ReadingFilmFEST
Environmental Block Single Use Planet Narrated by Peter Coyote, Single-Use Planet features entertaining animation and musical interludes that help illustrate the connections between public health, plastics production, and industry influence on government policy. Plastic is vital in so many ways to our modern way of life and well-being — but not all forms of …
Art & Race Block Town Destroyer Town Destroyer explores the ways we look at art and history at a time of racial reckoning. The story focuses on a dispute over historic murals depicting the life of George Washington: slaveowner, general, land speculator, President, and a man Seneca leaders called “Town Destroyer” after he ordered …
Made In Reading Block Ember A young man asks his fiancee’s father for his blessing to marry, but before the young man can propose, a horrific family secret is revealed. Director: David Ogrodowski 14 minutes Sleeping Singer/songwriter Rai discusses her upcoming EP and hiatus from music in this intimate documentary short. Director: Jacob …
Female Filmmaker Shorts Block Reclaim Your Water: Natasha Smith Breaking barriers and making her own waves, Natasha Smith is a core member of the Ebony Beach Club. She shares her own story in hopes of increasing representation in surf, skate, and any other sport or activity that has historically been exclusive and can give such …
Inspirational Sports Block A Long Way From Nowhere What compels a person to run 150 miles through the desert at the height of summer? Is it the need for achievement, the competitive instinct, or something deeper—a spiritual need for hardship, for catharsis, and from it, healing? A LONG WAY FROM NOWHERE is a different …
Pieces of Us Director: Cheryl AllisonRuntime: 92 minutes Pieces of Us is an intimate look at the personal journeys of LGBTQ+ hate crime survivors who, by choosing to take their recovery public, inspire the survivor in all of us. The film juxtaposes the inspirational stories of recovery each of the film’s subjects (including transgender activist …
They Survived Together Director: John Rokosny Runtime: 80 minutes “They Survived Together” is the story of the incredible escape and survival of the Neiger family from certain death by Nazis in the Krakow Ghetto – with four small children! (One of the only families to escape and survive together as an intact family). watch trailer …
Can You Hear Us Now? Director: Jim Cricchi Runtime: 87 minutes Small-town activism. Nail-biting elections. A last-minute power grab. In Wisconsin, where extreme partisanship has become the norm, voters are finding their lives increasingly irrelevant to state lawmakers. Through the stories of four tireless women fighting to have their voices heard, CAN YOU HEAR US …
Women on Both Sides of the Camera Director: Mahshad Afshar Runtime: 95 minutes Benefiting from a wide range of rare archive materials, this feature-length documentary focuses on one century of the representation of women in Iranian cinema. Looking at the formation of the Iranian film industry and its relationship with socio-political events, the film narrates …
Voice of Selma Director: Roya Iravani Runtime: 30 minutes The Voice of Selma (Moghaddam Museum) Project is a feature-length documentary film that guides us through the treasures collected over a lifetime of work by Selma Moghaddam and her husband Mohsen. Against a backdrop of government hostility toward Persian works of art that predate the Islamic …
