SUPERFEST 2022 FILM SELECTIONS

 

Superfest 2022 will occur online Thursday October 20th through Sunday October 23rd with in person screenings Saturday October 22nd at the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley and Sunday October 23rd at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Stay tuned for more information and read below to check out the blurbs for 2022’s films!

Poster for Aimee Victoria. White text reads the film title in the middle and credits at the bottom. Two images of the main characters, two women of color who are smiling at each other from different angles.

Poster for Aimee Victoria. White text reads the film title in the middle and credits at the bottom. Two images of the main characters, two women of color who are smiling at each other from different angles.

Aimee Victoria

USA, 2021 (Dramatic Short, 11 min)

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Aimee and Victoria, two deaf women of color, find their relationship tested. Separated on their anniversary, Aimee is shaken out of her self-imposed apathy as she demonstrates her love to Victoria.

Image of a kitchen. A tall, skinny fridge on the righthand side with postcards and magnets on it. Next to the fridge are metal shelves cluttered with various kitchen items. On the far right is the hand of a white woman holding a small glass bowl.

Image of a kitchen. A tall, skinny fridge on the righthand side with postcards and magnets on it. Next to the fridge are metal shelves cluttered with various kitchen items. On the far right is the hand of a white woman holding a small glass bowl.

Alpen

UK, 2020 (Experimental Short, 5 min)

Alpen offers images of Emma, who lives with chronic pain, moving through familiar pathways in her kitchen. Her movements are complex and choreographic as she shifts her weight between surfaces. The imagery is accompanied by a poem that she wrote about her day-to-day movement and the sound of her steps and the wheels of her stool are overlaid with sounds of snowboarders in the Swiss Alps. These different layers resist binary divisions of space and time into before and after pain.

Poster for Bebe AI. Pink futuristic text reads the film title, with bright blue text of the film credits. The image is of a young woman with Down Syndrome cradling a baby. They are both bathed in neon teal light.

Poster for Bebe AI. Pink futuristic text reads the film title, with bright blue text of the film credits. The image is of a young woman with Down Syndrome cradling a baby. They are both bathed in neon teal light.

Bebe A.I.
*Best of Festival (Short)*

UK, 2021 (Dramatic Short, 12 min)

A young couple with Down's syndrome must overcome prejudice and danger, to try and save the AI baby they want to adopt.

Poster for Between the Lines. White text reads the film title and credits. A young boy with light skin and a pensive expression can be seen through his mother's arm and shoulder.

Between The Lines

Australia, 2021 (Dramatic Short, 10 min)

By autistic filmmaker Blaise Borrer, “Between The Lines” offers an impressionistic glimpse into the lives and relationship of a mother and her twelve-year-old autistic son as the newly added pressures of high school begin to strain their already limited communication with each other.

Poster for Changer: A Hand Telling. White text reads the film title and credits. A wood carving of indigenous art and hands signing make up the poster. Text reads that it was filmed on Lower Elwha S’kallam Tribe land.

Changer: A Hand Telling
*Best of Festival (Feature)*

USA, 2021 (Feature, 60 min)

"Changer: A Handtelling" is an innovative Deaf-centric and Native-centric filmed performance with Deaf Native storytellers performing the Coast Salish myth of Changer in Native and artistic sign language, following mythic characters into a future transformed by tribes exercising sovereign treaty rights.

Still from Charlie by the Sea. Charlie, an Inuk man, sits on a beach with a large camera, with his walker next to him.

Charlie by the Sea

Canada, 2019 (Experimental Short, 5 min)

Charlie Ekomiak, an Inuk man from Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, invites us into his world through filmmaking. Shot by Charlie on his birthday, this contemplative documentary stresses the power of friendship.

Poster for Divine Decadence, Darling. White text reads the film title and credits. A little person with white skin in burlesque clothing and a top hat sits on an opulent green fabric bench.

Poster for Divine Decadence, Darling. White text reads the film title and credits. A little person with white skin in burlesque clothing and a top hat sits on an opulent green fabric bench.

