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ABCs of Book Banning
The Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room Level - Room 109

First Showing: Wednesday, April 23, 4:20 pm to 5:50 pm
Second Showing: Saturday, April 26, 3:20 pm to 4:50 pm

Filmmakers: Sheila Nevins (MTV Documentary Films), Trish Adlesic (Producer), Nazenet Habtezghi (Director)

Reveals the voices of the impacted parties of books banned from school districts, inspiring hope for the future through the profound insights of inquisitive youthful minds.

America to Me: Season One, Episode One
The Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room Level - Room 109

First Showing: Friday, April 25, 11:40 am to 1:10 pm
Second Showing: Sunday, April 27, 11:40 am to 1:10 pm

Filmmaker: Steve James

America to Me is a 2018 American documentary television miniseries directed by Steve James, produced by Kartemquin Films and Participant Media.[1] The 10-episode series was filmed during the 2015-2016 school year at Oak Park and River Forest High School (OPRF) located in Oak Park, Illinois. The series chronicles daily life of twelve students spanning "all the grades and all the tracks within the school."

Becoming You: Who Am I, Season 1 Episode 1
The Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room Level - Room 109

Only Showing: Friday, April 25, 3:20 pm to 4:50 pm

Filmmakers: Olivia Coleman (Producer), Jason Christensen (Producer), Dan Howlettt (Producer)

Becoming You: Who Am I, Season 1 Episode 1; A journey of discovery to find out how children manage to evolve their identities from a blank canvas. How a child's first 2,000 days shape the rest of their lives.

Children of the Camps
The Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room Level - Room 109

Only Showing: Thursday, April 24, 5:25 pm to 6:55 pm

Filmmakers: Satsuki Ina (Producer), Stephen Holsapple (Director)

Children of the Camps is a one-hour documentary that portrays the poignant stories of six Japanese Americans who were interned as children in US concentration camps during W.W.II. The film captures a three-day intensive group experience, during which the participants are guided by Dr. Satsuki Ina, a university professor and therapist, through a process that enables them to speak honestly about their experiences and the continuing impact of internment on their lives today.

Crip Camp
The Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room Level - Room 109

First Showing: Friday, April 25, 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm
Second Showing: Sunday, April 27, 9:50 am to 11:20 am

Filmmakers: Jason Lebrecht (Director), Nicole Newnham (Director)

In the early 1970s, teenagers with disabilities faced a future shaped by isolation, discrimination and institutionalization. Camp Jened, a ramshackle camp “for the handicapped” (a term no longer used) in the Catskills, exploded those confines. Jened was their freewheeling Utopia, a place with summertime sports, smoking and make-out sessions awaiting everyone, and campers experienced liberation and full inclusion as human beings. Their bonds endured as many migrated West to Berkeley, California — a hotbed of activism where friends from Camp Jened realized that disruption, civil disobedience, and political participation could change the future for millions.

Crip Camp is the story of one group of people and captures one moment in time. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of other equally important stories from the Disability Rights Movement that have not yet received adequate attention. We are committed to using the film’s platform to amplify additional narratives in the disability rights and disability justice communities – with a particular emphasis on stories surrounding people of color and other intersectionally marginalized communities. We stand by the creed of nothing about us, without us. For too long, too many were excluded, and it is time to broaden the number of voices and share the mic.

Homeroom
The Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room Level - Room 109

First Showing: Wednesday, April 23, 12:40 pm to 2:10 pm
Second Showing: Saturday, April 26, 11:40 am to 1:10 pm

Filmmakers: Peter Nicks (Cinematographer/Director), Ryan Coogler (Director)

Homeroom follows a group of high school seniors in the tumultuous school year ending in Spring 2020. As Nicks has shown again and again, Oakland is a rich microcosm of American Life and Oakland High is no exception. The joys and sorrows of teenage life are on full display, as students struggle to define themselves and set a course for the future.

However, many of the students face hardships far beyond the pop ennui of so many high school films. Displaced by rapid gentrification in the Bay Area, constricted by fear of deportation, and intimidated by law enforcement, they have a firsthand education in systemic injustice. At centerstage is Denilson Garibo, one of two Student Directors on the Board of Education representing the 36,000 students in the Oakland Unified School District. Denilson’s role places him between two worlds, bringing the urgent concerns of his constituents to the ears of adults in leadership positions who are often pursuing different priorities.

In a year derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic and rocked by the national trauma of the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others, Homeroom celebrates the tenacity of today’s youth. A perfect capstone to a trilogy of films that have not shied away from exploring the intractable problems plaguing many of our institutions, Homeroom allows the students to point a way forward. Confronted with crisis after crisis and coming of age in a chaotic world has not instilled pessimism, but a galvanizing determination to make chang

Let the Little Light Shine
The Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room Level - Room 109

Only Showing: Thursday, April 24, 3:35 pm to 5:05 pm

Filmmaker: Kevin Shaw (Director/Producer)

Let the Little Light Shine follows a remarkable movement: a group of people, some white and some Black, upper-middle-class and low-income, advocating for Black children’s futures. It weaves from classroom to district boardroom, a student’s kitchen to City Hall, meetings for the conversion of NTA and against. In doing so, it delves into the thorny politics of gentrification – the sanitized language of displacement, who and what is lost in the name of growth.

