Short Films


A VERY FRAGILE THING
A VERY FRAGILE THING

African Studies  Peace & Conflict  Political Science  World History  Short Films  2024 

What happens when we choose to define ourselves according to our differences? "A Very Fragile Thing" offers a cautionary tale for any society wracked with distrust and division via a first-person journey into the origins of a civil war that has claimed the
lives of half a million Ethiopians since 2020. 


MISS ALMA THOMAS: a life in color
MISS ALMA THOMAS: a life in color

2022  American Studies  American History  Art History  African-American Studies  Education  Short Films  Directed by Women  Women's Studies 

Alma W. Thomas, a Black woman painter, broke color barriers on and off the canvas, yet did not receive national attention until she was 80 years old. “Miss Alma Thomas” is the first documentary film that explores Thomas’ incredible life through the lens of curators, art specialists, scholars, and her family.  


SO DEAR, SO LOVELY
SO DEAR, SO LOVELY

2021  Directed by Women  Middle Eastern Studies  Sociology  Short Films  Sensory Ethnography Lab  Peace & Conflict  Cinema Studies  2022 

In this two-part tour through the streets of Lebanon, a colorful Palestinian cab driver offers offhand insight into the region’s fraught political and social climate through boisterous serenades and excitable outbursts.

LIMBO
LIMBO

2021  Latin-American Studies  Spanish Language  Indigenous Studies  Short Films  Sensory Ethnography Lab 

An oneiric journey through Alex's life as a former guerrilla leads to a reckoning with the devil inside of him. His only cure is ayahuasca,  sacred plant used by the indigenous community where he comes from. As both a perpetrator and victim, Alex exemplifies the complexity of the Colombian conflict and the difficulties of simply moving on.  

THE EARLY WORKS OF ANA VAZ: 2007-2016
THE EARLY WORKS OF ANA VAZ: 2007-2016

Anthropology  Environmental Studies  Directed by Women  Latin-American Studies  Short Films  2020 

This collection of eight early films by Brazilian artist and filmmaker Ana Vaz proposes a critical reflection on the relationship between colonialism, modernity and the impending ecological disaster. At the core of the collection is a cycle of works that explore the colonial and post-colonial exchange between Europe and the Americas.

MEMORIES OF DESIRE
MEMORIES OF DESIRE

2019  Cinema Studies  Directed by Women  Human Sexuality  Photography  Short Films  Women's Studies 

Feminist filmmaker Victoria Schultz captures the memory of her own past, trying to become a writer while becoming entangled in erotic and frightening encounters with an older man. A #MeToo film that stretches back to one woman's memory growing up in the 1950s.

OCCUPATION 1968
OCCUPATION 1968

2019  Anthropology  Cinema Studies  Directed by Women  Eastern Europe  Europe  Peace & Conflict  Russia  Short Films  World History 

An anthology documentary consisting of five short films on the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, each by a different director from the five countries that participated in the occupation. 


I'VE GOT A LITTLE PROBLEM
I'VE GOT A LITTLE PROBLEM

2018  Art History  Cultural Studies  LGBTQ  Asian Studies  Cinema Studies  Short Films  Human Sexuality 

I’ve Got a Little Problem chronicles internationally renowned photographer and poet Ren Hang’s struggle with Chinese censorship, painful public scrutiny, and manic depression, that eventually sent his life spiraling out of control.

WHIPPING ZOMBIE
WHIPPING ZOMBIE

2018  African Studies  Anthropology  Dance  Music  Short Films  Cinema Studies 

In a remote Haitian village there is a dance with slaves and masters: the whipping zombie ritual. To trance-inducing music played by rara bands, men whip and fight until they die and are reborn in the infinite cycle.



BASHIR'S VISION
BASHIR'S VISION

Cultural Studies  African Studies  Disabilities  Loud Roar Productions  2017  Short Films 

Bashir Ramathan worked as a laborer until losing his sight. Destitute and depressed, boxing saved Bashir, now an advocate for the rights of people living with disabilities around Uganda. This uplifting short documentary will remind audiences that if there’s something you want to achieve in life, nothing should stop you.

RESOLUTE
RESOLUTE

2017  Cultural Studies  Environmental Studies  Family Relations  Indigenous Studies  Loud Roar Productions  Political Science  World History  Short Films 

Zipporah was a girl when her family was among the eighty Inuit to be sent to the high arctic by the Canadian government. Through haunting interviews, archival footage and experimental animation, Resolute tells a story familiar to thousands of indigenous families in Canada and beyond.

