Social Change Film Festival

Mothering Inside
Filmed & Produced in the United States.
Shot over the course of a year at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, Oregon, Mothering Inside follows inmate moms as they re-establish relationships with their children and in the process find a reason to address the issues that led to their incarceration. This documentary follows an innovative program that rebuilds relationships between inmate moms and their children.

70 Acres in Chicago: Cabrini Green 
Filmed & Produced in the United States.
What happens when a mixed-income housing 'experiment' collides with reality? Filmed over 20-years, 70 Acres in Chicago: Cabrini Green looks at the demolition of Chicago's most infamous public housing development, Cabrini Green. The film centers on the stories of three public housing residents, Mark, Deidre and Raymond, as their lives are turned upside down when their community is torn apart in the name of progress. Cabrini is being demolished as part of a national plan to replace public housing with mixed income communities. Critics contend that the motivation is economic gain, as public housing's prime real estate is too valuable for the low-income Black communities that live there. The film chronicles a neighborhood upheaval on Chicago's most hotly contested 70 acres of land.

Do Police Have More Rights Than Juveniles 
Festival World Premiere. Filmed & Produced in the United States.
In 2007, Donna Moore’s 11-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter were assaulted by an off-duty Chicago cop. The city settled with the South Side mother in 2011, awarding her family $100,000. Real Chi Youth spoke with Moore and others to understand the impact of police misconduct against juveniles.

Death Among Us
Illinois Premiere. Filmed & Produced in the United States.
An in-depth look at gun violence and its effect on urban America.

Keep the conversations going and meet more incredible festival attendees during the #CISCFF5 reception at BLUE1647!

Under the Bridge: The Criminalization of Homelessness 
Illinois Premiere. Filmed & Produced in the United States.
The Criminalization of Homelessness is a film about the plight of a homeless camp under threat of closure by the city of Indianapolis, Indiana.

Power to Change: The Energy Rebellion  
World Premiere. Filmed & Produced in Belgium, Germany and the Ukraine.
A journey to the heart of a historical unique event: the transformation of the world’s energy supply to decentralized systems, fueled by renewable sources. Shot in Germany, Ukraine and Belgium the POWER TO CHANGE is a dramatic narrative about passionate fighters for the energy transformation opposing scepticism, stagnation and energy dictatorship. 

Gaining Ground (77)
Illinois Premiere. Filmed & Produced in the United States.
GAINING GROUND is a feature documentary about growing food, empowering communities and changing lives. It tells the stories of two rural farms in Oregon and an urban farm in inner city Richmond, California, making extraordinary changes in their farming practices so they can feed their local communities healthy sustainably grown food. This is the food documentary that not only explores the problems of our food system, but through personal stories shows what we can do to seek solutions.

Sustainable Futures: Survivor Girls (9)
North American Premiere. Filmed & Produced in Canada, India and the United States.
Sustainable Futures: Survivor Girls follows the econic earth foundations' founder, Nicole Watson, who travels to Kolkata, India to document the impact of a solar energy and water filtration system that's being installed at a sex trafficking rescue and rehabilitation shelter for young girls and women. The story parallels bringing light and clean energy alternatives, as well as water filtration, to a group of young survivors striving to overcome obstacles and build a future for themselves.

Dear President Obama: The Clean Energy Revolution is Now (96) 
Illinois Premiere. Filmed & Produced in the United States.
The film takes a cross-country look at drilling, highlighting its variety of contaminations, the stories of its victims, the false promise of an economic boom, with a focus on clean energy solutions that would allow us to proceed towards a future that does not rely on yet another dirty fossil fuel extraction process.

Mouth of Hell (15)
North American Premiere. Filmed & Produced in India and the United Kingdom.
Jharia, India, one of the most dangerous places on earth. Fires rage underground, smoke and dangerous fumes belch from cracks in the ground. This is the home of Anant, an 8 year old boy who scrapes a living picking coal and selling it at the local markets to try and feed himself and his sick mother. One day, a chance encounter changes the course of Anant's life. This is a coming of age drama that casts a spotlight on a humanitarian disaster area and gives us a chance to see the world through the eyes of one of India's many child labourers

From Flint: Voices of a Poisoned City (24)
World Premiere. Filmed & Produced in the United States.
From Flint: Voices From A Poisoned City is a documentary that tells the story of the Flint Water Crisis from the perspectives of those who have experienced this tragedy first hand and from activists on the ground working through grass-root organizations to make a difference. While the national news media has been covering this event through the governmental point of view, From Flint takes you inside the city to uncover this incident first hand. The documentary focuses on themes of power, race, class, community, science, and activism to help bring to light some of the issues that are involved in this ongoing crisis.

