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Sunday at AFI Fest 2021

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How strange that AFI Fest 2021 is already coming to an end. But perhaps next year the festival will be able to move back to a weeklong fully in person event. Still, it is important to thank the staff and volunteers for the work they did to make this such a wonderful—and safe—experience. And of course, I’m thankful that they grant me so much access to these wonderful films.

Do you remember going to movies full of viewers that becomes a common experience? We are reminded of that experience in Zhang Yimou’s One Second. Set in the Cultural Revolution, a man who has escaped from a labor camp is desperate to see a newsreel that has a brief onscreen appearance of his daughter. In the first town he’s in, the movie is finished, and the film is to be transported to the next town. But a girl steals one of the cans of film and the man chases her down to retrieve it, since the film won’t be shown if incomplete. The first part of the film is a humorous back and forth of the two of them taking the film from each other. When The film gets to the next town, one can (the one with the newsreel) has come loose and been dragged along the road. At first the projectionist cancels the movie, but the community is heartbroken. Soon they are all working together to save the damaged reel.

This is a story that reflects our love of cinema—even if it is Party propaganda. When the film eventually play, the audience sings along. This is more than just watching the moving shadows on a wall. This is an event that touches the whole community. There is certainly something to be said for watching this film in a theater with other people rather than sitting at home. It is also a story of family—not just the basic meaning of family, but also the family we can become with others.

Clint Bentley, director of Jockey, grew up in the world of horseracing. He hadn’t seen a film that accurately captures that world, so he made one. Jackson Silva is an aging jockey whose body is beginning to betray him. He hopes for one last great horse. Ruth, a trainer with whom he’s close, has a new horse that might be great for the two of them. But Gabriel, a young rookie jockey shows up, claiming to be Jackson’s son. At first, Jackson denies it could be true, but the idea warms on him, giving him a chance of a legacy beyond racing.

I’m something of a sucker for father/son stories. This one has an interesting twist in it. But it is also something of a meditation of mortality, as seen as the end of the life that Jackson has always known. The film is filled with scenes at sunset and sunrise (mostly sunsets) with beautiful skies. We understand that this is both a sunset and a dawn for Jackson and Gabriel. Jockey won the Audience Award for narrative films and opens in US theaters December 29.

Holy Emy, from director Araceli Lemos, is the story of two Filipina sisters in Greece whose mother was forced to return to the Philippines. Emy, the younger, has a special ability that her mother had. At times she cries blood. And she has the power to heal. Her sister Teresa tries to keep this hidden, so Emy won’t be taken advantage of. But a pseudo-mother who lives across the hall, has her eye on them. She knows that something is going on with Emy, and believes they have to baptize her to keep the devil at bay. Teresa is also dealing with a sudden pregnancy and a boyfriend who is more interested in what Emy can do than being a father.

This is a film that is filled with the color red—often blood. It also has a good deal of religious imagery and language. Yet, for all that religious feel, I never felt the film got to the serious religious questions that such a story raises. It seems to want a humanitarian basis for the use of such an ability, but it never seems to quite fit with what we are watching.

And we finish up with a few more shorts.

Johnson Cheng gives us Only the Moon Stands Still, a story of three generations of Chinese women in a failing dance ballroom. The ballroom may be closing, but for the youngest of the three the world may be opening up—if she’s willing to let her mother push her out of the nest. Only the Moon Stand Still won the Audience Award for short films. (22 minutes)

In Motorcyclist’s Happiness Won’t Fit into His Suit, Gabriel Herrera uses a motorcyclist to create a metaphorical reenactment of the hubris of colonialists. A bit too artsy for my taste. (10 minutes)

Sales per Hour, from Michelle Uranowitz and Daniel Jaffe, is set in a retail clothing boutique. The staff works at upselling through the day. But when they discover a sexual encounter in the dressing room, they face a dilemma about what they are willing to allow to keep sales moving.

