Spotlight on Documentaries #WFA2024

Witness a conversation about identity crisis and how the pressure to succeed plagues athletes when removed from the sport. Watch as former NFL Colts cornerback, D’joun Smith, as he tells his story for the first time in group therapy.

‘Fly in Power’ spotlights the work of Asian migrant massage and sex workers of Red Canary Song, a mutual aid, abolitionist collective based in Flushing, NYC. We follow the stories of Charlotte (a Korean massage worker/poet), KhoKhoi (bodyworker/healer), and Prof. Elena Shih (Brown University, global human trafficking researcher) as well as the broader Red Canary Song community. The film is a glimpse into their practices of care, autonomy, and survival against the oppressive systems that face Asian massage parlour workers and sex workers. Calling for ‘rights, not rescue’ these women and non-binary queers fight for their community, for decriminalization, and debunking the myths of sex trafficking that pervade the Asian diaspora. This film has been produced entirely by women, non-binary, trans and queers of the Asian diaspora – more than half of the production team are former sex workers.

‘Living Loud” is about the collaboration between two different drumming groups with a lot in common, following them as they build community and empowerment through samba reggae. In 2016, Stacy Kovacs formed Fogo Azul. The band brought together drummers of every age, race, sexuality, and gender identity. In February, 2020, Stacy took 40 members of Fogo Azul to Salvador, the center of the Afro-Brazilian community and the birthplace of samba reggae. There, they learned from Banda Didà, the first all-woman, all-Black samba reggae drum line, run by Adriana Portela. ‘Living Loud’ follows Stacy, Adriana, and drummers Selma, Sara, Velma, and Bia as the trip to Brazil transforms their lives. Adriana then travels to New York to work with Fogo Azul.

Three people navigate their lives with resourcefulness and determination in the face of Parkinson’s disease. An optician pursues deep brain stimulation surgery; a mother raising a pre-teen daughter becomes a boxing coach and an advocate for exercise; and a cartoonist contemplates how he will continue to draw as his motor control declines.

‘Never Fade Away’ is the moving true story about a young Chinese immigrant who escapes his homeland in the 1940’s during the Japanese Invasion, comes to America with nothing but his hopes and dreams, and how a radio and a waltz changes his life. Told through narration, music and dance, this short film shines a light on the healing power of music as well as the power of the immigrant experience. Featuring history-making dancer Chun Wai Chan and the exquisite ballerina Xiaoxiao Cao, their stunning pas de deux at the end will take your breath away. This story of heritage will bring you to tears and the music and dance will make your heart soar. Stories like this are the ties that bind, and should Never Fade Away.

‘Pianoman’ intimately captures the resilience of an undocumented family as they navigate universal challenges through a sensitive cinéma vérité lens. Stirring genuine emotions, the film prompts reflection on social justice and inequality, inspiring action for a more inclusive world. The integration of music and piano-making underscores the theme of unity. The piano serves as a powerful metaphor for both family reunion and the parallel restoration of resilience. This concise portrayal deeply resonates, appealing to those intrigued by civil rights, social justice, immigration, the transformative power of music, or the craftsmanship of piano-making.

In 2012, two biology students created fecomagnetism, a parody of pseudotherapies that claimed to cure all kinds of diseases by mixing poop with magnets. All they wanted was a funny review, but shit gets out of hand. How long would it take for people to realize that it was all fake?

Being thrown down a flight of stairs, hit by a car or beaten up is the everyday life for stuntwomen. We follow Virginie, Petra and Estelle during training sessions and on film sets in France and the US. What does all this pretend-violence do to their bodies and minds? There is always a trade-off between the desire to perform as realistically as possible and their own boundaries. Scenes with cars are spectacular, but the roles in which they are beaten up are much harder to watch. Few action movies have female heroes so they usually play the role of victims; stuntwomen are hired to endure violence, while the task of their male colleagues is to inflict it.

“The Ball” takes you on an intimate journey into the underground Ballroom culture created by marginalized LGBTQ people of color in early 1970s NYC. Thirty years after “Paris Is Burning,” the Ballroom is thriving worldwide, and “The Ball” gives you an in-depth perspective of courage in the face of adversity. Narrated by Ballroom icon Jack Mizrahi Gucci, the film features some of the Ballroom’s most influential and larger-than-life personalities, including Kelly Gucci, Omari Oricci, Chi Chi West, Meah West and Trace Gucci, opening up about family rejection and acceptance, introducing the chosen family concept, its importance to the LGBTQ community and its contribution to the entertainment industry.

‘The Other Side’ is a portrait of Nikki Bell and her journey from a teen sex trafficking survivor to a powerful advocate for other survivors in Worcester, MA. Over the past 8 years, she’s set up an extensive network of support services to help women in her community overcome addiction, trauma, isolation, stigma, and violence associated with the commercial sex industry.
Then the world changed seemingly overnight. When the pandemic began, Nikki’s drop-in center was forced to close, preventing her team from providing food, clothing and support services to those in need. Nikki and her staff of survivors began risking their own health and safety to continue providing invaluable aid.

This thought-provoking film takes you on a journey in the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau and follows brave local women who defy norms, assert their role through agroecology, stand up against female genital mutilation and forced marriage while challenging patriarchy across the board by building institutions that promote self-sufficiency. Carrying forward the legacy of Amílcar Cabral, the Bissau-Guinean independence leader who included women’s rights at the center of the struggle for liberation, the women of a rising generation are taking their power back.

In 2004, Abdi Abajabal came to the United States from Ethiopia. In 2012, he decided to start a healthy juice shop in Harlem with only five hundred dollars to his name. Ten years later, he is still going.