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: 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: Dia Sokol Savage Every night at 6pm, detained immigrants are legally released from a for-profit ICE facility onto unfriendly, industrial streets near Denver, Colorado. The men and women, most of them asylum-seekers, have little idea where they are and have nothing more than the clothes on their backs. "Welcome Strangers" tells the story of Sarah Jackson, a young woman who searches the streets for these immigrants and invites them into her home. She and a team of volunteers greet them with compassion and provide them with shelter, clothing and help them reunite with their families.
Directors: Set Hernandez Rongkilyo For years, advocates have been organizing to make healthcare access a right for all in California, regardless of their immigration status. Set against the backdrop of California's Health4All campaign, COVER/AGE follows two leaders who have been championing the immigrant health justice movement in the Golden State. One is an elderly caregiver who has spent over a decade taking care of senior citizens, in spite of being ineligible for the same services she provides due to her immigration status. The other is a long-time community advocate who has been organizing directly-impacted people towards policy change at the intersection of immigrant, health, and gender justice. As the conversation around universal healthcare continues to gain momentum in the national level, this film highlights the urgency of expanding healthcare access to undocumented people by centering the unwavering voices of immigrant health justice leaders.
Directors: Monica Wise Robles In a country where indigenous people are increasingly displaced, their land stolen, where students disappear without trace following police arrest, and journalists are murdered at an alarming rate, a courageous new voice emerges. Lupita, a Tsostil Maya massacre survivor, at the forefront of a new movement of indigenous women. If anyone can change the conscience of Mexico, it is Lupita, confronting corrupt militares, mobilizing her pueblo’s resistance, and cultivating a new generation of organized and vocal Maya activists. The film intimately follows Lupita taking on risks and responsibility to represent her people, weaving her personal narrative into the painful revolutionary history of Mexico. Part lyrical testimony, part vérité storytelling, part tribute to 500 years of indigenous resistance, this film mediates the point-of-view of a brave woman who must balance the demands of motherhood with her high stakes choices to reeducate and restore justice to the
Directors: Bilal Motley Midnight Oil is the story of the controversial last days of Philadelphia’s 150 year old oil refinery, which experienced a massive explosion in June 2019. The film follows first-time filmmaker and refinery worker, Bilal Motley, as he struggles to reconcile his love and kinship for his distressed refinery brothers and sisters and his growing awareness of the surrounding communities of color, fighting for environmental justice.
Directors: Gopika Ajay and Annick Laurent To the Plate follows struggling restaurateur Moonlynn Tsai and her girlfriend Yin Chang as they find a way to keep local businesses alive and serve their community. They started the mutual aid initiative Heart of Dinner after hearing Asian elders were being targeted for hate crimes and struggling with food insecurity. Through them, our documentary shows younger generations’ response to anti-Asian crimes which have dramatically surged the past few weeks.
Since you arrived, my heart stopped belonging to me ( Desde que llegaste, mi corazón dejó de pertenecerme)
Directors: Erin Semine Kökdil Central American mothers journey by bus through Mexico, searching for their children who migrated north towards the United States but disappeared en route.
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.
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.
