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2025
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Dawning Shorts

OC
A film still from Axel shows the face of a Black child emerging from darkness. The child’s eyes are fixed down.

Seeing and living through the eyes of children.

Thank you to our screening partners: Big Picture Alliance

Films in this Program

A film still from Axel shows the face of a Black child emerging from darkness. The child’s eyes are fixed down.
World PremiereShort Narrative

Axel

Axel is a happy 2-year-old. As long as mommy is near, the world brings something exciting every day. But one day, mommy…

A film still from Bukra shows a young Syrian boy and girl sitting in a field. Both of their gazes in the distance. Between them is a makeshift soccer ball made with different fabrics, held together with bands.
East Coast PremiereShort Narrative

Bukra (بُكرا)

After winning a soccer ball in a sweepstakes, a young Syrian refugee must race to claim her prize and play one final…

A poster for Children of the Waves features three film stills stacked vertically, each depicting the same three young Black boys. In the top still, they sit on a ledge in front of a white building with blue shutters, gazing into the distance. The boy on the left holds a Monopoly game in his lap, the middle boy holds a folded piece of paper, and the boy on the right holds a soccer ball. The middle still shows their silhouettes as they sit at the edge of a surface, watching the sunset over the ocean. In the bottom still, they sit in front of the same building from the first still, laughing and talking with each other.
Philadelphia PremiereShort Documentary

Children of the Waves (Enfants des Courants d’Eaux)

Noakim, Alassane and Ilan, three young friends from Marseille, meet up after school as they always do. Amid their…

A film still from Leaving Ikorodu in 1999 shows a Black woman looking at a young Black girl, who stands with her arms crossed and a solemn face at her passenger window.
United States PremiereShort Narrative

Leaving Ikorodu In 1999

During a road trip to the airport, Fade questions whether her niece’s departure from Nigeria is truly for the best.

A film still from Teaching America shows a classroom of majority Black students students seated at desks arranged to form an aisle down the center of the room. The students’ attention is focused on a Black woman who stands in this aisle. She wears a black T-shirt that reads: “Central High NAACP” with a graphic of Africa in the center.
World PremiereShort Documentary

Teaching America

Teaching America explores the battle around the teaching of African American studies from inside the classroom,…

A black-and-white film still from The Last Harvest shows a disheartened young Black boy sitting at a table. His gaze is fixed off screen as his forearms rest on the table, hands touching.
North America PremiereShort Narrative

The Last Harvest

The Last Harvest is a short film that follows three characters navigating life within Lisbon’s Cape Verdean immigrant…

Tickets

Virtual

Availability BeginsFriday, August 13:00PM EDT
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