“My dad lost his best friend. More than his best friend, really. He lost his little brother. He’s never been one to cry or truly show any form of sadness in public, but I could see and feel how much my uncle’s sudden death really got to him. I wasn’t very good at comforting him with my words, so I did what I knew best – I created art. The point of this short was to help him heal and, in the process, help others heal by saying that life is unexpected and sudden and at times confusing; but as long as you cherish every memory and moment like the last, you’ll make the best of what life has to offer and you will bring joy to the lives of others. I hope this short makes you feel something the way that it made my dad stop holding back his tears and let them flow, healthily and therapeutically. I hope it makes you call your best friend to tell them you love them and thank them for loving you. I hope you know that this letter to my dad is a message to us all: surrounding ourselves with good only begets more goodness, and… don’t we all want just a tiny bit more goodness in our lives?”

Rising Star Award Winner Camrus Johnson’s acting career has recently taken off with leading male role of Luke Fox in The CW’s newest series BATWOMAN and Warner Brothers’ summer hit THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR, playing the role of Omar. He’s now partnered with Pedro Piccinini to create his first animated short, with his own separate live-action short film and comic book series coming soon!

Pedro Piccinini is a visual designer and animator, currently doodling his thoughts from the green mountains of Vermont.

 

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“My first evening in Club Quarantine, I kept my camera off. I was anxious about having my face broadcast to hundreds of strangers on the internet. But quickly that fear was replaced with awe; I attended the party each evening and increasingly became comfortable with my camera on. Whenever I logged onto Club Quarantine, hundreds of beautiful, brightly lit boxes twinkled at me. As a young queer person coming into my own identity, gay clubs have been my refuge. In college I would frequent a predominantly Latinx gay club in Pomona, Calif., called 340. There I experienced a sense of ease and safety that I could not find elsewhere. My friends and I grew into ourselves in that club. When the pandemic began, I found similar comfort in Club Quarantine. Historically, nightlife has been one of the few safe spaces for the queer community. It is no surprise that in this time of devastation, queer people have once again sought community in the club, albeit a virtual one. The nightly parties lasted for nearly four months, and in June 2020 they came to an end. Club Quarantine still exists, but the parties happen weekly now. As life begins to creep back to normal, I feel nostalgic for that time. In the midst of such intense isolation, my life came alive each evening as I was absorbed in a glittering world of queer people all seeking to connect.”

Aurora Brachman is an award-winning documentary filmmaker drawn to stories about intimate relationships within families and communities. Her film Club Quarantine, about a virtual queer dance party, premiered on the New York Times Op-Docs. And her short documentary, Joychild, about a young gender-expansive child, was acquired by The New Yorker, broadcast on POV, and shortlisted for an IDA Award. Her work has screened at numerous festivals including Sundance, True/False, Hot Docs, AFI Docs, DOC NYC, and selected for Vimeo Staff Picks. Aurora primarily makes work about the experiences of Black, brown, and Queer people and is committed to collaborative and ethical storytelling. Aurora is a graduate of the MFA program in Documentary Film at Stanford University, a 2020 Sundance Ignite Fellow, and a 2022 SFFilm House Resident. She is also the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship in filmmaking. She currently works as a producer for A24.

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“I first became interested in mass incarceration and problems with the American justice system after volunteering with a soccer team that played against men housed at San Quentin State Prison in California. I was inspired by many of those men and the inmate-run programs they have developed in an effort to maintain their humanity in the face of a violent and toxic system. This experience prompted me to learn more about the history of mass incarceration and the prison abolition movement led in part by professor and activist Angela Davis. I began to notice that many images of incarcerated people in the media reinforce old stereotypes and entrenched systems of power – and I sought to make a film that would counter those images. Although the US has developed a prison-industrial complex that has locked up more people than any other nation on earth, many Americans remain disconnected from the communities most impacted by that system. I hope that art and film can connect otherwise disjointed communities and shine some light on the broken system we’ve built.”

Originally from Sudbury, MA, Ted Griswold earned a BA in Latin American and Iberian Cultures from Columbia University in 2010. He then went to teach English in Honduras, where he was inspired to film his first documentary, Olancho. In 2020 he earned an MFA in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University, where he directed four short documentaries that explore the relationship between masculinity, violence and the performance of each. He now lives in Long Beach, CA with his partner and a charm of hummingbirds.

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“I made this film because I’m sober and I wanted to share aspects of my experience with others. I found the process of understanding my alcoholism (as well as other addiction-related behavior) to be incredibly lonely. The only depiction of alcoholism and addiction I’d seen was extreme; and while that, of course, is the unfortunate experience of many, mine was more “hidden” in plain sight. It felt both accepted by binge drinking culture and shamed by friends and family at the same time. I spent 10 years of my life caught in the shame, depression, and loneliness of drinking and only found relief through sobriety and hearing other people’s stories. I wanted to write something in the hopes of helping someone else and creating space for conversation. Coming to Terms was the result.”