Rubbertown (54)
Chicago Premiere. Filmed & Produced in the United States.
Louisville, Kentucky's heavy industrial manufacturing neighborhood has produced anything from scuba gear to the tiles on the space shuttle. It's near synthetic rubber manufacturers, a toxic landfill site and a coal burning power plant. It's also next to residential neighborhoods. With studies showing higher rates of cancer and respiratory illness near these plants, resident Monika Burkhead plans to move her entire house to another county to escape Rubbertown.

Climb to Justice (14)
World Premiere. Filmed & Produced in the United States 
This is the behind-the-scenes story of the events leading up to the act of civil disobedience that removed the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State Capitol on June 27, 2015.

Million Mask Movement (20)
World Premiere. Filmed & Produced in the United States.
Million mask movement takes a closer look at infamous hacker group Anonymous. But They are not hacktivist but activist. The participate in marches, in demonstrations, and organize clothing drives to help the community. Meet the Anonymous activist who organize events year round. Meet the man who created the Million Man Mask movement that has take the world by storm. They are Legion, They are Anonymous! 

Walking the Walk (33)
Filmed & Produced in India. 
Walking the Walk follows the participants of Hyderabad, India's queer pride march in February 2015 that was organized in protest of the brutal murder of a trans woman named Pravallika. The walk draws inspiration from the most recently successful social movement which led to formation of a brand new state in India, Telangana. This film demonstrates how a collective of activists do more than talk the talk; they set into motion a political movement that celebrates small successes, demands resources for working-class transgender people, stands up to police violence, and allows the community to grieve for lost loved ones.

From Selma to Stonewall: Are We There Yet? (61)
Midwest Premiere. Filmed & Produced in the United States.
A black, straight preacher and a white, lesbian activist form an unusual bond as they seek to find the intersection between the Black Civil Rights and the LGBTQ Equality movements of today. 

Keep the conversations going and meet more incredible festival attendees during the #CISCFF5 reception at BLUE1647!

Invisible Patients (88)
Illinois Premiere. Filmed & Produced in the United States.
THE INVISIBLE PATIENTS tells the story of Jessica Macleod, a nurse practitioner, and four homebound patients she cares for in Evansville, Indiana. Together they put a human face on some of the most urgent healthcare issues facing our nation, from the living conditions of the elderly poor and end-of-life care, to the soaring costs of hospitalization, complexity of insurance and overprescription of opiates. Their stories reveal the emotional as well as financial burdens created by our current system, and cry out for solutions. THE INVISIBLE PATIENTS pulls back the curtain on a hidden, vulnerable population, whose circumstances ask us to wrestle with not just healthcare policy, but as importantly, how to mend today’s fraying social fabric.

Invisibility (3)
World Premiere. Filmed & Produced in Australia.
What happens when you make the invisible visible? Filmmakers from Milk Crate Theatre create physical representations of their mental illness to enable others to see the world from their point of view.

Painted Nails (57) 
Midwest Premiere. Filmed & Produced in the United States.
The American dream crumbles when Van Hoang, a Vietnamese immigrant nail salon owner, learns her health problems are due to the chemicals used in her salon.

Ebola: In Praise of Prevention (6)
Festival World Premiere. Filmed & Produced in Canada, Guinea, India, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Switzerland.
This animated short is designed to prevent the next outbreak of Ebola from ever happening. It is freely available in multiple African languages.

100 Steps (14)
World Premiere. Filmed & Produced in Qatar.
At a young age, Abdulla was taken in by a local religious figure and school principal, Maulana Abdul Rahman. Now thirteen years old, Abdulla learns that his school is a front for a radical Islamist recruitment camp. Suddenly, Abdulla must choose between either doing what he is told, or turning against the man who raised him.

A Tale of Two Cities: North Lawndale and Chicago (4)
World Premiere. Filmed & Produced in the United States.
A Tale of Two Cities: North Lawndale, Chicago is a thoughtful video about community and the misrepresentation of certain communities in the media such as Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood. The piece reflects on the city's West Side as told by the young adults who live and work there.

Picturing War (60)
World Premiere. Filmed & Produced in France, Germany, Kurdistan and the Syrian Arab Republic.
Which pictures do we get to see? In a world of modern mass communication and a never
ending stream of pictures, this question is more important than ever. Which conflict is
worth reporting? Which war might interest the consumers of media outlets? And how do pictures travel from around the globe, from zones of conflict to the worldwide public?
These questions are the central message of "Picturing War“. From Syria and Iraq to
Rwanda - the film follows a young man who has chosen to become a war photographer,
and answers the question of how he finds the pictures we might see one day - or not -
on the cover of a big newspaper.

Limbo (35)
Midwest Premiere. Filmed & Produced in Italy and the United States.
Relevant and timeless, Limbo gives to the voice to the Africans fleeing execution and arriving on the shores of Italy.

