2023 Selections
Look Back At It
Directed by:
Felicia Pride
12 mins
Friday, Nov 17, 2023
6:00 PM
Shorts Program 1: Opening Night
BRIC
A forty-something single mother gets her groove back with a little assistance from her teenage daughter. LOOK BACK AT IT is set in Baltimore and also serves as a proof of concept for a feature film of the same name.
FACETIME
Directed by:
Esther Yun Kong
6 mins
Friday, Nov 17, 2023
6:00 PM
Shorts Program 1: Opening Night
BRIC
FACETIME is a documentary that has experimental qualities, which contributes to the goal of visualizing the limits and expansions of digital technology, specifically online video calling systems.
Headdress
Directed by:
Taietsarón:sere 'Tai' Leclaire
10 mins
Friday, Nov 17, 2023
6:00 PM
Shorts Program 1: Opening Night
BRIC
When a Queer Native Person at a music festival sees a Non-Native person wearing a ceremonial headdress, they retreat into their mind to find the perfect insult.
Cousins
Directed by:
Karina Dandashi
13 mins
Friday, Nov 17, 2023
6:00 PM
Shorts Program 1: Opening Night
BRIC
Two cousins born in separate countries reunite in Brooklyn when a run-in with an ex turns the night into a mission of revenge.
Comadre
Directed by:
Nicole Chi
19 mins
Friday, Nov 17, 2023
6:00 PM
Shorts Program 1: Opening Night
BRIC
Marielitos is a Mexican immigrant nanny struggling with the last days of her current nanny job, and trying to find a new one.
When You Left Me on That Boulevard
Directed by:
Kayla Abuda Galang
13 mins
Friday, Nov 17, 2023
6:00 PM
Shorts Program 1: Opening Night
BRIC
Teenager Ly and her cousins get high before a boisterous family Thanksgiving at their auntie’s house in southeast San Diego in 2006.
Sèt Lam
Directed by:
Vincent Fontano
20 mins
Friday, Nov 17, 2023
6:00 PM
Shorts Program 1: Opening Night
BRIC
In an insular city’s ghetto, in the midst of a trance ritual, a young girl is paralysed by fear. She is afraid her loved ones may be hurt or even disappear. It is then that her grandmother tells her the strange tale of Edwardo, the first one of his kin to have seen and fought death. The child is captivated, feeling that there is a reason her grandmother is recounting this tale.
Soon Come Back
Directed by:
Nande Walters
16 mins
Saturday, Nov 18, 2023
2:00 PM
Shorts Program 2
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
Soon Come Back is a poetic documentary about migration’s effect on my family’s relationships to “home” in Jamaica and the US, and my feelings of alienation being a child of the diaspora.
Best Documentary Film Award Winner
Jelly
Directed by:
Anndi Jinelle Liggett
10 mins
Saturday, Nov 18, 2023
2:00 PM
Shorts Program 2
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
Jelly is a magical-realist coming-of-age about Jelly Johnson, a young, Black girl with a peculiar fascination with death. While trying to solve the mysterious case of a missing neighbor, she comes to terms with a more personal disappearance in the process. Narrated by André Holland.
Post Term
Directed by:
Saleem Nasir Gondal
17 mins
Saturday, Nov 18, 2023
2:00 PM
Shorts Program 2
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
Expecting their first child, a married couple struggles to find romance and connection while building a new life together in America.
Rizoo
Directed by:
Azadeh Navai
16 mins
Saturday, Nov 18, 2023
2:00 PM
Shorts Program 2
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
Mandarins
Directed by:
Chelsie Pennello
15 mins
Saturday, Nov 18, 2023
2:00 PM
Shorts Program 2
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
A black sheep attempts to eulogize her mother with a story about pigeons.
It Smells Like Springtime
Directed by:
Mackie Mallison
17 mins
Saturday, Nov 18, 2023
2:00 PM
Shorts Program 2
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
Say Something
Directed by:
Jiin Oh
13 mins
Saturday, Nov 18, 2023
4:30 PM
Shorts Program 3
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
Fresh from Seoul, a teen girl struggles to find a connection in her new home until she sees the church band’s floppy-haired drummer and strikes up a daring idea to get his attention.
