A Body to Live In

Dir. Angelo Madsen // 2025 // USA // 98 min

An exploration into the life of Fakir Musafar, a monumental and controversial figure in the queer art of body modification.

A Body to Live In

Dir. Angelo Madsen // 2025 // USA // 98 min

Tickets Trailer

Producer Angelo Madsen

A Body to Live In is an intimate inquiry into the life and work of Fakir Musafar, an influential figure in the queer body-modification community. The film explores his outsized impact and the formation of the “Modern Primitive” movement through decades of archives and interviews with those close to him. Creative treatment of the archives presents them as living texts—photos and video are layered, inverted, and interpolated to bring them new meaning and texture. Angelo Madsen’s sophomore feature is supplemented by seamlessly interwoven personal accounts to craft an portrayal that is loving yet not afraid of critique, embracing both the joy of self-discovery as well as the complex spirituality Musafar came to represent. Through his life and work, the film gives rise to profound questions of bodily autonomy and the body’s relationship to our sense of self. (AL) This film contains images of blood, nudity, and body modification.

Screenings

A: Thursday, Feb 27 / 7:30 pm / Big Ragtag

B: Friday, Feb 28 / 10:00 pm / Rhynsburger

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 12:15 pm / The Blue Note

 

Q&A with director Angelo Madsen

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A Want in Her

Dir. Myrid Carten // 2024 // Ireland // 81 min

A filmmaker turns the camera on her mother in this formally shapeshifting portrait of addiction and familial love pushed to their limits.

A Want in Her

Dir. Myrid Carten // 2024 // Ireland // 81 min

Tickets

Producers Tadhg O’Sullivan, Roisín Geraghty, Kat Mansoor

When her mother goes missing, Myrid Carten returns to the chaos of her family home in Ireland to search for a way forward. Carten has documented her life and family dynamics since she was a child. Once Nuala, is found, Carten picks up her camera again to capture the unfolding reality of her mother’s addiction and its impact on their relationship. She is repeatedly pulled back into her family’s orbit, and as she tries to extract herself from the wider web of addiction, mental health, and cycles of trauma, Carten grapples with the sacrifices she has already made in the name of unconditional love. Avoiding linear simplicity, she instead embraces an impressionistic form incorporating home movies, fictional sequences rich with symbolism, and raw conversations confronting the past. A Want In Her is a deeply personal and bold debut. (CT) This film contains discussion of addiction.

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28 / 10:30 am / Globe

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 3:15 pm / Globe

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 8:30 pm / Big Ragtag

 

Zoom Q&A with director Myrid Carten

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Abo Zaabal 89

Dir. Bassam Mortada // 2024 // Egypt, Germany // 83 min

A filmmaker excavates his family history to better understand the intergenerational wounds he has carried for years.

Abo Zaabal 89

Dir. Bassam Mortada // 2024 // Egypt, Germany // 83 min

Tickets Trailer

Producers Kesmat Elsayed

Bassam Mortada was raised by political activists and his family rupture became inevitable when his father was confined to Egypt’s notorious Abo Zaabal prison in 1989. Drawing remarkable parallels between a country’s turbulent trajectory and a family’s moving emotional spiral, Mortada delicately and exhaustively explores memory and legacy while holding both his parents and their perspectives with unflinching love and understanding. He digs through family records, cassette tapes, found footage, and newspaper clippings as well as utilizes performance to collate this multitextural vision. Beyond the trauma that comes from political persecution, healing and transformation are at the center of this heart-stirring and thought-provoking documentary, exposing the private ways in which family foundations are shaken by political retaliation. (AT) This film contains discussion of torture.

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28 / 10:30 am / Rhynsburger

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 5:15 pm / Willy Wilson @ Ragtag

 

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Blue

Dir. Derek Jarman // 1993 // United Kingdom // 76 min

Against a static blue screen, a soundtrack of voices and music paint a portrait of the filmmaker’s experiences with AIDS. Screening on 35MM. Part of the True Vision Award program.

Blue

Dir. Derek Jarman // 1993 // United Kingdom // 76 min

A bold contribution to New Queer Cinema, Derek Jarman’s final film is a devastating rumination on color, the void, and AIDS. Formally, the film is starkly experimental—an unchanging shot of the color blue paired with a musical soundtrack and voice-over spoken by Jarman and collaborators Tilda Swinton, Nigel Terry, and John Quentin. The narration merges diaristic reflections on Jarman’s disease and impending death with poetic meditations on the meanings associated with the color blue. A monochromatic film, Blue was initially inspired by the work of Yves Klein but morphed after Jarman’s diagnosis with AIDS in 1986, instead becoming about sightlessness, with the screen’s color mimicking the hue that his vision took on as it faded. Blue is a visceral viewing experience like no other and remains a fiercely vital piece of cinema to this day. (CT) This film features discussion of HIV/AIDS. The film screens as part of the True Vision Award.

Screenings

A: Sunday, Mar 2 / 9:45 AM / Big Ragtag

Introduction by Hu Sanshou

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Deaf President Now!

Dirs. Nyle DiMarco & Davis Guggenheim // 2024 // USA // 100 min

Over eight intense days in 1988, a student protest at the world’s only deaf university changed the course of history.

Deaf President Now!

Dirs. Nyle DiMarco & Davis Guggenheim // 2024 // USA // 100 min

Tickets

Producers Nyle DiMarco, Davis Guggenheim, Amanda Rohlke, Jonathan King, Michael Harte

In 1988, the board of trustees of Gallaudet University gathered to name a new president. Despite being a school for Deaf students, Gallaudet had gone more than 120 years without appointing a Deaf president, and the mostly hearing board had no intention of changing that. The board bypassed two Deaf candidates and instead picked a hearing woman for the job. As the news spread through campus, the students reached their breaking point and took to the streets to demand that things must change. Narrated by four students who quickly emerged as leaders of the burgeoning movement, Deaf President Now! chronicles the next eight days of protest as a reckoning unfolds in real time. An archival retelling interwoven with immersive sound design and evocative re-creations, this is a rousing and urgent celebration of collective action and self-determination. (CT)

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28 / 3:45 pm / The Blue Note

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 6:45 pm / Missouri Theatre

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 9:15 am / The Blue Note

Q&A with director Nyle DiMarco (B&C only)

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Family Album

Dir. Laura Casabé // 2024 // Argentina // 73 min

A fervent ode to Claudia Pía Baudracco told through community reflections and precious archives of Argentina’s trans rights movement.

