SATURDAY OCT. 19
Price Center
222 W. San Antonio St.
$10 for a Day Pass (enables viewing of every film on Saturday), or
$25 for a four-day Festival Badge (enables viewing of every film in the fest)
10 AM - SHORT DOC BLOC
THE DOLPHIN DILEMMA (19 min, Montana)
Dolphins in Australia are suddenly incurring third-degree burns; an international collaboration proves that these lesions, found on cetaceans around the world, are caused by climate change. Director Olivia Andrus-Drennan.
IT’S FOR YOU: EPHEMERAL ART & THE DEATH OF THE PUBLIC PHONE (29 min, California)
Utilizing such varied materials as concrete, papier-mâché, and blown-out tires, disparate Los Angeles street artists give new life to the dwindling remnants of the city’s public payphones by repurposing them as canvases for unique expressions of a moment in time. With the streets as their gallery, our heroes defy vandalism laws, maintenance crews, haters, and history itself to deliver a moment’s levity to the right kind of passerby. Director Ryan Steven Green.
HOW TO SUE THE KLAN (35 min, Chattanooga)
The KKK has dealt out violence for over a century without penalty - until five Black women and a young Black civil rights lawyer forced them to pay for their crimes via a groundbreaking 1982 civil case with a legal precedent that paved the road for today’s fight against organized hate. Director John Beder. Producer Ben Crump.
Total runtime: 1 hour 23 minutes
12:30 PM - IMMIGRATION SHORTS BLOC
THE FINAL DAY (5 min, Brooklyn)
Yadira, a young girl in Cuba, struggles to pack on her final day at home. Embarking on an immigration journey alone, her suitcase feels too small to carry everything her heart holds. Director Sofia Arbaiza Martinez.
DIA TEMIDA (12 min, San Marcos)
When Valeria, a promising member of her school's Mariachi, is told that her father has just been deported, she must decide what is best for her and her younger sister, Isabella. Director Luis Diaz.
LOS MOSQUITOS (14 min, Costa Rica)
A 15-year-old Honduran teen and her younger cousin must forge new bonds in the US and redefine their concept of family. Director Nicole Chi.
EN COMÚN: BOOKLOVING Y ORGANIZING (16 min, Brooklyn)
Mil Mundos, the first bilingual bookstore of East Bushwick, became a mutual aid hub and safe space for neighbors during the early days of the pandemic. Director Ángel Jacinto Escalante. Texas Premiere!
NO SE VE DESDE ACÁ (20 min, Boston)
A spatial exploration of Miami and the endless pursuit of the American Dream, in an era of immigrant mass mobilization and the absurd dominance of wealth and border securocracy. Director Enrique Pedráza Botero.
EXPANDING SANCTUARY/EXPANDIENDO SANTUARIO (20 min, Philly)
An immigrant mother emerges as a community leader during the historic campaign to end the sharing of the Philadelphia police database with ICE. Expanding Sanctuary tells a rarely told story about a Latinx immigrant community’s successful journey to change legislation and protect families. Director Kristal Sotomayor.
Followed by Q&A with Director Ángel Jacinto Escalante (EN COMÚN: BOOKLOVING Y ORGANIZING)
Total runtime: 1hr 27 min
2:30 PM - RE-PRESENTING GENDER BLOC
QUEEN (10 min, Portland)
While visiting their estranged grandfather in a rural trailer park, a teenager searches for their father's ethos amid socioeconomic, environmental, racial, and gendered binaries. Director Kai Nealis.
BARBETTE + FONTAINE (15 min, ATX)
A century apart, two drag icons unite through art, resilience, and a shared legacy of self-expression and freedom. Leading the cast is Cynthia Lee Fontaine of RuPaul's Drag Race. Directors John-Carlos Estrada & Zak Zeh.
BIRDS OF THE AIR (12 min, New York)
It’s supposed to be Shar's first day presenting as a woman in public. But she’s not out to her family yet. She has a plan: skip church, get dolled up, sneak out. But she has to avoid Grandma, who is home sick. Plus, blending eyeshadow is harder than it looks. And eventually, Shar's plans go off the rails in ways she didn't see coming. Director Jennifer Koiter.
