Section A

Sin Raices

Director/Writer: Gabriella Athena Moses
Producers: Lissette Feliciano, Charlie Schmidlin, Annalie Gernert, Shruti Rya Ganguly, Polina Buchak

Narrative, 15 min.

ALMA, a recently adopted 8-year-old refugee from El Salvador, spends a day preparing for her first red carpet appearance at an awards show with her new pop star mother, YAHAIRA. She learns from example and mirrors a series of routines as she absorbs that perhaps to cement her place in this new like she must be “liked” in more ways than one. As she takes in her new environment, she finds herself haunted by whispers of the life she left behind and awakened to the fragility of her new one after an innocent series of actions and encounters with her newfound fans on social media doesn’t go as planned.

A Homecoming I’ll Remember

Director: Jasmine Rene’ McCaskill
Producesr: Jasmine Rene’ McCaskill, Ciara Franklin

Documentary, 17 min.

There’s no telling what can happen when you meet with your memory. In this experimental documentary, Zoe Hinds and Pamela McKelvy remember their groundbreaking crownings that span nearly 30 years apart and tell of their journeys through the institutions at which they paved the way.

Sundown Road

Director/Writer: M. Asli Dukan
Producers: M. Asli Dukan, Nikki Harmon, Trevite Willis

Narrative, 20 min.

Three students get stuck on an isolated road after their car breaks down while driving back to college. With no phone reception, they argue with each other over what to do before separating to find help. In an unfamiliar area, they each experience a terrifying discovery that makes them feel like their lives may be in danger. Forced to take refuge in the car, the students resolve their personal conflicts just in time to face a new frightening reality when help finally reaches them.

Proximity Study (Sight Lines)

Director: Elizabeth M. Webb

Experimental, 5:40 min.

Proximity Study (Sight Lines) is an attempt to measure closeness despite temporal distance. My grandfather (whom I never met) worked as a longshoreman on the Brooklyn waterfront for 37 years. From Governors Island, I am able to look directly at his place of work; many years ago, he would have returned my gaze from the other side. I filmed the Red Hook docks on 16mm film from my perspective on Governors Island, and rowed in the Buttermilk Channel between these two locations. The physical film print trailed behind the boat, tracing our route, recording our sight lines, and reaching to bridge the distance across the channel. Yet, the longer we rowed, the more the water erased the image.

Reality Is Not Good Enough

Director/Writer: Rashayla Marie Brown

Producer: Jennifer Reeder

Experimental, 21 min.

Reality Is Not Good Enough is a moving tribute to Black women who dream of being reality TV stars, no matter how exploited they might become. This comedy-drama experimental short remixes never-before-seen documentary footage of a failed WeTV pilot featuring the director’s mother, a biracial adoptee from a Trumpmaniac family. The director’s sisters and nieces humorously flip stereotypes and tragic devices of unscripted TV with surprising dexterity, citing Josephine Baker to Oprah Winfrey. Set to a masterful jazz score by MacArthur Genius musician Tomeka Reid, RINGE shows Black women with power behind the camera as much as they are in front of it.

How Hair You

Producer/Director/Writer: Kennedy Marie Dunning

Documentary, 8 min.

Budding feminist comically criticizes the shame of body hair through an educational expedition of razor advertisements and femininity.