Divine Decadence, Darling

Denmark, 2020 (Experimental Short, 14 min)

An alternative version of the traditional cabaret’s staging of politically edgy and playfully erotic entertainment. “Divine Decadence, Darling” invites the audience through surreal, staged scenarios in an empty nightclub with five disabled performers.

Poster for Don Julio's Nails. White and black text reads the film title and credits. Don Julio, a older Columbian man with glasses and a mustache, looks down at his fingernails.

Poster for Don Julio's Nails. White and black text reads the film title and credits. Don Julio, a older Columbian man with glasses and a mustache, looks down at his fingernails.

Don Julio's Nails

Columbia, 2021 (Dramatic Short, 10 min)

Don Julio has Parkinson's disease and can't clip his own nails. When his daughter is unable to help out, Don Julio goes on a journey through his residential complex, looking for a generous soul who can clip his nails.

Poster for Don't Come In... Yet! Yellow text reads the film title and credits. A young teenager with light skin lies on his back and looks up, with a wrapped condom on his forehead.

Poster for Don't Come In... Yet! Yellow text reads the film title and credits. A young teenager with light skin lies on his back and looks up, with a wrapped condom on his forehead.

Don't Come In... Yet!

Australia, 2021 (Experimental Short, 10 min)

As a wheelchair user, Jake is constantly watched over by his dad and lauded for his bravery by everyone. Now 18, he's finally been left at home, without supervision, with his best friend June. Together, they plan to use the opportunity to have sex. But his overbearing dad, a spider and an ageing football superstar present some complications. Most of all they reinforce the macabre nature of life as a disabled person in society.

Poster for Ecstasy. A woman stands with her back to the camera, with the image slightly transparent over a shot of foliage. Light colored text reads the film title and credits in Portuguese.

Poster for Ecstasy. A woman stands with her back to the camera, with the image slightly transparent over a shot of foliage. Light colored text reads the film title and credits in Portuguese.

Ecstasy

Brazil, 2020 (Feature, 75 min)

Racked with anxiety in the chaotic political landscape of 1990s Brazil, Clara finds solace in starving herself, experiencing both rapture and torture. In this elliptical non-fiction film, anorexia becomes a way for Clara to challenge womanhood and find a place in an uncertain, surreal, and brutal world.

Still from Exit Strategy #5. Closeup of the nude body of a woman with light skin. Her hand is in the middle of the frame. Her body has sparse freckles and moles.

Still from Exit Strategy #5. Closeup of the nude body of a woman with light skin. Her hand is in the middle of the frame. Her body has sparse freckles and moles.

Exit Strategy #5
*Innovation in Craft Award*

USA, 2020 (Experimental Short, 9 min)

An origin story and the rebirth of an identity after trauma. Blood, desire, and fucking. The fifth in a series regarding the filmmaker's emotional and physical traumas.

Still from Here/Not Here. Two black men lean with their foreheads together. One have a beard, an earring, and is wearing a bandana on his head. The other has light facial hair and is wearing a red and black beanie.

Still from Here/Not Here. Two black men lean with their foreheads together. One have a beard, an earring, and is wearing a bandana on his head. The other has light facial hair and is wearing a red and black beanie.

Here/Not Here
*Disability Justice Award*

UK, 2020 (Dramatic/Experimental Short, 29 min)

"Here/Not Here" combines elements of dance, especially Krump and hip hop, with football, BSL and Visual Vernacular (VV), a poetic and choreographic form of sign dance. In a run-down space that three different groups think of as their own, the characters find a common language through movement to communicate and collaborate.

Poster for In the Upper Room. Yellow text reads the film title and credit. The poster is an animated drawing of an underground mole den, with one adult mole wearing glasses and a yellow arm band with three black dots on it. Sitting in front of him is

Poster for In the Upper Room. Yellow text reads the film title and credit. The poster is an animated drawing of an underground mole den, with one adult mole wearing glasses and a yellow arm band with three black dots on it. Sitting in front of him is a younger, naked mole.

In The Upper Room

Austria, 2022 (Animated Short, 8 min)

Every season a young mole visits his blind grandfather, who lives deep underground in a comfortably decorated burrow. As the two grow older their relationship becomes more intense and important questions arise.