AS LEAVES IN THE WIND (11 min, Spain)
Two transwomen, who migrate from their home countries to seek asylum and opportunities in a new continent, find support in a new community made by them for them. Director Sofia Luz.
Followed by Q&A with Director Jennifer Koiter (BIRDS IN THE AIR)
Total runtime: 48 min
3:45 PM - LGBTQIA SHORTS
COLLAGE (10 min, Spain)
A girl who works in a museum tries to convince a co-worker that two visitors are flirting.
Director Marius Conrotto.
EITR (15 min, Canada)
Grinding away at the inherited family business, Mohamed works tirelessly making sales of knock-off perfume, while living as a knock-off version of his true self. Director Fateema Al-Hamaydeh Miller.
FIERRO (29 min, Colorado)
Richard Fierro, the Army veteran credited with stopping the Club Q mass shooter, recounts the life experiences that led up to his heroic actions. Director Edward Tyndall.
Total Runtime: 54 min
5 PM - THE STRIKE (1 hr 25 min, California)
A generation of California men who endured decades of solitary confinement and, against all odds, launched the largest hunger strike in U.S. history. Directors JoeBill Muñoz and Lucas Guilkey.
Followed by Q&A with Director JoeBill Muñoz as well as two survivors of solitary confinement:
US Army SFC (Retired) Cheryl Craig, MA, is Board Treasurer of Free Battered Texas
Women. She is a business owner and veteran of Rwanda, Afghanistan, and Iraq. She is
also a formerly incarcerated survivor who did time in the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice related to acting under duress from abuse.
Cathy Marston, PhD, is Founding Executive Director of Free Battered Texas Women and was a 2018 Margaret Fuller Scholar with the Unitarian Universalist Women’s
Federation. She served more than nine years in TDCJ related to acting under duress
from abuse. She has published and presented extensively on criminalized abuse
survivors and the legal system.
Moderated by Shannon FitzPatrick, board chair of the Caldwell/Hays Examiner
Screening underwritten by the History Department at Texas State University & Texas After Violence Project
7:30 PM - TEXAS BORDER SHORTS
VOLVERÁS (5 min, Pharr)
A woman falls in love with the wrong person. She finds herself in a shameful situation that leads to devastating consequences.
EVERYTHING NICE (5 min, Brownsville)
Waking up and experiencing what is around you, living in all of your senses. Miraaa Media Fest 2024 RGV Commissioned Video piece Eva Ryan + Anastasia Waltschew.
NEVER NEVER LAND (10 min, Laredo)
An angsty teenager runs away to Laredo, Texas and discovers its bizarre nature. Miraaa Media Fest Collaboration: Jason Litman + Isabella Guardiola
THE RED BIKE (15 min, Pharr)
When Jack receives a red bike as a birthday present, no one could have predicted what it would lead to. Director Torben Bech.
3:00AM THE GRAVEYARD SHIFT (15 min, RGV)
A gas station clerk humorously navigates through the night shift by interacting with sleepless customers from around the neighborhood. Director Armando Ramirez Cardenas.
ECHOES OF THE RIO (9 min, El Paso)
The voice of the Rio Grande guides a woman through the history of migration & the symbiotic relationship with the indigenous people of the land. As the river speaks, echoes follow, ultimately exposing the socio-ecological destruction caused when the river became a border & political weapon. Director Jackie Barragan.
Followed by Q&A with Director Jackie Barragan (ECHOES OF THE RIO)
Screening underwritten by the Center for the Study of the Southwest at Texas State University
Total Runtime: 59 minutes
9 PM - THE IN BETWEEN (1 hr 22 min, Eagle Pass)
Following her brother’s death, filmmaker Robie Flores returns to her hometown Eagle Pass on the Texas/Mexico border, wanting to turn back time. She collides with unruly experiences of adolescence – quinceañeras, Rio Grande river excursions, teen makeovers & beyond – that invite her to soak up the details of the home her brother adored & she ignored. What emerges is a playful dance between a personal & collective coming-of-age portrait of kids on the border & Robie herself as she rediscovers the possibilities of joy in the aftermath of grief.
Followed by Q&A with Marianne Seañez, a lead subject of the documentary
Screening underwritten by the Center for the Study of the Southwest at Texas State University