Saturday at AFI Fest 2021

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If you’re in the mood for a time-bending coming-of-age story, Petite Maman will do the trick. From director Céline Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady On Fire, Tomboy) this is the story of eight year old Nelly, who after her grandmother’s death goes to the grandmother’s house with her parents. This is her mother’s childhood home. Nelly remembers her mother telling her about building a hut in the woods. One day her mother suddenly leaves without telling Nelly. When Nelly plays in the woods, she meets Monica, a girl her age who is building hut just as her mother described. When she goes to Monica’s house, we see it is the same house she is staying in, only many years earlier.  We (and Nelly) understand pretty quickly that she’s encountered her mother as a girl. Nelly moves back and forth between present and past houses and people. As she does so, she learns about her mother, her mother’s fears, and her own insecurities.

As in Sciamma’s previous films, Petite Maman has wonderful cinematography and brilliant character studies. It’s not so much a story of time travel per se as it is a mystical connection that will forever bond Nelly with her mother. Has it always been a bond that her mother has known?

Hit the Road is the premiere film from Iranian director Panah Panahi. This is a bizarre road trip with a loving (although it’s hard to tell sometimes) family driving across the country for some unknown reason. (It’s somewhat revealed later in the film.) The father is in the backseat with his leg in a cast. (Is it really broken?) The eldest son is driving with the mother beside him in front. The very energetic younger son seems to bounce around the car. And there’s a sick dog in the back. The chaos becomes a bit claustrophobic as we travel with them in the car.

The difficulty with the film is being not quite sure what it is about what is happening in Iran that has triggered this emergency road trip. I can conject various possibilities, but I expect the film’s Iranian audience would have a much better grasp of the situation.

And, of course, I have some shorts to share.

In Are You Still There? from directors Rayka Zehtabchi and Sam Davis, we spend a hot day with Safa when her car battery dies and she must wait in a strip mall parking lot until her mother can get off work to come jump the car. It is a long day (condensed to 15 minutes) that ends in triumph.

The documentary short Video Visit by Malika Zouhali-Worrall shows us the program at the Brooklyn Public Library that allows families of those held in New York City jails to have video call with their incarcerated families. It lets us discover the difficulties families have visiting in person, and the bureaucratic hurdles the library staff faces to try to keep this important program in place.  Libraries rule! (23 minutes)

Yoruga, directed by Federico Torrado Tobón, is a brief story of a lonely man in the not to distant future who goes to “Noah’s Ark”, a facility where some animals still survive. He can afford a one minute visit with one of these animals, and he shares a bit of his life in that short time. (7 minutes.)

Friday at AFI Fest 2021

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“We are responsible for the community we build and the stories we tell.” This is the tagline for AFI Fest 2021. That phrase appears on various promotional materials. It reflects the idea that films are more than just entertainment; they help to shape the way people see the world. That understanding is very appropriate for the features I watched on Friday.

In Orit Fouks Rotem’s Cinema Sabaya, a group of Jewish and Arab women take part in a class to learn how to make videos. The women vary in age and background. Week after week, as they share their assignments, they begin to learn of each other’s lives and dreams. At times the differences seem stark, yet there are also many ways that they discover common fears and concerns. Their time together sometimes crosses lines of intimacy before they know it. In some ways they all have dreams fulfilled through this class. This is an exploration of both community and stories.

This was a scripted film (with a very documentary feel) that gave the actors a great deal of freedom as they delivered their lines. It was based on a number of real women’s stories. One of the interesting bits, for me, is that the film director teacher never really shared her own life the way these women did. She really is a bit separated from the group as a whole. Perhaps a sign that sometimes when filmmakers stand a bit outside looking at others, there is a wariness.

Ali & Ava from Clio Barnard is the story of a South Asian man and an Irish woman who are both dealing with loss and loneliness. Ali’s marriage is breaking up following his wife’s loss of a pregnancy. He is keeping their separation a secret from his close-knit family. Ava has been widowed about a year, but there were issues in the marriage before her husband died. When the two meet, a connection develops and grows over a lunar month. Ava’s adult son is none too happy to have any man in Mom’s life, let alone a man of color. As the two people begin to share their lives and secrets, they have to struggle with the question of if they are ready to find new happiness.