Family Album

Dir. Laura Casabé // 2024 // Argentina // 73 min

Tickets

Producers Valeria Bistagnino & Tomás Eloy Muñoz Lázaro  

Women gather around a table and go through Versace sunglasses, swimsuits, and lace-up heels as they share stirring anecdotes and remember the late trans icon Claudia Pía Baudracco, affectionately called “Pía.” Pía was a transformative force to be reckoned with who would constantly remind those in her community that they were deserving of dignity and of their dreams coming true. She fought on the frontlines to pass Argentina’s Gender Identity Law of 2012 and opposed anyone who said her community didn’t belong. Filmmaker Laura Casabé redefines the concept of family through this raw and unflinching documentary that introduces us to a world of joyful resistance, from poignant instances of collective uprisings to the power of forging an archive. Pía’s voice echoes through the images of her relentless activism throughout the years in this timely and electrifying celebration of Argentina’s LGBTQ history. (AT) Preceded by short “Chimera.”

Screenings

A: Thursday, Feb 27 / 10:15 pm / Big Ragtag

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 9:15 am / Willy Wilson @ Ragtag

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 6:00 pm / Blue Note

 

Q&A with director Laura Casabé

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How Deep Is Your Love

Dir. Eleanor Mortimer // 2025 // United Kingdom // 100 min

Scientists explore the mysterious deep sea to collect and name undiscovered species in this whimsical and mesmerizing oceanic odyssey.

How Deep Is Your Love

Dir. Eleanor Mortimer // 2025 // United Kingdom // 100 min

Tickets

Producers Jacob Thomas

Fifty humans set sail for 55 days at sea on an expedition to examine the final frontier in human discovery: the deep sea. The scientists on board have dedicated their careers to taxonomy, the science of naming and describing new species. Now with the impending introduction of deep-sea mining, they will attempt to categorize the sea’s remaining mysteries. However, this mission comes with an ethical conundrum; these creatures cannot survive once they are removed from the seabed. Filled with stunning underwater photography and a whimsical soundtrack, this playful and poetic essay dances between the wonder of this rarely seen landscape, the complicated past of scientific study, and an urgent looming threat to this delicate ecosystem. How Deep is Your Love is a dazzling feature debut from filmmaker Eleanor Mortimer (Territory, T/F 2016), a breathtakingly cinematic voyage into the unknown. (CT) Presented by Pique Action.

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28 / 7:00 pm / Missouri Theatre

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 9:30 am / The Blue Note

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 5:00 pm / The Globe

 

Q&A with director Eleanor Mortimer

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How to Build a Library

Dirs. Maia Lekow and Christopher King // 2025 // Kenya // 103 min

Two fearless women take on the colossal task of transforming and revitalizing a formerly colonial library in downtown Nairobi.

How to Build a Library

Dirs. Maia Lekow and Christopher King // 2025 // Kenya // 103 min

Tickets

Producers Maia Lekow & Christopher King

Literature lovers Shiro and Wachuka decide to quit their jobs and attempt the seemingly impossible: to decolonize a formerly whites-only library in downtown Nairobi. The McMillan Memorial Library is filled with junk, debris, and books that don’t reflect the reality of modern-day Kenyans. After decades of neglect, the space is handed over to the pair and the process of exorcising the ghosts of the colonial past begins. Beyond the physical renovation of the space, the act of cataloging the collection raises difficult questions about which histories should be preserved. Over the next eight years, the women navigate resistance to change from the librarians, the bureaucracy of local government, and a costly fundraising goal. The filmmakers capture this journey with a precise observational lens, reflecting the complicated struggle to interrogate a nation’s past while trying to reclaim its future. (CT)

Screenings

A: Thursday, Feb 27 / 4:15 pm / The Blue Note

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 3:30 pm / Missouri Theatre

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 3:00 pm / Rhynsburger

Q&A with director Maia Lekow

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John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office

Dirs. Michael Almereyda & Courtney Stephens // 2025 // USA // 89 min

An archival recitation of John C. Lilly’s controversial scientific legacy tells a tale of animal experimentation, counterculture, and human consciousness. 

John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office

Dirs. Michael Almereyda & Courtney Stephens // 2025 // USA // 89 min

Tickets

Producers Taylor Hess, Jesse Miller, Michael Almereyda & Courtney Stephens

Ever since his infamous LSD experimentation with dolphins in the 1960s, counterculture figurehead John C. Lilly has been heralded as an intrepid researcher of the weird. This archival, essayistic voyage along the fringes of reality pulls its audience down the psychedelic rabbit hole of Lilly’s work. Isolation tanks, flooded mansions for interspecies conversations between dolphins and humans, and intergalactic organizations weave a narrative on the border between science and science fiction. Along with an alluring soundscape, Chloë Sevigny’s dreamy narration provides an anchor through the tumultuous tales of Lilly’s legacy. While our current era is consumed by technology and ever-expanding artificial intelligence debates, John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office boldly questions the future of human consciousness by scouring the past. (MB) This film contains images of animal experimentation.

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28  / 1:30 pm / Big Ragtag

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 8:45 pm / Rhynsburger

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 3:15 pm / The Blue Note

Q&A with co-director Courtney Stephens

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Kouté vwa (Listen to the Voices)

Dir. Maxime Jean-Baptiste // 2024 // Belgium, France, French Guiana // 77 min

A family attempts to reconcile its complex grief in this coming-of-age story exploring loss, friendship, and healing in community.

