.
Directors: Andrew Moir Featuring intimate, charming interviews with queer Canadians ranging in age from 88 to 17, Take Me To Prom invites audiences to revisit an adolescent milestone while telling a story of social change that spans more than 70 years.
Directors: Sam Price-Waldman, Ben Mullinkosson, Chris Cresci Osama and Ayman Abdeldayem are brothers, skateboarders, entrepreneurs, Americans, and Muslims. As they skate through the streets of our nation's capital, they navigate growing Islamophobia with characteristic style and humor.
Directors: Smriti Mundhra, Sami Khan Bruce Franks Jr. is a 33-year-old battle rapper, Ferguson activist and state representative from St. Louis, Missouri. Known as Superman to his constituents, he is a political figure the likes of which you've never never seen — full of contradictions and deep insights, who has overcome unspeakable loss to become one of the most exciting and unapologetic young leaders in the country. This short verite documentary follows Bruce at a critical juncture in his life, when he is forced to deal with the mental trauma he's been carrying for the nearly 30 years since his 9-year-old brother was shot and killed in front of him, in order to find peace and truly fulfill his destiny as a leader for his community.
Directors: Monica Santis A 12 year old girl confronts her scarring past when she is placed at an immigrant children's shelter for unaccompanied minors in Texas. As her future hangs in limbo, she embarks on a healing journey to recover her own sense of power through her artwork.
Directors: R. Kayeen Using the perspective of Derrick Bell, this short documentary providing an alternate and challenging perspective of the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision.
Directors: Azar Newark, NJ is one of the most dangerous inner-cities in the United States. Marked by a history of racism and segregation, people of Newark are heavily policed on a daily basis. In this film, three siblings from Newark have to find a way to spend time together in the absence of their mother who is away working three long shifts.
Directors: Daniela Cruzat, Farrah Lopez Born To Stay is a documentary that follows Elvia, an American girl, high school senior, class leader, and head of the debate club who is terrified that her mother will be deported just like her dad. Elvia lives in an all-white community in Upstate New York, where she feels no one understands her situation, making her very outspoken. The film shows her tight relationship with her mother, her efforts to inform her peers during the election year and the impact the election results have on her family. The film is an intimate portrait of the fear a family with an undocumented parent is going through in a country where 4.5 million citizens are born in this situation.
Directors: Shayla Active during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, Maureen was no stranger to racial injustices and traumatic events during her fight for equal rights. To cope with the trauma she's encountered during her days as an activist, Maureen spends her time at her favorite place of peace, the riverbank. Maureen's granddaughter, Tyna, has become a freedom fighter in her own right, tackling inequalities and discrimination occurring on her college campus. When Tyna decides to take her activism outside the proposed safe boundaries of school, Maureen fears for her granddaughter’s safety, and ultimately her sanity.
Directors: Ursula During West Virginia's 2014 Elk River chemical spill, a first-generation college student charged with the care of her rebellious younger sister instead becomes consumed by an issue with their water supply.
Directors: Ria “Life After” is about Nisha, a single mother and Indian immigrant, who travels to New York City to clear out her daughter Zara's apartment. Out of her element in the big city, Nisha discovers surprising new details about Zara. With help from her best friend and a stranger, Nisha uncovers the truth about her daughter’s life.
Directors: Maritza In this documentary short, salon-owner and activist Pony Lee describes how his place of business and the cycles of transformation reflect his own transition. Pony tells us how he was led to his profession and how a business, staff and clientele found him. In a quick, day at the salon, we are introduced to a community of staff and clientele who found their way to one another other through the stories they share and the future they are working to create.
Directors: Nausheen Sofian Since the election, hate crimes against Muslims have reached their highest level since 9/11. The travel ban, initially blocked but now partially reinstated by order of the Supreme Court, has sent the message that Muslims are not welcome in the US. 'An Act of Worship' is about the push back against these developments.
Directors: Nardeep When a hate crime clouds the 4th of July, Mandeep, a Sikh-American, must grapple with his fears and anxieties as he attempts to celebrate the holiday with his wife and infant son. As tensions rise and compound through various microaggressions and racially charged encounters, Mandeep makes a tragic decision that changes his identity forever. Pagg explores what it is to be an ethnic-American in the current American climate.
Directors: Derrick Douglas, a young African-American boy living in Norfolk, VA in 1915, desires to go to the newly released film 'The Birth of a Nation'. He discovers that the only place showing the film is a 'white's only' cinema that refuses to let him inside. He also discovers protesters outside of the theatre, and a Chinese couple that don't quite fit into either side of the racial divide. Eventually he finds a way inside, but as he watches the film wonder dissipates into disillusionment as he is confronted with racism on the big screen. He finds new hope, however, in an open theatre presenting more uplifting material.
Directors: Robin Rose Singer, Ruya Koman A violent altercation between a police officer and an African-American man on a deserted country road has left one person dead. An interracial couple passing by must decide what to believe and what they are willing to do about it.
