In 1958, a young trans woman named Agnes entered a study about sex disorders at UCLA to get the gender-affirming care she needed, by any means necessary. Her story was long considered to be exceptional until never-before-seen case files of other patients were found in 2017. Directed by Chase Joynt (NO ORDINARY MAN) and featuring an all-star cast of transgender artists and performers, FRAMING AGNES uses re-enactment and genre-blurring storytelling techniques to breathe new life into previously unknown people who redefined gender in the midcentury.

KINDERLAND tells the story of two secular Jewish summer camps in upstate New York that have cultivated social activists for almost a century and are still in existence today. Despite numerous commonalities, they enjoyed a legendary feud from opposite ends of Sylvan Lake. In response to the devastating impact of the Trump era and the accompanying rise in intolerance and inequality, today’s campers, a largely secular multi-ethnic group, prioritize shared values over philosophical differences and attempt to join forces in the ongoing fight for equality and justice.

MARIPOSAS DEL CAMPO shares the stories of indigenous Mixtec, Zapotec, and Purépecha teenagers from Mexico striving to change their families’ destinies in the strawberry fields of Oxnard, California. Through a stormy year of sanctioned racism and anti-immigrant policies, the documentary captures their journeys—with help from the characters’ own intimate videos—as they navigate cultural identity, parental expectations, economic challenges, and the justice needs of their migrant farmworker community. For young people whose lives have always been steeped in uncertainty, it takes a leap of faith to chase a dream.

Film distribution in the 21st century is constantly changing. Join a panel of film distribution company representatives for a discussion on the evolving media landscape. Topics will include: video on demand, streaming services, self-distribution, and how to develop a multi-pronged distribution strategy. This panel is moderated by Joe Brown, filmmaker and professor of film at the University of Denver. The panel includes Marc Mauceri from First Run Features, Jeffrey Winter from The Film Collaborative, and Kym Stanton from Films for Change.

Sierra Leone is the second poorest country in the world. After overcoming one of the toughest and bloodiest civil wars, in 2014 they had to face one of the most devastating epidemics in living memory, Ebola. The consequences of those horrors ended up extinguishing the spark of development and plunging the population into total darkness in which they have been living since 1992. The lack of stable light supply is a major constraint for the development of medical work, directly affecting the life expectancy of Sierra Leone people.