Kouté vwa (Listen to the Voices)

Dir. Maxime Jean-Baptiste // 2024 // Belgium, France, French Guiana // 77 min

Tickets

Producers Rosa Spaliviero & Olivier Marboeuf

Thirteen-year-old Melrick spends the summer in French Guiana with his grandmother, playing with his friends and connecting with the idea of home in ways that impact his outlook on life and the world around him. Surrounded by rituals, memories, and a household in mourning, Melrick processes the loss of uncle Lucas, who faced a tragic death 11 years prior. Through conversation with his family, Melrick slowly comes to the realization that everyone is still trying to make sense of things and that to find closure means to choose forgiveness every day. A solemn and gentle look at the quiet, even flows of grief, Maxime Jean-Baptiste’s latest film sees him collaborate with his loved ones to craft a collective and nostalgic account of what it means to find intergenerational healing in the midst of continuous cycles of violence. (AT)

Screenings

A: Thursday, Feb 27 / 4:15 pm / Willy Wilson @ Ragtag

B: Friday, Feb 28 / 4:00 pm / The Globe

C: Saturday, Mar 1 / 9:45 am / Big Ragtag

 

Q&A with director Maxime Jean-Baptiste

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Land With No Rider

Dir. Tamar Lando // 2025 // USA // 76 min

A verité portrait of cattle ranchers in southwestern New Mexico as they ruminate on what might be the end of a generation.

Land With No Rider

Dir. Tamar Lando // 2025 // USA // 76 min

Producers Tamar Lando, Judith Mizrachy & Hunter Robert Baker

The land of southwestern New Mexico is contoured by rolling hills and sweeping valleys and streaked with arroyos. Land With No Rider centers on four cattle ranchers who know this region of the Mimbres River Valley like the back of their hands. As they speak about their lives, their ruminations often linger like poetry, noting the sound of snow falling or singing softly along with the radio. They rise with the sun and still tend to their herds at dusk, the soft purple hues tingeing the light as the ranchers reflect on the possibility of being the last of their generation to work this land. Director Tamar Lando’s transportive vérité portrait of the often solitary yet beautiful world of these ranchers is part oral history, part patient ode to a valley in transition. (AL) This film contains images of deceased animals.

Screenings

A: Thursday, Feb 27 / 6:45 pm / Willy Wilson @ Ragtag

B: Friday, Feb 28 / 9:30 pm / Big Ragtag

C: Saturday, Mar 1 / 12:30 pm / The Blue Note

 

Q&A with director Tamar Lando

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Light Memories

Dir. Misha Vallejo Prut // 2024 // Ecuador, Germany // 80 min

A tribute to the art of photography, this carefully crafted family portrait illustrates the importance of preserving the archive.

Light Memories

Dir. Misha Vallejo Prut // 2024 // Ecuador, Germany // 80 min

Tickets

Producer Mayfe Ortega Haboud

Photographer Misha Vallejo Prut grew up knowing nothing about his grandfather. Now an adult, he spends time at his family home in Riobamba, Ecuador, to reconnect with his family and dig into a treasure trove of images taken by his grandfather, who was also an image-maker. A slide projector showcases these frames on a wall and provides a blueprint for Misha’s inquiry into the truth of his family tree. In the process, he is introduced to other versions of his loved ones and discovers anecdotes he has never heard before. His inventive approach, deeply rooted in photography, brings his family members together and allows for the creation of new souvenirs as they unpack secrets. Through the exploration of their past, Misha builds new understandings for himself. (AT) This film contains discussion of domestic violence.

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28 / 3:45 pm / Willy Wilson @ Ragtag

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 12:15 pm / Big Ragtag

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 8:00 pm / The Globe

Q&A with director Misha Vallejo Prut

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Make It Look Real

Dir. Danial Shah // 2024 // Pakistan, Belgium and Netherlands // 68 min

A photographer in Pakistan sells two-dimensional fantasies to his clients and allows his own dreams to develop in his studio.

Make It Look Real

Dir. Danial Shah // 2024 // Pakistan, Belgium and Netherlands // 68 min

Tickets Trailer

Producers Ellen Meiersonne, Atelier Graphoui, Daan Milius & Video Power

“Whatever you like,” Muhammad Sakhi says, as he helps his clients piece together their fantasies. Make it Look Real takes place in a small photography studio in Pakistan, where Sakhi Photoshops his subjects into the background of their choosing: beautiful flowers, a motorcycle, with or without a girl. Many choose scenes with Kalashnikovs—“Taliban style.” Filmmaker Danial Shah turns his camera on Sakhi: “I’ll focus on you now.” As the two interview one another, Sakhi’s interest in Shah’s life in Belgium, expensive camera, and well-paying journalism assignments throws into sharp relief the differences in the images they capture and the lives they live. Sakhi creates two-dimensional dreams as the Hazara genocide intensifies—Photoshop has no filter for this—and becomes more steadfast in his desire to have a different backdrop for his own life. (LK) Preceded by short “Daily Worker.”

Screenings

A: Thursday, Feb 27 / 9:45 pm / Willy Wilson @ Ragtag

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 9:15 am / Rhynsburger

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 3:15 pm / Big Ragtag

Q&A with director Danial Shah

 

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May the Soil Be Everywhere

Dir. Yehui Zhao // 2024 // USA, China // 96 min

A filmmaker journeys to her family’s remote Chinese village to unearth the multigenerational story of its relationship to the land.

