Saturday Documentary Shorts
A Call to Action: The Freedom Budget of 1966
Jenny Alexander 8 min United States
“A Call to Action: The Freedom Budget of 1966” tells the story of a little known grassroots push for guaranteed income during the civil rights movement.
Justice for Batman: The Mark Racop Case
Aidan Merck 13 min United States
Mark Racop, a batmobile maker from Indiana, is accused and raided by California police while being forced into a criminal court case.
Safe Place
Samuel-Ali Mirpoorian 20 min United States
A Southern Indiana man endures a fatal night of torture after being arrested for a routine traffic stop.
The Foundry
Robert Machoian 6 min United States
A five-minute piece of cinematic poetry, with no dialogue, where images of the people working in a Nephi, Utah, foundry convey the multifaceted metaphor of life as a pressure machine.
Jack & Sam
Jordan Matthew Horowitz 21 min United States
“Jack and Sam” is a poignant documentary about two Holocaust survivors miraculously reunited after 80 years. Now in their late 90s, they are spending the precious time they have left rekindling their friendship and teaching others about the dangers of hatred. This heartwarming story explores the enduring power of connection and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity.
Bendix: Site Unseen
Anthony Scalia 26 min United States
Surrounded by highway traffic sits the unassuming Bendix Diner, owned and operated by John Diakakis. As the blind, single father of three young children who also work at the diner, John attempts to address and overcome his obstacles in order to provide a better life for his family.
Kylie
Sterling Hampton 6 min United States Black Lens A young Black ballerina expresses her passion and pain as a dancer in the ballet community while performing in the inner-city neighborhoods of Los Angeles.
A.I. Art
William Green 6 min United States
With the advancement in Artificial Intelligence, art has been at the forefront of the discussion. If A.I. can produce images, what does that make of the artist?
The Blake
Courtney Sposato, Mark Sposato 15 min United States
In 1995, an elementary school art teacher converted an old bus into a replica of the Challenger space shuttle and used it as a science laboratory to teach kids about space. This cinematic memoir explores the filmmaker’s childhood experience with the shuttle and how it helped her cope with a huge loss.