Katra LatinX Corner – Program 1: The Hard Way
Aguante – directed by Dominick Torres, Gabriela Torres
Aguante is a documentary about the Puerto Rican battle against gender-based violence. It is a story about the impact that machismo culture and a complex history of colonialism in Puerto Rico has had on generations of women. Economic, political, and natural crises of the recent past highlight women’s vulnerability to violence. Aguante shows that while gender-based violence is seen in intimate partner relationships it is enabled by social conditions. But Aguante also tells another story: the island of Puerto Rico has a long history of women’s liberation movements. And feminist movements have persisted in the past and today to change legislation and topple governments as they combat gender-based violence but also the central issues of the island’s governance.
Luz – directed by Emilio Torres
Luz is a retired popular singer-songwriter, who decides to protect a young immigrant victim of harassment by a local fisherman. The close relationship between them, will trigger a neighborhood conflict in a small village in southern Chile.
Dreamers – Short Film June 9 2019. Images by @mac1photo
Dreamer – directed by Vergi Rodriguez, Diana Zollicoffer
Lily Cruz, a DACA recipient, travels on a medical volunteer mission and upon returning to the USA a TSA agent isn’t so welcoming.
When La Rumorosa Quiets – directed by Patricia Montoya
Lucia Octavio boards a bus in the middle of a mountainous border town and wakes up naked when the bus arrives at the station. Confused and alone, yet determined and brave, Lucia confronts the attackers that threaten her.
KOPACABANA. – directed by Marcos Bonisson, Khalil Charif
A film made through a collage of current and archive images in Super 8 and digital, set in a Copacabana as an epicenter of intercultural, social and sensory experiences. An experimental work narrated by the significant speech of the poet Fausto Fawcett, and sonorized by the musician Arnaldo Brandão.
Animals – directed by Carlos Tampe
Harry loves animals. During the day, he works at the Valenzuela brothers’ farm. By night, he becomes an animal thief at the same place. A debt he holds with a corrupt policeman gets him into trouble. Harry becomes the prey.
Haven – directed by Simon Revilla
A sailor and his daughter are turned away from a public jetty, but refuse to leave. The disagreement turns into a stand-off, where prejudices lurks beneath the surface.
FILMMAKER ZOOM Q&A – SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 26TH // 5:00 PM EST
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New Faces New Voices – Program 1: Place Revisited
Vest – directed by Samir Mallal
When Ali runs away, he gets caught in a case of mistaken identity with perilous consequences.
TRICHOTILLOMANIA! – directed by Kelly Schiesswohl
“TRICHOTILLOMANIA” tells the story of one girl’s Google-search-gone-wrong to find out why she can’t stop pulling out her hair.
Scum Boy – directed by Allison Swank
This short documentary traverses the off-the-wall psyche of Generation Z by way of visionary 3D artist, Scum Boy – a young South African, Jewish trans man living his life with illuminating fearlessness.
Despite coming of age in a time of unprecedented environmental, economical, and technological collective anxiety, Gen Z appears to be responding by living more freely and unapologetically than the generations before them. In this vein, Scum Boy offers a remarkable level of self-expression and self-acceptance that brings much needed hope to a grim future.
Late Shift – directed by Shira Baron
An Uber driver must use his best judgement when he perceives that a young passenger is in danger.
This short explores the dual perception of sex workers in society. To some it is a cry for help, but to those who engage in it, it can be both liberating and empowering.
Aloo – produced by Priya Kiran
All Amara Kulkarni wants is to connect with her first generation daughter, Sama, but Sama is strict about keeping her home life and school life separate. When Amara hears about the school’s annual potluck, she takes it as an opportunity to finally join Sama’s world outside of their home. The duo connect while preparing some “party potatoes” but when Amara suggests to bring a traditional Indian dish, any chance of connection is severed and on top of that the dish for the potluck is burned. After speaking to her daughter, Amara realizes that their troubles aren’t so different and that as a mother it’s her duty to help Sama fit into this world which Amara does not quite understand, thus remaking the American potatoes but adding a slight Indian twist.
Father Like Son – directed by Anna Kuelkan
This film is a brief look into the generational life of a small family farm.
A Stranger Comes Home – directed by Fredrik Mortensen
It’s the night before Christmas eve and a little boy Discovers a burglar in his home. The burglar claims to be his estranged grandmother and she wants the boy to help her look for valuables. The boy however, is looking for something completely different.