May the Soil Be Everywhere

Dir. Yehui Zhao // 2024 // USA, China // 96 min

Tickets Trailer

Producers Fenge Yuan, Yehui Zhao, Andrew Felsher & Véronique Bernard

When filmmaker Yehui Zhao begins to film her grandmother, she embarks on an excavation of her family’s past and their long-lost ancestral village in the vast mountain range of Loess Plateau. She sets out to search for the story of her great-grandfather and, in the process, discovers the land that generations before her cultivated alongside the cave dwellings that they called home. Here she pays tribute to her family’s heritage, bearing witness to its relationship with the land, labor, and resilience. A shapeshifting and playful feature debut, the film is infused with performance, poetry, and animation as Zhao constructs a living archive of oral history and community theater. Summoning the past into the present, May the Soil Be Everywhere chronicles China’s history of war, famine, and rapid urbanization through the lens of four generations in one family. (CT)

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28 / 6:45 pm / Big Ragtag

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 6:00 pm / The Globe

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 9:15 am / Willy Wilson @ Ragtag

 

Q&A with director Yehui Zhao

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Middletown

Dirs. Jesse Moss & Amanda McBaine // 2025 // USA // 111 min

In the ’90s, a high school teacher transforms his classroom into an investigative journalism unit in pursuit of environmental justice.

Middletown

Dirs. Jesse Moss & Amanda McBaine // 2025 // USA // 111 min

Tickets

Producers Teddy Leifer, Florrie Priest, Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss &  Daniel Breen

Amanda McBaine & Jesse Moss (Girls State, T/F 2024) breathe life into an enthralling archive of the students of “Electronic English,” a high school media and journalism class led by an eccentric and inspiring teacher, Fred Isseks. What starts as a simple assignment to investigate the local landfill soon spins out into a wild story involving organized crime, public health, and political corruption. The hard-to-believe revelations are deftly reconstructed through layers of memory, present-day accounts, and footage from the students’ film. A exhilarating portrait of youth empowerment and the profound impact of education, Middletown transports us to a unique moment before the rise of citizen journalism and social media. “Be creative. Use your talent to make stuff instead of consuming stuff.” Isseks’ words to his students reach through time, offering a lesson in critical thinking and civic responsibility. (AT) Presented by Renew Missouri.

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28 / 6:45 pm / The Globe

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 9:15 am / Missouri Theatre

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 7:00 pm / Missouri Theatre

 

Q&A with directors Jesse Moss & Amanda McBaine

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Mountain Village

Dir. Hu Sanshou // 2013 // China // 70 min

An intimate portrait of the filmmaker’s ancestral village interwoven with the community’s testimony about their memories of the Great Famine. Part of the True Vision Award program.

Mountain Village

Dir. Hu Sanshou // 2013 // China // 70 min

Hu Sanshou’s first feature documentary sees him return to his grandparents’ home in Xiangzidian village (Shaanxi province), accompanied by his camera for the first time. In this  intimate and tactile film, his frame follows his family and their neighbors as they go about their daily lives. With their  labor-intensive way of life, his grandparents prepare their meals, make tools, and raise pigs while Hu inquires about their recollections of the “three years of difficulty.” This period between 1959 and 1961 in the People’s Republic of China is commonly known as the Great Famine, when millions died after a collapse in agricultural production during the Great Leap Forward. This tender film documents the essential testimony of elders revealing the reality of the people’s communes and rural life. (CT) This film screens as part of the True Vision Award.

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28 / 9PM / Willy Wilson @ Ragtag

Q&A with director Hu Sanshou

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Predators

Dir. David Osit // 2025 // USA // 96 min

A provocative deep dive into the complicated legacy of To Catch a Predator and the world of vigilante justice.

Predators

Dir. David Osit // 2025 // USA // 96 min

Tickets

Producers David Osit, Kellen Quinn & Jamie Gonçalves

In the early 2000s, a sensation unlike anything seen before came to America’s TV screens. To Catch a Predator claimed to catch child predators by luring them to a film set before interviewing and arresting them on camera. This public humiliation proved to be a hit and spawned an industry of copycat vigilantes, inspired by host Chris Hansen’s self-appointed role as moral crusader. David Osit (Mayor, T/F 2020) forensically peels back the layers of the show’s legacy, speaking with those behind the scenes of the original and the clickbait spinoffs. As Osit shifts closer to the center of the frame himself, he masterfully interrogates the complicated implications for filmmakers and audiences alike. Predators is an unsettling and essential investigation into America’s relationship to crime and punishment, the ethics of public shaming, and the murky interplay between entertainment and justice. (CT) This film contains discussions of child sexual abuse and suicide.

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28 / 12:45 pm / The Blue Note

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 5:45 pm / Rhynsburger

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 12:30 pm / Missouri Theatre

Q&A with director David Osit

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Requiem for a Tribe

Dir. Marjan Khosravi // 2024 // Iran, Spain, Qatar // 70 min

A 55-year-old family matriarch from the nomadic Bakhtiari tribe in Iran is forced to abandon her home and begin anew.

Requiem for a Tribe

Dir. Marjan Khosravi // 2024 // Iran, Spain, Qatar // 70 min

Tickets

Producers Milad Khosravi & Stephanie von Lukowicz

Interweaving everyday routines with archival footage from the 1976 documentary People of the Wind, Marjan Khosravi’s directorial debut simultaneously depicts past and present. Khosravi illustrates the impacts of urbanization and climate change on the migratory patterns of the Bakhtiari tribe and the irreversible damage to the place it calls home. Compounding life shifts are seen through the lens of Hajar Faramazi, a grandmother and caretaker of the land. Hajar has been a nomad her entire life. She treasures her sheep and spends her days tending to her animals, collecting the harvest, and providing for her husband and sons. Hajar dreams of making one final nomadic journey, following in the footsteps of her ancestors, but this quest is brutally interrupted when she is betrayed by her family. (AT) Preceded by short “The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing.”Q&A with director Marjan Khosravi

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28 / 10:00 am / The Blue Note

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 3:00 pm / Big Ragtag

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 5:30 pm / Willy Wilson @ Ragtag

Q&A with director Marjan Khosravi

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Resurrection

Dir. Hu Sanshou // 2024 // China // 113 min

A filmmaker returns to his hometown where villagers honor the deceased by excavating and transporting the bodies to their new resting grounds.

