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 […]
“Work and Respect” is a powerful short documentary focusing on domestic workers. It describes the activist protests of immigrant women from Domestic Workers United (DWU), an organization of Caribbean, Latina, and African nannies, housekeepers, and elderly care workers in New York who aim to protect and advocate for workers rights across the United States. […]
In this short film, women of immigrant and first generation backgrounds came together for an intense one-day video production workshop. The piece details the cultural and emotional challenges they faced in becoming part of contemporary U.S. society. The film is part of The Multiplicity of Us, a workshop presented by New York Women in […]
Toni Blackman and the FreeStyle Union are challenging the male-dominated world of Hip-Hop and empowering women to speak their minds in freestyle workshops. This music video/documentary describes Toni’s concentrated effort to provide training and support for emerging female hip-hop artists whose voices, activism and lyrics have been largely unnoticed. Toni Blackman
In this documentary, we meet the Alams, a Bangladeshi family living in Coney Island, Brooklyn. Mohammed Alam, the father to two young U.S.-born daughters, is one of 13,000 immigrants facing deportation as a consequence of Special Registration, a post-9/11 policy which targeted nationals of Muslim countries. But the Alams are not just victims. Learn how […]
On a crumbling sidewalk in the heart of Spanish Harlem, a small but impassioned group of women are fighting for their community. When the Archdiocese of New York locked the doors of the church where many of them spent their entire lives worshipping, this determined family of parishioners decided to resist the ministerial decision […]
This short documentary illustrates the effects of gentrification in Manhattan’s Chinatown as an elderly man and fellow tenants in endangered single-room occupancy building await the results of an anti-eviction lawsuit. (7 minutes) Melanie Wang
Set in NYC, The Right to Vend describes the struggles of street vendors, a diverse community of hard-working immigrants, people of color and military veterans who served their country. They plan collective actions to change current laws and regulations while raising public awareness about their contribution to the city. (11 minutes) Matthew Shapiro
“Excuse My Gangsta Ways” is a visual poetic documentary portrait of Davina Wan, a Chinese American woman, who was a former gang member from Lower East Side. With interviews from her grandmother and godfather, we take a look at the person she was and the person she has become, where fate and inspiration endure. […]
This short film explores the mental health effects of a young man’s experience in the US Navy. Brian, who was recruited into the US Navy with offers of the opportunity for a college education, has spent two years sweeping the decks of ships. He has not had the opportunity to attend college classes. The […]
Produced by CUNY TV, Short Docs Web Series showcases short documentaries about NYC’s minority communities and examines issues including immigration, human rights, education, diaspora, multiculturalism, environmental issues and criminal justice. Short Docs creates a fresh multi-cultural dialogue and amplifies the film’s issues through social media. The documentaries, produced by Third World Newsreel, stream along with interviews with the filmmakers and subjects related to the pieces.