This film feels very much like a Ken Loach film—in large part because of the Yorkshire setting and working-class characters. (I hope if the director reads this, she takes that as the compliment I intend.) We get the feeling of real people as they struggle with the real trials of life.

Today’s shorts included:

Enviar y Recbir (Shipping and Receiving) from director Cosmo Collins Salovaara. A warehouse worker is told to do what he wants with a damaged dress. He tries to give it to his daughter who is uninterested. A neighbor doesn’t think it’s appropriate for his daughter. Yet the man won’t let it go to waste. (9 minutes)

New Abnormal from director Sorayos Prapapan. A look at what life has become during the COVID-19 pandemic, with temperature checks, masks sold out at a drugstore, washing hands, and all the other things that are so common now. It’s done with a touch of humor. (14 minutes)

Mon Amie qui Brille dans le Nuit (My Friend Who Shines in the Night) is an animated film from Grégoire de Bernouis, Jawed Boudaoud, Simon Cadilhac, and Hélène Ledevin. A ghost on its way to whatever the hereafter might be is struck by lightening and falls to earth with no memory. A man helps it find its way back to where it needs to be. (9 minutes)

Your Street from director Güzin Kar. A look at a short road in an industrial area in Germany that has been named after a four year old victim of a Neo-Nazi attack. Is using such a road as a memorial a good way to be reminded of the past? (8 minutes)

Sandstorm from Seemab Gul. Zora, a Pakistani schoolgirl, sends a dance video to a virtual boyfriend, who blackmails her with it. It is a struggle as Zora faces the patriarchal society she lives in. (20 minutes)

Thursday at AFIFest 2021

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Welcome to the 2021 edition of AFI Fest. Last year, the festival was all done virtually. This year is a hybrid with some films being available virtually and others only shown in the theaters at the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood. The festival is abbreviated from pre-pandemic years only covering 4+ days instead of the usual 7+. But there are still some exciting films coming here. My first day was a virtual day.

Paris, 13th District (Les Olympiades, Paris 13e) is the latest film from Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust and Bone, and The Sister Brothers). His films are often intense and challenging. Paris, 13th District is a look at the Millennial world of relationship that seem to be a mash up of friendship, lack of commitment, and sex (lots of it).

We open when Camille shows up at Emilie’s apartment to answer an ad for a roommate. Emilie was hoping for a woman, but after some talking, spark begin between them. But when Emilie is more committed to the relationship than Camille, they break it off. Nora, a second year law student is mistaken by friends as an internet porn star. In time Nora works with Camille at a real estate agency, and they connect. Nora also contacts the porn star and they begin an online friendship. There are various turns along the way, but it all ends up with people finding something special.

In Megan Mylan’s documentary Simple as Water, we meet various Syrian refugee families struggling to find a place in the world as they are separated from others. A mother with four children in Athens, hoping to be able to be reunited with her husband in Germany. Another mother in Turkey considering putting her five children in an orphanage because she cannot care for them. A man in the U.S. with a 9th grade brother who lost a leg in a bombing. A woman still in Syria hoping to get word of a son missing in Raqqa. All are in a kind of limbo. They have hope for reunification and a future better than they are living, but nothing is assured for them. Simple as Water will be available on HBOMax on November 16.

And let’s look at some shorts while we’re here.

In the Israeli film Her Dance from Bar Cohen, Aya shows up at her sister’s wedding Sabbath dinner uninvited. She hasn’t been invited because she is estranged from her Orthodox family because she is a trans woman. Her mother is afraid someone will recognize her and the groom’s family will cancel the marriage. Some terrible things are said (especially by Aya’s mother), but there is a touch of grace, even if we are left in an emotional emptiness. (22 minutes)

For H.A.G.S. by Sean Wang, the filmmaker was going through his eighth grade yearbook and decided to contact some of his friends from that time to touch base and see how everyone was coping with adult life. It is a rather phrenetic mix of edited conversations with yearbook pictures of the various speakers. They seem to be in one of those cusp periods of aging—not yet middle age, but no longer young adults. (9 minutes)

Day 4 at AFI Docs

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Today’s films range from the mundane to the worlds of power and money. Documentaries are ways to mark points in time, to see life in new ways, and to broaden our knowledge. That happens in these films.

