Texas Short Competition presented by You42
Texas Short Program at Rollins Theatre at The Long Center
Sam can't sleep. His bedroom is surrounded on all sides by chirping smoke alarms, the sign of a low battery. So he does what any bleary-eyed problem solver would do...he sets out on an odyssey to find the annoying chirp and in the process, learns about himself, his neighbors and his place in the world.
After a visit to the African hair salon goes awry, a young Ivorian-American woman must traverse a fantastically animated Abidjan in order to track down her hair braider.
During the social and political turmoil of 9/11, a young girl and her brother intimately confront loss when they discover their dead grandfather’s body. "Jedo’s Dead" frames the traditional rituals surrounding death and loss through the eyes of young children. Alone and confused, they work their way through the stages of human grief—from the painfully human to the inescapably transcendent.
"Live From the Clouds" immerses the viewer in the intimate memories and imagination of four women in the director's Japanese-American family. Collage-like CG meshes with oral history, and poetry accents 16mm footage of the local bingo hall and staged sequences in an Asian grocery store, where everyday anxieties of shopping, paying the bills, and flying are ruptured by dreams of financial freedom and homecoming.
In September 2022, a series of document leaks revealed that the Mexican government labeled feminist groups as a bigger threat than Mexico's deadliest cartels. In a country where 10 women are murdered every day, how can a movement advocating for women’s safety become a target of the government? "Sangre Violenta / Sangre Violeta" highlights stories of activism and loss from a radical feminist collective, an inspiring survivor, and a grieving father. These narratives illustrate the depths of gender violence in Mexico and question the future of women’s rights in the country.
In the latest true-life portrait by the Austin team of Ivete Lucas and Patrick Xavier Bresnan, a veterinarian’s series of home visits culminates in a painful but very kind-hearted experience with a special patient.
Amidst an unsettling trend, Texas lawmakers target drag shows and queer communities with their proposed anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation. At the heart of the film lies 'Vanguard: The Drag Revolution,' a BIPOC drag show curated and hosted by queer activist Hermajestie the Hung. Within this empowering setting, the marginalized find solace and come together to dismantle the systems of oppression that encroach upon their fundamental human rights. Through the lens of Hermajestie's story, 'The Queen Vs. Texas' is an exploration of the intersectionality between identity, activism, and creativity.