Saturday Evening Showcase

Join us for a moving screening of A House Made of Splinters, an intimate documentary that captures life at a halfway home for children in Eastern Ukraine.

Special guests from our non-profit partner Project HOPE will join us after the screening to discuss their relief work on-the-ground in Ukraine and the surrounding region.

100% of our box office proceeds for the entire 2022 festival will go towards Project HOPE’s efforts to deliver medicine, medical supplies, mental health support, and other urgent assistance to families in Ukraine and those who have sought refuge in Poland, Romania, and Moldova.

We also encourage audiences to explore the work of Voices of Children, which gives psychological and psychosocial support to children who have suffered trauma due to war. This organization is doing incredibly important work in Ukraine, and is very close to the heart of Simon Lereng Wilmont, the director of A House Made of Splinters.

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After Party

Following our Saturday Showcase Film, we’ll move to the lobby of the ShowPlace Icon theater for our After Party! There will be appetizers, desserts, complimentary beer/wine, and good company as we celebrate another year of making an impact with storytelling.

Wood Hood follows DeVaughn, a 15-year old kid from New York City as he takes a weekend trip with Camping To Connect, a BIPOC-led mentorship program that teaches leadership, brotherhood, and inclusion in the outdoors.

Impact // Filmmaker’s Voice

We hope that [audiences] come away believing that nature belongs to everybody, and that more access, diversity and representation in the outdoors is critical for a more just and equitable society (and critical for the health and well-being of urban youth). We’d like for them to support our efforts at Camping to Connect. www.campingtoconnect.com

– Alex Cullen

Centered on DC native Sheila White, Street Reporter is an intimate story about the power of community journalism and the courage to never stop searching for a place to call home.

Impact // Filmmaker’s Voice

Street Reporter seeks to break down stereotypes of people experiencing homelessness, to create empathy and build a vision for a world where all people have a place to call home.

To learn more, visit:

www.StreetReporterFilm.com
www.StreetSenseMedia.org

– Laura Waters Hinson

An exploration of the relationship between dancers and music through the lens of the Gallaudet Dance Company, where every member is either deaf or hard of hearing.

Impact // Filmmaker’s Voice

I wanted to create something, in partnership with the Gallaudet dance company, that addresses deaf people as complex and complete people with real lives and aspirations. While simultaneously creating something interesting and engaging for community members who may have never had the opportunity to meet a deaf person. My intended outcomes are to have people walk away having learned more about deaf culture, deaf community, and social stigmas still in place today.

Because I grew up bilingual in American Sign Language and English I was able to explain my project to the dancers in the company. I asked them to contribute anything they wanted the larger public to know about deaf and hard of hearing people. I emphasized how much I wanted their input and involvement, since it has often been a history of storytellers deciding the narrative for this community without one, ever asking them and two, often getting it wrong.

To learn more about Deaf communities:

Documentary – Signing Black in America

To learn more about Deaf history:
https://www.gallaudet.edu/museum/exhibits

Local deaf owned businesses to check out:
Mozzeria – H St. (Washington, D.C.); Streetcar 82 Brewing Co. (Hyattsville MD)

– Sarah Goolishian

Janwaar celebrates a rambunctious group of kids whose lives are transformed when a skatepark is built in their small village in India, breaking down generations of caste and gender barriers in the process.

Impact // Filmmaker’s Voice

My only hope for audiences watching the film is to feel something positive – to see the smiles on the faces of the kids and feel that infectious happiness themselves. Our world is full of stories and documentaries that leave you feeling hopeless, and I just wanted to tell a story that offered something different, if only for 10 minutes or so. I also hope the people feel enticed to turn their viewing experience into impact for the kids. You can learn about their nonprofit, here: https://rural-changemakers.com – Danny Schmidt

A loving portrait of Welsh shepherd Wilf Davies, who has never left his valley, eats the same meal every day, and works his farm alone, where his family of over 100 black-spotted sheep rely on him.

Lisa Creason, a reformed felon who dreams of becoming a nurse, fights an unjust law to provide for her family and create opportunities for thousands of others in her state.

Impact // Filmmaker’s Voice

As part of the impact campaign for Free to Care, our goal is reverse the law in 15 states where similar restrictions on ex-felons exist. We hope audience members come to us with connections and resources to create more equitable opportunities in their states.

Learn more at https://freetocarefilm.com/

– Owen Dubek, Chris Temple

In a story of self-resilience, Fight or Flight chronicles the journey of the only female pilot employed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife who overcame childhood trauma by taking to the sky.

Impact // Filmmaker’s Voice

Fight or Flight lives in tribute to “championing mental health” as a lifelong journey and hopes to reach youth, pilot and outdoor industry professionals, and sexual assault victims and therapists as its main audience. We believe this film can serve as a powerful uplifting tool for many walks of life, including serving as a way for young adults to process and gain courage to confront the lifelong and buried traumas they have encountered in their lives. – Lindsey Hagen

A double feature with stories of inspiring leaders who, through exploration, dedication, and persistence, have made their mark in history.  Includes:

• The Shoulders of Giants
• Love Reaches Everywhere

The incredible story of how Frank Kinney Holbrook, the University of Iowa’s first African-American football player and among the first in the nation, paved the way for every African-American athlete that would follow him.