Saturday, August 2, 2025
Winter Shorts
Think it’s too cold for shorts? NONSENSE! We’re bringing back WINTER SHORTS. Here are eight inspirational, funny – and maybe a little quirky – award-winning and audience favorite short films that are sure to keep you feeling warm and happy on a cold, January evening.
Panel: From Pole to Pole
Explorer Will Steger, Filmmakers Tasha Van Zandt (After Antarctica), Holly Morris (Exposure), Kathy Kasic (The Lake at the Bottom of the World) and WHOI Polar scientist Sarah Das will discuss the process of communicating climate change through documentary film. After Antarctica, Exposure and The Lake at the Bottom of the World will screen as part of the Woods Hole Film Festival line up. The panel is presented by the Yawkey Foundation as part of WHOI’s summer series DISPATCHES FROM AN OCEAN PLANET. The panel is free, but a ticket is required.
Zero Gravity w/ Shattering Stars
While it’s true today’s 11-year-olds will one day run the world, middle-schoolers in San Jose, CA are taking their summer break to get a head start. Immersed in their own space race, a diverse group of ambitious students enter the Zero Robotics ISS (International Space Station) Competition.
Their mission: compete with teams across the country to write the most strategic code for surveying satellites, which will help map out a GPS system to successfully orbit Mars in the future, opening the door to infinite opportunities and exploration on the Red Planet.
The Yin & Yang of Gerry Lopez
The path to enlightenment begins at the world’s deadliest wave, the Banzai Pipeline. Gerry Lopez, AKA Mr. Pipeline, is one of surfing’s most enigmatic heroes—a Zen Buddhist on land who built his early career on aggressive surfing. He is a radical; as he is Zen. He is one of the most influential surfers and surfboard shapers of all time, transcending categorization and pioneering surfing to new frontiers.
The Thief Collector
In 1985, Willem de Kooning’s “Woman-Ochre,” one of the most valuable paintings of the 20th century, vanished into the Arizona desert after being cut from its frame at the University of Arizona Museum of Art. 32 years later, the $160 million painting was found hanging in the home of Jerry and Rita Alter in rural New Mexico. The Thief Collector takes a deep look at how, and why, this mild-mannered couple pulled off one of the greatest art heists of a generation, exploring the complicated dynamics of family, the contours of criminality, and just how far people will go to weave their own grandiose narratives.
The Territory w/ ᎤᏕᏲᏅ (What They’ve Been Taught)
The Uru-eu-wau-wau Indigenous Surveillance Team defends their land against a network of Brazilian farmers intent on colonizing their protected territory. Their fight for survival forces Bitate and Neidinha – a young Indigenous leader and his female mentor – to find new ways to protect the rainforest from the encroaching invaders. Through intimate access to both the Indigenous community and the opposing farmers network, the film brings audiences directly into the heart of the Amazon rainforest.
The Mirror Game
Childhood friends Rose and Abe both find themselves in Las Vegas on the same weekend, but when Rose asks Abe for a life-changing favor, the evening takes a turn for the unexpected, and the two spend the night trying to beat the odds.
The Lake at the Bottom of the World
An international team of scientists explores a subglacial lake buried 3,600 feet beneath the Antarctic ice to reveal hidden truths about our planet’s dynamic past. As they struggle against the ferocity of the ice and wind, they consider how our relationship with nature – and with one another — will impact humanity’s future and the future of all life on our rapidly changing planet.
The Falconer
Inspired by true events, two best friends, Tariq, an Omani teenager and Cai, a privileged Westerner, conspire to steal animals from the zoo and sell them on the black market to raise money for Tariq’s sister’s divorce from an abusive marriage. They are forced to wrestle with morally complex choices that reveal the vast distance between their worlds.
Butterfly in the Sky
Reading Rainbow introduced millions of kids to the wonder and importance of books. Not only did the series insist on having kids speak to kids about their favorite stories, but Reading Rainbow introduced the world to one of the most adored television hosts of all time in LeVar Burton. Thanks to his direct, non-patronizing and, most importantly, kind delivery, Burton became a conduit to learning for children of every background—an entrancing guide to subjects unknown. In this wonderfully nostalgic look back at the origin story of Reading Rainbow, you’re invited to learn about the foundation of a show that for 25 years dedicated itself to not only bringing literature into children’s lives but delving behind the pages to the people, places, and things each new story explored.
The Big Bend
Two families meet for a reunion in the unknowable reaches of the West Texas desert where they explore the visually-striking landscape and reflect on their good lives. When a child goes missing on a hike, a father confronts his mortality and a wife decides to reexamine her marriage. THE BIG BEND follows the survival of these two families in a hauntingly dangerous environment, creating an unforgettable portrait of friendship, parenthood, and marriage.
SHORTS: The Neighborhood
Lalito 10 • Powers • The Devil Will Run • The Originals • Where Land Ends
SHORTS: Art In Many Forms
Big Three, Dragon Poets of Boston, OtroLado [OtherSide], The Mural Master, The Right One , Wabanaki Modern
Scrum
Frank McKinney is the first (and only) Black college rugby coach in the U.S. When Frank is hired to build a new rugby team at a predominantly white Southern university, his dream was of bringing diversity to the game that he loved was suddenly within reach. Character and good grades required. Rugby skills? Optional.
