Black Lens Narrative Shorts
A Real One
McKenzie Chinn
16 min, United States
Lauren and Keisha’s friendship is an “us against the world” type friendship. They’re 17 and live in a working class neighborhood on Chicago’s largely Black south side. Their friendship is tested when Lauren reveals a tightly-held secret to Keisha, and the two friends must take matters into their own hands in a landscape where the only thing they can truly count on is each other.
Us
David F. Fortune
14 min, United States
A devoted father experiences the highs and lows of teaching his son with down syndrome the sweet science of baseball. However, his patience is stretched as his child struggles to grasp the basic fundamentals of the sport they love.
The Vacation
Jarreau Carrillo
10 min, United States
In Flatbush, Brooklyn, four friends are stuck in their car after it breaks down on the way to the beach on the last day of the summer.
Jelly
Anndi Jinelle Liggett
11 min, United States
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.
Jerome
Gianfranco Fernández-Ruiz
15 min, United States
Basketball connects Jerome to his long-absent father, though not in the ways he wishes. As he struggles to accept his family’s shortcomings, Jerome questions who he and who he’ll become.
Boifriend
Rebecca Marquardt, Lane Michael Stanley
11 min, United States
A gay cis woman’s father is surprisingly happy when she brings her transmasc boyfriend home – but she soon realizes he’s only happy because she’s in a straight-passing relationship.