INDIGENOUS FUTURES

Today’s economies of scale, from fossil fuels to recycling, threaten to exploit entire ways of life. Is another world possible when the balance is so delicate?
93 minutes

La Vida de Un Latero (10 minutes)
2020 Documentary Short Silver Prize Winner

In New York, each redeemable bottle is worth 5 cents. Meet Josefa and Pedro, a canning couple who earn their living one nickel at a time.

The Last Ice (83 minutes)
2020 Indigenous Futures Jury Prize Winner

For centuries, Inuit have lived on the frozen ocean. Now, as climate change rapidly melts Arctic sea ice, Inuit in Canada and Greenland are fighting to protect what will remain of their world.

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BE SEEN, STAND UP

The atrocities of the American Slave Trade and the Second World War reveal stark comparisons to the looming fascism on display in the days before the 2020 election.
95 minutes

Augustus (15 minutes)
2020 Narrative Featurette Silver Prize Winner

An escaped slave masquerading as a free man in pre-Civil War Massachusetts experiences nightmares of a future America that resembles the struggles of his own time.

Suppressed 2020: The Fight to Vote (40 minutes)
2020 Documentary Featurette Silver Prize Winner

A powerful documentary about the growing threat of voter suppression to our 2020 election.

Liberation Heroes: The Last Eyewitnesses (40 minutes)
2020 Documentary Featurette Gold Prize Winner

Through the firsthand testimony of WWII liberators and liberation witnesses parallels between the past and present are revealed. The film demands we heed the warnings to take a stand against hate.

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ASK FOR JANE

Based on real events, Ask for Jane tells the story of a group of young college women who developed an underground abortion network that helped over 11,000 women get illegal abortions in Chicago between 1969 and 1973.
108 minutes

Ask For Jane (108 minutes)
2020 Narrative Feature Gold Prize Winner

Based on real events, Ask for Jane tells the story of a group of young college women who developed an underground abortion network that helped over 11,000 women get illegal abortions in Chicago between 1969 and 1973.

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A HIGHER CALLING

Films begging the question “Can art stop a bullet from being fired?” What is required of socially conscious art?
106 minutes

Seva (16 minutes)
2020 Documentary Featurette Bronze Prize Winner

August 5, 2012 marks the most violent hate crime against Sikhs in America. Following the temple massacre, Sikh activists combat rising xenophobia through the religious practice of selfless service.

Can Art Stop a Bullet: William Kelly’s Big Picture (90 minutes)
2020 Documentary Feature Bronze Prize Winner

William Kelly, widely considered the social conscience of Australian art, once said: “Art can’t stop a bullet, but it can stop a bullet from being fired.” Can it?

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RACIAL JUSTICE

In America’s backyard, communities held captive by policies targeting gangs and drugs sacrifice their youth for a false sense of justice, and safety.
109 minutes

An Uninvited Guest (4 minutes)
2020 Narrative Short Silver Prize Winner

When a Black man is viciously assaulted by a police officer right outside their window, all of the guests at a dinner party seem to consider the attack unremarkable except for one.

Since I Been Down (105 minutes)
2020 Documentary Feature Gold Prize Winner

In America’s backyard, a community held captive by policies targeting gangs and drugs, sacrifices their youth for a false sense of justice, and safety. Nearly forty years later, a true path to justice and healing is led from inside their prison walls.

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BIG IDEAS, SMALL RUN TIMES

These shorts took home some big prizes from Social Justice Film Festival 2020. They range from a variety of topics, from equity in sports to stories of refugees in strange lands.
102 minutes

Target Practice (7 minutes)
2020 Narrative Short Gold Prize Winner

A lost boy seeking help is faced with a harsh reality.

Dani Burt (11 minutes)
2020 Documentary Short Bronze Prize Winner

Confronted with a dark reality as a new amputee, Dani Burt finds freedom and inner peace when she’s introduced to the sport of surfing.

Stronger Than Steel (7 minutes)
2020 Youth Visions Gold Prize Winner

Even after the tragedy of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, there is hope in this divided nation.

Canary in a Mine (16 minutes)
2020 Youth Visions Bronze Prize Winner

A young Black man who is led to discover happiness during dark times by a strong black woman, after losing his younger brother at the hands of the police.

Thin Blue Variety Show (3 minutes)
2020 Documentary Short Gold Prize Winner

On a day in the life behind your television, five personified movie cop costumes attempt to guard the line of justice under rising pressures.

Wednesday at Elizabeth (15 minutes)
2020 Youth Visions Silver Prize Winner

The story of Mabel, an asylum seeker detained by ICE. Hoping for release and fearing deportation, Mabel provides a harrowing view of the migrant detention system.

Unsaid (19 minutes)
2020 Narrative Featurette Bronze Prize Winner

A woman grapples with the sudden loss of her daughter and husband, who were killed in a mass shooting earlier that day.

Butterflies (8 minutes)
2020 Narrative Short Bronze Prize Winner

Another Sunday in April. A kibbutz in the North of Israel. A natural phenomenon. A family on an impromptu ride, maybe the last one…

Rebel (15 minutes)
2020 Narrative Featurette Gold Prize Winner

To Alex, a naive six years old boy, the mysterious patrols his father leads with his right-wing militia are just more occasions to go play hide and seek out in the woods.

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