Shorts Block: SOUTHERN LAND AND WATER

2400 Flora Street,Dallas TX 75201

14 May, 2022

Description

Saturday, May 14, 10:15am: SOUTHERN LAND AND WATER Studio Theatre In Partnership with the New Orleans Film Festival SOUTHERN LAND AND WATER We are proud to partner with The New Orleans Film Festival to share a group of shorts centered on stories of the south. From NOLA Film Festival: Rich, fertile soil and vast waterways of the American South have attracted, nurtured, and exploited people from around the world. These shorts explore our intricate relationship with this expansive landscape we call home. Featuring Short Films: I Am One of the People The Diamond No Soy Óscar To Live Here (sống ở đây) The Seeds We Keep Bad Boy of Bonsai What Remains Screening Times: Sat. May 14 – Studio Theater – 10:15pm Short Film: I AM ONE OF THE PEOPLE (dir. Cameron Woodle) Runtime: 4min Year: 2021 Harmful chemicals are disproportionately affecting Black communities in Southern Louisiana along the Mississippi River. I am One of the People is an experimental short film exposing the environmental racism of “Cancer Alley.” Meet the Director: Cameron Woodle is a film editor and director from Los Angeles. Woodle’s short films, including his thesis project, I am One of the People, have received acclaim at festivals such as the International Social Change Film Festival and The New Orleans Film Festival. Short Film: THE DIAMOND (dir. Caitlyn Greene) Runtime: `16min Year: 2021 Deep in Arkansas, wandering souls mine for diamonds but unearth their own ghosts. The Diamond is a meditation on how the mundane work of digging for gems can lead to deeper connections between one another, within ourselves and to the Earth. Meet the Director: Caitlyn Greene is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker from the American South who tells stories of beautiful and bizarre existence. Greene received a Primetime Emmy and an ACE Eddie Award for her editing on The Jinx, HBO’s Peabody Award-winning documentary series. Short Film: N) SOY ÓSCAR (dir. Jon Ayon) Runtime: 15min Year: 2021 A first-generation Latinx father journeys through unrecognizable, unceded lands in the border regions between the U.S. and Mexico in search of the place where Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his young daughter, Angie Valeria, drowned. Meet the Director: Jon Ayon is a Mestizx filmmaker from LA. Ayon began his career directing music videos for punk and indie bands in the Pacific Northwest. In 2011, Ayon made Oakland home and earned a B.A. from San Francisco State University’s School of Cinema and an MFA in Documentary from Stanford University. Ayon’s films highlight issues pertaining to the Latinx Diaspora such as Indigeneity, colonialism and generational trauma. Short Film: To Live Here (sống ở đây) (dir. Melanie Dang Ho) Runtime: 21min Year: 2020 Exploring the intimacy of the mundane, To Live Here (sống ở đây), focuses on the lives of Vietnamese shrimpers and elderly farmers in New Orleans. The film explores the reverberations of the past, and its echoes still present in modern labor. Meet the Director: Melanie Dang Ho is a Vietnamese American filmmaker and writer. Ho’s work focuses on trauma, familial relationships, gender, displacement and intimacy. Ho is currently a director and producer at the University of Mississippi’s SouthDocs, creating intentional storytelling in the South. Short Film: THE SEEDS WE KEEP (dir. Gabrielle E. W. Carter) Runtime: 7min Year: 2021 Part narrative essay, part documentary, The Seeds We Keep lifts up a love song for the land, for generational wisdom and for the vital questions that come with seeking one’s home. In the film, cultural preservationist Gabrielle E. W. Carter unfolds a lush vision of what is, and what could be, in her meditation on Black land ownership and seed saving. Meet the Director: Gabrielle E. W. Carter is a multi-disciplinary artist and cultural preservationist who uses diasporic and local food as a vehicle to re-imagine wealth, marginalized food systems and inheritance. Carter’s work uses oral history, cooking and agriculture to engage audiences and create contemporary source materials and points of access. Short Film: BAD BOY OF BONSAI (dir. J. Alejandro Moreno) Runtime: 6min Year: 2020 Bad Boy of Bonsai is an experimental art house documentary that profiles Guy Guidry, a Louisiana local, and his passion for bonsai. This numinous short film reminds audiences that our inner worlds are just as elaborate and beautiful as the universe around us. Meet the Director: J. Alejandro Moreno is a New Orleans-based freelance filmmaker. Often described as abstract, vulnerable and hyper-nostalgic, Moreno's images include subtitles that invite his audience to explore their inner world, and ultimately, help them find peace. Short Film: WHAT REMAINS (dir. Paavo Hanninen) Runtime: 14min Year: 2021 As oysters journey from Barataria Bay to restaurants in New Orleans, we meet the people and places most threatened by climate change and land loss, witnessing an emergent effort to fight back against this change. Meet the Director: Paavo Hanninen is an Alabama born-and-raised filmmaker living in New Orleans. Hanninen’s short films have recently played Shortoftheweek, Sun Valley and Sidewalk. Hanninen’s short documentary What Remains was released by The New Yorker. https://www.earthxfilmfestival.org