Resurrection

Dir. Hu Sanshou // 2024 // China // 113 min

Tickets

Producer Hu Sanshou

Hu Sanshou revisits his rural Chinese hometown, where the building of a new tunnel is forcing the relocation of its burial grounds. The villagers unite to exhume and transport the bodily remains, slowly revealing the past’s cascading effect into the present. After an austere opening sequence documenting the construction, Hu composes vignettes for each individual. First, the locals dig up the grave and reconstitute the skeleton, bickering and bantering while they work. Next, we are immersed in the memories of those who knew them, painting a collective portrait of the person and the politics of their lifetime. Hu chronicles the movement of the dead as a form of contemplation, excavating an authentic revelation of history. This audacious film shows the harsh realities of a community that has endured adversities and continues to do so today. (MG) This film features images of human remains.

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28 / 1:00 pm / Rhynsburger

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 8:15 pm / Big Ragtag

Q&A with director Hu Sanshou

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River of Grass

Dir. Sasha Wortzel // 2025 // USA // 83 min

A lyrical journey traversing the Florida Everglades through the stories of those who live to protect the delicate ecosystem.

River of Grass

Dir. Sasha Wortzel // 2025 // USA // 83 min

Tickets

Producers Danielle Varga & Sasha Wortzel

Sunbeams glimmer and bounce off overlapping waters as we are transported to the wetlands on the Southern tip of Florida. As Marjory Stoneman Douglas wrote in “The Everglades: River of Grass”: “There are no other Everglades in the world. They are, they have always been, one of the unique regions of the earth.” Marjory came to filmmaker Sasha Wortzel in a dream and catalyzed this prismatic study of a wilderness, home to a rich history, fascinating wildlife, and a site of resistance in the face of climate collapse. In a subtle yet exquisite way, the river becomes a character, a mellow-paced flow through  sploshing, swooshing, and vibrations as we glide and take in its treasures. Wortzel has fiercely crafted a timeless scenery in which archival imagery coalesces with glimpses of the present, forming a collective voice calling from the water herself. (AT)

Screenings

A: Thursday, Feb 27 / 6:45 pm / Rhynsburger

B: Friday, Feb 28 / 10:45 am / Missouri Theatre

C: Saturday, March 1 / 2:30 pm / Willy Wilson @ Ragtag

Q&A with director Sasha Wortzel

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Sally

Dir. Cristina Costantini // 2025 // USA // 103 min

An immersive portrait of American astronaut Sally Ride told from the perspective of her life partner, Tam O’Shaughnessey.

Sally

Dir. Cristina Costantini // 2025 // USA // 103 min

Tickets

Cristina Costantini, Dan Cogan & Lauren Cioffi, Jon Bardin

Best known as the first American woman to fly into space, Sally Ride spent her life empowering women to fearlessly follow their dreams and ambitions. It was only in Sally’s obituary that the world learned of her loving relationship with life partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy. Sally foregrounds Tam’s perspective to weave a film that is part love story, part consideration of the overwhelming pressures of fame. As Tam details, much of Sally’s life and career involved delicately balancing the weight of her image as a role model with the intense public scrutiny that entails. Cristina Costantini (Mucho Mucho Amor, T/F 2020) brings together archives, interviews with colleagues and friends, and poetic re-creations of Sally and Tam’s life together to craft an energetic and engrossing story of a reticent trailblazer. (MS)

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28 / 10:00 pm / Missouri Theatre

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 2:45 pm / Rhynsburger

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 9:15 am / Rhynsburger

Q&A with director Cristina Costantini

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Seeds

Dir. Brittany Shyne // 2025 // USA // 122 min

With stunning black-and-white cinematography, Seeds is a tender verité portrait of Black farmers in the U.S. South.

Seeds

Dir. Brittany Shyne // 2025 // USA // 122 min

Tickets

Producers Danielle Varga & Sabrina Schmidt Gordon 

In the U.S. South, generations of Black farmers have lovingly worked the land, passing down their acres while across the country Black land ownership is still all too rare. In her debut feature, Brittany Shyne creates a tender, vérité portrait of interwoven families as they live and work on the land they love. We accompany them as they play with young ones and converse from car windows, experiencing their homes and surroundings with a gracious intimacy. But despite their best efforts, in the background looms the ever-present reality of dwindling government support for their farms, especially in comparison to surrounding white farmers. Rendered in stunning black-and-white cinematography, Seeds is a patient ode to the poetry of daily rhythms. (AL)

Screenings

A: Thursday, Feb 27 / 9:30 pm / Rhynsburger

B: Friday, Feb 28 / 6:45 pm / The Blue Note

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 9:00 am / Missouri Theatre

Q&A with director Brittany Shyne

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Shorts: Autumn

Various directors

The year’s waning months bring change, but also bounty. This program presents a set of films reflecting on relationships as they shift into a new phase.

Shorts: Autumn

Various directors

Tickets

The year’s waning months bring change, but also bounty. This program presents a set of films reflecting on relationships as they shift into a new phase. In “Correct Me If I’m Wrong” (dir. Hao Zhou; 22 min) a filmmaker searches for reconciliation between their gender identity and their family’s beliefs. In “I Love You Șo Much But You Are So Difficult” (dir. Berenice Brino; 13 min) intergenerational trauma is confronted with care. “Hope Chest” (dir. Lily Franck; 4 min) and “Your Harvest May Be Delayed” (dir. Ahmad Al-Zu’bi; 15 min) bring us two attempts to excavate meaning from childhood archives that end in distinctive results. In “Entre le Feu et le Clair de Lune” (dir. Dominic Yarabe; 18 min) a filmmaker co-creates their father’s unfinished book, while in “David (for now)” (dir. Humberto Flores Jáuregui; 15 min) a young boy writes a farewell letter to his friends. (AL)

Screenings

A: Saturday, Mar 1 / 12:00 pm / Rhynsburger

B: Sunday, Mar 2 / 2:45 pm / Willy Wilson @ Ragtag

Q&A with the shorts filmmakers in attendance

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Shorts: Spring

Various directors

Spring is for birdsong, budding flowers, and adoration. If you’re seeking a bit of sweetness, this selection of shorts spans enduring melodies and the unwavering support of loved ones.

