friday, OCT 13
10 AM - Around-the-world Narrative Shorts Bloc
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KULESHOV EFFECT (3min, Mexico)
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​One day all of your fears knock on your door, & you will have to offer them a good coffee in the morning & a good drink at night.
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SALZ GOT HERPEEZ (13min, London)
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​A hip, young lady from a big city wakes up to graffiti sprayed across the front of her house; full of rage, she seeks out the person responsible.
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I AM LIGHT (4min, UK)
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​Gorgeous & poignant assemblage of vignettes to showcase the joys & pains of life as a Black person in the UK, including those whose families hail from the Caribbean. Texas Premiere!
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SLAM DUNK, SEHAJ! (10min, Canada)
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​A stay-at-home mom revisits her dream of playing basketball, despite her husband’s opposition.
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ONE LIKE US (25min, Korea)
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​A prominent writer of queer novels, who misrepresented his sexual identity to the public, opts to come out as hetero.
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FLAMES (7min, Canada)
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​Pressured by their grandfather to take up wrestling, two young men instead want nothing more than to dance.
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STILL BLEEDING (6min, Italy)
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​A young man, constantly questioned by his family, finally decides to take action to change his destiny.
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NUOTO (8min, Italy)
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​A businessman swims away from time & reality.
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SHAPE OF CLAY (14min, Romania)
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​Sara, an actress, & Andrew, a director, are perfect partners in life & art until parallels emerge between their love & their latest stage play.
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Total Runtime: 1hr 30min
Noon - It’s-Friday-the-13th Scary Bloc
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GRBBR (12min, Michigan)
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After being laid off from her tech job, a young woman fights her way through the increasingly terrifying world of gig work.
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THE HAUNTED BABY CAGE FROM HELL (9min, Portland)
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Spencer & Cameron move into a new home, haunted by an old baby carriage – but the couple just doesn't care... like... you know... at all.
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KILLER IN A SMALL TOWN (19min, Nevada)
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​True-crime superfan Will Wesley has seen it all, but tonight a face in the dark may outsmart him.
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THE FAVOR (10min, Los Angeles)
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​When the Angel of Death comes to collect a woman who is just not ready to go, things take a surprising turn.
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KOJI (3min, Los Angeles)
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​A teen-made horror film in first person & third person, depicting struggle & the reliving of a trauma from the past.
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LA PLANCHADA (9min, Cali)
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​In the 1970s, Mexican immigrants endured sadistic abuse in borderland hospitals; today, men who committed the heinous acts live with guilt, awaiting ghosts of the past to return.
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THE CAPTURE & KILLING OF THE COLA KING (22min, ATX)
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​A meeting between two representatives of rivaling cola companies grows violent as accusations of tampering are exchanged.
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DON’T WALK ALONE IN THE DARK (9min, San Fran)
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​Strolling by herself at night, a young woman faces terrifying, yet friendly, monsters. But her desire to be helpful & kind leads her neighbor to take advantage.
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​​Followed by Q&A – led by Taylor High School Theater Arts teacher Jason Angco-Barrera –
with THE CAPTURE & KILLING OF THE COLA KING Director Duncan Smith & DON’T WALK ALONE IN THE DARK Director Kate Patterson
2:30 PM - International Music Video Bloc
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GOLD IN THEM HILLS* (4min, Los Angeles);
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NADANIYA (4min, India);
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MACHINE (3min, Nashville);
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LIVIN BEYOND THE PAIN (5min, Cali);
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TODOS LOS ANIMALES SE DROGAN* (5min, Dominican Republic);
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THE LAST ONE (4min, ATX);
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IF I WERE PRIME MINISTER (5min, Israel);
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SHE DREAMT ALONE (6min, Los Angeles);
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EACH WAVE (5min, Israel - Texas Premiere!);
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GHOST SONG (6min, Brooklyn - Texas Premiere!);
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THAT’S WHAT I’M GONNA DO (4min, Switzerland);
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SPØKELSESBY (5min, Norway);
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NEOSPECTERS (5min, Germany);
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MARINE MANASAIN (4min, Russia);
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WALLS BENEATH OUR FEET (5min, Finland);
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DDD (3min, ATX);
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THE GHOST OF ORVAL FAUBUS* (3min, Arkansas);
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A SONG FOR YOU (7min, Beverly Hills - Texas Premiere!)
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BARRIO UNIDO* (7min, San Anto)
Q&A conducted by Chief and TheDoomsdayDevice, including with Director Eric Unusual of DDD & THE LAST ONE; Director/Singer Adrian Christian of A SONG FOR YOU; Director Gene Reid of THE GHOST OF ORVAL FAUBUS; & Director of BARRIO UNIDO Robb S Garcia & Bombasta frontman Roberto Livar
Total Runtime: 1hr 30min
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5 PM - Domestic Short Doc Bloc
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MOVING AT THE SPEED OF THOUGHT (4min, Queens)
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​A tenant organizer’s experimental film on memories & resiliency, witnessing a 50-year gap between "Operation Move-In" in 1970 & Operation Stay, aka Cancel Rent, in 2020.
