Documentary Shorts: Program 1

SYNOPSIS:

Titles in this program include: Belongings, Chicken Stories, Everything Wrong and Nowhere to Go, Freshwater, How We Get Free, Oasis, and Swimming Through.

 

This program will only be available virtually April 14-19.

 

 

Belongings

After the death of his mother, Morgan Talty, author and citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation, returns home to a house that may be haunted. Conjuring the spirits of the past, Morgan searches for answers about where his mom might have gone in the things she left behind. Directed by: Alex Coppola

 

 

 

 

Chicken Stories

On a start-up farm outside Oakland, various chicken flocks surmount daily obstacles while the newbie farmers attempt to Google their way to help. Directed by: Jonathan Pickett

 

 

 

 

Everything Wrong and Nowhere to Go

Plagued by overwhelming anxiety about climate change, a filmmaker decides to start seeing a climate psychologist in hopes that she can find some peace of mind at what she’s pretty sure is the end of the world. The resulting documentary is an intimate, strikingly candid self-portrait of the intersection between climate change and mental health. Directed by: Sindha Agha

 

 

 

Freshwater

Freshwater is a short film by dream hampton about her disappearing Black city, flooded basements, and the fluid nature of memory. Directed by: dream hampton

 

 

 

 

 

 

How We Get Free

700,000 people in the U.S. sleep in a jail cell each night, but 500,000 of them have not been convicted of any crime. Why? They can’t afford bail. Over the course of three years, How We Get Free follows the intrepid Elisabeth Epps as she pivots from her grassroots activism to running for office—where she is determined to abolish cash bail for good. Directed by: Geeta Gandbhir & Samantha Knowles 

 

 

 

Oasis

At the dawn of their teenage years, Raphaël and Rémi are twins who see their fusional attachment crumble while one of them, suffering from an increasingly marked disability, remains a prisoner of childhood. During one last summer surrounded by nature, time seems to want to stand still. Directed by: Justine Martin

 

 

 

Swimming Through

As the brutal Chicago winter draws near, Deirdre, Helen, and Jennefer—avid open water swimmers—make a pact to continue through the snow and ice as the pandemic rages on. This intense commitment becomes their salvation from lockdown and helps alleviate each of their personal struggles. Directed by: Samantha Sanders