The HBO Documentary Series Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union premiered the first two episodes at AFI Docs. Directed by Peter Kunhardt, this series focuses on President Obama’s life with special emphasis on the role race played in shaping his life and his politics. Part One of the series covers his early life through his election to the U.S. Senate. Part Two overs his run for the Presidency in 2007-08. The film relies on archival footage and selected interviews with people who have known him.

This is a very conventional telling of the President’s story. It lacks an intimacy and personal understanding of the events in his life. The first part never really asks questions about the events in his life. In the second part, as he runs for the presidency, there are more insightful comments made about the tightrope of being a Black candidate and being a candidate for all the people. Questions of too Black or not Black enough come up. There are times that Black commentators critique some of the things he said in speeches as not resonating with the Black experience. The series will add another perspective for those seeking to understand the historic nature oif Obama’s election.

We (Nous) from filmmaker Alice Diop is a look at life in the Paris suburbs. There is no through story, just looks at the mundane world. We see a mechanic as he works on a car and gets a phone call from his mother in Mali. We see the filmmaker’s sister as she makes her rounds as a visiting nurse to elderly patients. We see kids in a park. We visit a Holocaust museum. There are no contexts given, we simply observe.

A title card at the end of the film the filmmaker mentions having learned “to see and love what is before my eyes.” That is very much what this film is about. It’s not about the narrative. It is about seeing these little bits of life as they happen.

Never mind “Antique Roadshow”. Suppose that old painting you have is really a Leonardo DaVinci. That is the crux of The Lost Leonardo by Andreas Koefoed. It traces the history of a painting found at an obscure auction in New Orleans, that was later restored and attributed to (not without controversy) Leonardo. The price paid at the New Orleans auction: $1175. The Price eventually paid at a Christies auction: $450,000,000. And, oh, by the way, you can’t see it because the current owner, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, refuses to exhibit it.

The painting, “Salvator Mundi”, becomes the focal point for looking at the art world and how it operates. It’s not just about art and collectors, but about finance and even global politics. The film brings in many of those who were involved in the story of the painting as it advanced through the art world, but also some outside people, who add knowledge about other aspects, including a former CIA operative. There is a sense in which what the film is about is truth. What makes truth? Can we know the truth? Does truth become just a matter of belief? Or does $450,000,000 buy truth? The Lost Leonardo will arrive in theaters in August.

Shorts for today include The Game, directed by Roman Hodel, that shows a bit of a soccer game. We see the crowds in the stand, the TV control room, everything is ready to go. But it’s not the game we watch, but the referee. Having officiated high school football in the past, I know that no one goes to the game to watch the referee, but he (or sometimes these days, she) is a key part of what happens. Another of the shorts is Eagles (Águilas), directed by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan and Maite Zubiaurra. That film chronicles the work of volunteers who search the Arizona desert for immigrants who get lost, or to find their remains to bring peace of mind for their families.

Photos courtesy of AFI.

Day 2 at AFI Docs

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The films I’ve chosen for today are very much focused on issues that touch the lives of many people. These are films that in many ways are “ripped from headlines”. It’s worth noting that two of the films include coverage of issues dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, even though that is not the main point of the films.

Pray Away, the feature debut from documentarian Kristine Stolakis, looks at the history for the “pray the gay away” movement in the church (mostly the evangelical church) over the last several decades. The film focuses on some of the founders and leaders in the movement who have now denounced that approach because of the injury they saw they had inflicted on so many people. These are people who were very visible on TV and active politically. Those that we hear tell their stories have now all discovered fulfillment by embracing their sexuality, but they also deal with guilt over the pain they created through their actions over the years. The film also includes a look at a current ex-gay leader, but those sections are a bit less engaging, in part because it is hard to give credence to his story.