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DANNY (10min, Los Angeles)
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​Danny had a normal life, but one day everything changed. Animation, verite & Americana footage fuse to tell a tale of overcoming opioids.
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THE GROTTO OF DEATH (16min, Houston)
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​At its peak in the 1970s, Mexico was the world's largest per-capita producer of comic books – & Julio Camarena Pérez was one of its most elevated practitioners. U.S. Premiere!
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THE EYE BEGINS IN THE HAND (16min, Cali)
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​A tribute to campesino histories via the work of unsung Chicano artist Ruben A. Sanchez & reckoning with the fate of many cultural workers’ struggle to pay rent.
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STRAWBERRY PICKER (20min, Cali)
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​A boy who grew up in labor camps is now a world-class artist; a look at generations of struggle & resilience in the Chicano Art community through the experiences of Juan R. Fuentes.
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ALEJANDRO JIMÉNEZ: THE GROUND I STAND ON (12min, Denver)
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​A lyrical & meditative exploration of the work & creative process of Mexico’s 2021 Slam Poetry champion, whose experience as a U.S. immigrant farmworker shaped his vision of the power of poetry & its connection to a collective past.
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Total Runtime: 1hr 18min
7 PM - Dangerously Thick Blue Line Bloc
REIMAGINING SAFETY* (1hr 23min, Los Angeles)
Worldwide protests following the 2020 murder of George Floyd featured calls to defund or abolish the police – until a perceived sharp rise in crime gave politicians & police-supporters fuel to suppress the movement. Unfortunately, a detailed conversation about transforming public safety was never had. In this film, shot on iPhone, ten experts discuss how policing & incarceration create more harm than good, why the system persists & what changes can be made to make everyone safe. Texas Premiere!
preceded by shorts, courtesy of Working Films’ Beyond Walls compilation:
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PRACTICAL ABOLITION (3min, Philly)
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​Amistad Law Project lifts up alternatives to policing: mobilizing emergency resources for communities hardest hit by gun violence, alongside policies & programs to make us safer.
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DEFUND THE POLICE (4min, Chicago)
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​Ideas about policing are shaped by our race, gender, class & parents. Dominant culture sells us an image of “Officer Friendly”– but whose experience is that based on?
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Followed by Q&A with REIMAGINING SAFETY Director Matthew Solomon
Total Runtime: 1hr 30min
9 PM - Policing the Police Forum
Free event, moderated by Sam Benavides of Mano Amiga
Exploration of strategies to systemically reduce police power across Texas
Ananda Tomas (she/hers), Executive Director of ACT 4 SA, who successfully advocated for an alternative to police response for mental health crisis calls; updated de-escalation & immigration policies in VIA Transit Police's handbook; reduced the timeline for release of body-cam footage for officer-involved shootings; established Texas's first dashboard tracking officer suspensions (copthedata.com); held Texas' first warrant clinic; co-created a dashboard tracking San Antonio Police Department's (SAPD) budget from 2019-2023; & led the Prop A initiative to decriminalize marijuana & abortion, ban no-knock warrants & chokeholds by SAPD, & codify & expand Cite & Release.
Chris Harris (he/him), Policy Director for the Austin Justice Coalition, is a native Texan; proud husband & son; & passionate advocate working to upend our unjust status quo by dismantling systems of surveillance, punishment & exclusion while building systems of support, accountability & restoration. Chris is also a Board member for MOVE Texas Action fund, Board President of Equity Action, & as a volunteer for numerous organizations & causes in Austin. Chris has contributed to winning campaigns aimed at limiting: racial disparities in the criminal legal system, police violence, criminalization of poverty, ICE detentions, pre-trial incarceration, subpar indigent defense & investment in police & prisons.
Eric Martinez (he/him), Policy & Executive Director for Mano Amiga – the first organization to force a police contract repeal in Texas history –, is a Latino male impacted by criminalization through his father's experience. Before Eric knew him, his stepfather served prison time, & decades after his sentence, it still affected where he could work & his family could live. Eric’s seen firsthand the continual devastating impacts of arrests & incarceration on the only man who raised him & his family. Alongside staff, Eric has led Mano Amiga in advocating for both immigrants & criminalized community members by leading the push for the 1st & only Cite & Release Ordinance in Texas, a public defender’s office, a Padilla hub for immigrant community members & more.
10 PM - HUMMINGBIRDS (Laredo, 1hr 18min)
​Best friends Silvia & Beba know that the long summer nights of their youth cannot last forever. Their hang-out spots are so familiar but, stuck in an immigration process over which deportation hangs as a constant possibility, home still seems a fragile concept. Between bars, drive-thrus, friends’ couches & the borderlands, they confront the stresses of survival, the future & community-building. For them, this means protest action for legal abortion & against border-control abuses, in a politically divided America. But the dusty half-light is also a time for poetry & dreams. Their laughter & creative expression cement a sense of solidarity & belonging in togetherness.
Followed by Q&A with Director Silvia Del Carmen Castanos