Bush Mama

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

An African-American man working at a slaughterhouse in the Watts area of Los Angeles leads a dissatisfied and listless existence.

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.

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.

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

A naive young woman moves from the South to stay with her aunt and uncle in Compton. As an outsider, she struggles at first to find her footing, but soon falls into the middle of a community of rebellious youth. She soon becomes more and more aware of the social injustices of the big city.

A young African-American man, living in Los Angeles without direction in his life, reluctantly agrees to be the best man for his brother, an upwardly mobile lawyer.

In 1902, a Gullah family on the Sea Islands off South Carolina decide whether to migrate to the mainland, risking their unique cultural heritage.

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.

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.

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

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.

A billion dreams came true in 1983 and 2011. Between the two big wins, four cricket-crazy friends set out to find answers and write their destinies.

I AM THAT GIRL is the story of Maxine, an anti-typical Asian American woman who lives a life of partying, funded by her eighty-thousand dollar credit card debt that she pays for by working at her ten-dollar-an-hour desk job. Desperate for affection, Maxine grabs hold of 'Noodle,' an enigmatic wanderer on his way to the Sierras, and convinces him to take her on his road trip where she discovers the beauty of nature. On their journey, Maxine falls for Noodle, but his haunting secret keeps him distant. Part comedy, part drama, I AM THAT GIRL is a love story that truly captures the spirit of D.I.Y. film-making and comments on American credit card culture while revealing the beauty of the simpler things in life.

During a carnival, near the border between Argentina and Bolivia, a young Malambo dancer prepares for the most important competition of his life. When his ex-felon father returns, he jeopardizes everything by dragging his son into the criminal world.

Manuel goes back to his hometown for his parents’ wedding anniversary, but he actually wants to ask money to move to Denmark with his boyfriend. Last time he saw his family, he came out of the closet. Since then, their relationship became tense. Manuel’s plans get ruined when his boyfriend dumps him.

Secret Voices

Ratul, a young boy in Bangladesh, is magically shown two very different visions of the future. In the first scenario, Bangladesh has been inundated by rising sea levels, causing great suffering; in the second scenario, fossil fuels have been replaced by renewable energy, and Bangladesh is prosperous. The purpose of this film is to teach children about fossil fuels and climate change.

Based on true events and set in New York City, TAPE is the story of an aspiring actress (Isabelle Fuhrman) who crosses paths with the darker side of the entertainment industry.

A tale of nine women navigating through an unusual sisterhood thrust upon them by circumstances.