A collection of shorts from our 2020 and 2021 seasons:
THE LAST CUT - The oldest barbershop in Manhattan’s Chinatown is coming to its close. The barbers, all immigrants, have to face their retirement and adapt to this new stage of life. (13 min, 2021, Director: Ben Wang)
NIGHT CLEANERS - After sunset, familiar New York spaces turn into something else entirely; shadowy worlds where only the thoughts of the night cleaners can be heard. Night Cleaners is a documentary about the people who clean up after us while we sleep. It explores the relationship between spaces and the cleaners who go through them at night while shining a light on people who are rarely noticed. The stories of the cleaners have similarities - most are immigrants and all have a special connection to the space they clean. Night Cleaners peaks behind the scenes lets us witness the extraordinary in the ordinary. (24 min, 2019, Director: Hanna Nordenswan)
THREE THREADS - The Rann is a salt desert that stretches for miles across west Gujarat, India. It is here that Pachan Siju, a traditional handloom artisan, lives and is determined to add his own color to the white landscape through his clothing brand, Three Threads. Being a Dalit and deemed untouchable by the higher caste communities, he cannot afford local exhibitions, and dreams of finding funding opportunity in the U.S. This film weaves a story of the hopes and aspirations of an extraordinary artist. (24 min, India, 2021, Director: Rohan Rao)
WOODCARVER: DEBORAH MILLS - Deborah’s craft is slowly disappearing – like many other hand-made traditions. But, in taking the slow path, and making beautiful, artistic and practical things for daily life, she’s trying to bring it back. (7 min, 2020, Director: Shuming Zhang)
A LITTLE MESS - Artist Lydia Ricci utilizes scraps from her childhood home to create miniature sculptures of nostalgic objects. (6 min, 2019, Director: Jamie Deradorian Delia)
IN THE RIGHT FRAME OF MIND - Profiles the framemakers of Quebracho in Bushwick, Brooklyn, who work with the best museums worldwide to marry a painting and its frame. (7 min, 2020, Director: Veronique Engel)