Sugarcane
The Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room Level - Room 109

Only Showing: Thursday, April 24, 1:45 pm to 3:15 pm

Filmmakers: Julian Brave NoiseCat (Producer), Emily Kassie (Producer)

A stunning tribute to the resilience of Native people and their way of life, Sugarcane, the debut feature documentary from Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, is an epic cinematic portrait of a community during a moment of international reckoning.

In 2021, evidence of unmarked graves was discovered on the grounds of an Indian residential school run by the Catholic Church in Canada. After years of silence, the forced separation, assimilation and abuse many children experienced at these segregated boarding schools was brought to light, sparking a national outcry against a system designed to destroy Indigenous communities. Set amidst a groundbreaking investigation, Sugarcane illuminates the beauty of a community breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma and finding the strength to persevere.

Tell Them We Are Rising
The Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room Level - Room 109

First Showing: Wednesday, April 23, 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm
Second Showing: Saturday, April 26, 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm

Filmmakers: Stanley Nelson (Firelight Media), Marco Williams (Northwestern University)

The rich history of America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) began before the end of slavery, flourished in the 20th century, and profoundly influenced the course of the nation for over 150 years — yet remains largely unknown. With Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities, the latest documentary from Stanley Nelson (Black Panthers, Freedom Riders) and Marco Williams, the powerful story of the rise, influence, and evolution of HBCUs comes to life. A haven for Black intellectuals, artists, and revolutionaries — and a path of promise toward the American dream — HBCUs have educated the architects of freedom movements and cultivated leaders in every field while remaining unapologetically Black for more than 150 years. These institutions have nurtured some of the most influential Americans of our time, from Booker T. Washington to Martin Luther King, Jr., W.E.B. Du Bois to Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison to Oprah Winfrey, Alice Walker to Spike Lee to Common. A key driver of Black social, political and economic progress, HBCUs were also a place of unprecedented freedom for African American students and a refuge from the rampant racism that raged outside the campus walls. Tell Them We Are Rising captures this important history to tell the dynamic story of Americans who refused to be denied a higher education and — in their resistance — created a set of institutions that would influence and shape the landscape of the country for centuries to come.

The Big Payback
The Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room Level - Room 109

First Showing: Wednesday, April 23, 10:50 am to 12:20 pm
Second Showing: Saturday, April 26, 9:50 am to 11:20 am

Filmmakers: Erika Alexander (Color Farm Media), Whitney Dow (Director)

Discussion on school / education is not explicit. However, it ties with pedagogy, remedy, and repair, as the central premise is a documentation of HR40 in Evanston, Illinois, focused on longstanding advocacy and overdue reparations to African American families. It's applicable to #1 session, thinking about the role that local governments can play in enacting these reparations and repairs, and subsequently, posing the possibility of building curriculums of reparations anchored in community-based struggles for reparations (relevant for #2, though this is not necessarily discussed in the documentary itself). Lastly, it also speaks to #3, on how social study of reparations can remedy divisions rooted in the example of financial / monetary reparations for Black and African American communities.

Us Kids
The Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room Level - Room 109

Only Showing: Friday, April 25, 9:50 am to 11:20 am

Filmmaker: Kim A. Snyder (Director)

Us Kids is a 2020 American documentary film directed by Kim A. Snyder, following members of the March for Our Lives movement after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018. The film follows the March for Our Lives movement over the course of 18 months, in the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that killed 17 people and injured 17 more. X González, David Hogg, Cameron Kasky, Jaclyn Corin, Bria Smith, Samantha Fuentes and Alex King appear in the film. Us Kids also captures how youth got involved with political activism, launching a global youth movement against gun violence.

Waterschool
The Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room Level - Room 109

Only Showing: Thursday, April 24, 9:50 am to 11:20 am

Filmmaker: Tiffanie Hsu (Director)

Waterschool is a 2018 documentary film directed by Tiffanie Hsu and produced by the Swarovski Foundation. The film follows the experiences of six young female students who live along six of the world's major rivers: the Amazon, Nile, Mississippi, Danube, Ganges, and Yangtze. The film showcases the Waterschool program, an environmental education initiative that aims to empower young people to become water stewards and protect their communities and homes from water-related issues. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was also screened at the World Economic Forum in Davos, as well as Hong Kong and Cannes Film Festivals. The film received positive reviews from critics and audiences, who praised its vivid and poignant portrayal of the challenges and opportunities faced by the girls and their communities.