Co-presented by UA Hanson FilmTV Institute and DocScapes
Two trans men trying to free themselves from the pressure and practice of gender matching are the focus of THIS IS NOT ME, a documentary about transgender people in Iran, who are challenged by religion and the harsh laws of gender inequality.
As they seek to prove themselves in the religious community, one seeks to emigrate from Iran and the other is looking for gender reassignment.
Co-presented by Lesbian Looks, Hanson FilmTV Institute, Institute for LGBT Studies
ESTHER NEWTON MADE ME GAY explores the life and times of cultural anthropologist Esther Newton. Throughout her career, Esther was a pioneer—questioning and challenging status quo assumptions on gender, sexuality, and anthropological methods. Her work inspired generations of scholars to pursue research in what would eventually become the field of LGBTQ+ and Gender Studies.
The film tells her story of awakening to gay life in the 1950’s, the women’s liberation movement and lesbian-feminism, drag culture, and forging a butch identity which for her is now in conversation with trans-masculinity.
Keenly attuned to the cultural and societal forces that shaped her life, Esther guides us through an anthropology of herself, a study influenced by her love for a sport—competitive dog agility—that pairs her aging butch body with her beloved dog teammate on an obstacle course that is constantly changing.
In her persistent efforts to train her body back into shape after numerous health setbacks, we see the intense drive that has helped Esther navigate a lifetime of obstacles she faced in her quest to become who she wanted to be: a butch lesbian, scholar, and athlete.
In Person: Followed by discussion with San Francisco Public Defenders Francisco Ugarte and Matt Gonzalez, and Pima County Justice For All campaign leaders Margo Cowan and Isabel Garcia, as well as filmmaker Chihiro Wimbush.
RICOCHET tells the story of the trial of an undocumented immigrant, Jose Inés Garcia Zaraté, for the accidental shooting of a young woman in San Francisco in July of 2015. The incident gains national attention when Donald Trump exploits it on the campaign trail, fueling the anti-immigration movement that propels him to the presidency. At the same time, the national media makes the story a referendum on San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy. So the stakes are high when the trial finally begins in Fall 2017, with the defense led by two San Francisco public defenders: Chief Attorney Matt Gonzalez and Francisco Ugarte, head of the office’s Immigration Defense Unit.
Co-presented by UA Center for Latin American Studies, UA Hanson Film Institute, Human Rights Practice Program, College of Fine Arts
Soledad tells the story of a young woman from Central America who was imprisoned in the Eloy Detention Facility when she sought asylum in the United States in 2017. Soledad set out on a perilous journey from her homeland after enduring horrific persecution where she was kidnapped, sex-trafficked, tortured and nearly killed.
Attorney Shefali Milczarek-Desai, who took the case pro bono, mobilized a dream team of professional women, all of whom agreed to work for free on the case. Together, they secured Soledad’s release from Eloy and ultimately prevailed on her asylum claim in a rare victory for an asylum seeker in the U.S….
Co-presented by UA School of Sociology, School of Theatre, Film & Television, Binational Migration Institute, Hanson Film Institute, College of Fine Arts
Missing in Brooks County follows the stories of two families searching for their loved ones who went missing in the fields of Brooks County, Texas after crossing into the U.S. from Mexico. On their search they meet vigilante ranchers, human smugglers, humanitarian activists, and Border Patrol agents, all of whom are locked in a proxy version of the national immigration debate. They also discover a sobering truth: the deadliest part of the journey was far from the border. A gripping investigative documentary, Missing in Brooks County is also a deeply humane portrait of the human rights workers, activists, and law enforcement agents who confront the life-and-death consequences of a broken immigration system.
UNSETTLED tells the stories of LGBT refugees and asylum seekers who have fled intense persecution from their home countries and are now resettling in the U.S. As new leadership in America continues to demonize immigrants and drastically restrict the flow of refugees and asylum seekers into the U.S., UNSETTLED humanizes a group few people know, who are desperately trying to create new and safer homes…
The DocScapes Film Series is pleased to host award-winning filmmaker, interactive storyteller and photojournalist Theo Rigby for a campus screening of his series of short documentary films exploring the lives of young, undocumented people, primarily migrants from Latin America, residing in the US with DACA permits…
High School seniors Alejandro, Silvia, and Aldo, like most of their friends, are eager to go to college and pursue their education. However, their home state of Georgia not only bans them from attending the top five public universities, but also deems them ineligible for in-state tuition at public colleges due to their immigration status as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients. In response, these three ambitious and dream-filled students divert their passions towards the fight for education in the undocumented community…
When Jennifer Laude, a Filipina trans woman, is brutally murdered by a U.S. Marine, three women intimately invested in the case–an activist attorney (Virgie Suarez), a transgender journalist (Meredith Talusan) and Jennifer’s mother (Julita “Nanay” Laude) –galvanize a political uprising, pursuing justice and taking on hardened histories of U.S. imperialism.
