Profound discoveries and new friendships take place during a conversation between Syrian children seeking refuge in Istanbul, and international students, volunteering in Turkey over their summer holidays.

Directors: Alessandro Leonardi and Elena Horn
2018 | 9 min
Turkey
Subtitles: English

Filmm...

Queer Possibilities is a short film capturing a discussion between Sammie Ablaza Wills & Vince Crisostomo, two trans and queer Asian and Pacific Islander activists of different generations. In this mini-documentary, Sammie and Vince connect over the power of intergenerational solidarity, mistake-...

The boy who takes the water with difficulty, gives the water back to nature.

Director & Producer: Eldor Kudratillayev

2021 | 2 min

Uzbekistan

Languages: None

Subtitles: None

Along the southern desert border in Arizona, it is estimated that only one out of every five missing migrants are ever found. Águilas is the story of one group of searchers, the Aguilas del Desierto. Once a month these volunteers—construction workers, gardeners, domestic laborers by trade—set out...

On a remote mountaintop a brave social experiment is taking place. Former Buddhist monk Lobsang was trained under the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and has created a unique community in the foothills of the Himalayas which rescues orphaned and neglected children. Five-year-old Tashi is ...

A group of Black and Latin women activists in San José, California drive a grassroots movement to remove police from their children's schools. Will they succeed?
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Filming for this documentary was done under the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the lead up to the pivotal 2020 elections...

This documentary focuses on the Hamar Tribe, a semi nomadic and rural people who live along the Omo River in Southwestern Ethiopia. Preserving the traditions of their ancestors is essential to defining Hamar life. One of the most venerated of the Hamar’s ancient traditions involves the transition...

Traces is a cinematic virtual reality film exploring the memories of one woman living with Alzheimer’s disease. In the film, the main character Willie White, an 88-year old woman living with dementia, recounts her time as a young girl living in the fields near Mason, Tennessee. As her words trans...

Set in the remote Alaskan Yukon Delta, Yukon Kings follows Yup'ik fisherman Ray Waska as he teaches his grandkids how to fish during the summer salmon run. With environmental and cultural forces threatening their subsistence way of life, Ray holds onto the hope that his grandsons will one day pas...

In a little hair salon owned by a Christian Arab in Haifa, Israel, the director installs a minimalist film set over the washing-basin, where she chats with the clients she is shampooing. She thus paints an unexpected choral portrait of this space that provides temporary freedom, where Arab and Je...

When a young man mysteriously dies in a Bay Area jail, his mother begins a determined quest to find out what happened to him, but quickly runs into the opaque and powerful position of American sheriffs.This intimate, fast-paced documentary follows Barbara Doss’ search to discover the details of h...

Waves follows three young girls growing up in one of South Africa's most violent communities. The film looks at the effects that high levels of violence, rape and femicide have on the psyche of young girls growing up amongst it, and how they learn to cope.

Director: Jessie Ayles
4 min | South Af...

Vibrations is a (partially) silent short film that gives an insight to the life of young girl who is profoundly deaf. The girl who remains anonymous identifies her struggles and experiences of living her lifestyle.
The film concludes with the message that being deaf - doesn't mean that you can't ...

A true story about two women struggling hard for their love. Soth Yun (57) and Sem Eang (58) met during the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime when coincidence led them to live in the same mobile unit. More than two million people died during the Khmer Rouge times, Soth and Sem survived. Today the le...

Tuning the Student Mind follows the journey of three students enrolled in Molly Beauregard’s sociology course, where they are experience the impact of her innovative, first-of-its-kind curriculum. Through the subjects’ personal stories, moments in the classroom, and nuanced interviews, the film i...

The first installment of Invisible Thread, an ongoing Early Light Media passion project series, Throw, presented by YoYoExpert.com tells the story of an outsider from East Baltimore, an area challenged by gang violence and poverty. Often misunderstood, Coffin Nachtmahr found acceptance among a su...

A documentary short about a family divided by the US/Mexico border. Abril is living undocumented in the United States with her 2 year-old son Julian. Julian’s father was stopped by police for a minor traffic incident and was deported back to Mexico. In order to see each other, Uriel, Abril and Ju...

In Rio de Janeiro an engineer fights for a sustainable future with spirited ideas and an unconventional source of energy - made from sewage.

Director: Eduardo Hunter Moura

2012 | 4 min
Brazil
Language: Portuguese
Subtitles: English

FILMMAKER Q&A:
https://simaacademy.com/filmmaker-qa/this-film...

Life can be difficult for children living in the creative, but sometimes volatile, inner-city neighborhoods of Kingston, Jamaica. If an adolescent is a victim of a crime and has to go to court, the case could fall apart because the child is too frightened to testify. This is why development group...

Students from Washington State University visit the prison at Coyote Ridge in order to participate in a debate about gun control. The rest of the participants are the debate club members from the prison – a group of inmates that have been transformed and inspired by their new contact with educati...

Indigenous Harakmbut leaders lead journey to rediscover ancient sacred site to connect with their cultural past and protect their future.

Director: Paul Redman
Producer: Tim Lewis

2014 | 9 min
Latin America | Peru
Languages: Spanish
Subtitles: Portuguese, English, Indonesian, Spanish

Blue Chalk worked with The Red Door Project to create a film that showcases its unique participatory process as they work to stage a series of monologues called “Evolve,” which tackles the fraught relationships between communities of color and law enforcement. In the face of seemingly insurmounta...

As Ellice gets low, her room gets messy - she never sees it coming, but it always happens. There seems to be no way to break out of the endless highs or lows that make up bipolar, or even to pick up her clothes up off the floor.

Director: Dorothy Allen-Pickard
Producers: Lauren Pringle
4 min | U...

The Mahoyo Project is a documentary that follows Mahoyo, a Swedish creative trio as they embark on a cultural exchange – collaborating with local artists in Johannesburg, South Africa. Together they challenge stereotypes and break down normative barriers surrounding race, ethnicity, gender and se...