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Posted Film Festivals

SXSW: 2025 Narrative Shorts Competition

24 Hours After Reading Tuesdays with Morrie
Director: Scott Tinkham
Grappling with one’s mortality can feel like being punched in the face. A bit disjointed but I appreciated how it embodied an existential panic attack.

Baba I’m Fine
Director: Karina Dandashi
Sweet story about a dad cheering up his teenage daughter after her breakup. Fun emo musical framing.

Ben’s Sister
Director: Emma Weinswig

Set in 2015 before a massive cultural shift took hold in America, this drama focuses on bored teens manipulating each other for the sake of a “scav hunt”. Not for everyone but intriguing time capsule nonetheless.

Brief Somebodies
Director: Andy Reid

Imaginative short examines the awkwardness of acting out intimate scenes. I enjoyed how this film examined how the two actors compartmentalize their characters and their real attraction to each other.

Entre Tormentas
Director: Fran Zayas

Quiet but powerful drama about a man on a mission to bring back the body of his brother who recently committed suicide. Drives home the message that we need to care for one another even someone dies.

Grandma’s Four Color Cards
Director: Sally Tran

Beautifully evokes the privilege of living a long life but also the daily struggle to keep going. Lovely performance by the 101 year old actress. Note to self: “a talking frog will bring good luck to your life.”

How Was Your Weekend?
Director: Cam Banfield

Corporate culture turns sinister when a worker dares to go off script when asked the question “how was your weekend?” Great concept and execution. Anyone with experience in the corporate world will relate to the pressure of maintaining office pleasantries especially when you don’t feel like it.

I’m The Most Racist Person I Know
Director: Leela Varghese

A sweet lesbian romance between two POC women. This honest exploration of internalized racism framed within a beautiful love story is quite restorative.

Max Distance
Director: Marissa Goldman

A quirky comedy about isolation in the Zoom age and the awkwardness of dating. A bit aimless but nonetheless enjoyable.

Nervous Energy
Director: Eve Liu

“Let’s make beautiful films.” Sometimes as a woman you need to get rid of negative energy to focus on your creative life. Cathartic. Intense.

One Day This Kid
Director: Alexander Farah

A young Arab Muslim’s life as a gay man comes in direct conflict with his conservative upbringing. Stunning film about breaking and mending familial ties. Powerful performance by the lead actor who plays the adult Hamed.

Out for Delivery
Director: Chelsea Christer

A dying woman arranges the delivery of her death with dignity medication and the pickup of her remains but mishaps get in the way. This dark comedy handles a delicate subject through an absurdist lens and demonstrates how automation removes the humanity from our collective experiences.

The Sentry
Director: Jake Wachtel

A murdered guard in Cambodia haunts the spy who killed him. I always appreciate when a short film can take one small trope and expand upon it. This film morphs from action thriller to buddy comedy to tenderhearted drama in the most satisfying way.

The Singers
Director: Sam Davis

A regular night at the dive bar turns into an impromptu singing competition. Evokes the idea that we never really know what talents lie within others. It has a beautiful slow build and will make you tear up by the end.

Strangers in the Same Shirt
Director: Anthon Chase Johnson

Common enemies (their dad, high school teacher Mrs. Abbott, tiresome wedding guests) unite estranged half-siblings at their dad’s third wedding. Seemingly simple story but with unexpected layers and a rather satisfying buildup.

Synthesize Me
Director: Bear Damen

A daughter dealing with the aftermath of her mother’s death reconnects with her memory by playing with her synthesizers much to her father’s dismay. Aptly depicts the danger of taking unregulated emotions out on the vulnerable.

Unholy
Director: Daisy Friedman

A young woman struggles at a family Passover Seder now that she can only eat through a feeding tube. The situation is particularly tenuous because food is such an integral part of the Jewish culture and makes the protagonist feel “unholy”. Superb little film. Audiences will find the painful awkwardness of family gatherings is so relatable.

WassupKaylee
Director: Pepi Ginsberg

The emotionally distant Kaylee @WassupKaylee joins a content house and forms a tenuous connection with another creator. The film depicts the content creators’ startling disconnect with reality and gives us a glimpse into a space where constant performance is expected and vulnerability is not.

Yú Cì (Fish Bones)
Director: Kevin Xian Ming Yu

A non-binary Asian-American reconnects with their closeted father after a fishing incident. This quiet slice-of-life movie says a lot with a little.

