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Shorts: Observer Effect


Experimental

Show Me Other Places

Navigating through a multitude of spaces from the natural world to man-made environments as well as virtual planes, traditional relationships between the creator, the tool, and the subject are questioned, shattered and reconstructed.

  • Runtime: 11 minutes
  • Country: Sri Lanka & United States
  • Director: Rajee Samarasinghe
  • Premiere: Philadelphia

Short Documentary

My Saints Recognize Your Saints (Meus Santos Saúdam Teus Santos)

After returning to the Marajó island, homeland of his grandparents, Rodrigo meets shaman Roxita and discovers that he inherited spiritual guides. After that, Rodrigo begins his initiation in the marajoara shaman practice and registers his relationship with Roxita, who will be his guide in a meeting.
  • Year: 2021
  • Runtime: 14 minutes
  • Country: Brazil
  • Director: Rodrigo Antonio
  • Premiere: North America
Short Documentary

The Game God(S)

The Game God(S) shows 4 characters: Martina, Frank, Brianna and Craig. They share their experiences as the Goddess of the Crossroads pushes us between the then and the now, connecting The Game God, The Game and Capitalism to the Blackness.

  • Runtime: 19 minutes
  • Country: United States
  • Director: Adrian L. Burrell
  • Premiere: Philadelphia
Short Documentary

The Fire This Time

A kaleidoscopic trip through the intertwined histories of pandemics, riots, and colonial violence. An archive constantly haunted by its possible collapse.


Featuring the voices of science journalist Sonia Shah, poet and literary scholar Anjuli Raza Kolb, medical anthropologist Christos Lynteris, epidemiologist Keiji Fukuda, economist William A. Darity Jr., and historians Nayan Shah, Kellie Carter Jackson, and Nancy Tomes.

  • Runtime: 26 minutes
  • Country: United States
  • Director: Mariam Ghani
  • Premiere: Philadelphia

By Water, is a documentary that was initiated when my brother left an unexpected message on my phone 3 years after his disappearance. I saved this voicemail for more than a year before I decided to heed its instructions. By weaving both myself and my brother into the film's structure, we met again.

  • Runtime: 9 minutes
  • Country: USA
  • Director: Iyabo Kwayana
  • Premiere: World

Experimental

OUT / SIDE OF TIME

OUT / SIDE OF TIME is a “Black imaginary repository,” a container space for our collective Black imaginaries that exist outside of time + space that honors the legacy of Seneca Village, a 19th-century (1825-1857) settlement that stood on Black-owned land, known today as Central Park in NYC.
  • Year: 2022
  • Runtime: 5 minutes
  • Country: United States
  • Director: Jenn Nkiru