A short film about identity and gender.
Social & External
Emma
Hands
A non-binary South Asian teenager uses bharatanatyam dance to explore their gender identity.
An epic love story spanning decades is sparked by a chance encounter between two men in provincial Mexico. Based on a true story, ambition and societal pressure propel an aspiring chef to leave his soulmate and make the treacherous journey to New York, where life will never be the same.
"Una China Poblana" follows a Chinese-Filipino woman, Malaga, living in 1930s Mexico. Due to her race, many aspects of her life encounters hostility. When Malaga receives a death threat right before her big show in Mexico City, she doesn't choose to back down and faces whatever threat awaits her in the audience.
A journey through identity and self-discovery.
Alexandra has been playing tennis for as long as she can remember. After years of training under the instructions of her father, Julio (a retired tennis player who intends to relive his victories through his daughter), she has become one of the most promising junior tennis players in the Spanish circuit. During one of the most important tournaments of the 1978 season, the increasing pressure from her father will exert on and off the court will begin to affect her mental health. With the arrival of adolescence and the questions it brings, Alex will realize that, perhaps, this is not her destiny.
Known to the world as Sylvia Philips, a celebrated reality star sees her life crumble after her true identity is exposed. Retreating to her childhood orphanage, she rediscovers her past and the true meaning of love, family, and self. Color Me True explores the cost of deceit and what remains when truth catches up.
A transwoman mechanic lives between running her family’s auto shop during the day and expressing her femininity at night, until an unforeseen event threatens the delicate balance.
When a Korean-American adoptee discovers his birthmother is terminally ill, he must decide whether to preserve his American identity or uncover his vague past.
Borrowing its title from the William Carlos Williams poem of the same name, Nameless Spectacle revela in the beauty of ordinary life through themes of voyeurism, power, and sexual violence. Projected on two duelling screens the viewer is unable to focus on the parallel perspectives of the film’s dual perspectives.
Co-directed by Blackwood and Julien, the first full-length feature film by Sankofa Film and Video offers a radical and necessary interrogation into what constitutes 'post-colonial' identity at a time of political and social restlessness in Britain. Set within an isolated desert landscape contrasted with recognizable scenes of the intensity of family life, this vanguard work demonstrates the richness and variety of the black experience; it is a poetic and hard-hitting commentary on the complexities of race, gender and sexuality.
After starting at an upmarket boarding school, a teenage girl forms close friendships with her two older roommates. However, when she discovers that her new friends are lovers she finds herself caught in a complicated situation.
Born with an unusual defect that left her without a navel, she grows up feeling like she doesn’t quite belong. Her body and her being carry traces of something foreign, something she cannot understand. To escape this strangeness, she develops a fascination with watching — always the observer, never the participant. But when she encounters a man, her fear of closeness begins to give way, turning into obsession. Gradually, her watching crosses boundaries: from distance to intimacy, from desire to intrusion.
Sam, a fearless young girl raised outside of her Māori culture, is determined to fulfill her mission of connecting with her mountain. She hopes it can heal her from the cancer she is battling. Along the way, she meets some misfits and new kids in town, and together they journey through a difficult route, discovering the true spirit of adventure and the magic of friendship.
'Haftasonu' tells the story of Hasan, who travels to Cyprus after many years following the death of his father. As he spends a weekend in his childhood village, his sense of belonging and identity will be questioned by all within. Following a festival run in 2016 and 2017, the film is now available for viewing here: https://vimeo.com/161152843
Charlie is Not a Boy is the tale of a hushed soul, bound to a crumbling household in an allegorical America. With a perverted butcher for a father and a mother frozen in a quiet, catatonic spell, Charlie seeks solace in the whimsical world of his eccentric grandmother. As his safe haven unravels, Charlie navigates the hostile worlds of home and the military, caught between his authentic self and the masks he must wear.
After several years working as a high fashion model, Adel begins to question her surroundings and sense the absurdity of her situation. To ease her mind, she uses her imagination to justify the farcical requests she is faced with.
A young French man and an older English woman spend one night together on a ship.
In County Durham, England, 1984, a talented young dancer, Billy Elliot, stumbles out of the boxing ring and onto the ballet floor. He faces many trials and triumphs as he strives to conquer his family’s set ways, inner conflict, and standing on his toes in a musical that questions masculinity, gender norms and conformity.
Tina and Fred, a couple in their fifties, are desperate in their search for a boy's name. But for whom? And why? A thoughtful look at a social issue.
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
An optimistic, talented teen clings to a huge secret: she's homeless and living on a school bus. When tragedy strikes, can she learn to accept a helping hand?
Sean is taken to a motel and is given a prostitute for his 18th birthday by his father. He must sleep with her to "fix" his questionable homosexuality. "Pretty Boy" is a coming of age story of a young bullied teen, Sean, struggling with his sexuality and the hardships of high school. After his father finds some questionable magazines in his room, this devout Christian will go to any lengths to get his son to find the light and "perform" the way a man should. Sean is introduced to Katie, a prostitute that understands the stigmas of modern society and helps him see the true light that is within him.
A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.
A professional cellist has an encounter with a stranger on the subway which has unexpected and far-reaching ramifications on his life.
England, 1600. Queen Elizabeth I promises Orlando, a young nobleman obsessed with poetry, that she will grant him land and fortune if he agrees to satisfy a very particular request.
Set against the backdrop of San Francisco’s Chinatown, this cross-cultural biopic chronicles Bruce Lee’s emergence as a martial-arts superstar after his legendary secret showdown with fellow martial artist Wong Jack Man.
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
An odyssey through time and memory, centered on a place in New Jersey where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.
Electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse compete to create a sustainable system and market it to the American people.
A veteran actress comes face-to-face with an uncomfortable reflection of herself when she agrees to take part in a revival of the play that launched her career 20 years earlier.
A college student tries to get rich quick by wooing two wealthy sisters.
After returning home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.
After five failed attempts to go to the United States, 18-year-old Ramón decides to look for a friend’s aunt in Germany, but never finds her. With no papers or money, and without knowing the language, he barely survives living on the street until he meets Ruth, an old retired nurse who doesn’t speak Spanish. Beyond language barriers and prejudices, they discover that solidarity and humanity make life bearable.
Two co-workers, one a vain woman and the other an awkward teenager, share an increasingly bizarre relationship after becoming roommates.
A young girl tries to help her grandfather, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, navigate his increasing forgetfulness, and ends up going on a remarkable adventure with him.
The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.
Feeling awkward and isolated, an imaginative and strong-willed teenage girl runs away from home with an older punk rock drifter.
A young British girl born and reared in India loses her neglectful parents in an earthquake. She is returned to England to live at her uncle's castle. Her uncle is very distant due to the loss of his wife ten years before. Neglected once again, she begins exploring the estate and discovers a garden that has been locked and forgotten. Aided by one of the servants' boys, she begins restoring the garden, and eventually discovers some other secrets of the manor.