A highlighter peach, block colour, line drawing illustration of Kyla on a raised bed filming Lou who is looking at Kyla whilst trying to reverse in Kyla’s power chair Edna. Text in a black, 1970s serif font says ‘it’s personal’ followed by all caps ‘

A highlighter peach, block colour, line drawing illustration of Kyla on a raised bed filming Lou who is looking at Kyla whilst trying to reverse in Kyla’s power chair Edna. Text in a black, 1970s serif font says ‘it’s personal’ followed by all caps ‘by Kyla Harris and Lou Macnamara’.

It's Personal

UK, 2021 (Documentary Short, 31 min)

This hybrid-documentary/reality TV challenge explores Kyla and Lou’s relationship as they navigate from friendship to Lou becoming Kyla’s 24-hour ‘key worker.’ The two of them embark on a week's journey to see if Lou can reach a level of competency as Kyla’s personal assistant without compromising Kyla’s autonomy. The film responds to the embedded impossibility of social distancing for the people who need it most - because Kyla’s requirements, intimacy, and proximity are integral to her survival.

Poster for Our First Priority. White ominous text reads the film title. A doctor's office is bathed in bright pink light, with images of a male doctor and woman holding up her hand partially transparent over top.

Our First Priority
*Advocacy Award*

USA, 2021 (Dramatic Short, 10 min)

A horrifying tale of one girl's experience of medical gaslighting and the avenging angels that keep our universe in balance.

Poster for Pas De Deux. White and black text reads the film title and credits. An illustration of two feet of a couple getting married. In the background there is a rainbow sparkly gradient.

Pas de Deux

UK, 2021 (Experimental Short, 6 min) 

Follow Brogues and Sparkly Toes on their adventures of love, loss, dancing, and lots of mud! A heartbreaking LGBTQ+ tale told entirely through feet!

Poster for Seeing Diane Arbus. White text reads the title and film credits. A white woman with black round glasses pushes her glasses further up her face, her mouth slightly open.

Poster for Seeing Diane Arbus. White text reads the title and film credits. A white woman with black round glasses pushes her glasses further up her face, her mouth slightly open.

Seeing Diane Arbus
*Jury's Choice Award*

USA, 2021 (Dramatic Short, 19 min)

A movie theater projectionist with dwarfism has a fateful, frightening reunion with the famously voyeuristic photographer, Diane Arbus.

Poster for Siefe. White text reads the film title and credits. The poster is of someone holding a letter that says Seife on it with a partially transparent image of two people walking.

Poster for Siefe. White text reads the film title and credits. The poster is of someone holding a letter that says Seife on it with a partially transparent image of two people walking.

Seife

Italy, 2021 (Dramatic Short, 15 min)

Hadamar, Germany, 1938: A young man with disabilities is taken to a clinic for some "experimental treatments." This film provides a personal glimpse into just one of the many lives lost in Nazi Germany’s T4 program.

Poster for The Body is a House of Familiar Rooms. Large text reads the film title and credits. Two people with light skin sit on the floor and are touching hands as they pass each other a paintbrush.

Poster for The Body is a House of Familiar Rooms. Large text reads the film title and credits. Two people with light skin sit on the floor and are touching hands as they pass each other a paintbrush.

The Body is a House of Familiar Rooms
*Best of Festival (Documentary)*

USA, 2021 (Documentary Short, 10 min) 

A magical-realist window into a man's experience of chronic illness, mixing paintings with live-action documentary footage to explore his inner world and relationship with his partner.

Poster for The Multi. White text reads the film title and credits. A black woman in a sheer yellow covering stands in front of large windows, with city buildings in the backgrounds. She leans back on one leg with one hand above her. She looks up at t

Poster for The Multi. White text reads the film title and credits. A black woman in a sheer yellow covering stands in front of large windows, with city buildings in the backgrounds. She leans back on one leg with one hand above her. She looks up at the ceiling.

The Multi

USA, 2021 (Dramatic Short, 18 min) 

An isolated Black Deaf woman has constructed a world of order to keep a childhood trauma buried deep in her psyche. Then an unexpected turn of events forces her to confront her demons from the past, who threatens to destroy everything she has built.