Bad Choices

More About Bad Choices from Producer Curt McPhail This film was done in partnership with the Strengthening…
Official selection of the Fifth Annual Festival

Book ‘Em: Undereducated, Overincarcerated

In New Haven, Connecticut the pipeline from school to prison is shorter than you might think.

Books Not Bars

More About Books Not Bars from WITNESS Public spending to support increased incarceration is booming while spending…
Official selection of the Fourth Annual Festival

CopWatch

Television audiences have become accustomed to the celebration of ruckus police action via the reality TV show,…
Official selection of the Third Annual Festival

Day of Remembrance

More About Day of Remembrance from Director Cynthia Fujikawa Day of Remembrance is a short documentary that…
Official selection of the Fourth Annual Festival

Diane Wilson, A Warrior’s Tale

Diane Wilson, A Warrior’s Tale is one of several short subjects that appeared in an hour-long Lifetime…
Official selection of the Third Annual Festival

Exiled in America

More about Exiled in America from Director Angela Torres Camarena Exiled in America explores immigration United States,…
Official selection of the Ninth Annual Festival

Face to Face: Stories from the Aftermath of Infamy

Face to Face, produced by Rob Mikuriya, connects the experiences of Japanese-Americans in the early 1940s with…
Official selection of the Third Annual Festival

Happy Ending

More About Happy Ending from Director Chris Irrizarry Happy Ending was produced at the HBO Young Filmmakers…
Official selection of the Fifth Annual Festival

Homecoming

More About Homecoming from the Perpich Center for Arts Education Homecoming evolved over four months beginning with…
Official selection of the Fifth Annual Festival

I Am Sean Bell

Filmmaker Stacey Muhammad

I’ve loved film for as long as I can remember. Initially, screenwriting was my interest; however, I wanted to see my ideas come to life beyond the writing. This led to a desire to acquire the skills needed to actually produce my own projects. So, I embarked upon the journey of studying and learning as much about the filmmaking process as I possibly could by attending film school, workshops, and anything else I could find.

First and foremost, I consider myself an activist, so I’m drawn to human issues and subjects that enlighten and uplift humanity while challenging us to examine our ideals and issues on this planet. I’ve always been drawn to documentary filmmaking, particularly as an activist. It’s a powerful way to communicate with an audience.
When I chose to do the Sean Bell film, I was extremely disturbed by the verdict and wanted to hear from the children, particularly young black boys, about their thoughts, fears and concerns regarding violence against black men. Most of the topics that interest me are those that give a voice to those often unheard populations of people, who indeed have stories to tell and victories to celebrate.

One thing that I’ve learned is that life is what it is—meaning, everything we do and experience is connected. Often, we try to compartmentalize our lives and deal with different aspects of our experience (be it our personal lives, our career, etc.). Filmmaking, for me, is a spiritual process and journey. I’ve been prepared through life experiences, for each and every topic I choose to explore.

So, my advice to any aspiring filmmaker would be to live your life with integrity, take care of yourself, learn as much about your craft as possible, commit to creating the life you desire and expect the universe to grant you everything you ask.

In the Morning

More About In The Morning from Director Danielle Lurie When a young Turkish woman, Derya, 15, is…
Official selection of the Sixth Annual Festival

Justice Denied: Voices from Guantánamo

Filmmaker Joel Engardio

The American Civil Liberties Union wanted to use audio recordings to preserve the testimonials of five former Guantánamo detainees who had been held and released by the Bush administration without charge. I suggested that it would be more powerful to interview the men on video and produce a short film that wove their stories together into one narrative arch. This was a more accessible and compelling way to share the experiences with a wide audience.

Former Guantánamo detainees are usually painted as one-dimensional caricatures and we rarely get to know them as people. What were their lives like before Guantánamo? What are they doing now to start over? What are their hopes, dreams and fears? What kinds of personalities do they have? By using video and the art of story telling, I hope viewers might have more reason to care about the important issues that surround indefinite detention once they realize what they have in common with the subjects of the film as fellow human beings.

I used sparse narration and avoided talking head commentary by lawyers and advocates. I felt it would be more effective to simply let the men speak for themselves. The purpose of the video was to provide an emotional connection to the issues by focusing only on the personal stories of the men involved. A web link appears at the end of the film for inspired audiences who want to investigate and learn more about things like rule of law and how to stay both safe and free in a troubled world.

No Escape, Prison Rape

The first federal bill to stop prison rape, the Prison Rape Reduction Act of 2002, was introduced…
Official selection of the Third Annual Festival

Perversion of Justice

More About Perversion of Justice from Director Melissa Mummert I worked as a chaplain intern at a…
Official selection of the Eighth Annual Festival

Rights on the Line: Vigilantes at the Border

More About Rights on the Line: Vigilantes at the Border from Producer WITNESS Rights on the Line:…
Official selection of the Seventh Annual Festival

Sick Wid It

Filmmaker Ryan Malloy

It is impossible to witness TURF dancing and not become intrigued by this unusual and compelling style of interpretative dance. We first encountered young TURF dancers busking outside of a BART station in downtown San Francisco. Not long after our initial introduction, we made our way to a dance battle, where we met the primary subject of our film, Antoine Sawyer. Not only was Antoine an amazing dancer, but his story acutely demonstrated the power of creativity and self-expression to triumph over violence and hatred. We quickly learned that TURF dancing had not just saved Antoine, but had also saved countless other teens who turned to it and away from the violence prevalent in many urban neighborhoods around the Bay Area. The name TURF dancing is based on the acronym for the term “taking up room on the floor,” which accurately reflects one of the basic tenets of the dance style: dancers make themselves as undeniably visible as possible as they pour out stunning interpretive moves, drawing on the stones of their daily lives, in an explosion of creative expression. No matter how our lives may differ from the dancers we met, we shared with them a basic desire to tell the important stories of our lives and communities. After completing the film, we were honored to screen it at the Bayview Hunters Point Foundation, the community center where Antoine often practices, to help inspire the next generation of dancers.

Silence Speaks

Silence Speaks provides violence survivors, witnesses, and prevention advocates with the support, skills, and equipment they need…
Official selection of the Third Annual Festival

System Failure

More About System Failure from Producer WITNESS Juvenile justice in California is a national embarrassment, a statewide…
Official selection of the Fifth Annual Festival

Will I Be Next?

More about Will I Be Next? from Director Ralph Rollins Will I Be Next? explores the issue…
Official selection of the Ninth Annual Festival