August Visitor
Directed by:
Ifeyinwa Arinze
11 mins
Saturday, Nov 18, 2023
4:30 PM
Shorts Program 3
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
When her widowed mother has a male friend over for dinner, an observant Nigerian American teenager acts out, which leads her to a deeper perception of her mother.
All I Know
Directed by:
Obinna Robert Onyeri
16 mins
Saturday, Nov 18, 2023
4:30 PM
Shorts Program 3
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
A young man’s determination to know the whereabouts of his dear friend puts him at risk of exposing their secret.
Best Director Award Winner
Honolulu
Directed by:
Maya Tanaka
15 mins
Saturday, Nov 18, 2023
4:30 PM
Shorts Program 3
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
Flaming lobsters and menstruation woes plague 12-year-old Yuki’s doomed Hawai'ian beach vacation. As tensions boil over, she, her aloof father and elegant grandmother battle bright red sunburns and the seemingly mundane family scuffles that manage to leave behind the deepest scars.
Best Narrative Award Winner
Sweet Refuge
Directed by:
Maryam Mir
12 mins
Saturday, Nov 18, 2023
4:30 PM
Shorts Program 3
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
A passionate baklava baker encounters a savvy ladoo maker on the streets of Brooklyn.
Spirit of Tide Award Winner
Primos
Directed by:
Ricardo Varona
22 mins
Saturday, Nov 18, 2023
4:30 PM
Shorts Program 3
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
During a teenage road trip to the west coast of Puerto Rico, 16-year-old Cristóbal begins to suspect that his crush, Yazmín, and cousin Marcos are secretly seeing each other.
Mountains
Directed by:
Monica Sorelle
1 hr 35 mins
Saturday, Nov 18, 2023
7:00 PM
Feature Film
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
A Haitian demolition worker is faced with the realities of redevelopment as he is tasked with dismantling his rapidly gentrifying neighborhood.
Cemented Roses
Directed by:
Andrew J Rodriguez
10 mins
Sunday, Nov 19, 2023
3:00 PM
Shorts Program 4
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
A queer young man uses hook-up apps to find HIV medication for his undocumented father.
Blue Veil
Directed by:
Shireen Alihaji
6 mins
Sunday, Nov 19, 2023
3:00 PM
Shorts Program 4
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
In the wake of 9/11, a First-Gen Muslim teenager discovers her mother’s record collection. As music unlocks memories, Amina discovers who she is.
Video Funeral
Directed by:
Linh Tran
21 mins
Sunday, Nov 19, 2023
3:00 PM
Shorts Program 4
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
Lam, a Vietnamese international student, welcomes her younger sister, Phuong, to her Chicago apartment. Phuong brings a DVD of their father’s funeral, which Lam could not attend.
Azikiwe Mohammed is a Guy Who Makes Stuff
Directed by:
Brian Redondo
10 mins
Sunday, Nov 19, 2023
3:00 PM
Shorts Program 4
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
Animated by Mohammed's humor and energy, this short documentary film captures an artist charting a creative path uniquely his own, sharing the fruits of his labor with the communities of New York City.
Tonight, We Eat Flowers
Directed by:
Bettina Escauriza
22 mins
Sunday, Nov 19, 2023
3:00 PM
Shorts Program 4
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
Luis, a recent immigrant and former doctor, works a soulless job selling hold music to corporations while saving money to get certified in EMS. Jamilah, a brilliant gourmet stuck working in a cubicle hellscape dreams of a life of sensuality, color, and flavor.
Invasive Species
Directed by:
Annie Ning
13 mins
Sunday, Nov 19, 2023
3:00 PM
Shorts Program 4
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
A young Asian American sound artist grapples with her anxiety as it takes on new extremes at her first ever artist's residency. A horror film about imposter syndrome, communal eating, and performance.
Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
Directed by:
Michele Stephenson and Joe Brewster
1 hr 43 mins
Sunday, Nov 19, 2023
6:00 PM
Closing Night
BRIC
Through intimate vérité, archival footage, and visually innovative treatments of her poetry, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project pushes the boundaries of biographical documentary film by traveling through time and space to reveal the enduring influence of one of America’s greatest living artists and social commentators.