Shorts Program: Pathfinding
120min
Focused on subjects determinedly charting their own courses, these shorts are stirring explorations of cultural heritage, migration, and self-actualization.
Ayiti: The Awakening
Sage Love, Haiti/USA, 2019, 26m
In the aftermath of Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake, a young man questions failed relief efforts, seeks out the stories of survivors, is driven to find his ancestral roots, and unearths Ayiti’s troubled but inspiring history.
Life on the Road
Shakirudeen Akinyemi, Ghana, 2019, 24m
For two decades, the late Awudu Tijani voluntarily took on the arduous task of directing traffic in some of Accra’s most knotty and unmonitored intersections. Though Tijani was homeless, afflicted by substance abuse, and survived solely on the benevolence of motorists, his resilient spirit and childhood dream of becoming a police officer drove him back to the road every day.
Virtually Free
André Robert Lee, USA, 2020, 40m
Families, officers, judges, and advocates unite as unlikely allies confronting over-policing and mass incarceration of youth in Richmond, Virginia. Central to the effort to transform the juvenile justice system is the amplification of detainees’ voices. Empowered by an activist-run local arts program, three teens powerfully deliver authentic messages through their creativity including the construction of a virtual reality jail cell.
Ruthan
Abul Ajak, South Sudan, Uganda, South Africa, 2019, 12m
In this meditation on migration, loss of language, and the transcendence of reimagined forms of communication, filmmaker Abul Ajak explores how cultural identities are not fixed but always in transition through her relationship with her grandmothers.
Joy
Nour Gharbi, Italy, 2020, 13m
When disputed presidential elections spur violence against Togo’s citizens in 2005, Joy, a man whose wife and father were killed in the attacks, flees the country. Though horrors he faced in prison and on death-ridden boats towards Lampedusa haunt him and afflict his mental health, he’s grounded by his faith and enduring love for the son he left behind.
Raft of Medusa
Alexis Peskine, France, 2016, 5m
Drawing parallels between Théodore Géricault’s evocative 1819 painting Raft of Medusa and the contemporary stories of Africans who endured grueling journeys towards the west, this short considers the role of colonialism in migration.
This screening is a part of the New York African Film Festival (NYAFF)
