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PTAFF 2026 SCREENERS
From Lunacy to Legacy:Crownville
Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy is a feature-length documentary film highlighting the history of the Crownsville State Mental Hospital in Crownsville, MD. Drawing on many documentary works such as “The Thin Blue Line” and “Night and Fog” for inspiration, the film utilizes archival footage, animation and original music to unfold the story and evoke a mood. Both exterior and interior present-day footage and photos have been combined with exterior/interior archival footage and photos to capture the changes to the hospital through its 96-year lifespan. In addition, interviews with historians and former hospital workers as well as patients help to round out the experience.
Barika Rising
Inspired by the predicament of displaced youth, Barika Rising documents the creation of a skatepark inside a refugee camp and its impact on community.
Black LP
Black LP chronicles Music in Common’s journey across the country to facilitate community conversations, collaborative songwriting, and music making after George Floyd’s murder. Black Legacy Project is a musical celebration of Black history to advance racial harmony, bridge-building, and partnership.
Developed in the summer of 2020, Black LP launched with week-long residencies in seven communities across the country - the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, Atlanta, Los Angeles, the Mississippi Delta, Denver, the Arkansas Ozarks, and Boise. These residencies brought together Black and White artists and artists of ALL backgrounds to record present day interpretations of songs central to the Black American experience and to compose originals that call for harmony, bridge-building, and partnership. Community roundtable discussions helped inform how these songs were interpreted and written.
This short documentary takes audiences on a musical journey across the country and throughout history, as it follows the Black LP's national launch and tour across the United States. Black LP entertains, educates, informs, and inspires audiences, highlighting the power of music as a force for human connection and social change.
Developed in the summer of 2020, Black LP launched with week-long residencies in seven communities across the country - the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, Atlanta, Los Angeles, the Mississippi Delta, Denver, the Arkansas Ozarks, and Boise. These residencies brought together Black and White artists and artists of ALL backgrounds to record present day interpretations of songs central to the Black American experience and to compose originals that call for harmony, bridge-building, and partnership. Community roundtable discussions helped inform how these songs were interpreted and written.
This short documentary takes audiences on a musical journey across the country and throughout history, as it follows the Black LP's national launch and tour across the United States. Black LP entertains, educates, informs, and inspires audiences, highlighting the power of music as a force for human connection and social change.
Addidas Owns The Reality
Prankster activists perform an elaborate hoax to improve conditions for garment workers in the Adidas supply chain. Staging a shocking runway show at Berlin Fashion Week, they use humor and mischief to make the world pay attention to labor and environmental abuses that the massive sportswear brand is trying to hide.
Misery And Other Choices
What do you do when the world is on fire? 'Misery and Other Choices' is a darkly comic eco-thriller pitting climate nihilism against murderous hope.
The world sizzles with climate change. A politician lets it burn. A young couple finds out they’re pregnant. What should they do if they find that politician alone and barely breathing? ‘Misery and Other Choices’ is a darkly comic drama short that asks what will you do when the world’s on fire?
The world sizzles with climate change. A politician lets it burn. A young couple finds out they’re pregnant. What should they do if they find that politician alone and barely breathing? ‘Misery and Other Choices’ is a darkly comic drama short that asks what will you do when the world’s on fire?
Mr. Advocate
things up by bending the rules, bringing back afternoon recess, and launching a creative AI Show for his students. When the rules-focused principal tries to shut it down, students and parents step in, and the conflict catches the eye of the superintendent. In the end, shared loss and honest conversation help both educators rethink what school should really be about.
Miss Arlene
After a bullied diabetic boy befriends a quirky elderly baker, their unlikely friendship blossoms in the kitchen. Which takes us to a heartwarming story about the healing power of friendship, the joy of discovery, and the recipe for finding your passion-one whisk at a time.
Substance Abuse and Addictive Behavior in Teenagers
They say that substances do not belong in a teenage brain unless monitored and prescribed by a healthcare provider. True; but that’s as effective as saying no. Perhaps, if we provide factual information, their choices may become clearer.
Sonography
Sonography is a thought-provoking documentary that explores the deep-rooted cultural obsession with having a son in different communities. Through intimate stories of families, it reveals how the relentless desire for a male child often imposed by husbands and their families drives parents to extreme measures. This pursuit, far from bringing happiness, sometimes leads to conflict, suffering, and even the breakdown of families. By uncovering the hidden pressures and consequences behind this tradition, Sonography challenges viewers to reflect on the cost of gender bias.
Something Pointless
Director's Statement:
In a world burdened by
routine and silent struggles,
Something Pointless unfolds as
a delicate tapestry of interconnected lives
seeking meaning beyond the mundane.
An elderly man,
ensnared in the twilight of his years,
formulates a simple yet profound theory: by
engaging in an utterly pointless act
each day, one can rekindle an appreciation
for life’s inherent purpose.
Embracing this belief, he begins
to affix painted eggshells onto a long, desolate wall
—a quiet rebellion against insignificance.
Parallel to his journey
is that of a young boy, overshadowed by loneliness
and the harsh realities of bullying.
In a world burdened by
routine and silent struggles,
Something Pointless unfolds as
a delicate tapestry of interconnected lives
seeking meaning beyond the mundane.
An elderly man,
ensnared in the twilight of his years,
formulates a simple yet profound theory: by
engaging in an utterly pointless act
each day, one can rekindle an appreciation
for life’s inherent purpose.
Embracing this belief, he begins
to affix painted eggshells onto a long, desolate wall
—a quiet rebellion against insignificance.
Parallel to his journey
is that of a young boy, overshadowed by loneliness
and the harsh realities of bullying.
Never Merciless
Neda Amini, a suspended and starred student following the developments of "Woman, Life, Freedom", comes from Tehran to a village in Yazd, on the advice of security agents and at the insistence of her father, to live for a few months in the empty house of her late grandmother "BibiRahmi". She spends three days in an intimate atmosphere with her cousin Leila and in nostalgic meetings that she has had for several years, recklessly wandering around the village, but she still receives a security warning.
Off Screen
Neda Amini, a suspended and starred student following the developments of "Woman, Life, Freedom", comes from Tehran to a village in Yazd, on the advice of security agents and at the insistence of her father, to live for a few months in the empty house of her late grandmother "BibiRahmi". She spends three days in an intimate atmosphere with her cousin Leila and in nostalgic meetings that she has had for several years, recklessly wandering around the village, but she still receives a security warning.
The Sight Unseen
The Sight Unseen is a hybrid film revisiting the miraculous events of 1971 in the Bronx, when six-year-old Sharon Wilson discovered a glowing cross in her apartment bathroom window—a phenomenon that drew crowds from across the community and became a moment of collective awe and curiosity. Now, more than five decades later, Sharon reflects on her vivid memories, interwoven with the reporting of Amsterdam News journalist Melvin Tapley, who documented the story at the time. Through reenactments, archival research, and Sharon’s voice, the film constructs an evocative portrait of faith and uncertainty, illuminating how extraordinary histories survive even as those who lived them pass on.
Informed
A gay military police officer, Gustavo lives two irreconcilable realities. In a world where the uniform condemns him to hiding, he feels his true nature being crushed by fear. But for how long is silence a shield, and when does it become a weapon?
US
A female artist who is banned from working and works in a dry cleaner and remains in Iran during the war, but her shop is sealed because she is not allowed to display a third-country flag.
Trading Cards An enigmatic man journeys back in time to find his younger self, seemingly to revisit the nostalgia of trading cards. An exploration of identity, mental health and the erosion of childhood innocence, Trading Cards is a dark fantasy animated film about the weight of living with Obsessive-compulsive disorder.
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