KIDS OF THE ROCKET SIREN
KIDS OF THE ROCKET SIREN

2017  Children & Young Adult  Jewish Studies  Loud Roar Productions  Middle Eastern Studies  Peace & Conflict  Short Films 

Reality for the kids who live in Sderot, an Israeli town that neighbors the Gaza strip, is a constant reminder that they are in the midst of a deadly conflict. Kids of the Rocket Siren melds verite, interviews and archival to document the kids who have grown up with rocket shelters, sirens and deadly blasts.

NEVER FAR FROM HOME
NEVER FAR FROM HOME

2017  American Studies  Anthropology  Children & Young Adult  Loud Roar Productions  Short Films 

This simple vérité film takes viewers on a journey to the backwoods of Southern Georgia. The kids are never far from home and live, like their grandfathers before them, out in the sticks with traditions routed in nature the forefront of their existences.

CONVERSATIONS WITH A DEAD PRIME MINISTER
CONVERSATIONS WITH A DEAD PRIME MINISTER

World History  Religion & Spirituality  Political Science  Loud Roar Productions  2017  Short Films 

An engaging cinematic portrait of one of Canada’s most eccentric prime ministers, Mackenzie King, who led a secret life conducting séances and speaking with the dead.

LA LAGUNA
LA LAGUNA

2016  Latin-American Studies  Environmental Studies  Indigenous Studies  Anthropology  Children & Young Adult  Family Relations  Short Films  Cultural Studies  Spanish Language 

An immersive, visually stunning portrait of a childhood on the margins of society by Emmy-nominated director Aaron Schock, La Laguna documents the remarkable journey undertaken by a Mayan adolescent as he tries to navigates the changing world around him in the endangered rainforests of southern Mexico.

50 FEET FROM SYRIA
50 FEET FROM SYRIA

2016  Short Films  Peace & Conflict  Disabilities  Medicine  Middle Eastern Studies  Death & Dying 

A gripping and timely snapshot that provides a glimpse into the plight of Syrian refugees, 50 Feet from Syria uncovers the humanitarian efforts of a Syrian-American orthopedic surgeon who travels to the Turkish border to volunteer to operate on victims of the civil war.

JOANNA
JOANNA

Eastern Europe  Family Relations  Health  Death & Dying  Women's Studies  2015  Academy Award Winners & Nominees  Short Films  Medicine  Directed by Women 

2015 Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Short Subject, Joanna is a tender and heartbreaking portrait of a young wife and mother facing terminal cancer who, wishing to leave something behind for her eight-year-old son, begins writing an online journal that resonates with and becomes embraced by millions of devoted readers.

PRISON TERMINAL: the last days of private jack hall
PRISON TERMINAL: the last days of private jack hall

Short Films  2014  Academy Award Winners & Nominees  Psychology & Psychiatry  Health  Death & Dying  Criminal & Law  American Studies  Aging / Gerontology  African-American Studies 

2014 Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Short Subject, Prison Terminal is an extraordinary chronicle of death and dignity behind bars, an incredibly moving story of a terminally ill prisoner's final days and the hospice volunteers (prisoners themselves) who care for him. Issues surrounding America's aging prison population and the profound impact hospice programs can have on the lives of the incarcerated are explored in this remarkable film.

KARAMA HAS NO WALLS
KARAMA HAS NO WALLS

Middle Eastern Studies  Political Science  World History  Media Studies  Peace & Conflict  Short Films  2014  Academy Award Winners & Nominees  The Arab Spring  Directed by Women 

2014 Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Short Subject, Karama Has No Walls is a gripping, eye-witness account of a tragic day that changed the course of the revolution in Yemen; when pro-government snipers opened fired on a peaceful gathering of protesters, sparking national outrage and ultimately leading to the end of 33 years of autocratic rule.

INOCENTE
INOCENTE

2013  Academy Award Winners & Nominees  Chicano Studies  Short Films  Women's Studies  Education  Directed by Women  Immigration 

2013 Academy Award Winner for Best Documentary Short Subject! The moving and inspiring story of a remarkable 15-year-old girl, homeless and undocumented, but fiercely pursuing her dream of becoming an artist. An essential documentary that confronts issues of teen homelessness, immigration and the importance of arts education in this country.

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