Portland Film Festival 2023

Black Stories Shorts Block

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6 films in package
Fireflies Save The Night
Hiding in a bedroom closet, an embattled teenager comforts his younger sister and discusses the purpose of fireflies before finding a solution to his family's misery.
13
A woman seeking closure from her childhood abuser realizes that forgiveness is... overrated.
So Misunderstood
In the office, Alice Scott feels the pressure to hold it all together, even when her world is falling apart. But the pandemic changes everything.
Becoming
Two brothers seeking acceptance from one another struggle to understand each other. Shawn wrestles with his dreams and reality, trying to break away from the societal chains weighing him down. While Rashad has succumb to the weight of world, and has forgotten what it means to dream. After Rashad saves Shawn from getting jumped at park, Shawn attempts to connect with his brother. Yet Rashad, a man of action rather than words is still cold towards his baby brother. It takes their parents and Shawn's imagination that help them realize they are both feel like caged birds ready to be set free.
RAW
RAW is an expression of black female divinity as the image and likeness of God. The project was created to explore where black people overcame individual oppression through the power of ritual, solidarity, and trust in a higher power. It dives into our ancestral roots, seeking awareness and surrender in our truth. The ancestral blood of the African Diaspora built the American institutions in which black people struggled for inclusion and where there's still little acknowledgment of the African toil embedded in university buildings and White House walls. RAW visually expresses the hurt of xenophobia and the beauty of finding human agency and trust in a higher power as we heal our country through individual and collective invocations.
Make You Feel
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At wit’s end, an embattled teenager finds a solution to his family’s misery.

  • Year
    2022
  • Runtime
    9 minutes
  • Language
    English
  • Country
    United Sates
  • Rating
    PG-13
  • Genre
    Childhood/Family, Coming of Age/Teen
  • Awards
    N/A
  • Note
    "Fireflies Save the Night" is the third installment in "The World of Toine," a collection of short projects complementing director A.J. Riggins' feature film screenplay, "Look at Toine."
  • Director
    A.J. Riggins
  • Screenwriter
    A.J. Riggins
  • Producer
    A.J. Riggins, Miles Mckeller-Smith
  • Cast
    Brenan Young - Toine, Andrea Udovicic - Ava
  • Cinematographer
    Jamal Solomon
  • Editor
    CJ Duncan