Living Years – directed by Brenda Gillis
Gale Williams had a happy, normal childhood in Santa Monica California. Then, in 1956, on the eve of his 18th birthday he crashed his car in a remote area of California and became a quadriplegic. In those days people with such severe injuries were only expected to live 10-15 years. To survive, mentally and physically, Gale set his mind to tackling small goals, focusing only on what he was able to do, and through a supportive family and church community, he rebuilt his life. He studied computer programming at UCLA in the 1960’s, worked for an air defense company, married and adopted two children. After the disappointment of divorce and suffering discrimination by employers, Gale gradually became involved in disabled rights activism. He attended demonstrations in the 1970’s to recognize the needs of the disabled community that were being neglected, and became state president of California’s Association for Physically Handicapped. He remarried, had two more children, and continued to inspire and educate a new generation of young people, both disabled and able-bodied. At 82, and most likely the longest living quadriplegic, Gale’s life story shows us that there are no limitations to what we can accomplish if we set our minds to it.
FILMMAKER ZOOM Q&A – SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 26TH // 7:00 PM EST
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FEATURE FILM PRESENTATION: Good Life – directed by Bonnie Rodini
Good Life – directed by Bonnie Rodini
OLIVE PAPADOPOULOUS, an Oral Hygienist by day, a serial dater by night, is trying to pass the time while she waits for her EX to call her and tell her he has made a terrible mistake. Instead while having lunch with her BEST FRIEND ‘C’ and MOTHER she bumps into him and his new girlfriend.
Devastated and against her mothers will she decides to escape to Greece to recover, but finds her late fathers family house has been flattened in an earthquake and the villagers are not pleased to see her. They refuse to give her a place to stay in the hotel and she is forced to camp down in the ruin of the house. There seems to be more to her mother’s past than she realizes. In a moment of despair Olive throws the watch, given to her by her ex, down a well steeped in history and superstition by the village.
When Olive seems to be staying, the villagers bandy together and try to make her life unbearable. Except for a nine year-old boy who comes to her rescue. JETMIR (Good Life in Albanian) becomes Olive’s guide, negotiator and friend. But all for a price. He charges her 10% commission for all his transactions.
Jet charms his way into Olive’s life. Olive saves Jet’s teeth from rotting by creating a clever ‘African’ toothbrush to lure him into brushing them. His new white teeth don’t go unnoticed by the villagers and before she knows it Olive has been set up in the barbershop cleaning all their teeth. She also sets about restoring her mother’s house much to the horror of the local pharmacists wife, HAROULA.
After a nasty confrontation in the pharmacy with Haroula, Olive goes on a drinking binge with the village lover-boy, NIKOS. Their relationship blossoms under the jealous eye of Jetmir. Trying to win Olive’s affections back, Jet falls down the haunted well in an attempt to recover Olive’s watch. Olive is the first to notice his absence and leads the village in bold attempt to rescue him.
At the bedside of the seriously injured Jet, Olive realizes that he may not survive and is forced to deal with the death of her father. After a night spent at the hospital she returns to her mother’s house only to be confronted by a Greek official who presents her with a fine for trying to rebuild the house without permission.
When things can’t get any worse 4 figures appear over the horizon. ATHENA and C have come to find her and bring her home. Olive realizes she does have a family, although not traditional one, and that love comes in many different forms.
FILMMAKER ZOOM Q&A – SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 26TH // 9:00 PM EST
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Katra LatinX Corner – Program 2: Touch of Hope
Sombras – directed by Marc Sanchez
A journey across the desert leaves two individuals with hopes and dreams but with a tough decision to make. (Animated short film)
Video Vista – directed by Aaron Klinger
Video Vista is the last remaining video store in the city. Bored employee Polly escapes the reality of this dead industry with fantastical daydreams that parody the movies around her while trying not to get fired before the store closes.
Shevolution – directed by Seidy Lopez
Millie, a recovering alcoholic-addict, falls in love and marries Cillian, another alcoholic-addict with bipolar disorder. When Cillian relapses and becomes abusive, Millie has to make a decision: Will she save the man she loves or herself?
