An 11 year old girl reflects on her namesake to reach a newfound sense of independence.
Director's Statement: i wanted to make a film that is also a poem. inspired by the story of fatimah baraghani (known as tahirih, farsi for "the pure one") and my own little sister, this piece captures a brief period of time before the onset of adolescence. while the production embraced technical imperfections, the southern landscape in which we shot (tennessee) works to establish an ephemeral sense of place.
When a little girl wakes up late at night to get a midnight snack, she encounters some unexpected mystical characters.
Director's Statement: This film was made in my first semester of animating. I have always wanted to produce animations because of the creative possibilities and hybrid appeal and application of the medium. Animation can navigate between art, illustration, and film. I want my films to be artful and informed by formal artistic concerns while maintaining a fun and populist appeal to children and adults. The character in this film is based on myself, and is one of the many semi-autobiographical characters that i use. I want to make animations for brown girls and little people who look like me to see fantastical and wonderful depictions of themselves in imaginative worlds.
Hair Don’t Care (Or I Am Who I Am) by Aaron Jackson '16
A man-in-training searches for his personal history but returns with a haircut.
Director's Statement: My hair has been a symbol of potential. Since I was a child, my head was completely shaven before it could grow significantly in length. Somewhere between unrelenting obedience and independence, I've yet to discover what makes me who I am or what got me here. But if I don't take care of what I have, I risk losing it all the same.
>pieces is a short documentary that explores the challenges and complexities of multi identities through the viewpoints of three students at Swarthmore College.
Director’s Note: When I was thinking about topics for a short film for my production class last fall, a documentary about multi identity was an idea that I couldn’t shake, so I ran with it. My parents are both immigrants—my dad is Bolivian and my mom is Finnish, so my multiethnic, multinational, and multicultural identity has been something that I’ve stewed over, been stumped about, and rejoiced over my whole life. When Multi, a group for multi students, was founded at Swarthmore last semester, I was thrilled to be able to meet people who I could relate to on this specific multi-identity level and have conversations where I discovered that my multi identity isn’t as esoteric and isolating as I had thought. In this short documentary, some of the leaders and members of the group Multi at Swarthmore share parts of their multi identities, and I think some overlap between their stories is apparent. I hope that through watching this film, people will be able to better understand of what having a multi identity really means.
Director's Statement: This short film spoofs the excesses of early 2000's commercials by stretching them to their limit. Are we in a college? No, it's an airport, listen to the announcer! Is that computer really connected? Yes, look at its half-lit screen, its spreadsheets, its moving text! How can a hard drive move on its own? It is moved by the plot. These and other questions are raised and answered (or not) in this tribute to the yuppie aesthetic.
