CANS Can't Stand Directed by Matt Nadel, Megan Plotka 19 minutes • USA Life & Liberty, Documentary Since 1982, police have weaponized Louisiana's Crime Against Nature by Solicitation (CANS) law to terrorize queer/trans Louisianians. CANS Can't Stand follows a group of Black trans women in New Orleans who are fighting to repeal that law—and advance trans liberation statewide.
Pulled Over/Pulled Under Directed by Anissa Latham 17 minutes • USA Life & Liberty, Documentary, Alabama Film Pulitzer Prize journalist John Archibald discovers the ways that fines and forfeitures have impacted the life of mother and activist Callie Greer and her daughters as they paint a picture of what it’s like for people in over-policed communities in Alabama.
Underdogs Directed by Alex Astrella 15 minutes • USA Life & Liberty, Documentary At the California Men's Colony in Central California, a special connection forms between dogs and their inmate handlers, as the prisoners lovingly prepare the canines to become fully operational service animals.
Brave Space Directed by Lillie Ben Harris 13 minutes • USA Life & Liberty, Documentary, Alabama Film A personal documentary about the difference Magic City Acceptance Academy, the new LGBTQ-affirming school in Birmingham, AL, could have made in the life of the filmmaker's sister.
WINN Directed by Joseph East, Erica Tanamachi 17 minutes • USA Life & Liberty, Documentary After miscarrying her baby in prison due to shackling, Pamela Winn becomes an activist, leading millions to support the Dignity Bill. WINN exposes the horrifying experience that incarcerated pregnant women endure and documents Pamela’s mission to end shackling and ultimately prison birth.
Barriers to Entry Directed by Ritika Samant, Connor Campbell 10 minutes • USA Life & Liberty, Documentary, Alabama Film The Disability Rights Movement has changed society in the last 50 years. Doctors and med students share their experience of working within the medical profession with their disabilities.
Surviving Clotilda Directed by Olivia Grillo, Kathryn Jamieson 26 minutes • USA Life & Liberty, Documentary In July 1860, the schooner Clotilda slipped quietly into the dark waters of Mobile, Ala., holding 110 Africans stolen from their homes and families, smuggled across the sea, and illegally imported to be sold into slavery. Surviving Clotilda is the extraordinary story of the last slave ship ever to reach America's shores: the brash captain who built and sailed her, the wealthy white businessman whose bet set the cruel plan in motion, and the 110 men, women, and children whose resilience turned horror into hope.
