Short Docs from the American Film Showcase

Join IDA and The American Film Showcase (AFS) for an evening of short documentary films highlighting the work of international filmmakers. The filmmakers are fellows of The American Film Showcase, the premier film diplomacy program of the U.S. Department of State, produced by the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Each year, AFS organizes film screenings, storytelling workshops, and filmmaker exchanges in partnership with U.S. Embassies in more than 40 countries around the globe. The films featured in this screening program are all the work of AFS fellows who have participated in the 10-day Los Angeles-based AFS International Documentary Workshop.

Mark Jonathan Harris, Distinguished Professor and Co-Head of Advanced Documentary Production at USC's School of Cinematic Arts, Principal Investigator of the AFS grant, and mentor to AFS participating filmmakers, Lisa Leeman, SCA professor and alum, and AFS film envoy and mentor, and Claire Aguilar, IDA's Director of Programming and Policy, and AFS film envoy on trips to Zimbabwe, Kosovo and Canada, will discuss the films and the work of the AFS program following the screening. 

At the Dawn of a Tension - (Joseph Moura, 4 minutes)

On 16 September 2016, Yusuf Ramazani and several people took to the streets to demand the convening of the presidential election postponed to an unknown date as announced by the CENI (Independent National Electoral Commission) a few hours earlier. Unfortunately, the demonstration was reprimanded in the blood, making more than 55 people killed throughout the Congo. Power and opposition blame each other.

Black Square - (Nikoloz Bezhanishvili, 35 minutes)

When Anna left prison, the country she knew was gone. Georgia has changed, her friends and family have grown distant, but government’s indifference and public contempt toward female drug addicts like herself remained. She finds her old friend Tamazi incapacitated by drug abuse and makes it her goal to help him get unemployment benefits.

Conversations II - (Marianela Vega Oroza, 16 minutes)

An intimate look at the female universe, a journey in time through evocative images and the personal stories of women from the same family. The personal search of a daughter in the life of her mother and grandmother, contrasting the dreams, ideas and experiences of three generations.

The Diary - (Oleksandra Chuprina, 34 minutes)

Denys is 14. He is loser in studies, but expert in DOTA. "The school diary is your face" - teachers say to him. Every single pupil in post-Soviet states is familiar with this phrase. It means that the notebook with marks - is the projection of your personality. Denys thinks the opposite. He records himself everyday and reflects on the things that really worry him. We are behind the scenes of the teenager's life.

The Special One - (Lamin Oo, 7 minutes)

San Pya fish market in Yangon is a noisy, smelly and busy place. For a local fishmonger, there is only one thing that gets him through the grinds of his day: football.

A Stroll Down Sunflower Lane - (Mayye Zayed, 14 minutes)

An old grandfather, a little granddaughter, an old house and some glimpses of memory. She was growing up building hers. He was getting old losing his.