2023 festival films

Behind the walls of San Quentin State Prison, three men sentenced to life in prison for murder undertake running a marathon on a quest for redemption and freedom — or something like it.

A Good Neighbor is a feature-length documentary about a Latina single mother’s fight against racism and climate change as she campaigns for city council in one of the nation’s most polluted zip codes.

An intimate and thrilling portrait of a young Siksika woman and her family in the golden plains of Blackfoot Territory as she prepares for one of the most dangerous horse races in the world… bareback.

Set in the sister cities of Accra, Ghana and Columbus, Ohio, “Ampe: Leap into the Sky, Black Girl” is a rhythmic love letter to Black girlhood across the African diaspora. Through the lens of the Ghanaian traditional jumping and clapping game, Ampe, the film takes us on a journey of sisterhood, loyalty, and nostalgia in a space created for us, by us.

Two actresses have made it to the final callbacks for the role of a lifetime: to play Anne Frank in an upcoming staged production. But as the topic of color-blind casting makes its way into the audition room, a controversial conversation emerges.

ANOTHER BODY follows a college student’s search for answers and justice after she discovers deepfakes of herself circulating online. Through candid video diaries, synthetic media, and 2D and 3D animation, the film takes you into Taylor’s online and offline worlds, humanizing a vast social issue in a compelling personal story.

For her entire professional life, renowned ecologist Nalini Nadkarni pioneered climbing techniques to study “what grows back” after an ecological disturbance in the rainforest canopy. Now, after surviving a life-threatening fall from a tree, she must turn her research question onto herself in order to understand the effects of disturbance and recovery throughout her life.

There may be no journey more fascinating than the exploration of our roots. There may be nothing more revealing than the discovery of where we come from – our inspiration, our ideas, our culture. In the ESPN short film BLACK GIRLS PLAY, directors Michéle Stephenson and Joe Brewster chronicle the origins of the hand games that have been played by young Black girls for generations, and their influence on music, dance, and community all across the American creative landscape.

Determined not to become another statistic of the Black maternal health crisis, one couple chooses the rare option of hiring an experienced midwife and doula and planning to give birth at home, away from the hospital and all of its interventions. But the baby has other plans, and despite all of the team’s efforts, they end up transferring to the hospital at the eleventh hour. This is the story of the birth of one baby, with its family caught between two very different approaches to childbirth.

Seeking to buck the white male status quo, a group of women and LGBTQ+ journalists launch a news startup asking who’s been omitted from mainstream coverage, and how to include them.

A tickly cough derails the career-defining live tv interview of MP Fiona Lacey. Trying to deliver a serious and important message about the Climate Crisis, her career takes a nosedive, perpetuated by political pundits, keyboard warriors and social media influencers.

After the death of a friend, two nuns in their golden years contemplate what their future holds. One confession leads to another and before they know it, they’re embarking on an adventure.

Who does dance belong to? Danceable weaves together portraits of three dancers with disabilities: Lark, a deaf performer; Janpi, who uses a wheelchair; and Marci, a teacher with Down Syndrome. They reject societal limits imposed on them, and through dance, interviews, and archival materials, we learn of each performer’s journey. They reveal the struggles of growing up disabled, how they found dance, and why they love it. Their journeys exemplify how dance can serve as a tool for healing, liberation, and building community as they share their passion through teaching.

Battling deep depression, Jaeyoun returns to her roots on the island of Marado, South Korea, to visit her family of female free divers known as haenyeo. To her surprise, she finds a connection to nature and her ancestors that saves her life.

Dear Thirteen weaves together nine stories of thirteen-year-olds from across the globe. Video diaries and candid interviews reveal how global issues are shaping – and being shaped by – young people: rising anti-Semitism in Europe, guns in America, gender identity and racial divisions across Australia and Asia. This empathetic portrait of a new generation goes beyond stereotypes of adolescence to capture the complexity of finding a way into adulthood today.

When photographer Cig Harvey discovers her best friend has cancer, she sets out to fill her world with color and light. Eat Flowers is film about living.

After coming out to her parents, seventeen-year-old Twinkie takes off on a road trip to meet her online crush with the help of her nerdy best friend, Egghead. As they make their way across the country, Egghead wrestles with his unrequited feelings for Twinkie, while Twinkie learns to embrace her identity as a gay mixed-Asian woman. Created by and for Gen Z, EGGHEAD & TWINKIE is a coming-of-age comedy about the joys and pains of coming out of the closet.

Running out of time and money, editor/publisher Laurie Ezzell Brown battles an oil bust, a global pandemic, and a growing mistrust of the media as she tries to keep her newspaper alive in rural Texas.

Pola is a nickel miner and family man from Indonesia. The mineral nickel is a key component in electric cars, a supposedly sustainable technology paid for by Pola and his village.

Photojournalist Amanda Mustard returns home to Pennsylvania to investigate the sexual abuse crimes committed by her grandfather. A visual whirlwind of memories from her family’s archive unravels a world of secrets through interviews, photographs and home movies. An eight-year cinematic journey, “Great Photo, Lovely Life” chronicles a granddaughter’s attempt to disrupt a cycle of intergenerational trauma through the voices of the survivors and her grandfather himself.

Over the course of two years, HOW WE GET FREE follows Elisabeth Epps as she works to abolish cash bail in Colorado.

Blending 40 years of home movies, raw film archive, and intimate present-day verité, a poignant reflection from Amy Ray & Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls – the iconic folk rock duo. A timely look into the obstacles, activism, and life lessons of two queer friends who never expected to make it big.

