Roxie First Looks #9

With 15-minute Q&A with Wild Horses at the door filmmaker, Carrie Lederer,
on Saturday, August 23rd

First Looks, the Roxie’s Oscar-Qualifying Theatrical Release program, supports filmmakers in their Academy Award quest. We put together a unique lineup of shorts (with running times of 40 minutes and under) from any genre (documentary, narrative, and animation) to serve as the film’s Academy qualifying run. 

Filmmakers interested in participating can check out more info here.

Pow!
Director: Joey Clift (Cowlitz)
Synopsis: An animated comedy short about a young Native American kid scrambling to charge his dying video game console at a bustling intertribal powwow.
Runtime: 8m

Witness
Directors: Radha Mehta and Saif Jaan
Synopsis: A revered small-town imam faces a crisis of faith when he must choose between upholding the values of his mosque or protecting the safety and spiritual belonging of a trans man congregant.
Runtime: 14m 18s

Two Ships
Director: McKinley Benson
Synopsis: While working opposite schedules, a couple attempts to maintain their connection through fleeting encounters.
Runtime: 7m

There Will Come Soft Rains
Director: Elham Ehsas
Synopsis: Haunted by rising sea levels, a daughter digs up her father’s grave to move his body to higher ground.
Runtime: 14m 47s

FLIGHT 182
Director: Rippin Sindher
Synopsis: Before 9/11, Air India Flight 182 was the deadliest act of aviation terrorism in the world. Based on true events, FLIGHT 182 is a heart-wrenching drama about an immigrant father caught between love, duty and the threat of political violence, as he must choose between visiting his dying mother one last time or heeding warnings from a separatist group openly seeking revenge against the government.
Runtime: 16m 48s

Wild Horses at the Door
Director: Carrie Lederer
Synopsis: “Wild Horses at the Door” is a 40-minute award-winning short documentary
directed by Carrie Lederer. Coloradoan John Wayne Smith was homeless for
eight years working through recovery when he resettled off-grid on a high desert
mesa where wild horses roamed. Nursing a wounded mare and delivering her
foal sparked a healing journey into their world. Years later living in isolation,
John realizes that the resource scarcity he was familiar with while unhoused
now threatens his beloved mustangs.
Runtime: 39m 56s