Camden International Film Festival / Contractions

Shorts Program: The Cosmos in Us

Points North Institute, Journey’s End
Friday, September 13 2024

https://camdeniff.eventive.org/schedule/shorts-the-cosmos-in-us-66c34485ef5b8600391ddbcd

Five films that take us into diverse worlds, persuading us to question our perceptions and to see the world more humanely. These films transform our perspectives on what constitutes identity, how we build resilience against adversities, and how we seek to heal our traumas.

Adura Baba Mi | Juliana Kasumu | 15′
Intimate recollections by the filmmaker’s father, a religious leader within the Celestial Church of Christ, and the filmmaker’s mother, his once devoted wife.

A Body Called Life | Spencer MacDonald | 15′
A self-isolated young human known delves into the hidden world of microscopic organisms, forging a tender connection with these nearly invisible creatures and developing a massive online following, as he seeks to understand his own place in the cosmos and accept the scars of his past.

Contractions | Lynne Sachs | 14′
Intimate confessions, paired with experimental choreography outside a woman’s clinic in Memphis, offer a glimpse into the end of safe and legal abortion access in the US.

Familia 💖💎 | Picho García and Gabriela Pena | 19′
With the help of his friends, Picho coordinates through WhatsApp to get a profile picture that represents him. Meanwhile, there’s a crisis on the family WhatsApp chat: the demand to be present during the dizzying loss of autonomy of his grandfather, the patriarch of the family. Between missed calls, bombardment of images, emojis and stickers, we access the digital intimacy of a young man conflicted with the expectations of others and his own.

One Night at Babes | Angelo Madsen Minax | 29′
At Babes Bar Cribbage tournaments overlap with afternoons of karaoke and nights of raucous queer dance parties. When the aging rural townsfolk of Bethel, Vermont and the younger queer leftists begin sharing the same watering hole, delicate lines of communication open, but not without some drama.

You can’t get what you want but you can get me | Samira Elagoz and Z Walsh | 13′
An intimate slideshow chronicling how two trans masculine artists fall madly in love. From their initial meeting to traveling across continents, viewers witness their intimate moments, long-distance relationship, and transformative top surgery.