More than 700,000 people have undergone conversion therapy seeking to change their sexual orientation. That process has been nearly universally rejected by the medical and psychiatric fields. This film allows us to see how that became so popular within many churches. It also shows how that has harmed not only the happiness, but the spiritual life of many LGBTQ people. Pray Away is a Netflix Original Documentary and will be available to stream later this summer.

Journalism is recognized as a key element of a democratic society. Yet in many places around the country there are huge “news deserts”, places with no local news source. Beth Levison’s and Jerry Risius’s Storm Lake shows a little over a year in the life of the Storm Lake Times, a twice-a-week newspaper in rural Iowa with a circulation of about 3000. The editor of the family run paper, Tom Cullen, won a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing in 2017. The paper covers local life in this rural, but increasingly diverse community. It covers high school sports, city council meetings, and hosts Presidential Forums ahead of the Iowa Caucuses. The film continues into the paper’s coverage of COVID-19 and the financial difficulty that brought.

While the film is a very personal portrait of the Cullen family as they strive with deadlines and looking for advertising, it is really about the ways journalism touches the lives of the community and what is lost when there is no local journalism. In the last fifteen years one out of four newspapers has closed. There are over 300 news deserts with communities of 20,000 or more with no newspaper. While there are regional news outlets, they pay little if any attention to life in smaller communities. In the Q&A following, Tom Cullen noted that they were having to find a new paradigm that was reader support rather than advertising support. That is true of many newspapers. Storm Lake will be in the upcoming season of “Independent Lens” on PBS.

White Coat Rebels, from Greg Barker, seeks to make the case (and does so very well) that the for-profit health care system, especially as manifested in Big Pharma, has not provided good care for many people. The film begins with a group of medical students in a White Coat ceremony as they take the Hippocratic Oath, promising to put their patients’ needs first always. Much of the film looks at the work of medical students who are part of Universities Allied for Essential Medicine, which seeks to have schools make ethical commitments about the drugs they help develop. There are also practicing doctors who make the point that the medical care that many people need is not available to them because of the way the US health care system is structured.

The conflict that comes up frequently in the film is if the system should be about patients or profits. The film began in the fall of 2019 and continued into the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, which only served to exacerbate and illustrate the rich/poor and racial dichotomies involved in health care. The film seems to circle around on itself from time to time, but it is an important and highly timely examination of key issue.

For today’s shorts, I have put together something of a double feature. Under the Lemon Tree, from Noor Fawzi Alasswad, shows us an older Palestinian woman living in exile as she makes a simple breakfast under a lemon tree and lovingly remembers her lost home and land after she has been away for many decades. A companion piece is Mission: Hebron, from Rona Segal. This film has interviews with six former Israeli soldiers as they talk about their tours in Hebron, a town of about 30,000 Palestinians and 1000 Israeli settlers. The soldier’s job is to protect the Jewish citizens. All speak with a bit of guilt for the things they did (and didn’t do).

Photos curtesy of AFI

Day 1 at AFI Docs

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Welcome to the real world.

Documentaries take us into the world to show us lives and issues that we might otherwise not know about. AFI Docs is a festival filled with documentaries to challenge us to see the world around us from a new perspective.

In the current American political environment, it seems like no one wants to talk to people they disagree with. The First Step, from Brandon Kramer, follows CNN political commentator Van Jones as he works for prison reforms. This is a story of strange political bedfellows. Jones, who was angered by the election of Donald Trump, found an ally in the issue in Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, whose father served time in federal prison. Together they worked for the passage of The First Step Act (which eventually was supported bipartisanly and signed by the President).

Much of the film is Jones trying to bring very opposite people together. For example, he creates a group made up of people from South L.A. and West Virginia around the common issue of how addiction has affected those communities. But there were many who were appalled that Jones would have anything to do with the Administration. Many in the Black community saw his work as a betrayal. They thought he gave validation to Trump and his people. The main point of the film is that such dialogue is essential to the working of a democracy. When we refuse to meet with those we may view as “the enemy”, it only adds to the polarization and the effective paralyzation of the political process.

