Page 4 - WHFF 2022

The 31st Annual Woods Hole Film Festival

DOCUMENTARY families on their journey to better balance care work at sees the young immigrant battle intense heat, drought,
speeding transport trucks, nature’s wrath and corrupt
home, illustrating how we aren’t really fighting about
border guards on his history-making long ride home.
dishes in the sink, but much bigger societal problems.
FEATURES Jennifer Siebel Newsom,Gretchen Miller • USA • 2022 • Sean Cisterna • Canada • 2022 • 96 min.
88 min.
Master of Light
Fashion Reimagined
George Anthony Morton is a classical painter who spent
After Antarctica Fashion designer Amy Powney of cult label Mother of ten years in federal prison for dealing drugs. While
incarcerated, he nurtured his craft and unique artistic
Pearl is a rising star in the London fashion scene. Raised
After Antarctica follows legendary polar explorer Will off-the-grid in rural England by activist parents, Amy has ability. Since his release, he is doing everything he can
Steger’s lifelong journey as an eyewitness to the great- always felt uneasy about the devastating environmen- to defy society’s unlevel playing field and tackle the
est changes to the polar regions of our planet. Now, tal impact of her industry. When she wins the coveted white-dominant art world.
thirty years after his historic coast-to-coast expedition Vogue award for the Best Young Designer of the Year, Rosa Ruth Boesten • USA • 2022 • 88 min.
across the coldest continent on Earth, Steger heads which comes with a big cash prize, Amy decides to use MAU
out on the ice once again, at a time when he is not only the money to create a sustainable collection from field
known for being the first in history to complete these to finished garment, and transform her entire busi- Over the span of his career, creative dark horse Bruce
historic feats - he is also the last. ness. Over the following three years, her own personal Mau has completed the transformation from world-
Tasha Van Zandt • USA • 2021 • 104 min. revolution becomes the precursor of a much bigger, class graphic designer to designer of the world. From
societal change.
advising global brands like Coca Cola and Disney, to re-
The Butterfly in the Sky Becky Hutner • UK/USA • 2022 • 92 min. thinking a 1000-year plan for Mecca, Islam’s holiest site
Reading Rainbow introduced millions of kids to the Fire of Love to working with the greatest living architects on books
wonder and importance of books. Not only did the and museums to rebranding nations such as Guatemala
series insist on having kids speak to kids about their Katia and Maurice Krafft loved two things — each other and Denmark, Bruce Mau is a pioneer of transformation
favorite stories, but Reading Rainbow introduced the and volcanoes. For two decades, the daring French design and the belief that design can be used to create
world to one of the most adored television hosts of all volcanologist couple roamed the planet, chasing positive change in our world.
time in LeVar Burton. In this wonderfully nostalgic look eruptions, documenting their discoveries. Ultimately, Jono Bergmann,Benjamin Bergmann • Austria/USA •
back at the origin story of Reading Rainbow, you’re they lost their lives in a 1991 volcanic explosion, leaving 2021 • 77 min.
invited to learn about the foundation of a show that for a legacy that forever enriched our knowledge of the
25 years dedicated itself to not only bringing literature natural world. Director Sara Dosa and the filmmak- Of Medicine and Miracles
into children’s lives but delving behind the pages to the ing team fashion a lyrical celebration of the intrepid At the age of six, Emily Whitehead was diagnosed with
people, places, and things each new story explored. scientists’ spirit of adventure, drawing from the Kraffts’ leukemia and the lives of her and her parents were sud-
spectacular archive.
Brett Whitcomb,Bradford Thomason • USA • 2022 • 87 min. Sara Dosa • USA/Canada • 2022 • 94 min. denly thrust into uncertainty. Through bracingly honest
interviews and home videos, Of Medicine and Miracles
The Chisels Are Calling Free Renty: Lanier v. Harvard details her family’s experience bouncing from hospital
John Monteleone is one of the world’s greatest guitar to hospital, trying to stay hopeful amidst hopelessness,
builders, and a living artist on permanent exhibition Tamara Lanier, is an African-American woman deter- and their fateful correspondence with Dr. Carl June,
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Featuring musical mined to force Harvard University to cede ownership whose research could hold the key to her survival. But
tributes and interviews with Mark Knopfler, Ben Harper, of daguerreotypes of her great-great-great grandfa- time is of the essence.
David Grisman, Woody Mann, Julian Lage and others, ther, an enslaved man named Renty. The images are Ross Kauffman • USA • 2022 • 96 min.
the film covers the multi-faceted artist whose guitars emblematic of the inhumanity of slavery, the racist On These Grounds
are known not only for their incredible sound, but also science that supported it, and the white supremacy that
for their visually striking and innovative designs. continues to infect our society today. A video goes viral, showing a white police officer in
Trevor Laurence • USA • 2021 • 91 min. David Grubin • USA • 2021 • 95 min. South Carolina pull a Black teenager from her school
desk and throw her across the floor. Healer-Activist Vivi-
A Decent Home From the Hood to the Holler an Anderson uproots her life in New York City to support
When housing on the lowest rung of the American Running in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Sen- the girl and dismantle the system behind the assault at
dream is being devoured by the wealthiest of the ate seat held by Mitch McConnell, Charles Booker Spring Valley, including facing the police officer.
