“Zikkaron/Kristallnacht: A Family Story” is a short documentary that describes the events of November 9-10, 1938, when Nazis destroyed thousands of Jewish-owned stores, synagogues, and homes all over Germany and parts of Austria under the pretext of the assassination of a German diplomat in Paris. “Kristallnacht” translates as “The Night of Broken Glass,” a […]
Archive | Discrimination
The Banned
“The Banned” takes a look at the lives of Iranian-Americans affected by the Trump administration ban restricting travel from Muslim-majority countries. The short film, directed by Ali Reza Khoshkjan and produced while he was an undergraduate student in the Brooklyn College Film Department, won the Best Editing Award at the 2019 Brooklyn College Film […]
Ellis Island: The Making of a Master Race in America
‘Ellis Island: The Making of a Master Race in America’ documents the influence of eugenics on U.S. immigration policies from the 19th century until now. The film reconstructs the medical and mental examination of “aliens” at Ellis Island, which was designed to exclude “inferior stock” from Southern and Eastern Europe, and describes the social agenda […]
Between Neighborhoods
Seth Fein’s split-screen, trans-historical documentary ‘Between Neighborhoods’ (81 mins) explores the inter-borough and international present and past of imperialism and immigration that orbit the Unisphere in Queens. This edited 11-minute excerpt connects the neoliberal/nationalist age of Donald Trump to the authoritarian liberal legacy of Robert Moses, who constructed the Unisphere as the central theme of […]
Fighting For Justice
Anuz Thapa’s “Fighting for Justice” focuses on how the criminal justice system is reluctant to charge people with a ‘hate crime.’ Bangladeshi Imam Maulana Akonjee and his assistant, Thara Uddin were murdered in broad daylight in Queens in 2016. Since losing his father, Saif Akonjee becomes the head of his devastated family, deferring his […]
Dastaar: Defending Sikh Identity
Original tape date: September 22, 2016. Short Docs’s first season starts with the streaming of Dastaar: Defending Sikh Identity, directed by Kevin Lee. The short film describes the challenges facing the Sikh community in a post-9/11 New York City that erroneously associates the Sikh turban (or dastaar) with terrorism and Islamic extremists. The piece […]