The US Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) has been wildly successful. They have one four World Cups and four Olympic gold medals. The Men’s Team, not quite as successful—by any measure. But the Men get paid at a much higher rate than the women. Yeah, that’s not fair. But is it legal? LFG, from Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine, is the story of the USWNT’s legal battle against the US Soccer Federation over equal pay. While the film offers some wonderful soccer action as the women continue to win, the main focus is the legal process as it plays out over more than a year. (The case still is ongoing at the appeals level.)

When we think of professional athletes, we think that those who have made it to the highest level probably get paid in ways that reflect that. That certainly doesn’t apply to women athletes. The lawsuit reflects the basic pay disparity between men and women in the US. The film is filled with the personal emotions of the women who are fighting this battle. It also shows the arguments on both sides of the issue, although it certainly favors the USWNT’s perspective. (It should be noted that the US Soccer Federation opted not to be part of the film.) LFG is available to stream on HBO Max.

Fathom, by director Drew Xanthopoulos, focuses on two women scientists who are separately working on the calls and songs of Humpback whales. Dr. Michelle Fournet and her colleagues are trying to communicate with whales off Alaska, testing an hypothesis that a certain sound (a “whup”) is a greeting/introduction. Dr. Ellen Garland is trying to follow the pathway of how a song moves across the ocean to different groups.

Whales, especially humpbacks, are highly intelligent. The film notes that these animals had developed a culture before humans walked upright. Their sounds may not be what we would think of as language, but it seems to have a social and cultural aspect that connects the whales to each other.

Among today’s shorts were Audible, the story of the football team at the Maryland School of the Deaf, as they come with the end of a winning streak and the death of a friend; Bug Farm, about some people who work on a farm that raises crickets, mealworms, and roaches for sale to pet stores and zoos as feed; and Invisible Monsters and Tomato Soup, in which twenty people have shared some of their dreams from early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Audible will be available to stream on Netflix in July.

One of the industry forums that was held in conjunction with AFI Docs was “Breaking the Silence: How Documentaries Can Shape Conversation on Racial Violence”. It focused on a study by that name done by the Center for Media and Social Impact, which used the documentary about lynching, Always in Season, as a focal point for conversation in several locations in different parts of the country. The key point is that such a documentary can be a helpful beginning to conversations, if done properly. The report and resource guide can be found at https://cmsimpact.org/report/breaking-silence-documentaries-can-shape-conversation-racial-violence-america-create-new-communities/

Photos courtesy of AFI.

Launchpad – Disney’s Gift of Shorts

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I’m always happy to promote short films as part of the entertainment landscape. Often the only chance people get to see shorts is at film festivals or during the Academy Awards season. But now Disney has created a program of live action shorts streaming on Disney+ called “Launchpad”. Disney describes the goal of “Launchpad” as “to diversify the types of stories that are being told and to give access to those who have historically not had it.” For their inaugural series they have chosen six filmmakers from underrepresented backgrounds. The theme for this set of shorts is “Discovery”. The films included in “Launchpad” range from 14 to 20 minutes.

American Eid, from Aqsa Altaf, tells of a Pakistani family that has recently moved to the US. It is seen through the eyes of the two daughters, one who is trying to fit in, the other seeking to hold on to the traditions that are meaningful to her (like getting out of school for the Eid holiday). This was my favorite of the strong field.

Dinner Is Served, from Hao Zheng, is the story of a Chinese student at a ritzy school who desires to be the dining hall maître d’. He sees it as being recognized for his abilities. But it may not be how others see it.

Growing Fangs, from Ann Marie Pace, is the story of a Mexican-American teen from a mixed marriage—human and vampire. She doesn’t fit in with her human friends and is afraid to let the monsters at her new school know the truth about her parentage. This is the film with the best humor and most imaginative concept.

