Still Here / Immerdar

John Graham | Canada

Run time: 10:24 min.

Synopsis:
A Berlin musician receives news that his estranged mother is dying. Once released into his care, they both discover that dying can be beautiful in nature.

”My film stories explore metaphorical aspects of the human condition, sensory awareness, dream knowledge, and spiritual imagination. My films are created to form positive emotional experiences with human vulnerability, sensitivity and beauty.

Still Here / Immerdar is my 10th short art film. Death and dying are perpetually sensationalized or trivialized in film and media worldwide. This is what this at film disrupts by presenting how the experience of a loved one who is dying can be sorrowful but also beautiful.

Most people have had the painful experience of losing a loved one. However, the discourse that we lead surrounding the topic of death is one-sided and fearful, especially in Western societies. This art film bravely explores death and loss in a more nuanced way with beauty and this sets in motion many philosophical questions.

No one wants to die in a hospital, and this project openly questions the widely-accepted convention that it is more dignified to die comfortably in one’s own home. What if someone wishes to be in nature when she leaves this world? “

Bio:
A Berlin musician receives news that his estranged mother is dying. Once released into his care, they both discover that dying can be beautiful in nature.

Website

Gillyfish

Sarah Sellman | Ireland

Run time: 10:51 min.

Synopsis:
When Gillian takes on her partner’s identity to confront their father, she finds a connection she didn't expect in the strange exchange she has with him. A short about healing by proxy, and stepping into new identities.

Bio:
Sarah is a queer, neurodivergent writer + director (pronouns- they, them) who uses genre narratives to explore the role of myth in distorting and healing personal and generational trauma. Born and raised in the agricultural community of Alamosa, Colorado, Sarah graduated from NYU’s Tisch, where they also studied Neuroscience and Ancient Religion. In television, Sarah worked as a Writer’s Assistant on Netflix’s BLACK SUMMER, for which they also wrote an episode. They have previously worked on shows at SyFy, Netflix and Amazon (Z-NATION, LORE). Sarah’s magically real pilot - COTTONWOOD - was selected as Series Fest's Writer’s Initiative’s Grand Prize Winner, presented at IFP’s Project Forum, featured in Deadline as a top un-produced pilot for 2020’s WeForShe List, and is currently in development with Brad Silberling (JANE THE VIRGIN, CHARMED). On the film side, their feature documentary - American Bear: An Adventure in the Kindness of Strangers - screened theatrically across the United States, and can be found online at Amazon, iTunes, and Hulu. Sarah’s short narrative - Hold Your Arms Out - was offered a fellowship at Hewlett-Packard’s inaugural post-production program at Sundance Film Festival, and screened at festivals across the country in 2018. Sarah’s work has been supported by IFP, Women In Film, Series Fest, The Stowe Story Labs, Cinestory, CDDP, Austin Film Festival and more. They are a founding member of THIRD SPACE artist’s collective — a group of artist-activist-witches working to bring about a new America.

Tan/Vatan

Homa Sarabi & Meenakshi Garodia | United States

Run time: 7:14 min.

Synopsis:
Tan/Vatan -Body/Homeland- is a collaborative experimental film. It is a conversation between two women and their intimate experiences of love and life.

The film embodies a symbolic form borrowed from the origin cultures of the artists, in India and Iran. Tan and Vatan are mutual words in Hindi and Persian language, sharing the same meaning and pronunciation. Artists utilize the language, the medium, and their bodies to connect and visualize their experiences while engaging with the mechanical and physical experience of 16mm and handmade film.

Format: 16 mm Film, Handmade Film

Bio:
Homa Sarabi is a filmmaker, educator, and programmer from Iran. She is a member of the Feminist Futurist collective, a LEF Flaherty Fellow, and a Mass Cultural Council grantee. Through moving image installations, non-fiction storytelling, and media arts Homa explores the spaces of physical and emotional distance and connection, history, and personal and collective memory. In addition to her independent curatorial practice, she collaborates with the RPM Film Festival as a programmer and serves as the shorts program director for Salem Film Fest. She teaches 16mm filmmaking and collaborative design studios at Emerson College, where she is a faculty fellow with the Engagement Lab.

Meenakshi Garodia is a multimedia artist, a storyteller, a ceramicist, a writer/director and an experimental filmmaker working in digital, installation, and 16mm film. She has written and directed multiple well received plays and short films with an emphasis on women’s agency. Her work explores women’s lives within the patriarchy and the immigrant experience. In addition to exploring these themes, elements of nature: earth, water, and fire, are recurrent in her work. She is passionate about working with analog cameras that shoot with physical film that you can touch. She is Affiliate Faculty at Emerson College where she got her MFA in Film and Media Arts. She is on the boards of Saheli, a non-profit helping survivors of domestic violence, the Brookline Interactive Group (Brookline access TV) and the Brookline Commission for Women. Her ceramics have been exhibited at MassArt and non-profit fundraisers. Meenakshi holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and previously worked in corporate strategy at a fortune 500 company.

You can learn more about her films and ceramics at www.meenakshigarodiafilms.com and www.meenakshigarodia.com