Shorts: Spring

Various directors

Tickets

Spring is for birdsong, budding flowers, and adoration. If you’re seeking a bit of sweetness, this selection of shorts spans enduring melodies and the unwavering support of loved ones. We’re invited into the shared space of queer Black love in “Hold Me Close” (dirs. Aurora Brachman & LaTajh Weaver; 19 min). In the home of two jazz legends, we see their utter devotion to each other in “Sunset and the Mockingbird” (dir. Jyllian Gunther; 29 min). With “Tessitura” (dirs. Lydia Cornett & Brit Fryer; 18 min) trans opera singers harness their vocal talents in a long lineage of gender fluid performances, while in “Expression of Illness” (dir. Bryn Silverman; 20 min) a filmmaker and their caregiver empower themselves in the labyrinthine healthcare landscape. Spring brings a set of stirring films that signal warm days are just ahead. (AL)

Screenings

A: Thursday, Feb 27 / 4:45 pm / Big Ragtag

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 9:30 am / The Globe

Q&A with the shorts filmmakers in attendance

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Shorts: Summer

Various directors

The sun is shining, and its warmth invites you to indulge in life’s exquisite amusements. This collection of quixotic quests and inquiries into pop culture all feature a playful charm and deep heart.

Shorts: Summer

Various directors

Tickets

The sun is shining, and its warmth invites you to indulge in life’s exquisite amusements. This collection of quixotic quests and inquiries into pop culture all feature a playful charm and deep heart. Hopeful musicians chase distant dreams in “TRAPSTARZ” (dir. Gonçalo Loureiro; 23 min), theme park goers cosplay the American West in “How the West Was Fun” (dirs. Sarah Garrahan & Sue Ding; 14 min), and UFOs lead us into the nature of belief in “Psychedelic in the Sky” (dir. Matthew Salton; 11 min). “Piñata Prayers” (dir. Daniel Larios; 24 min) brings us a filmmaker tracing the proliferation of the piñata alongside their family history, while in “My Exploding House” (dir. Liberty Smith; 17 min) a filmmaker wonders whether their childhood home might have disappeared in a burst of fireworks. (AL)

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 27 / 6:15 pm / Willy Wilson @ Ragtag

B: Sunday, Mar 2 / 8:45 pm / Rhynsburger

Q&A with the shorts filmmakers in attendance

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Shorts: Winter

Various directors

Temperatures drop, cycles come to a close, we hibernate and recenter. We analyze the world, possibly repeatedly. We might avoid our feelings only to collect our thoughts.

Shorts: Winter

Various directors

Tickets

Temperatures drop, cycles come to a close, we hibernate and recenter. We analyze the world, possibly repeatedly. We might avoid our feelings only to collect our thoughts. In “No se ve desde acá (You Can’t See It From Here)” (dir. Enrique Pedraza-Botero; 19 min) capitalistic systems are questioned as we come to realize that the unchecked use of technology oppresses, while “Guardian of the Well” (dirs. Tahir Mahamat Zene & Bentley Brown; 6 min) reveals the harm we have waged against the natural world and ultimately ourselves. With “Razeh-del” (dir. Maryam Tafakory; 28 min) an artist studies Iranian media through a Feminist lens. In the atmospheric “Lanawaru” (dir. Angello Faccini; 16 min) through a community collaboration, one surrenders to the harmony needed for co-existence. Finally, “Animal Eye” (dir. Carlo Nasisse; 12 min), where curiosity is embraced and the moving image serves to expand our sense of wonder and experimentation. (AT)

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28 / 11:00 am / Big Ragtag

B: Sunday, Mar 2 / 6:00 pm / Rhynsburger

 

Q&A with the shorts filmmakers in attendance

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The Dating Game

Dir. Violet Du Feng // 2025 // USA, UK, Norway // 90 min

Three men look for love in contemporary China, where, in the aftermath of the One Child Policy, men far outnumber women.

The Dating Game

Dir. Violet Du Feng // 2025 // USA, UK, Norway // 90 min

Tickets

Producers Joanna Natasegara, James Costa, Mette Cheng Munthe-Kaas & Violet Du Feng

Set against the backdrop of contemporary urban China, Violet du Feng’s The Dating Game adopts a fly-on-the-wall perspective to follow three lonely men participating in a weeklong “dating camp” led by Hao, a renowned dating expert. Over the course of the camp, we observe their “progress” as the men undergo makeovers, pose for dating app photos, and attempt to approach women in public spaces. Guided by Hao’s aphorisms and techniques designed to instill alpha-male confidence, the men stumble, succeed, and openly discuss their struggles. Meanwhile, Hao’s wife, a dating coach for women, offers a contrasting perspective that challenges her husband’s methods and his understanding of women. The result is a bittersweet and often humorous exploration of a technology-saturated world in which love and connection can feel impossibly out of reach. (LA)

Screenings

A: Thursday, Feb 27 / 6:45 pm / Missouri Theatre

B: Friday, Feb 28 / 4:15 pm / Rhynsburger

C: Saturday, Mar 1 / 12:30 pm / Missouri Theatre

Q&A with director Violet Du Feng

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The Silence of My Hands

Dir. Manuel Acuña A // 2024 // Mexico // 80 min

Rosa and Sai are committed to one another despite distance separating them in this sensory journey spoken entirely in sign language.