The Last of the Chupacabras, from Jessica Mendez Siqueiros, is another light-hearted (but not without meaning) story. The last tamales cart vendor in LA discovers a Chupacabra in her yard after an earthquake. It’s not as terrible as legend suggests.

Let’s Be Tigers, from Stefanie Abel Horowitz, is the story of a babysitter who is trying to cover up the grief over the death of her mother. Of course, sometimes it can sneak up on you.

The Little Prince(ss), from Moxie Peng, tells of two Chinese school kids who become friends, but the father of one of the boys is taken aback by his son’s friend’s affinity for dolls, pink, and ballet.

All of these films allow us to see people discovering themselves. Most of them also deal with the tensions of culture and tradition—of holding true to one’s values while trying to fit into a world that may not have those same values. The discoveries that the characters make in these stories show that we can often affirm both worlds if we are willing to be honest with ourselves.

I will confess that I often look at Disney as a behemoth—a cinematic/business empire that takes what it wants and only cares for the bottom line. That allows them to make lots of movies we all love. But it also sometimes makes them seem like they like to throw their weight around. But “Launchpad” certainly does not fit that image. These shorts are a nice gift that Disney has given us. It not only gives us a chance to watch some shorts, it also is giving wonderful opportunities to filmmakers who have a hard time finding ways to tell their stories.

Photos courtesy of Disney

Reporting from Slamdance – “Unstoppable” filmmakers (part 2)

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Diversity is being recognized as an important goal in the film industry. Many voices and many perspectives are needed in every art form, and that is very true of film. This year’s Slamdance Film Festival has made an express effort to bring the idea of ablism and the perspective of people with disabilities (PWD). There is a special section of shorts called “Unstoppable” that focuses on films by or about peoples with disabilities. It has a wide range of styles, tones, and content. There are documentaries, music videos, and narrative films. There are 22 films in the section, so I’ve divided my comments into two reports. This is the second report. The earlier report can be seen here. The Unstoppable section is presented by Hulu.

On the Outs. (37 minutes, directed by Jordan Melograna). This documentary follows three inmates with disabilities as they prepare for their release and reenter the world. One has mental illness, one has brain damage and has had hip replacement, one has visual impairment. Their disabilities certainly complicate the process, but even more that film shows the way the system falls far short of preparing even those without disabilities for a time after their sentence.

Safety Net. (12 minutes, directed by Anthea Williams.) A thirteen year old boy living with a disability has just entered emergency care after his mother was arrested. He is staying in a seedy motel with a guardian present. The first guardian is compassionate and encouraging. The relief guardian is stern and demanding. The boy’s future may well depend on this care and which guardian will dominate his time.

Single. (16 minutes, directed by Ashley Eakin). A young woman born with one arm faces the world with an attitude. She doesn’t want to be pitied or thought of as disabled. She responds to most people with anger when they note her missing arm. She’s been set up on a blind date, and discovers that her date only has one hand. She is irate at the person who set them up. Her date convinces hre to come to his rooftop and throw eggs at the wall to take out her anger at all those who have slighted her. A good therapy session for her.

Stilts. (7 minutes, directed by Dylan Holmes Williams) A young man who, like the rest of his family, lives with very large stilts attached to his legs. Because he’s so tall, he can’t get through an exit to the outside world. He seeks surgery to remove the stilts and be set free.

The Bin. (15 minute, directed by Jocelyn Tamayao). A father and his hearing impaired son are at odds over getting cochlear implants versus using sign language. The father wants to make his son “normal”; the son wants to live his own kind of normal.

The Co-op. (7 minutes, directed by Cameron S. Mitchell). A thief attempts to hold up a market late at night, but his plans hit a snag when the store is filled with PWD.

Union. (19 minutes, directed by Julia Neill). During the Civil War a woman returns home for Christmas, she brings with her a Union soldier to meet her family. They met when she, a surgeon, amputated his arm. Now they come for her father’s blessing. But how does he know the man will be able to take care of her? Perhaps it is his own insecurities that cause him to hesitate.