Directors: Matthew Gentile 1875, Oklahoma Territory. Bass Reeves, is the first African-American to be deputized by the U.S. Marshal service. His wife, Nellie Jennie Reeves, tries to persuade Bass not to leave for his own safety, but Bass argues that it's the best job he can get to keep a roof over his family's head. When Bass charges into the desert, he engages in a shootout with two outlaws, Maha and Glen Huddleston, also African-American. Bass kills Maha in the gunfight, and arrests Glen, ordering him to carry Maha's body across the desert back to Fort Smith. Over the course of their journey, Glen questions Bass' choice of career and tries to psych Bass out in an unorthodox attempt at escape, a tactic that works as Bass begins to question his own mind in regards to the idea of justice and choosing to fight for a law and a
Directors: Cliff Notez Vitiligo is a short Psychological Suspense/Thriller that tells the story of a doctoral student who is guest lecturing a series on the inequalities/disparities for African Americans in media representations. This movie will tell the story of the day after a traumatic event has happened to our main character, and we are walking our way through their psychotic break trying to piece together clues that will point us to its cause. We will walk through the protagonists gradual melt down and experience his auditory and visual delusions. We want to tell the story of this student in order to highlight Black mental health, structural racism as it relates to mental and physical health of the oppressed, and the continuous struggle of conscience duality.
Directors: Bryan Powers Time is the Longest Distance conveys the importance of familial love and acceptance through the story of three generations of men: thirty-something Adam, his aging father Jack, who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, and Xander, a teenaged boy who serendipitously crosses their path. Adam arrives at his father's nursing home to share news of a major change in his life, hoping to bridge the distance that has opened up between them before Jack's Alzheimer's becomes too advanced. While things do not go as planned, Jack's chance encounter with Xander provides Adam with an unexpected way to find the acceptance he seeks.
Directors: Steffie van Rhee Ramarley Graham, an unarmed black teenager, was shot and killed in his Bronx home by a white New York City police officer four years ago. Since then, his mother, Constance Malcolm, has fought to have the officer held accountable. Her struggle for justice has led her to a life of activism and an increasingly significant role as a public figure.
Directors: Erin Kokdil Unheard is an intimate glimpse into the life of Teresa Smith, a grieving single mother who finds the strength through music to accept and then confront the injustice in her life. The film contrasts the somber yet healing energy of Teresa's singing against the backdrop of a day in her home with her surviving children. We witness her struggle to transform a devastating haunting trauma into purpose and we watch her emerge as an activist with a voice. Avoiding sentimentality, the film visually reflects the pull between life and loss, senselessness and meaning, a resigned silence and a voice that will be heard. We are left with the profound realization that in the depths of despair, if we can claim our own power -- there is hope.
Directors: Jasmine Branden Yingxu Cannon Hampton Hao 10,000 Fearless men and women are determined to empower a struggling community in the midst of gun violence and uncertain conditions on the South Side of Chicago.
Directors: Emily Pederson In 2014, the disappearance of 43 college students sparked a historic social movement in Mexico. Faced with government obstruction of an international investigation into their disappearance, their families enter a new chapter of uncertainty but refuse to stop seeking justice and closure.
Directors: Patrick Johnson Honk! is a festival of activist street bands who reclaim public spaces with their brash sound, political messages, and outrageous community oriented performances.
Directors: Mike Holland The story of Moreese Bickham, the oldest living survivor of Death Row in the United States. Bickham describes the murders that sent him to Death Row, his life on death row and how he was able to get on with his life after almost four decades in prison.
Directors: Zoey Martinson LA OPOSICIÓN explores immigration policy under the new Trump administration. When officers for the Department of Homeland Security are ordered to aggressively monitor immigration targets in the USA, they start to question their own culpability in the new system.
Directors: Michaux Muanda During her brief time in the police department, Jennifer Abelson a rookie police officer witnessed the deaths of two unarmed black boys just to result in no conviction of the officer involved. To improve police relations with African Americans, she decided to take action to put end to this practice at least in that part of the city.Directed, Written, and Produced by Michaux Muanda
Directors: Scott Simonsen After beating up the school bully with dildo nunchucks, Wren, who dresses as a girl from the waist down and a boy from the waist up, was put on trial with threat of expulsion. As he is tried by the honor council it becomes clear that the situation is not so black and white and that everyone must adjust see through different eyes to understand what is right.
Directors: Derrick L. Middleton Shape Up: Gay in the Black Barbershop' is a documentary short set in Harlem, NYC. This film sheds light on the vital role barbershops play within the black community while examining the often complicated relationship that black gay men have with these spaces.
Director: Trace Pope Producers: Kate Hanson, Tola Omilana On May 21, 1990, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) stormed the DC campus of the National Institutes of Health to protest the lack of available drugs to treat AIDS. From his office, Dr. Anthony Fauci watches as the activists march around his building, chanting and shouting for his resignation. Meanwhile, a young gay filmmaker captures the events of the protest while attempting to deliver an important package to Fauci. As tensions rise and the demonstrations threaten to upend the scientists' work, Dr. Fauci is forced to reckon with his power and privilege.