With a background in documentary television, Kait Gallagher focuses on storytelling rooted in the human experience. She uses character-driven stories to explore social-issue-related themes. Her debut narrative short, Coming to Terms, has screened at LA Shorts, Awareness Film Fest, California Women’s Film Fest and premiered online with Omeleto.

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“I have often used technology in various forms to both escape and explore various dimensions of my real life and identity. I think a lot of people have, especially in this past year. A large aspect of this short film deals with analyzing the ways in which technology can be both helpful and harmful in terms of understanding ourselves and connecting with others.”

Maggie Brennan is a cartoonist, animator, and musician. Her animations have been screened by SXSW, SIFF, Maryland Film Festival, NoBudge, GIPHY, and more. Her comics have been published by The New Yorker, The Fader, Inverse, and more.

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“I think too often society closes the book on minorities who are suffering. Too often are we cast off as drunks, thieves, and savages but we are real people with real stories and real strength. I would encourage people to watch my film if they want to see a true story of a young Indigenous man who bounced back and turned those stereotypes on their head.”

Trevor Solway, Sinakson, is a Blackfoot filmmaker from Siksika Nation. Trevor attended the Independent Indigenous Digital Filmmaking program at Capilano University in 2012. He then graduated from Mount Royal University with his Bachelor’s of Communications in 2017. In 2020 Trevor was a recipient of the Mount Royal University Alumni Award for his early career success. Trevor has self-produced and directed various short narratives and documentaries that have screened at Calgary International Film Festival, ImagineNATIVE Arts and Media Festival, and Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.

Trevor is the founder of The Napi Collective, a mentorship filmmaking society based in Siksika. From 2018-2020 Trevor mentored eighteen emerging indigenous filmmakers from his community to write, direct, shoot and edit four narrative films, which screened in their community and abroad at Indigenous film festivals such as the American Indian Film Festival, LA Skins, and Moariland Film Festival.

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Bear With Me

A short animated documentary on immigrants who left their home and crossed borders for love.

“At the beginning I wanted to create a film about love. I started to interview people in the Netherlands and after a while, I noticed that I am choosing to interview immigrants and more specifically couples of immigrants. How moving to a new country influences their relationship? What happens when one follows the other? In those days my boyfriend was preparing to move to the Netherlands to join me as I was studying there. The different situations from a very passionate romantic meeting every few months to living together in a foreign country are ambivalent: on the one hand the happiness of sharing our life together and on the other hand, dealing with the problems of immigration that get worse since one followed the other. Does immigration damage the relationship or rather opens up new possibilities as in the case of some of my interviewers? In the movie, there are interviews with the people who were the first to immigrate and with their loved ones that followed. Finally, despite the prices, the difficulties and challenges the movie is about love.”

Daphna Awadish is an Israeli filmmaker and illustrator living in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She specialized in creating animated documentaries and works as an independent illustrator and animator.

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“I first met Carl Duzen and Susan Jewett in the summer of 2016, as we had a mutual friend in artistic director Teya Sepinuck. The public radio program This American Life had recently done a story about them grappling with the early stages of Carl’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis and in particular Carl’s unique method of trying to decipher his own illness: Carl was a renowned physics teacher who tried to apply the scientific method to evaluate his own deteriorating abilities.

But upon meeting them it was Carl and Susan’s unique and evolving relationship that moved me. I started filming knowing that I wanted to capture this moment in their lives, as roles shifted and challenges emerged. In the intervening time the story took an unexpected turn: unable to engage in the scientific inquiry of his prior career, Carl found solace in his basement, dismantling discarded electronics in search of the valuable copper inside. The metaphorical power of the act was striking, but it went one step further when Susan, an art teacher and artist, started framing the copper, leading to a fruitful collaboration (and now traveling art show!) that enriched their relationship in a difficult time.

The thread that has emerged is one of resiliency and love in the face of a life-changing diagnosis. My hope is that this short documentary can reflect this time.”

Mike Attie is an award-winning filmmaker whose films have screened at major international film festivals including CPH:DOX, Hot Docs, San Francisco and Sundance. He is a professor of film and the Film program director at the University of the Arts.

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Keep Moving Forward

A Vietnam veteran finds peace from his PTSD through Disney.

“I began making the film out of curiosity – to not only know more about the effects PTSD can have on a person and their family, but to also find out if there was a connection between Guy’s struggles and his passion for all things Disney. I learned Guy’s lifelong fascination with Disney was not only centered around its innocence and warmth, but has been a constant source of his own self-worth and motivation. By surrounding himself with Disney, he’s also able to enter a place that allows him to escape loneliness and the negative thought patterns that can occur in isolation.”

Brent Bandemer is a Chicago-based filmmaker and freelance editor who discovered documentary filmmaking while attending Columbia College Chicago. He believes in using film to give the underrepresented a voice, and to allow the viewer to empathize with them in a thoughtful and honest way.

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