#whitehairdontcare: A New Era in Beauty

Director: Aishah Iqbal

When filmmaker Aishah Iqbal dares to ask, “Who gets to define beauty?”, she embarks on a transformative journey through the beauty industry’s obsession with youth, challenging societal norms, and uncovering stories of resilience.

A Cow in the Sky

Directors: Darren Press, C. Fraser Press

On his first solo flight as a pilot, the son of an Ethiopian man murdered by white supremacists in America wrestles with his past and identity when his engine suddenly fails and his plane free falls.

A Grave on the Border

Director: Maren Hahnfeld

In a small German town at night, Syrian refugee Rose relives intimate memories of war and flight through her sculptures and poetry.

Al Wadiaa

Directors: Hedi Krissaane, Giorgio Mari

“Al Wadiaa” was born from the need to tell a story of roots and resilience. Inspired by real events, the film explores the bond between land and identity through the innocent yet powerful eyes of a child. It’s a tribute to the Palestinian spirit and a reminder that no force can uproot hope.

Anything is Possible

Director: Chaitanya Thard

ممكن is an Arabic word, Momkin, that means “Possible.”  Coming from the northern mountains of Morocco, Ayoub Lahlouh is a circus performer. He uses his juggling to reach children in rural areas, and he teaches them acrobatics to give them self confidence. Ayoube strives to instill in them the belief that “anything is possible.” To discover the prospects that life can offer; in a part of the world where having dreams is not heard of.

Any Other Day: A Cholera Story

Director: David Jobanputra

Sisters Christina and Chifuniro lost their grandmother to cholera. This film is a unique first-hand account of this devastating illness – and the stigma that accompanies it.

Ask an Iranian

Directors: Elliot Feld & Jonathan Pottins

Ask an Iranian is a raw, character-driven documentary that follows Iranian-Americans as they confront, reflect on, and unpack the complicated realities of life in Iran — as seen through the questions they’re asked in the U.S. What begins as a dialogue about identity becomes a deeper meditation on memory, freedom, and the cost of belonging to two worlds.

Aye, Bua

Director: Samia Rahman

Aye, Bua follows Rehana, a housemaid in Dhaka. Through candid storytelling, she gives intimate access to her daily life, sharing simple joys and offering a poetic glimpse into resilience, community, and the enduring power of joy.

Beyond the Finish Line - The Great Ethiopian Run

Director: Mark OʻToole

A team of runners embark on a life-changing journey to Ethiopia. What starts out as a joyous journey of discovery, ends with a gut punch of reality. Begging the question – what happens when the world stops showing up? Featuring legendary athletes Haile Gebrselassie, Ruth Chepng’etich, and Eamonn Coghlan in Africa’s largest road race.

Calais Dover The Endless Exile

Director: Julien Goudichaud

Every year, thousands of people risk their lives to reach England illegally aboard inflatable boats and other makeshift vessels from Calais. A perilous crossing, orchestrated by smugglers, on the dangerous waters of the English Channel. Women, men, children from Syria, Iran or Sudan all pursue the same dream: a better life. For seven years, director Julien Goudichaud walked the beaches of Calais to document this reality, talking to migrants and smugglers.

Fences

Directors: Stephen Girusolo & Bryan Chadwick

A look at how OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) is addressing equality at the mayoral level

First Time Voters: An Essay in 12 Months

Director: Lisa Mills

The filmmaker followed 3 college students from March of 2024 to March of 2025 as they prepared to vote, voted, reacted to the election results, and reacted to the first days of the Trump Administration.

From Nightlife to Nightmare — Tel Aviv and October 7

Directors: Christian Berger (DW)  Kerstin Schukowski, Karl-Heinz Kretz (phoenix)   Tim Klimeš, Rolf Rische (DW) Silvia Menzel (phoenix)

After the Hamas attack on Oct 7, 2023, Tel Aviv changed. This doc, from the German television network DW, revisits locals a year later—nightlife figures, activists, and creatives—revealing how war reshaped their lives, hopes, and a once-vibrant city.

Grandpa's Magical Marshmallow Moss

Director: Bryan Hamilton Chadwick

A father takes his two boys on an adventure to see where their grandfather’s ashes were sprinkled in the woods, only to return with somewhat of a miracle.

Grietas

Director: Josh Hemingway

“Grietas” (Cracks) is a poetic documentary shaped by a letter written decades ago by Alba, a young woman who was disappeared during Argentina’s Dirty War. Her words, rediscovered by her son Nicolás some 20 years after her disappearance, become a guide through the cracks of history, identity, and inherited memory. This is not a biography. It is a pilgrimage—an opportunity to live outside one’s own experience and try on the experience of another.

