On her way to the store with a group of friends, Chrishaun Reed “CeCe” McDonald was attacked. While defending her life, a man was killed. After a coercive interrogation, CeCe was incarcerated in a men’s prison in Minnesota. An international campaign to free CeCe garnered significant support from media and activists, including actress and executive producer Laverne Cox. Cox used this platform to explore the roles race, class and gender played in CeCe’s case. CeCe emerged not only as a survivor, but also as a leader. Documentarian Jac Gares pushed past everyday narratives of victimhood that surround the lives of transgender people, to spotlight the way CeCe and other trans people are leading a growing movement to critically interrogate and disassemble the prison industrial complex. Desc. courtesy of the L.A. Film Festival.

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One sleepless night as Sadie is surfing the web her suspicions that her and her bestie since the 7th grade are growing apart are confirmed, when she discovers that he has unfollowed her on Instagram. Over the winter Sadie becomes a social recluse, going to Normy Suburbs Public High by day, working at the Bogus Burger Barn by night, reading zines alone in her bedroom and day dreaming while wandering the streets of suburbia. On her 17th birthday her mother gifts her a 3 zone one year transit pass telling her to “go out and explore, discover new things and have adventures close to home.” Downtown Sadie is randomly befriended by Miami, a self identified teeny bopper who is the first out trans girl to attend North Shore Private Girls College. Miami introduces Sadie to her token straight, musical theatre loving BFF Cynthia, her angsty emo boyfriend Zeke, and the rest of her clique: Ellen, an astrology loving lesbian and Jersey, a twinky bisexual highschool drop out. Sadie quickly starts to hang out with them all on the regular, but has she really found a place where she belongs? Or will old insecurities, crushes and drama get in the way?

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A selection of short films from students and first-time directors.

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