Jesselyn Silva, a 15-year-old girl from New Jersey, is a 3x national boxing champion. She has her sights set on becoming the best in boxing. Jess’s father, Pedro, navigates what it means to support his daughter’s dreams in an extremely dangerous sport. As Jess is on the cusp of making the Olympic team, she faces her toughest battle yet, a cancer diagnosis. JessZilla is a coming-of-age story about what it means to be a champion.

La Singla was born deaf and learned to dance flamenco without listening to music. At age 17, she revolutionized flamenco, but before turning 30 years old, she disappeared from the stage. Fifty years later, the time has come to tell her story.

A feature length documentary following a group of international women as they prepare for and perform in the Paris Philharmonic’s La Maestra competition for female orchestra conductors. Personal stories of survival, passion and perseverance are woven together with the drama and excitement of this one of a kind event created to break yet another glass ceiling for women.

For more than a hundred years, movie makeovers have promised audiences that with a little help, any ugly duckling can transform into the belle of the ball. Featuring clips from nearly a hundred films, MAKEOVER MOVIE immerses us in the candy-colored and kinetic world of the makeover montage. Alongside these iconic images, women of color and queer women reflect on the racialized, heteronormative, and contradictory beauty standards at the core of the movie makeover.

A decision delayed for decades allows a Kansas City family to finally unify when they do something that countless African Americans before them could not do—choose their own last name.

Periodical tells the unexpected story of the human body by exploring the marvel and mystery of the menstrual cycle, from first period to last. But this is not your middle school sex-ed class. Bringing you stories from soccer champions to scientists, from movie stars to young activists, Lina Lyte Plioplyte’s innovative mixed media storytelling uncovers shocking truths, challenges taboos, and celebrates the end of centuries of societal-enforced stigma.

A political thriller that reveals the power and influence of U.S. fundamentalist Evangelicals as they aim to fulfill the Armageddon prophecy.

Racial tensions are reignited as a historically Black neighborhood in Palm Springs fights to remove trees that many believe were originally planted as a totem of segregation. This intimate, sobering, and at times humorous investigation uncovers an even darker history that few would equate with the City’s progressive image.

Colorado Springs filmmaker Olive Van Eimeren returns to her childhood home of Grand Junction to confront her past and seek reconciliation withan abusive father in this searing coming-of-age story.

Subject explores the life-altering experience of sharing one’s life on screen through the participants of five acclaimed documentaries. As tens of millions of people consume documentaries in an unprecedented “golden era,” the film urges audiences to consider the impact on documentary participants – the good, the bad, and the complicated.

Three women forge a friendship by swimming daily at sunrise through the winter in Lake Michigan to cope with the pandemic.

Visual artist/muralist, Sydney G. James, addresses the status of Black women in society, police brutality, family and community through bold brushstrokes and hues that evoke the complexities of Black reality, joy, pain, and resilience. Inspired by personal experiences, current events and her hometown of Detroit, she invites conversations with family members and fellow artists as she creates a new work on canvas and transforms vacant walls into creative spaces.

In the short documentary film TEAM DREAM we meet close friends Ann Smith and Madeline Murphy Rabb in their final days of preparation for the 2022 National Senior Games. While they train, we learn about their lives growing up amid segregation and stigma before breaking boundaries in their adopted hometown Chicago. A decade after joining Team Dream, a Chicago-based organization training women of color in swimming, biking and triathlon, the two women continue to reach goals they never thought possible. When Misha, a former Division I swimmer, helps them with their starts and turns, the women help her find her way outside the pool. The film culminates with Ann and Madeline competing at the games in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. TEAM DREAM shows you’re never too old to dream.

The French Laundry, run by legendary chef Thomas Keller, has often been recognized as the best restaurant in the world, but few know the story of its original founder, Sally Schmitt. In an emotional final interview before her passing in March 2022, Sally tells her own story as a pioneering chef of California cuisine and sets the table for another way to look at life: where balance, rather than recognition, is the ultimate prize.

An honest, at times absurd, conversation about being a Black woman in America, “The Mirror” is a short animated film that weaves the personal stories, experiences and reflections of nine Black women talking about their interactions with white people.

A Ghanaian maintenance technician at a Virginia retirement community dreams of becoming an American citizen to provide a better life for his family. With their future at stake, he enlists the help of two elderly residents to prepare for the biggest test of his life: the US Citizenship exam.

Veteran actor Sharon Washington commits to writing a play about her fairytale childhood living inside a New York public library, but there’s an unforeseen cost – waking the family dragon she thought she’d silenced decades ago.

This personal account of the war in Ukraine was filmed in the first weeks after liberation of Bucha district. When Spring Came To Bucha follows several protagonists closely as they deal with the aftermath of a violent occupation on practical and psychological level. Stories about destroyed lives but also about humanity and hope, as the war in Ukraine continues to rage.

Adventurer, competitor, daughter, friend, pioneer, hero, and badass human are all words used to describe French kayaker, Nouria Newman. In Wild Waters, we follow Nouria as she prepares to become the first female to run a 100ft (30m) waterfall.

In this high school reunion movie turned inside out, filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo circles back to her tortured adolescence, wondering if she remembered it all wrong. Oscillating between present-day, real-world encounters and fantastical re-stagings of her most primal teen memories, YOU WERE MY FIRST BOYFRIEND is a hybrid documentary that explores growing older and making peace with the things that haunt us.

A film about fatness, family, the complexities of change and the deep, messy feeling we hold about our bodies.