Marcus Belgrave made his reputation as a trumpet player with Ray Charles, Motown’s Funk Brothers, and Charlie Mingus. Yet when he had the opportunity to leave Detroit for larger opportunities, he stayed behind to become a teacher and community leader, sacrificing the limelight to ensure that the future of his art form was safe in the hands of the next generation.

Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director: Timashion Jones
Producer: Bradley Torreano
Director of Photography: Jeremy Brockman

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Invisible Children of LA is a documentary exploring the daily lives of three homeless children. It shows how they cope and survive in a variety of settings from shelters, run-down motels and vehicles to the parks and alleys of Los Angeles. Woven throughout their stories will be interviews with frontline homeless advocates, politicians from the Los Angeles city council and members of the California Senate.

Project type: Nonfiction Short
Director/Producer: Maryana Palmer
Narrator: Mimi Kennedy
Editor: Tina Imahara

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When a storm knocks out the power to her iron lung, a polio survivor and her engineer sister find themselves in a race against time to find a new way for her to breathe.

Project type: Fiction Short
Writer: Vee Saieh
Director: Andrew Reid
Producer: Marie Alyse Rodriguez, Carmen Quiros

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Since July 25, 1898, Puerto Rico and its people have made countless contributions to the giant melting pot that is the United States. Yet, because Puerto Rico remains a territory, the contributions of the Puerto Rican people to the great project we call the United States remain largely unacknowledged by Americans at large. This series aims to redress that oversight.

Director/Producer: Ian Roumain
Producer: Sevier Crespo

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In rural Spain, a tumultuous romance blossoms between a visiting American and a local soccer rival.

Project type: Fiction Short
Writer/Director: Tusk
Production Company: Tusk Creative & Japonica Films
Producer: Cookie Walukas
Producer: Gerard Rodríguez
Producer: Laura Fernández-Hormigo
Producer: Frank Lucas

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In this sweeping 40-year romance set in Beirut, two star-crossed lovers, one an eternal optimist and the other an impulsive pragmatist, must decide if they want to build a family and chart a track to happiness, despite the tragic fates ravaging contemporary Lebanon.

Project type: Fiction Feature
Writer/Director: Cyril Aris
Producer: Jen Blake, Georges Schoucair, Georg Neubert, April Shih

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Follow Ugandan elders "jajas" as they share how climate change has turned their world upside down. Floods, droughts, storms - the once reliable seasonal patterns have turned to chaos. It is unlike anything the jajas have seen in their long lives, and it is undermining their ability to live off the land as they have for decades.

Project type: Nonfiction Short
Director: Summer Spell
Cinematographer: Alvin K Masagazi
Producer/Operations Manager: Rennie McVicker
Producer/Fundraising Manager: Chloe Vann

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In the extraordinary city of El Alto, Bolivia, a young woman with lofty aspirations of becoming a fashion designer faces the challenges that come with being part of a dynasty of “Wrestling Cholitas” and her relationship with an unyielding mother.

Project type: Fiction Short
Writer/Director: Cristhian Barron
Executive Producer Denys Sanjinés Rodriguez
Producer Mariana Sandoval

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At the rural rodeos in Michoacán, México, a hypermasculine tradition is rife with hidden queer encounters. Guided by director Efraín, Jaripeo follows two rancheros as they navigate desire, machismo, and mass migration from one rodeo season to the next.
Director: Efraín Mojica
Director: Rebecca Zweig
Producer: Sarah Strunin
Producer: Victoria Gutiérrez Fernández

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When Jazzy learns that Syriah is moving away, she confronts the heartbreaks of growing up and the realities of the adult world. A spiritual successor to their previous film, The Unknown Country, Maltz's collaboration with producer Lainey Bearkiller Shangreaux results in an emotionally resonant coming-of-age drama that deeply immerses the audience in the lives of these two young girls.

