Penitentiary

A hitchhiker named Martel Gordone gets in a fight with two bikers over a prostitute, and one of the bikers is killed. Gordone is arrested and sent to prison, where he joins the prison's boxing team in an effort to secure an early parole and to establish his dominance over the prison's toughest gang.

To Sleep with Anger

An enigmatic drifter from the South comes to visit an old acquaintance who now lives in South-Central LA.

Ashes and Embers

Ashes and Embers is an original screenplay by Haile Gerima, about a Vietnam veteran, who, several years after the war, is struggling to come to terms with his role in the war, and his role as a Black person in America. He survives by working odd jobs in Washington, D.C. and living with his girlfriend and her son. When criticism of his alienated behavior come from her and a father figure too often, he runs to the streets or to his grandmother's rural house in Virginia. Her criticism and his memories of the past both send him fleeing again to Los Angeles, where he is surrounded by superficial people who have forgotten how to be compassionate human beings. It is here that the advice of his friends and grandmother combine to transform him from an embittered ex-soldier to a strong and confident man.

Daydream Therapy

Daydream Therapy is set to Nina Simone’s haunting rendition of “Pirate Jenny” and concludes with Archie Shepp’s “Things Have Got to Change.” Filmed in Burton Chace Park in Marina del Rey by activist-turned-filmmaker Bernard Nicolas as his first project at UCLA, this short film poetically envisions the fantasy life of a hotel worker whose daydreams provide an escape from workplace indignities. —Allyson Nadia Field

Bless Their Little Hearts

Charlie Banks, chronically unemployed, struggles to find dignity and a meaning for life in the impoverished Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts.

Harvest: 3,000 Years

In this meditative film the everyday lives of poor Ethiopian peasants are shown using documentary as well as storytelling techniques, with its drama arising out of the timeless yet persistent issues of their lives.

Passing Through

Eddie Warmack, an African American jazz musician, is released from prison for the killing of a white gangster. Not willing to play for the mobsters who control the music industry, including clubs and recording studios, Warmack searches for his mentor and grandfather, the legendary jazz musician Poppa Harris.

Gidget Meets Hondo

Filmed in response to the LAPD’s shooting of Eulia Love in 1979, Gidget Meets Hondo opens with stills taken by Bernard Nicolas of a demonstration against Love’s killing. Nicolas’ Gidget is a self-absorbed young white woman who remains clueless to the violence erupting around her, ultimately to her own peril. The film asks whether such police brutality would be tolerated if the victim were a middle-class white woman.

Homecoming

A high school teacher races home to cook dinner for his wife.

Pushcart Tales

A dramedy that takes place entirely within the walls of a grocery store. The story revolves around six individuals, a diverse group of employees and customers, who find themselves unexpectedly trapped due to a severe storm.

Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh's life was a masterpiece painted with the dueling colors of madness versus genius. However, this inner battle gave birth to some of the greatest works of art known to man. The film traces Van Gogh's journey through the many twists and turns of his tumultuous and exciting life.

0000 Kilometre

A phone call to Izmir while she and Ege are living together in France turns their lives upside down. The caller claims to be Izmir's recently deceased mother.

Mar Mama

Haunted by her mother’s death and recurring attacks by Israeli forces on her city, a young girl becomes obsessed with death. To distract her, her father makes a stop-motion film. However, his attempts fail and the girl finds nothing other than imagination to escape from reality.

Lady R

70 year old Shen Yanhong (played by Yang Ziqiong) was sent to a nursing home by her son after falling seriously ill, and the house was also rented out by her son. In order to regain her life, she tried to make money but encountered obstacles everywhere. Just as she was about to give up, her talent in the Rubik's Cube was discovered by young Rubik's Cube coach Xiao Wu. One wants to make money and leave the nursing home, while the other wants to save the dying Rubik's Cube training class. The two hit it off and appeared on TV programs. From the beginning, she not only gained fame and fortune, attention, dignity, love, and initiative in life, but also brought vitality to the stagnant nursing home. She was not afraid of failure, fought against aging and prejudice, and arrived at the highest stage of the Rubik's Cube all the way. Finally, with her son's encouragement, she completed an extremely difficult challenge and won the Guinness World Record.

Off and On

Sophie, a college freshman, is seeking social acceptance from her outgoing and popular peers. Her boyfriend, Andrew, is a wide-eyed pledge for the frat Kappa Alpha Chi. After some unfortunate events, Sophie starts to see Andrew's ghost all over campus. This causes her to confront her innate need to be accepted in a college culture that centers on partying and substance use.

Not knowing who you are is a beautiful source of surprises