Unspoken. (27 minutes, directed by Emma Zurcher-Long, Julia Ngeow, and Geneva Peschka). Emma Zurcher-Long is a fourteen year old girl with autism. After years of not being able to communicate, it was discovered she could write using a keyboard. She shares information about her world and how it differs from ours. She breaks down the stereotypes and prejudices that surround her.

Verisimilitude.  (14 minutes, directed by David Proud). An actress who can’t get roles because she is in a wheelchair is hired for a movie to teach an abled actor how to act disabled. There are also several abled extras in wheelchairs. This film serves as a bit of judgment on an industry that often fails to see beyond a first appearance.

Road to Zion. (16 Minutes, directed by Andrew Reid). A undocumented Jamaican young man and his family (which includes a brother with a intellectual disability) struggle to make ends meet. Without a green card it is hard to get the kind of job that will bring the money his family needs. A local drug dealer makes it know he can work for him. What will he do to take care of his family?

A truly appreciate Slamdance and Hulu for making this special section possible. Of course, not everything suited my taste, but the voice that comes through from many of these shorts is important. It also shows how valuable it is to have diversity in filmmaking.

My top favorite from the section is Feeling Through. Others that I deeply appreciate are How Much Am I Worth?, On the Outs, and Unspoken.

Reporting from Slamdance – a Sampling of Narrative Shorts

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Narrative shorts are films that are storytelling stripped down to the essentials. You don’t have time in shorts to develop side plots or bring in very many characters. You just put the story out there to be enjoyed or thought about. As I’ve had time, I’ve looked at a few of the narrative shorts that are part of the Slamdance Film Festival this year. Here are a few of my thoughts.

Autoscopy. (14 minutes, directed by Claes Nordwall). A young man goes into the woods with sound equipment capturing the sounds of nature. Along the way he finds an abandoned floatation chamber that leads him to a trippy chance to look at himself.

Blue. (15 minutes, directed by Ali Şenses). A man walks through the city carrying a paint bucket and a long-handled brush. As he walks the handle of the brush hits everything, making noises. Until he hits a particular piece of fence that makes the sound he’s been searching for.

Each Other. (6 minutes, directed by Oskar Weimar). This is more dance that story. A very limber naked man emerges from a tree and seeks to understand what his place in the world is. Cow? Chicken? Something else?

Trammel. (11 minutes, directed by Christopher Bell). A solitary man comes in to the local pharmacy to talk to his friend behind the counter. He tells his stories. We may or may not believe him. The key question I asked myself during this film is what assumptions I made about the man based on his appearance and his stories.

Inside the Storm. (14 minutes, directed by Daniel Bloom). A man who has had a break up goes to visit a friend he hasn’t seen in a long time. The man isn’t in a healthy place. I found it a bit hard to watch for the ways he seemed to be degrading himself.

Returning. (14 minutes, directed by Lucy Bridger). A retired teacher, whose husband is away for a few days, deals with a man helping her with her garden. It’s interesting how much we learn about the married couple and the desires and frustrations the woman experiences.

 Mada (Mother). (20 minutes, directed by Joseph Douglas Elmhirst). A young woman in rural Jamaica has conflict with her devout mother over allowing her son to play with a doll. The grandmother wants them to go to church so they don’t fall into the wrong paths. But we see both women are seeking what is best for the boy, even if they have very different ideas of what that is.

Young Forever. (15 minutes, directed by Stevie Szerlip). A Korean woman in Los Angeles, struggles with a pyramid cosmetic sales program, gambling, debt, and loss. Her sales pitch is about getting away from stress, but her life is filled with it.

There. (29 minutes, directed by Wu Yu Fen). An Indonesian caregiver mourns “Grandpa”, whom she has been taking care of. She is now planning to return to Indonesia to care for her ailing mother. But with Grandpa’s children all working abroad, there are few people around to mourn Grandpa at his funeral. The key contrast is seen in the care the woman has for the deceased in her prayer by herself as opposed to the prayer cried by the professional mourner.