Your Fat Friend

Aubrey Gordon began her career writing with candor and humor as the anonymous blogger “Your Fat Friend”. Her searingly honest writing describes what it’s like to be a fat woman in the world, how the fantasies peddled by a diet and wellness industry are worth $26 billion a year, and how the biggest threat to fat people’s health might just be the bias that some many health care providers hold for fat people. Aubrey spent a decade campaigning for LGBTQIA rights so she knows that change is possible. Now it’s time to advocate for herself. For Aubrey, this isn’t about “body positivity” co-opted by brands to sell fat-kinis to size 16 women, it’s about bringing about a paradigm shift in the way that we treat fat people and the fat on our own bodies. It has brought her an insatiable worldwide audience, and threats to her life. Your Fat Friend follows Aubrey’s rise from anonymous blogger to NYTimes best selling author and co-host of the podcast Maintenance Phase, and charts the complexities of finding a place in the world when you don’t quite fit in.

It’s Only Life After All

With forty years of making music as the iconic folk-rock band Indigo Girls, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have made their mark as musicians, songwriters, and dedicated activists. They have represented radical self-acceptance to many – leading now multiple generations of fans to say, “the Indigo Girls saved my life.” Still, Amy and Emily battled misogyny, homophobia, and a harsh cultural climate chastising them for not fitting into a female pop star mold. With joy, humor, and heart-warming moments, Sundance award-winning director Alexandria Bombach brings us into a contemporary conversation with Amy and Emily – alongside decades of the band’s home movies and intimate present-day verité.

Shorts Program 5: Beyond Bars

Beyond Bars program exposes the flaws and injustices of the prison industrial complex, with two powerful films that shed light on the over-incarceration of black and brown people and the impact of cash bail. Meet two incredible activists who are making change and fighting for justice in their communities. This program will be followed by a panel discussion with filmmakers, participants, and leaders in the criminal justice reform system, offering an opportunity for dialogue and action toward a more equitable and just society.

The Body Politic

The Body Politic is a harbinger for hope in a country plagued by gun violence. Our protagonist is Brandon Scott, a young Mayor who grew up during Baltimore’s most troubling years and sets out, with unyielding idealism, to change the course of his battered and beloved city. Scott is elected Mayor amid the George Floyd uprising, and he introduces an ambitious plan for violence reduction and police reform that he promises will lower the city’s murder rate. Pundits claim Brandon’s political health and the city’s health are tied to the number 348 – the total murders Baltimore had the previous year, more homicides than NYC, a city fifteen times its size. After entering office and barely getting a chance to enact his first safety reforms, violence surges to new highs. As the media and political foes attack his holistic approach, Brandon’s commitment to his principles put his future as a politician at risk.

Pay or Die

The US healthcare system is the most expensive in the world and close to half of all Americans reportedly struggle to pay for their healthcare. Pay or Die explores the crushing financial reality for millions of insulin dependent Americans living with diabetes, as pharmaceutical companies push the price of this life saving medication to exorbitant levels, making record breaking profits. This is only further bolstered by the government’s lack of regulation. Pay or Die voices the stories of families struggling to afford their life saving medications in one of the richest countries in the world, the United States of America. This enraging and enlightening film lays bare the human cost of the United States’ insulin affordability crisis, and serves as a call to action against the medical-industrial complex that monetizes our bodies and lives.