Humanity Over Hate

Director: Zara Bharadwaj

In a world that is getting increasingly divided, a look at how acts of kindness can bridge divisions.  As a rising senior in high school in California, and someone who grew up in New Delhi, this film is deeply personal and shaped by urgent questions of our time.  In a world that often celebrates ambition and individual success, I believe we must also begin to honor kindness as a vital form of courage.

Language Back

Director: Dusan Harminc

A short documentary about the importance of Native American Language Revitalization shot in Milwaukee, Keshena and Bjorklunden with Indigenous Nations Poets

March of the Mangroves

Director: Sophia Abolfathi

In Florida, tropical mangrove trees are marching across the peninsula due to a rapidly warming climate. As these mangroves rapidly change the state’s famous coastlines in their wake, will Floridians learn to live with the iconic trees?

No Leg Power

Director: Tristan Anthony Ortiz

CJ had everything riding for him during high school with hopes of making the NBA but in one night a tragic accident changes everything. CJ is able to find himself again with gaining the love of CrossFit.

Oceanbone

Director: Lani Cupchoy

Stolen ancestors lie in museum vaults, waiting to return home. Oceanbone is a poetic reckoning with history, confronting the colonial theft of Indigenous remains and the urgent fight to bring them back.

Sama

Director: Bachar Khattar

In Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, Syrian Hiba and Lebanese Sabine bond through climbing with ClimbAid. Defying social barriers, they rise as female leaders, forging hope and resilience in a tense, divided society. SAMA means “to soar.”

Seeds for the Future

Director: Alice McGenniss-Destro

Uaxactún is a forestry concession community located in the Maya Biosphere Reserve, one of the largest reserves in Central America, and is located directly north of Tikal National Park in Guatemala.  In this documentary, we listen to (future) leaders and important people living and working in Uaxactún. We learn about the sustainable forestry concession model that has kept their forest at the same size over decades despite active logging; about the importance of living in harmony with one’s environment; and how to approach future-oriented leadership.

Shadowed by the Plane Tree

Director: Aynur Elgunesh

After 28 years of displacement, journalist Aynur Elgunesh returns to her ruined hometown of Aghdam. Through memories and rubble, she searches for traces of her past – faces, places, and a childhood scarred by war and loss.

Shadowed by the Plane Tree

For further information or to find out how you can get involved, please follow these links: The  Committee to Protect Journalists,  Azerbaijan Archives – Committee to Protect Journalists,  Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders.

Skies Over Ground Zero One

Director: Bryan Hamilton Chadwick

An artist comes forward with a series of worrisome paintings he was inspired to create. He kept them hidden for a long while, until he was nudged, at the beginning of 2024, to put them out into the world.

Sunrise in Prison

Directors: Quincy Bowie, Daniel Chit, Katelyn Do, Andrew Hong, Eve Levy, Katie Luo, Johans Saldana Guadalupe, Jiaxi Wu

Directed by the CTXA 470 Documentary Animation Production class at USC.  Elizabeth “Leesa” Nomura describes her experiences as an incarcerated woman, the community she built, and the power they discovered together.

The City of God Beneath the River

Director: Edmund Tetteh Agorhom

In Ghana’s rapidly urbanizing landscape, the slums have become both a crucible of survival and a harbinger of the nation’s future. By 2023, 59.2% of Ghanaians live in urban areas, with 12 million confined to sprawling slums like Agbogbloshie, where life teeters on the edge of collapse. Here, electronic and plastic waste convergence creates a toxic ecosystem that poisons the land, its people, and the sacred waters of the Odaw River and Korle Lagoon—once revered as gods, now polluted beyond recognition.

The Cost

Director: Timothy Mark Davis

What is the financial, emotional, and community cost of preventable overdoses in Broward County? Let’s talk about it.

The Depths of Love

Director: Heaven Hamilton

In this modern fable, a struggling writer’s encounter with a mermaid awakens love, memory, and purpose, reminding him that creation itself can be an act of redemption.

The Happiness Shop

Director: Brianna Avnell

Thousand Year Flood

Director: Jonathan Hall

A gripping 38-minute documentary about the 2022 Southeastern Kentucky flood, told through survivors, rescuers, and volunteers — revealing a community’s resilience in the face of devastation.

Transforming the Future of Food

Directors: Anelisa Garfunkel, Jeanne Eisenhaure

As humans have advanced, we’ve become removed from the sources of our sustenance. Science and technology have revolutionized how we access, grow, and transport food, yet we’ve become less and less connected with our food’s foundations. Why is that, and how can we get back to our roots?

What Holds

Director: Yu Guo

With salvaged materials and fierce determination, a mother and son build a life in a subdivided flat in Hong Kong. She turns scarcity into possibility, crafting safety through secret passwords, joy from LEGO bricks, and dignity through ingenuity.