The Silence of My Hands

Dir. Manuel Acuña A // 2024 // Mexico // 80 min

Tickets

Producer Mónica Velasco

Rosa and Sai are two passionate, young people in love sustaining a long-distance relationship. The Silence of My Hands captures them at a time of tremendous change. Rosa is facing increasing demands at university as the first deaf law student in Guadalajara, while Sai is a newly arrived immigrant in California, slowly gaining more confidence as they blissfully nourish their gender identity. They are trying to make it work as they dedicate themselves to creating the life they have imagined. A hand lightly taps the tank glass at an aquarium, neon lights fill the frame, and suddenly we are submerged in their memories, we witness moments they have spent together; here past and present are blended seamlessly. Filmmaker Manuel Acuña wonderfully interweaves ruminations around language, communication, and self-discovery in this spellbinding experience. (AT)

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28 / 1:00 pm / Willy Wilson @ Ragtag

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 5:45 pm / Big Ragtag

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 6:00 pm / Big Ragtag

 

Q&A with director Manuel Acuña A.

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The Track

Dir. Ryan Sidhoo // 2025 // Canada, Bosnia // 91 min

A coming of age story of three teen boys chasing their Olympic dreams, set against the backdrop of post-war Sarajevo.

The Track

Dir. Ryan Sidhoo // 2025 // Canada, Bosnia // 91 min

Tickets

Producer Ryan Sidhoo

In Sarajevo, three teenage boys train with their coach on a luge track left over from the 1984 Winter Games, now bullet-riddled, covered in graffiti, and swarmed by tourists. Three decades after the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mirza, Zlatan, and Hamza are the next generation of athletes in a country facing an uncertain future. The tensions of the past still loom large in these young Muslims’ lives, and their Olympic dreams are stunted by a lack of state support despite the efforts of their dedicated coach. Director Ryan Sidhoo takes a longitudinal approach in his directorial debut, intimately capturing the boys’ journey as they reckon with growing up under the shadow of the past. A deeply affecting coming-of-age underdog story, The Track is an ode to the power of hope, friendship, and chasing your dreams against all odds. (CT)

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28 / 1:30 pm / Missouri Theatre

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 6:00 pm / The Blue Note

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 3:30 pm / Missouri Theatre

Q&A with director Ryan Sidhoo & participant Mirza Nikolajev

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The Undergrowth

Dir. Macu Machín // 2024 // Spain // 72 min

Three sisters reunite to divide up their family’s inheritance in this expressionistic and tender portrait set in the Canary Islands.

The Undergrowth

Dir. Macu Machín // 2024 // Spain // 72 min

Tickets Trailer

Producer Jamie Weiss

The Undergrowth opens with a fable of how one family came to own land that is known as the Plain of Lost Souls in the Canary Islands. Two generations later, three elderly sisters reunite there, the site of their childhood, to decide how this inherited estate will be divided amongst them. Debut filmmaker Macu Machin’s approach moves enigmatically between staging and observation while her intimate cinematography captures the microexpressions and small gestures that reveal the layers of tension between these siblings. As long-buried arguments resurface, the women wander the territory, gathering brush and harvesting almonds while reflecting on their memories of this place that binds them together. A film tinged with magical realism, The Undergrowth is an evocative contemplation on familial relationships, legacy, and the passing of time. (CT) Preceded by short “Another Rapid Event.”

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28 / 10:30 am / Willy Wilson @ Ragtag

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 7:45 pm / Willy Wilson @ Ragtag

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 12:30 pm / Big Ragtag

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The Wolves Always Come At Night

Dir. Gabrielle Brady // 2024 // Mongolia, Australia // 96 min

A poetic docufiction portrait of a family cast out of the Mongolian grasslands it calls home.

The Wolves Always Come At Night

Dir. Gabrielle Brady // 2024 // Mongolia, Australia // 96 min

Tickets

Producers Julia Niethammer Chromosom Films, Rita Walsh & Ariunaa Tserenpil Guru Media

Blurring the boundary between fiction and documentary, The Wolves Come at Night follows a couple raising their four children in the increasingly inhospitable Mongolian grasslands. The family member’s symbiotic relationship with nature is vividly reflected in tender moments with their animals, central to their livelihood as herders. The narrative shifts when, after a devastating night shatters the family’s pastoral life, they are forced to uproot to the city. While navigating the harsh new textures of urban existence, they are haunted by the specter of their former life. Through bold directorial choices, Gabrielle Brady (The Island of Hungry Ghosts, T/F 2019) shapes the family’s stark reality into a fable. The central couple, Davaasuren Dagvasuren and Otgonzaya Dashzeveg, share writing credits with Brady, which adds a layer of experimental strangeness to the film while grounding it in authenticity and emotional depth. (LA)

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28 / 10:00  pm / The Globe

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 11:45 am / Willy Wilson @ Ragtag

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 8:00 pm / Willy Wilson @ Ragtag

Q&A with producer Rita Walsh

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Valentina and the MUOSters

Dir. Francesca Scalisi // 2024 // Switzerland, Italy // 80 min

A young woman in rural Italy yearns for a different future amidst imposing military satellites and familial pressures.

Valentina and the MUOSters

Dir. Francesca Scalisi // 2024 // Switzerland, Italy // 80 min

Tickets

Producers Mark Olexa, Chiara Galloni & Ivan Olgiati

Nearly 30 years old and still living at home with her family in Sicily, Valentina has begun to dream of change. Amidst her surroundings of delicately crooked trees and soft earth, the military has constructed MUOS satellites and exerted a control over the land that has left many feeling helpless. At first, Valentina is content to crochet flowers and help her family at home, accepting the restrictions in movement as a tradeoff to living in her beloved Niscemi. But when her father’s health takes a turn, she quietly cultivates a desire to resist both the encroaching satellites and her family’s expectations of her. Blending patient vérité with moments of dreamlike hybridity, Valentina and the MUOSters is at once a deeply relatable coming-of-age story and an invitation into another world. (AL)

Screenings

A: Thursday, Feb 27 / 4:00 pm / Rhynsburger

B: Friday, Feb 28 / 4:15 pm / Big Ragtag

C: Saturday, Mar 1 / 10:15 pm / Willy Wilson @ Ragtag

 

Q&A with director Francesca Scalisi

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Wishing on a Star

Dir. Peter Kerekes // 2024 // Italy, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Croatia // 99 min

An astrologer dispatches clients on birthday trips to be reborn under a different star sign and to change their fate.

