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THURSDAY JANUARY 16TH, 2025 - BUSHNELL
SHORT FILMS
Jayuya
Jordan Fernandez * 2023 * United States * 4 minutes
Jayuya is an animated short film about a curious boy who one night comes across a portal to an alternate world where he makes a unique friend. The story takes inspiration from the Taino tales of the Sun God. The title is named after the municipality of Jayuya in Puerto Rico.
Obsesión: My Song
Catherine Murphy * 2021 * Cuba * 10 minutes
Hip Hop Duo Obsesión was one of the first groups of the booming Havana Hip Hop movement of the 1990s, part of a new generation of AfroCuban youth who used Hip Hop as a platform to talk about a wide range of racial and social justice issues, and to promote Black pride and Black consciousness. Branching into Popular Education and community activism, Obsesión has kept going until today. This short documentary explores their creative work - and their philosophy of life and music.
Haymakers
Marco Navarro * 2024 * United States * 12 minutes * World Premiere
Following the death of their father, Cesar (Kevin Walle) begins his training with his older brother Alexander (Jorge Valencia). As tension rises in the ring, regular sparring turns into a blazing boxing match between the brothers.
The Escence of the Guaguancó
Jairo Valeria Mosqueira * 2024 * Belgium * 11 minutes * World Premiere
Fernando, the singer of Skala B, comes home from a concert, at 4 o'clock in the morning. After falling asleep, Elegua, the saint that meddles with the peolple's destiny, takes him on a journey. This movie is a tribute to the Orishas from Cuba and especially to Celeste Mendoza, the best representative of the rumba and the guaguancó, the cuban rythm.
Soul Tie
Maegan La Trese Philmore * 2023 * United States * 15 minutes
Soul Tie was created to showcase Melrisa
a single middle age,
dark skin,
plus size,
childfree,
Afro Latina American with an Afro because she needs to be SEEN.
Travessia
ALEXANDRE de FREITAS MACIEL * 2022 * Brazil * 15 minutes *
"Travessia" is a contemporary dance performance that revives the Black diaspora, from the horrors of the water-covered dungeon - the slave ship - drifting through to the present day. It has been 134 years of freedom, but Black people are still chained to many shackles in Brazil. The Black, poor, and favela-dwelling people are the concrete result of the Brazilian structural racism, fostered day after day for years of injustice and non-reparations.
Conguito
David Ontoria * 2022 * Spain * 22 minutes * U.S. Premiere
Malik suffers racist harrasment and bullying in his school. Maider is his only friend but she also turns her back on him. Malik's parents will try to help him change his situation. Malik just wants his friend back.
Las Olas (The Waves)
Franco Vidal * 2023 * United States * 17 minutes
Kaleah Martinez, a seventeen-year-old Afro-Latinx honor student is suddenly faced with the unexpected and violent loss of her brother. As she moves through her pain and self-destruction, she must find a way to forgive herself.
INTERMISSION ~ 10 MINUTES ~ INTERMISSION
FEATURE FILMS
Guancho and the Bongosero Mentiroso
Thibeaux Hirsh * 2023 * United States * 20 minutes * World Premiere
This project is first and foremost a peek into the lives, traditions and culture of Guancho and Alberto (el Bongosero Mentiroso), two renown percussionists from Guines, a small town in Cuba.
Negrita
Magdalena Albizu * 2023 * United States * 50 Minutes
NEGRITA is a feature documentary about diverse Afro Latinas who explore and confront culture and racism while defining their own identity in the United States. NEGRITA explores the ideology of Blackness, and how both American and Latino cultures perpetuate the belief that Blackness is to be destroyed. Through personal accounts, family pictures, old videos, and interactions with family and friends, NEGRITA will follow the director's own struggle with identity, her journey to embrace her African history, and her conversations with her family about their disapproval of her journey, while interweaving the stories/experiences shared by other Afro Latinas.
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