2023 Selections

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 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.

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.

Two cousins born in separate countries reunite in Brooklyn when a run-in with an ex turns the night into a mission of revenge.

Marielitos is a Mexican immigrant nanny struggling with the last days of her current nanny job, and trying to find a new one.

Teenager Ly and her cousins get high before a boisterous family Thanksgiving at their auntie’s house in southeast San Diego in 2006.

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 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 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.

Expecting their first child, a married couple struggles to find romance and connection while building a new life together in America.

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A black sheep attempts to eulogize her mother with a story about pigeons.

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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.

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.

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

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

A passionate baklava baker encounters a savvy ladoo maker on the streets of Brooklyn.

Spirit of Tide Award Winner

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.

A Haitian demolition worker is faced with the realities of redevelopment as he is tasked with dismantling his rapidly gentrifying neighborhood.

A queer young man uses hook-up apps to find HIV medication for his undocumented father.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.