Wishing on a Star

Dir. Peter Kerekes // 2024 // Italy, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Croatia // 99 min

Tickets

Producers Erica Barbiani, Lucia Candelpergher, Peter Kerekes, Anna Mach Rumanová, Ralph Wieser, Vít Schmarc, Vanja Jambrovic & Tibor Keser

A witty and warm adventure through Italian sceneries and dazzling escapades to far away lands, this hybrid film follows Luciana and her astrology philosophies as she meets with various clients to help them in their search for happiness or, in some cases, a sense of resolution. From identical twins to a funeral director, we meet a rich tapestry of eccentric personalities who bring with them amusing stories and pleas for help. These lost souls take us on thrilling rides to Taipei, Beirut, the Italian countryside, and at times to the most unexpected places. As discussions of passing on the family business rise to the surface, we realize that Luciana is also struggling in her own life and hasn’t figured out how to improve her relationship with her daughter. Wishing on a Star is a reminder that we are all connected by our deep desire to be transformed. (AT)

Screenings

A: Saturday, Mar 1 / 9:00 pm / The Globe

B: Sunday, Mar 2 / 12:00 pm / Willy Wilson @ Ragtag

Zoom Q&A with director Peter Kerekes

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Writing Hawa

Dirs. Najiba Noori and Rasul Noori // 2024 // France, Netherlands, Qatar, Afghanistan // 85 min

A story of three generations of women in an Afghan family as the U.S. withdraws from the country and their hopes for the future are overshadowed by politics.

Writing Hawa

Dirs. Najiba Noori and Rasul Noori // 2024 // France, Netherlands, Qatar, Afghanistan // 85 min

Tickets Trailer

Producers Christian Popp, Hasse van Nunen, Renko Douze

Hawa is in her 50s when she decides to start a textiles business and finally learn to read and write. After being married at the age of 13 to her much older husband, she is beginning to claim her independence when the U.S. announces that it has made a deal with the Taliban and will be withdrawing from Afghanistan. At the same time, Hawa opens her home in Kabul to her teenage granddaughter after she runs away from her abusive father. Hawa’s daughter, filmmaker Najiba Noori, bears witness to his tumultuous turning point with a patient and intimate observation lens until she herself is forced to make an impossible choice. Filmed over five years, Writing Hawa follows three generations of women as they fight for their dreams against the patriarchal forces of geopolitics. (CT) Presented by Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy.

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28 / 1:15 pm / The Globe

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 9:45 pm / Missouri Theatre

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 12:15 pm / Rhynsburger

 

Zoom Q&A with director Najiba Noori

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WTO/99

Ian Bell // 2025 // USA // 100 min

A chronicle of the Seattle World Trade Organization protests in 1999, told entirely through firsthand archival video.

WTO/99

Ian Bell // 2025 // USA // 100 min

Tickets

Producers Laura Tatham, Ian Bell, & Alex Megaro

In late 1999, members of the emerging World Trade Organization convened in Seattle, Washington, for what was supposed to be a series of routine negotiations. Instead, they were met with one of the largest U.S. protests of global powers in the 20th century. Protesters from across the aisle representing everything from labor rights to environmental protections filled the streets in droves, with signs and video cameras in tow. Crafted from a stunning array of newscaster broadcasts and outtakes, citizen journalist tapes, home videos, and press conferences, WTO/99 is an entirely archival film chronicling this consequential four-day event. In a galvanizing, layered, and occasionally cheeky manner, a direct line unfolds between the WTO protests and the issues of corporate control and environmental degradation we still reckon with 25 years later. (AL) This film contains images of police brutality.

Screenings

A: Friday, Feb 28 / 7:00 pm / Rhynsburger

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 12:15 pm / The Globe

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 8:45 pm / The Blue Note

Q&A with director Ian Bell

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Zodiac Killer Project

Dir. Charlie Shackleton // 2025 // USA, United Kingdom // 92 min

A speculative essay about an abandoned Zodiac Killer film that unravels into an exploration of our cultural obsession with true crime.

Zodiac Killer Project

Dir. Charlie Shackleton // 2025 // USA, United Kingdom // 92 min

Tickets

Producers Catherine Bray, Anthony Ing &  Charlie Shackleton

A film about a film that was never made, this boldly original essay begins as an exploration of one man’s obsession with catching the Zodiac Killer but quickly unfolds into an anti-true-crime investigation into our cultural obsession with the genre. Against the backdrop of sun-drenched landscapes, deserted hallways, and empty homes, T/F alumni Charlie Shackleton guides us through the film his team would have made, projecting a speculative narrative into our imaginations with irreverent humor and razor-sharp precision. Zodiac Killer Project subverts the visual shorthand of evocative b-roll, “back-tors,” and slow zooms to dissect and playfully turn the now-pervasive genre on its head. A distinct and singular vision, this meta roller-coaster ride of a film is a richly layered examination of documentary ethics, implicating both filmmaker and audience. (CT)

Screenings

A: Thursday, Feb 27 / 9:45 pm / Missouri Theatre

B: Saturday, Mar 1 / 3:00 pm / The Blue Note

C: Sunday, Mar 2 / 2:15 pm / The Globe

 

Q&A with director Charlie Shackleton

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