An intimate memoir, “Shevolution” is a candidly unfiltered look at the journey of a broken woman finding her own strength. It is written and produced by critically-acclaimed actress & filmmaker, Minerva Vier, and directed by Seidy Lopez, one of the stars of Netflix’ “Selena, The Series”.
Melting Snow – directed by Janah Elise Cox
Melting Snow is a short archival documentary exploring the coloniality of Puerto Rico’s labor through the symbol water.
The documentary begins with the 1952 event during which the mayor of San Juan, Felisa Rincón de Gautier, partnered with Eastern Airlines to transport two tons of snow from New Hampshire to Puerto Rico. The snow was a gift, meant to enchant Puerto Ricans with a white, American Christmas. As the spectacle unfolds, an unequal transaction is revealed: planes brought capitalist instant gratification in the form of snow, returning to the U.S., filled with the Puerto Rican cheap labor that would populate el barrio.
As the snow melts, we begin to understand Puerto Rico’s colonial predicament condensed in the empty gift. Water tracks the diaspora to the mainland, taking on various forms as it completes its natural hydrologic cycle, a visual illustration of colonialism backwards and forwards in time: we travel from the fading mirage of melting snow to an approaching hurricane Maria, washing away the fiction of America as a paternalistic colonial power.
The American Dream – directed by Baldev Sandhu
Three immigrants about to cross the border sit around a fire and discuss what “The American Dream” means to them.
Forget Me Not – directed by Courtney LeBlanc, Saige Guevara
In an attempt to preserve her legacy, a cartoon classic wages war on her rebooted counterpart.
FILMMAKER ZOOM Q&A – MONDAY SEPTEMBER 27TH // 6:00 PM EST
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New Faces New Voices – Program 2: Place Revisited
Sheila – directed by Jackson McKeehan
Tired of the monotony in her life, a midwestern farmer’s wife spies on her neighbors through the scope of her gun.
FReIGHT – directed by Rob Misleh
A handyman arrives to his last job… of the day? Certainly. Ever? Perhaps…
Souls On Hold – directed by Rachael Baskerville
A soul wakes up in a human body, in a clinical environment, unsure as to how they got there. They pick up a phone in the room only to be put on hold by a strange cosmic operator who eventually has to hard sell the concept of life on earth to this perplexed new soul, which on paper, sounds like a total farce.
Alma – directed by Lorraine Jones Molina
Inspired by true events, Alma is the story of a single mother who works as a cock fight trainer and is caught in the throes of an abusive relationship. One morning she goes out for a run, never to return. As someone prays for her, life and death converge through memories.
Leaving Isiolo – directed by Irungu Mutu
In and around the border-town of Isiolo, in East Africa, a young Kenyan businesswoman and a young Chinese miner prepare to leave town to begin their new life together – meeting at their favorite restaurant for one last meal.
Corridor – directed by Kenny Foo
Florence and Sandra are closing up the school for the night, but dark forces are at work.
Circular Ruins – directed by Zeyu Wang
Liang Jing, a woman who works in the city, returns to the village where her parents live. Her mother orders her to consult an old fortuneteller for finding marriage. Although Liang is hesitant to obey her mother, she goes to the woman’s place one night. During the meeting, Liang’s reality starts to intertwine with her past. Under the guidance of the fortuneteller, Liang’s life starts to change.
FILMMAKER ZOOM Q&A – MONDAY SEPTEMBER 27TH // 8:00 PM EST
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FEATURE FILM PRESENTATION: Night Light – directed by Jeffrey P. Crowley + Tumbling Towards Home
Tumbling Towards Home – directed by Imelda O’Reilly
Tumbling Towards Home is a coming of age story about Malcolm Adams, an Irish immigrant who moves to New York in 1989 to study acting under Alan Langdon. He works through the grief from the loss of his mother and his friend Philip Seymour Hoffman. This leads to his decision of where to put his hat down and call it home. Short documentary.
Night Light – directed by Jeffrey P. Crowley
Summer vacation. 1979. Brothers Trevor & Junior Atwood share everything – friends, stories at night, a bunk bed – but as older brother Trevor prepares for high school, the two must confront how their brotherhood will adapt against the current of changing times. Taking place entirely in their shared bedroom, ‘Night Light’ offers a glimpse behind closed doors to a time when you could ask who else is still awake, and to a place where big brothers reign supreme.