Two Daughters

Ian James has been creating leather goods for nearly a decade, but only recently realized his dream of opening his own shop. When James got laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic, he took the plunge and opened his namesake boutique in San Francisco. James calls the shop—which includes both custom pieces and items that can be bought off the shelf—a “safe space for black people,” where culturally relatable creativity blooms in a gentrifying neighborhood.

Chris Renfro doesn’t just grow and harvest grapes on a hillside high above San Francisco’s Highway 280 to make delicious local wine. He is dedicated to building a sustainable food community that nourishes every member of the local economy and ecosystem. With the 280 Project’s mission to reclaim space, realize opportunity and revitalize community, Renfro brings both passion and vision to the notion that land ownership is a powerful path to self-determination.

Afatasi The Artist is a San Francisco based mixed-media conceptual artist and futurist. Her artwork—which includes textiles and fine art tapestry, small paintings and murals, metal work and clothing design—is a continuous exploration of the intersectionality of race, culture, gender, class, and geopolitics. “I like to create these things because there were so many who weren’t allowed to live this loudly,” Afatasi says, "and I know how much better the world would be if they had.”

A look at the unusual process used in the making of the film Shortbus (2006) featuring interviews, behind the scenes footage and clips from the feature film. Director John Cameron Mitchell starts with the concept of using real sex in a film with a positive message. The cast of unknowns is selected from homemade audition tapes and then a callback audition workshop. More acting workshops are used to develop the characters and script. The project overcomes a number of obstacles and the rest of the film's development is followed up until its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

A documentary that reflects on people sickened by chemical dependency. The patients, admitted to the Casa de Eurípedes clinic, along with family members and staff, report on their experiences, existence and challenges during the rehabilitation process.

Mother and son turned killers. Mama's Boy is a true crime Australian documentary investigating what drove Samantha Brownlow to convince her son Corey Lovell to murder her stepfather.

In the void created ad hoc to throw us into desperation, fear, shock, the torment of an infinite present, Arto Lindsay sings with words, silences and small gestures of/with/for/about love, a force that is so violent that nothing will ever be the same again.

Presence narrates the journey of Thati, a woman determined to overcome her anxiety attacks through surfing. She finds refuge in the waves, where the surfboard becomes her ally and personal therapy.

In ancient Russian mythology Sirin is a bird with the head of a woman, a Slavic image of the Greek sirens. The ensemble of ancient Russian sacred music "Sirin" was created to revive ancient Orthodox singing traditions. It is an outstanding musical project performing folk sacred songs. The film tells about the unique work of musicians collecting half-forgotten melodies in the most remote corners of Russia.

OnBoard is a brilliant chronicle of the rise of Black women on America's boards and the evolution of board diversity from Patricia Roberts Harris in 1971 to the present day, as seen through the eyes of a group of fearless women organized during the Summer of 2020 to create change. Merline Saintil, a former Tech COO and Robin Washington, a former CFO, were well-known in the boardrooms of America. During an ordinary phone call between the two women, something extraordinary happened– the movement to create an organization to expand the opportunity and exposure of Black women who can impact America's boards. Black Women on Boards, the now global organization of 200+ members, was conceived at that moment.

This short explores the possibility that Louis XVII, son of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, escaped death during the French Revolution and was raised by Indians in America.