wealthy, whose dream are we serving? Issues of class attempts one of the biggest upsets in political history Garrett Zevgetis • USA • 2021 • 102 min.
and economic (im)mobility mean many mobile home by challenging establishment- backed candidate Amy Ranger
park residents can’t afford housing anywhere else. They McGrath. His message is simple: Whether you are from
are fighting for their homes - and their communities - as the city “hood” — like Booker — or the Appalachian “hol- Set within Kenya’s Maasai homeland, an intimate and
private equity firms and wealthy investors buy up parks, ler,” you are not invisible. contemporary story of self-discovery unfolds, as 12
making sky-high returns on their investments while Pat McGee • USA • 2022 • 102 min. women become East Africa’s first all-female anti-
squeezing every last penny out of the mobile home poaching unit. Upending the male-dominated, reliance
owners who must pay rent for the land they live on. Girl Talk upon military-style training to make a wildlife ranger,
Sara Terry • USA • 2021 • 87 min. Set in the cutthroat, male-dominated world of high Virginia, Liz, Momina and Damaris instead undergo a
year-long program of deep trauma-release and healing,
school debate, where tomorrow’s leaders are groomed,
Bonnie Blue: James Cotton’s Life in the Blues five girls on a top-ranked Massachusetts high school triggering profound transformation within themselves
James “Super Harp” Cotton’s life and musical journey debate team strive to become the best debaters in and sending shockwaves through their communities.
tracks America’s history and his story is one of empow- the US, reminding us that equal rights and freedom of Austin J Peck • Kenya • 2021 • 93 min.
erment during a time when the weight of racial inequity expression are worth fighting for, both within debate
made the journey seem impossible. Bonnie Blue – and beyond. Scrum
James Cotton’s Life in the Blues is a unique portrait of Lucia Small • USA • 2022 • 93 min. Frank McKinney is the first (and only) Black college
an era and its impact today. Cotton’s music made his- The House We Lived In rugby coach in the U.S. When Frank is hired to build a
tory; his musical voice was unique, and the blues were new rugby team at a predominantly white Southern uni-
never the same. A decade in the making, a young filmmaker confronts versity, his dream was of bringing diversity to the game
Bestor Cram • USA • 2022 • 86 min. addiction, family, and memory as he chronicles his that he loved was suddenly within reach. Character and
father‘s journey to recover lost memories following a
good grades required. Rugby skills? Optional.
Do I Need This? traumatic brain injury. Using experimental approaches Thomas Morgan • USA • 2020 • 78 min.
A filmmaker interweaves her complicated relationship with projected installations, he attempts to find those The Territory
to her possessions with a journey into the homes and missing memories in hopes of finding the dad he used
minds of her fellow Americans - from a hoarder to a to know. As memories return in the form of dreams the The Uru-eu-wau-wau Indigenous Surveillance Team
monk and a colorful group of characters in between. family struggles with acceptance of this new version of defends their land against a network of Brazilian farmers
their father.
Kate Schermerhorn • USA • 2022 • 63 min. Tim O’Donnell • USA • 2022 • 83 min. intent on colonizing their protected territory. Their fight for
survival forces Bitate and Neidinha - a young Indigenous
Exposure The Lake at the Bottom of the World leader and his female mentor – to find new ways to pro-
Against all odds and polar advice, a Muslim chaplain, tect the rainforest from the encroaching invaders. Through
a French biologist, a Qatari princess and eight other An international team of scientists explores a subgla- intimate access to both the Indigenous community and
women from the Arab World and the West attempt to cial lake buried 3,600 feet beneath the Antarctic ice to the opposing farmers network, the film brings audiences
ski across the melting Arctic sea ice to the North Pole. reveal hidden truths about our planet’s dynamic past. As directly into the heart of the Amazon rainforest.
These boundary-breaking adventurers, led by veteran they struggle against the ferocity of the ice and wind, Alex Pritz • Brazil/Denmark/USA • 2022 • 83 min.
polar explorer Felicity Aston, navigate everything from they consider how our relationship with nature – and
frostbite and polar bear threats, to sexism and self- with one another — will impact humanity’s future and
doubt in an intimate story of resilience, survival and the future of all life on our rapidly changing planet.
global citizenry. Kathy Kasic • USA • 2022 • 91 min.
Holly Morris • USA • 2022 • 88 min. The Long Rider
Fair Play When Filipe Leite leaves his adoptive home of Canada,
The unequal gendered division of labor in the home has the aspiring journalist sets out on an epic quest to
long existed, with modern living only exacerbating the ride from Calgary to his family’s home in Brazil - and
stress-filled dynamic between parenthood and work. later beyond - entirely on horseback. Inspired by Aimé A Bringing Science to the Screen screening.
With the global pandemic forcing millions of women Tschiffely’s 1925 equestrian journey, Filipe’s 8 year odys- This film/program screens live only.
out of the workforce, Fair Play follows four different sey of over 25,000 kms across 12 international borders,