My Identity (11)
Midwest Premiere. Filmed & Produced in the United States.
Ashley, a young Native-American girl, converts to Islam in
hopes of finding structure in a life where it never existed, but
with that decision comes the risk of losing one of the few
biological connections she still has. My Identity tells the story
of how race, religion, and the foster care experience can
shape one's identity.                  

Finding Kim (83)
World Premiere. Filmed & Produced in the United States.
Have you ever felt as though your brain doesn’t match your body? That everything you were told you should be…you weren’t? Sure, everyone can relate to some degree. But have you ever felt not of your gender? Follow the incredible and honest journey of a truly remarkable individual managing the beginnings of gender re-assignment at 50 years old. The message of “Finding Kim” is one that speaks beyond being Transgender & gender itself. It’s about knowing and understanding yourself & who you truly are as an individual. We wish for Kim’s voice to resonate with anyone struggling with gender identity or self-acceptance. Other interviews within the film include Dan Savage, Carmen Carerra, Calpernia Addams & Buck Angel.

The Girl Epidemic (2)
North American Premiere. Filmed & Produced in India and the United States.
Girls are being treated like they're an infectious disease. Over a million disappear every year--falling victim to infanticide, sex slavery, and child labor. There is a cure: education.

Break the Branch (74)
World Premiere. Filmed & Produced in India and the United States.
Break the Branch is a lyrical, ethereal portrait of a rural Indian girls school in lush, sensuous color. The film takes us to the village of Anupshahr, where one school challenges a community that does not believe in the education and independence of women. We meet several teachers and students who have used the school as a means for carving out a fulfilling life for themselves. The grander goal is to humanize the struggles of women in India by showcasing these idiosyncratic individuals, rather than addressing societal problems in broad strokes.

Hide and Seek (4)
Midwest Premiere. Filmed & Produced in the United States.
Lia Chang (Big Trouble In Little China, New Jack City, King of New York) stars in Hide and Seek, a film she co-produced and co-wrote with Garth Kravits (The Drowsy Chaperone, “The Blacklist,” “Nurse Jackie,” “Hostages” ), who is also featured in the film. Hide and Seek is a short film that speaks to the societal challenge that women, and especially women of color, endure every day. To look in the mirror and to hope to see a face other than your own. One that is closer to what magazines, television and movies define as beautiful or even normal.

I Just Don't Know (10)
World Premiere. Filmed & Produced in the United States.
Leo, on the verge of becoming a political star, has just found out his sister is pregnant after being raped. He must choose between his political career or his sister.

Generation Hope (35)
Midwest Premiere. Filmed & Produced in Malawi and the United States.
Filmed on location at Mary’s Meals’ projects in Malawi, Haiti and India, this uplifting film introduces us to members of what we call ‘Generation Hope’ – the group of young people who, having received Mary’s Meals in school, have gone on to further education or paid employment, something they insist would simply not have been possible without the support provided by the organisation.

The Pamoja Project (21)
World Premiere. Filmed & Produced in Tanzania and the United States.
The Pamoja Project is a short documentary film featuring the lives and work of Margaret, Astridah, and Crispina; three Tanzanian women who's leadership and compassion is changing the lives of those in their community. By focusing on the solutions, rather then the challenges, the film offers a look at real development and social change in Tanzania and aims to combat stereotypical narratives of Africa. In Swahili, the word pamoja means 'together,' reminding us that change is not one person, but a group of people united in love, working together. 

What It Takes to Be Extraordinary (52)
World Premiere. Filmed & Produced in Canada and Nepal.
Nepal is a tough place to be a child, yet there is a special home where children are free for the first time. Following one inspirational man & an extraordinary family of over 140 children. With freedom, leaders are born.

Signs of Humanity (84)
Midwest Premiere. Filmed & Produced in the United States.
For years, advertising guru and SMU professor Willie Baronet has been fascinated by the signs the homeless use encouraging one to help. His artistic eye and agency background saw more than a plea - he saw art, he saw life, he saw humanity. Embracing his desire to create a 'HeART' project, Willie drives cross-country for a month — all the while buying the signs of the homeless he meets along the way. From Seattle to San Diego, Vegas to Cincinnati, Philly to New York, and points in between. Visiting with the people from whom he buys the signs, Willie meets a cross-section of America. Their common ground - they have no home. SIGNS OF HUMANITY follows Willie and his team throughout this trek. They start in Seattle not knowing what they are going to find or whom they are going to meet. Their sole desire - to collect these signs, talk to the homeless, and seek to discover: 'what does home mean to you?'

Keep the conversations going and meet more incredible festival attendees during the #CISCFF5 reception at BLUE1647!