Project type: Fiction Feature
Writer/Director/Producer: Morrisa Maltz
Writer/Producer/Cast: Lainey Bearkiller Shangreaux
Producer/Cast: Miranda Bailey
Producer: Natalie Whalen, Elliott Whitton, John Way, Vanara Taing, Tommy Heitkamp

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Jimmy in Saigon explores the mysterious life and death of James Austin McDowell, a Vietnam veteran who died at age 24 in 1972 as a civilian in Saigon. Painting an elegiac portrait, director Peter McDowell uncovers family secrets surrounding Jim’s drug use and sexuality, getting to know his brother who died when Peter was only 5 years old.

Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director/Producer: Peter McDowell
Producer: Lucia Palmarini
Producer: Peter Schulman
Composer/Producer: John McDowell
Executive Producer: Dan Savage, George Guerra, Corey Tong

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Three kids from the hood find an alien spaceship and take it on a joyride. Now they must decide to help the world that never cared about them, or escape into the unknown.

Project type: Fiction Short
Director: Raymond Carr

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This #metoo / #timesup feature about an aspiring rock star fights a mental breakdown along the road to stardom while pursued by a dysfunctional romantic. Drawn together and torn apart through humor, heartache and hope, the two grapple with the healing power of friendship and the damage wrought by demons of childhood.

Project type: Fiction Feature
Writer/Director/Producer: Sherrie Richman
Writer: Christopher Kawika Brown

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Ava fights to maintain her own family, career and health while safeguarding her younger brother, Darryl, during his prolonged manic episode.

Project type: Fiction Short
Writer/Director: Sharona D’Ornellas
Producer: Catrina Del Re
Director of Photography: Nicholas Bupp

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After her brother goes missing, an 8-year-old girl obsessed with detective shows dons the persona of Kid Midnight and embarks on a gritty mission to find him. Armed with a toy gun and a fierce sense of justice, she stumbles into a dangerous world far beyond her years, leading to a shocking conclusion that exposes the devastating reality of gun violence in American homes.

Writer/Director: Mychal Sargent
Producer: Colette Minter, Isabella Monzo

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A modern-day story of resilience, perseverance, and determination, King Djeferson follows the story of Djeferson Mendes, who grew up in extreme poverty in Praça Onze, the beating heart of the city of Samba, and 35 years later was crowned King Momo of Rio’s famously spectacular Carnival of 2023.

Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director/Producer: Kelly Richardson

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In the late 1930s, up-and-coming Italian American singer Giovanni DiTommaso is offered the record deal of a lifetime, but only if he Americanizes his name. Surrounded by his loving and opinionated family, sparks fly as Giovanni must choose between his dream and his Italian identity. After all, it’s just a name…right?

Director/Writer/Producer: Tom Cassese
Producer: Anthony Zaccone

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Without power for six months following Hurricane Maria, and dependent upon importing materials from overseas for their public elementary school students, a small mountain community in Puerto Rico begins to transition towards autonomy by transforming an abandoned building next to the school into a solar-powered factory where they will build the items they once imported.

Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director: Gabriel Coss
Producer: Emma Crow-Willard

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Six women emerge from the shadows of the California cannabis industry to go legal. As farmers, entrepreneurs and activists, these modern-day superheroes battle government bureaucracy, corporate interests and risk financial ruin in order to fight for the industry they helped create and for the survival of their community.

Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director/Producer/Writer: Chris J. Russo
Consulting Producers: Sarah Olson, Stephen Israel
Producer: Michael J. Katz
Executive Producer: Shauna Harden
Cinematographer/Producer: Christian Bruno
Editor/Writer: Tamara Maloney

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After 60 years of marriage Amir (87) and Lara (78) both of the Druze faith, get divorced following a foolish argument. According to Druze belief, they are forbidden to see or speak to one another until the day they die. Lara moves across the street with her son and family to start her life anew, while Amir stays at home to cope with his solitude.

Project type: Fiction Feature
Co-Director and Writer: Yaron Yarkoni
Producer: Baher Agrabiya
Co-Director and Writer: Liat Dahan Yarkoni
Co-Writer: Hamed Sharoof

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