Black Barbie: A Documentary Miniature Animation Set | Credit: Bry Thomas Sanders, Animation DP
Posted BIPOC

SXSW: Black Barbie: A Documentary

The image of the blond, slim and white Barbie has been seared into our collective minds. With the Greta Gerwig movie starring Margot Robie on the horizon, Barbie has stepped back into the limelight as an important yet frivolous part of American culture. But what about Black Barbie? While the first ever Barbie doll was released in 1959, it took until 1980 for the debut of a Black Barbie. In fact, throughout history dolls have predominantly been white. When the toy industry pivoted to creating and marketing dolls with different skin colors, it was revolutionary. It’s still a work-in-progress and we’re many years from dolls being truly representative and the white Barbie to be considered the default “regular” Barbie. But Black Barbie… well she made some really important strides.

Twelve years in the making, Lagueria Davis’ debut film Black Barbie: A Documentary is an ambitious exploration of the impact Black Barbie has had over the past four decades as well as an examination of the complexities of racism and representation. Davis’ aunt, who worked for Mattel from the mid 1950s until the 1990s, was the inspiration for the project. She is interviewed extensively along with two notable Barbie designers, including Kitty Black Perkins who designed the first Black Barbie, as well as various other experts and commentators. Interviews take place on colorful and vibrant sets making it look like the subject is in a makeshift doll house. Various Barbie dolls are used as puppets in fun animation sequences

What really impressed me about this documentary is how it approaches its subject from so many angles. It’s not just a historical documentary on the history of Black Barbie. There are numerous deeply personal, philosophical and psychological discussions about the subject matter that are all done in a way that add something important to the conversation. All of these elements are pieced together in a way that keeps the audience engaged. You don’t have to even be interested in Black Barbie to be completely engrossed with this documentary. It’s just that good.

Black Barbie: A Documentary premiered at the 2023 SXSW Film and TV Festival.

Posted BIPOC

Sundance: Little Richard: I Am Everything

“I let it all hang out… every bit.”

Little Richard

Little Richard was a Rock ‘n’ Roll icon. He called himself the “brown Liberace” but really he couldn’t be compared with anyone else. He was a groundbreaking in his delivery and had a style all his own. He rocked a pencil thin mustache, a tall bouffant and his signature wardrobe. Songs like Good Golly Miss Molly, Tutti Frutti and Long Tall Sally have become bonafide classics. But Little Richard was never really given his due for just how influential he was.His explosive energy made him a force to be reckoned with on stage and inspired countless musicians including  The Beatles, Elvis, David Bowie, James Brown, The Rolling Stones and more.

A new documentary sets out to set the record straight about who Little Richard really was. Directed by Lisa Cortés, Little Richard: I Am Everything paints the portrait of a man who was a walking contradiction. The film goes into depth about his music career, his early influences, how he molded his image and took the nation by storm and the many times he went unrecognized for being a trailblazer. It also explores LIttle Richard’s sexuality and how it often conflicted with his deeply religious beliefs.

The documentary is a bit on the long side and includes some stylistic elements and flourishes that seemed unnecessary.  And ending felt rushed. With that said, the film was quite engrossing. It does a tremendous job demonstrating his impact on the industry as well as the dichotomy between his private and public life. 

Talking heads include Mick Jagger, John Waters, Billy Porter, Tom Jones, Nile Rodgers, scholars, historians, family members and more.

Little Richard: I Am Everything premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. It will air on CNN and stream on HBO Max at a future date.

Posted BIPOC

Double Exposure: Hazing

Directed by Byron Hurt, Hazing explores the brutal culture of hazing with a particular focus on HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). Hurt meditates on his own experience with hazing in a fraternity to explore why hazing, despite it being illegal in many states, still persists in college culture. Several victims who have died as a result of hazing are profiled. Their stories are harrowing and you can’t help but feel for their families. These needless deaths are a result of an ingrained culture in which young people are socialized to endure violence as a means of attaining respect in their given group.  The initiated blindly trust the upperclassmen who then put them through barbaric rituals for no reason other than attaining pleasure from their own gross abuse of power.

Hazing has an important message to convey but it can get lost in a documentary format that is too long and a bit muddled. 

Recommended viewing: For Men Only (1952)

Hazing was part of the 2022 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival.

Posted BIPOC

Mill Valley Film Festival: Town Destroyer

Directed by Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman, Town Destroyer examines the contentious debate around Victor Arnautoff’s The Life of Washington. This 13 panel mural decorates the walls of George Washington High School in San Francisco, California. Installed in 1936, the murals tell the story of George Washington and includes images of violence against Native Americans and African Americans. Some see the art as subversive. By painting the scenes, Arnautoff seems to be both telling history and criticizing it. Others find the murals incredibly offensive and believe the art is perpetrating harmful stereotypes and further traumatizing minorities.

This film follows the recent battle among those who believe the mural should remain and others who believe it should be painted over. Many arguments are made and the documentary does an excellent job not taking sides. It’s up for the viewer to draw their own conclusion.

Town Destroyer is a fascinating documentary about the debate between free speech and social justice told through the lens of one controversial piece of art.

This documentary was screened at the 2022 Mill Valley Film Festival.

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