A modern David and Goliath story, CALL HER GANDA fuses personal tragedy, human rights activism and the little-known history, and complex aftermath, of U.S. imperial rule in the Philippines, forging a visually daring and profoundly humanistic geopolitical investigative exposé…
Filmed with vérité intimacy for nearly a decade, QUEST is the moving portrait of the Rainey family living in North Philadelphia. Beginning at the dawn of the Obama presidency, Christopher “Quest” Rainey, and his wife, Christine’a “Ma Quest” raise a family while nurturing a community of hip hop artists in their basement home music studio. It’s a safe space where all are welcome, but this creative sanctuary can’t always shield them from the strife that grips their neighborhood.
India’s roadside tent dwellers, through the eyes of their teenaged children
The Tent Village is a collaborative work between Nilima and four teenagers she worked with in India. After learning basic filmmaking, the students decided to film at roadside hovels where garbage workers and hair-collectors live. The filmmakers’ unique perspectives (being themselves from the community they film) guide the viewer through life in the “tent village”, bringing a compassionate yet unsentimental peek into the lives of people who are often barely seen as people at all…
This six-part documentary follows the treacherous, seventeen-hundred-mile migration of a Syrian refugee who fled the perils of wartime Damascus to build a better life for his family. More than a million people whose lives have been upended by desperation and violence in Syria have made similar journeys, but most of these treks take place in obscurity…
Co-presented by the UA Center for Middle Eastern Studies and UA Main Library
Bassem Youssef faced an unusual choice in 2011: heart surgeon or full-time satirist. The established doctor picked the unexpected path and it would make him one of the most famous men in the Arab world and earn him the nickname “the Jon Stewart of Egypt”…
Theo Rigby is a director, cinematographer, and interactive storyteller based out of San Francisco. He believes in the power of image and sound to create awareness and dialogue about the world’s most pressing social and political issues.
Presented by the Center for Border & Global Journalism and the Center for Latin American Studies, co-sponsored by the Center for Documentary
Finding Oscar explores the story of a 1982 massacre in the small Guatemalan town of Dos Erres. The massacre claimed the lives of 200 people — men, women and children — save two small boys who survived only to be stolen and raised by their attackers…
After being wrongfully convicted of gang-raping two little girls during the Satanic Panic witchhunt era of the 80s and 90s, four Latina lesbians fight against mythology, homophobia, and prosecutorial fervor in their struggle for exoneration in this riveting ‘True Crime’ tale…
At a remote Mojave Desert high school, extraordinary educators believe that empathy and life skills, more than academics, give at-risk students command of their own futures. This coming-of-age story watches education combat the crippling effects of poverty in the lives of these so-called “bad kids”…
A band of Latin American activist economists sets out to change their region, partnering with women marginalized by poverty to challenge accepted notions of how to eradicate inequality. Through this program, the women become empowered economic and political agents in their communities…
Through the eyes of urban planners, community organizers, displaced youth, immigrant workers, and public housing residents, this verité-style documentary reveals how the story of New Orleans is the story of urban America: how democratic processes can fail us, how economic crisis can pull the rug out from under us, and how (im)migration can prove to be a complicated bargain. As cities all over the world struggle to…
Brenda is on a mission to disrupt the cycle of neglect, violence, and exploitation endured by girls and women in inner-city Chicago. On any given day, she’s performing interventions with at-risk teenagers, female prisoners, and prostitutes on street corners. She uses unconditional love, non-judgmental support, practical help—whatever it takes for them to change their own lives…
Co-presented by Lesbian Looks with support from the UA McClelland Institute for Children, Youth & Families, Primavera Foundation and Our Family Services.
The Homestretch follows three homeless teens as they fight to stay in school, graduate, and build a future. Each of these smart, ambitious teenagers – Roque, Kasey and Anthony – will surprise, inspire, and challenge audiences to rethink stereotypes of homelessness as they work to complete their education while facing the trauma of being alone and abandoned at an early age…”
U.S.A. 2011, 57 mins
Produced and Directed by Sande Zeig
Executive Produced by Heather Rae
Produced by Dolly Hall and Victoria Westover
This documentary tells the story of an all-women wildland firefighter crew from the White Mountain Apache Tribe, who have been fighting fires in Arizona and throughout the U.S., for over 30 years. The film delves into the challenging lives of these Native…
$5 / FREE for UA students with Catcard Advance tickets available at The Screening Room
This film is built around powerful, never-before-seen footage of Cesar Chavez’s 1988 36-day “Fast for Life,” interwoven with the historic events that defined the life mission of America’s most inspiring Latino leader and the struggles confronting today’s farm workers. Culled from…
