Finding Your Laughter
In this deeply personal documentary, Arlieta has gone against all popular advice and quit her day job to care for her father, Milton. She has to learn how to laugh in the midst of a disease that is not very funny, using improv to affirm and validate his experiences. Inspired by her father’s own artistic career, Arlieta turns to comedy to process her emotions. It’s challenging for her and her “bonus mom” Charmaine to watch Milton decline, but they support each other and find healing through laughter.
Thank you to our screening partner: Mezcla Media Collective.
Screenings
Virtual
Directors Spotlight
Arlieta Hall
Director
Born and raised in Chicago, Arlieta brings a rare blend of humor, heart, and purpose to every space she steps into. She’s a current Second City Mainstage Understudy, 2021 NBC Bob Curry Fellow, co-producer of 2023-4 Chicago Reader’s best comedy variety show My Best Friend is Black, and a co-star on Showtime’s The Chi.
Brittany Alsot
Director
Brittany Alsot first learned the power of personal storytelling making videos at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She continues to focus on work that impacts underrepresented communities, creating marketing and campaign videos for social justice and cultural arts organizations. Her fiction shorts have screened around the world.
- Year
- 2026
- Runtime
- 87 minutes
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Directors
- Arlieta Hall, Brittany Alsot
- Screenwriters
- Brittany Alsot, Arlieta Hall, Giorgia Harvey
- Producer
- Brittany Alsot
- Executive Producers
- Arlieta Hall, Yvonne Welbon, Leslie Fields-Cruz, Denise A. Greene
- Co Producer
- Black Public Media
- Cinematographers
- Brittany Alsot, Arlieta Hall
- Editor
- Giorgia Harvey
- Animator
- Giorgia Harvey
- Composer
- Joseph L. Welbon
- Sound Design
- Noisefloor Ltd; Supervising Sound Editor - Katie Waters, MPSE; Re-Recording Mixer - Victoria Salazar; Dialogue Editor - Victoria Salazar; Sound Designer - Stosh Tuszynski; Foley Mixer - Bryen Hensley, MPSE; Foley Artist/Foley Editor - Katie Waters, MPSE; Post Sound Producer - Cory Coken, MPSE
- Premiere
- World