PBS Short Film Festival

The Moss family, a biracial Black-Indonesian family living in Minneapolis, open up about how they moved through the chaos of 2020. In intimate conversations, each family member reveals personal experiences never shared before with their loved ones, and navigate through the difficult issues that have haunted them.

While the White infant mortality rate is 4.6 per 1,000 U.S. births, the Black infant mortality rate is 10.8. Longstanding, systemic inequities result in racial disparity in every facet of maternal and infant health, studies show. Dr. Renee Canady shares her intimate experience of the painful loss of her newborn son.

Amplified Voices is a community collaborative public mural project spearheaded by artist Jade Warrick to amplify the voices of local artists of color while also providing youth mentoring opportunities.

The First Monument explores the commission of a bust of Mr. Newton. Until 2021, there was not a single official monument erected for the legendary Black Panther Party. This finally changed when Fredrika Newton, the widow of former Minister of Defense Huey Newton, worked with the city of Oakland to commission a bust of Mr. Newton that now stands on the block where he was killed.

“The Osage Murders” is a historical documentary focusing on the events that occurred on the Osage reservation in the 1920s.

A story about the reunion and repair between Mike Africa Jr and his mother Debbie Africa — a formerly incarcerated political prisoner of the MOVE9.

A coming-of-age story about two best friends living on the US-Mexico border.

A Hawaiian War Veteran grapples with the struggles of growing older, the nightmares of his past, and the even scarier thought of being forgotten as the world around him seems to leave him in the dust.

Five young men must consider their futures and their families as they weigh the consequences of inaction versus action. Their dedication to truth and stoicism in the face of violence has a dire cost, but the decision will stoke solidarity among Hawaii’s residents and reverberate through the islands for generations.

Bhutan, despite being one of the world’s two carbon negative countries, suffers from a changing climate that has led to a disastrous water shortage. After his children leave him, Daw, an elderly Bhutanese villager, must fend for himself. 83 AND ALONE explores a community made empty because of water.

A fourth-generation Chinese American, filmmaker Kimberlee Bassford explores her family’s relationship to Honolulu's Chinatown. She also examines the parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic and the 1899-1900 bubonic plague in Hawai‘i, highlighting the ways the two public health crises transformed the iconic neighborhood then and now.

At Triangle Square, a haven for LGBTQ retirees in Hollywood, California, the idea of a “senior” prom has taken on a new meaning. Senior Prom joins the celebration of an LGBTQ generation that spent a lifetime fighting for the right to live and love openly, and via rich personal archives retraces lives lived in resistance that helped change the course of civil rights.

The New Orleans Baby Doll maskers are a pivotal yet overshadowed tradition of Black Mardi Gras that stems from Storyville, the former vice district in New Orleans, in the early 19th century. Baby Dolls of the Mardi Gras tradition paint a full picture of masking culture and how it operates as a vehicle for women to redefine notions of gender, sexual identity and freedom.

A University of Mississippi step team vies to defend their title at the annual Black Greek Step Show. Embodiments of Black southern culture, brotherhood, creativity, and determination, the Eta Beta chapter of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. offers a deeper look into the lives of Black students at the university and how Black culture is lived out in a predominantly white environment.

From Bessemer, AL to Brooklyn, NY, this self taught illustrator has transformed her practice into a full time art career championing confidence, joy, and vibrancy.

Ducky Dynamo discusses the history of Baltimore Club, the city's unique music and dance genre that is poised for a post-pandemic comeback. "Club music isn’t dead, we just lost a lot of momentum. My focus now is working with everybody to reignite the culture, get people to see what is good here...based specifically on the Baltimore Club scene."

When Mia’s two school friends join her birthday party, they don't think her piñata is cool, amongst other things. Mia finds it difficult to keep up appearances for her friends and family.

Michael was a ballet prodigy with his career ahead of him, but when life doesn’t go as planned, he finds refuge from trauma and liberation as his alter ego, Russian ballet instructor, Madame Olga. By slipping into this ostentatious character, Michael discovers a way to both embrace himself as an artist and reconcile his past.

Against the backdrop of a community pool, a young Yezidi girl wrestles quietly with her traumatic memories of the Mediterranean Sea.

A documentary about Alexander, a queer artist and drag queen living in Peoria, Illinois, who uses their artwork to take us on a journey through gender identity, expression, drag, and being queer in a Midwestern town.