Intersection

Subjects: Language | Geography |English | Gender Studies | Equity | World Issues | Sociology

Shobe, Aisha, and Suma, three teens from Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, are poised to make history as Bangladesh’s first women surfers in an international competition.

Driven to succeed and guided by their devoted coach, the girls find freedom in the waves as surfing becomes their only ticket out of poverty and the way for them to determine their own futures against the backdrop of stifling families and oppressive community judgment. After their coach makes the decision to leave the club, the financial support for their surfing dries up and the odds of achieving their dreams seem insurmountable. A powerful coming-of-age story and tale of resistance by Bangladeshi filmmaker Elizabeth D. Costa, Bangla Surf Girls will have you cheering for every wave and hurdle these young women overcome.

This screening is presented in partnership with Human Rights Watch.

Subjects: Equity | Language | English | World Issues | Challenge and Change | Anthropology, Sociology, and Psychology | Family Studies | Geography | Law | Politics

In this unique animated documentary, three young immigrants tell their stories. They share their hopes and dreams, as well as their fears and worries as they reflect on their relationship to family, place, and home. Woven together by the spoken word poetry of Lalo "El Deportee," each subject negotiates what it means to live a normal life when the threat of having everything taken away from them looms over them at all times.

Subjects: Language | English | ASL | Family Studies | Human Development | Equity | Communication | Anthropology, Sociology, and Psychology

"I've always wanted to be deaf," says 15-year-old Nyla. She's the only hearing person in her family going back five generations and views her ability to hear as both a gift and a curse. Itaru Matsui and Heath Cozens weave together the fascinating experiences of four children of deaf – also known as CODAs – and the challenges and joys they face living between these two worlds. Their stories overlap at a summer camp for CODAs where they find acceptance and understanding from a community of others like them. For the first time in many of their lives, they meet others who bear the responsibility of being family translators and have parents who feel left out or discriminated against. With incredible compassion and curiosity, Matsui and Cozens navigate the margins of the hearing and deaf world, finding acceptance in a society that privileges the spoken word. Vivian Belik
 

Subjects: Language | English | Physics | Science | Equity | Gender Studies | Family Studies | Media Studies
 
After Maryam Tsegaye wins a global competition for students to inspire creative scientific thinking, she reflects on family, community, and her sense of self as she prepares to leave home and start a new and promising chapter of her life. Mariam Zaidi
 

Subjects: Language | English | Civics | Human Development | Equity | Gender Studies | Politics | World Cultures
 
Small Town Pride offers an intimate look at the joys and challenges of being queer in a small town. Filmed in Alberta, Nova Scotia and the Northwest Territories, the film follows LGBTQ2S+ people and allies as they prepare for their local Pride celebrations. Organizing in church basements, classrooms and around kitchen tables, they take on a conservative town council that won’t fly a rainbow flag and bend some rules to create a safe space for youth to come out. Despite experiences of isolation and discrimination, they love their communities and strive to make them places where everyone, no matter who and how they love, can live and thrive.