DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILMS

Estimated 2024 run time = 140 minutes – 6:30 program ends circa 8:55 pm.  Rating: PG/PG13.  3:00 Encore screening ends circa 5:20 + add additional 20-30 minutes for audience discussion.

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NAI NAI & WAI PO
Sean Wang, USA, 2023, 17 min, in Mandarin with English subs.

“Nǎi Nai is my grandma. Wài Pó is also my grandma.”

A personal love letter from director Sean Wang, the film provides a humorous peek into the lives of two ordinary but extraordinary grandmothers who refuse to allow their zest for life to diminish with age.

Wang captures the essence of his Chinese grandmothers’ character with their playful banter, quiet moments of care, and quick narrative bits. It’s the best kind of human interest piece – tender, honest, and inspirational. Though only 17 minutes long, it’s packed with a handful of important life lessons about joy, life, death, health and relationships.

Winner:
Grand Jury Prize, South by Southwest (SXSW)
Audience Award, South by Southwest (SXSW)
Grand Jury Prize,  Seattle Intl Film Festival (SIFF)
Best Documentary Short, AFI Fest

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THE BARBER OF LITTLE ROCK
John Hoffman & Christine Turner, USA, 2023, 35 min.

Illustrating the art of the possible, The Barber of Little Rock explores the power of community action in the face of America’s widening racial wealth gap.

Starting with the role of the barbershop in the Black community as a gathering place, we meet Arlo Washington who became a self-made success as a local barber (friend, lay therapist and spiritual guide). His visionary approach to a just economy can be found in the mission of People Trust, the nonprofit community bank he founded.

Awards:
Winner, Legacy Award, Ind Shorts International Film Festival
Nominee, Best Short Doc, Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards
Nominee, Best Short Doc, Social Impact Media Awards

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ISLAND IN BETWEEN
Leo Chiang, Taiwan, 2023, 20 min, in English and Mandarin w/ English subs.

Set in Taiwan’s frontline island of Kinmen (aka Quemoy) amid rising tensions with China, filmmaker Leo Chiang weaves lyrical glimpses of local life and his personal experience with the propaganda of Taiwan, China, and the US.

Now connected with China by ferry, the people of Kinmen are Taiwanese citizens but avoid adoption of ideological nationalism – saying they belong to the “island in between.” Suggesting the possibility of peace in the region, Island In Between explores the interconnection of people in the face of an  uncertain future.

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THE ABCs OF BOOK BANNING
Sheila Nevins, USA, 2023, 27 min.

Over 2000 books have been removed from libraries and classrooms in American school districts, with numbers rising dramatically. The ABCs of Book Banning explores the present and future human toll of depriving children of their right to read.

In this timely hot-button documentary, Sheila Nevins presents voices seldom heard in the discussion – interviewing actual students – in a fresh and inspiring approach. We are introduced to young people who desire to learn about our complex world – via access to vital titles on social issues, wars, and the realities of growing up. Wanting to read and feed their curiosity, these inquisitive kids make more sense than many adults, offering hope for the future of intellectual freedom.

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THE LAST REPAIR SHOP   OSCAR WINNER
Ben Proudfoot & Kris Bowers, USA/Canada, 2023, 39 min.

Uplifting and inspiring, The Last Repair Shop tells the story of four unassuming heroes who ensure no student is deprived of the joy of music.

There once were dozens of repair shops in America, restoring instruments for use by young people who cannot afford pricey instruments. Now there is only one. This is a powerful reminder of how music can be the best medicine and a route out of poverty.

Also from Ben Proudfoot:
A Concerto is a Conversation, 2021 Oscar Short Doc Nominee; and The Queen of Basketball, 2022 Oscar Short Doc Winner.

Awards:
Winner, Best Documentary Short Film, 2024 Academy Awards
Winner, Best Short Documentary, Critic’s Choice Documentary Awards
Nominee, Best Short Film, Astra Film Awards
Nominee, Best Original Score for Short Film, Hollywood Music in Media Awards
Nominee, Outstanding Short Film, Black Reel Awards

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ANIMATED SHORT FILMS

Estimated 2024 run time = 80 minutes with bonus shorts. Est. finish circa 4:55 pm.   NOTE: Not for children under 13. Rating: mixed PG-13 / R. 

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OUR UNIFORM
Yegane Moghaddam, Iran, 2023, 7 min, in Farsi w/ English subs.

“This uniform is more than just a piece of clothing. It is a text to be decoded. A manifest against women, a denial of choice”  For many, clothing is a part of self-expression but how does wearing a uniform affect how one perceives oneself?

An Iranian girl recalls school-age memories through the wrinkles and fabrics of her old uniform, quite literally. Rather than using paper, canvas, or a digital medium, in a return to 2D and stop-motion techniques, Moghaddam painted directly on the cloth used for making hijabs to tell the story of a character who dreams of a better future.

Awarded the Diversity Prize at SPARK ANIMATION 2023; the Grand Prize at CINANIMA 2023 & Espinho City Award.

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LETTER TO A PIG
Tal Kantor & Amit Gicelter, Israel/France, 2022, 17 min., in Hebrew w/ English subs. 

A Holocaust survivor reads a letter he wrote to the pig who saved his life. A young schoolgirl hears his testimony in class and afterwards has a twisted dream where she confronts questions of identity, collective trauma, and the extremes of human nature.

Rendered in traditional rotoscope, ink wash and line sketch animation and live-action, Letter to a Pig is a metaphor for transferring hate into love and forgiveness, capturing how memory, reality, and the subconscious intertwine and influence each other.

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PACHYDERME
Stéphanie Clément, France, 2022, 11 min, in French w/ English subs.

Every summer, Louise is entrusted to her grand-parents for a few days of vacation in the country. The green grass of the garden, the swimming in the lake, the fishing with Grandpa, everything seems as sweet as Grandma’s strawberry pies. Yet this year, the snow will fall in summer and a monster will die – changing Louise forever.
Stunning visuals, framing technique, narrative twists and palpable tension paint the portrait of a young girl trapped in a traumatic situation. The symbolic, dreamlike aspects of the film makes it possible to deal with the memory of domestic abuse, although nothing is said explicitly but only suggested. As a child, you should be able to trust the adults in your life, but unfortunately this isn’t always the case – exactly as we see in Pachyderme when a woman looks back at her childhood stays with her grandparents with a mix of nostalgia and anguish.

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NINETY-FIVE SENSES
Jerusha & Jared Hess, USA, 2023, 13 min.

An ode to the body’s five senses delivered by a man with little time left to enjoy them, it condenses the experience of life into its most potent memories all while deftly shifting between the nostalgia of the past and the pain of regret.

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WAR IS OVER
(Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko)
Dave Mullins, USA, 2023, 11 min.

Set in WWI where a senseless war rages on, two soldiers on opposite sides of the conflict play a joyful game of chess. A heroic carrier pigeon delivers the soldiers’ chess moves over the battlefield as the fighting escalates.

Sixteen years into the highly controversial Vietnam War, The Beatles’ John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono released “Happy X-Mas (War Is Over)” as a protest. Fifty-two years later, the famed couple’s son, Sean Ono Lennon, working from his parents’ song, assembled a team of talented storytellers and animators to create an anti-war short film and plea for peace, as overseas wars like those in Gaza and Ukraine continue to produce unspeakable horrors against humanity. 

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BONUS SHORTS

I’M HIP
John Musker, USA, 2023, 4 min.

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WILD SUMMONS
Karni Arieli & Saul Freed, UK, 2023, 14 min., narrated by Marianne Faithfull.

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