T

A film crew follows three grieving participants of Miami’s annual “T Ball,” where folks assemble to model RIP T-shirts and innovative costumes designed in honor of their dead.

Directed by Keisha Rae Witherspoon, T world premiered at BlackStar Film Festival 2019 where it won the audience award for Best Narrative Short. It later captured both the Audience Award Best Narrative Short and a Jury Honorary Mention for Breakthrough in Filmmaking at New Orleans Film Festival 2019.

T recently won the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at the 70th edition of the Berlinale and also screened at Sundance Film Festival 2020.

For more information, please visit Made in the County of Dade.

DROWNING BY SUNRISE

On March 8, Damain Martin drowned in a canal near Sunrise, Florida. Martin, who was 16 years old, was trying to escape the police officers who had spotted him and a group of friends in a car that was reported stolen. Although many of that afternoon’s events remain unclear, this much is known: A police officer deployed his Taser near the canal while trying to apprehend Damain.

Official reports say the electrified Taser probes never made contact with Damain and ruled his death an accidental drowning. That doesn’t sit well with his friends and family: Damain was an athlete, known to be a strong swimmer.

Directed by Jason Fitzroy Jeffers and Jess Swanson, this video investigation by The Intercept and the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting casts doubt on the official findings, surfacing evidence that Damain may have been tased.

Drowning by Sunrise recently received four awards in the regional Green Eyeshade journalism awards: First Place for Investigative Reporting in Television, First Place for Documentary in Television, Best in Division for Television, and third Place for Online Videography.

For more information, please visit The Intercept.

Papa Machete

Papa Machete is a glimpse into the life of Alfred Avril, an aging subsistence farmer who lives in the hills of Jacmel, Haiti. He also happens to be a master of the mysterious martial art of Haitian machete fencing, also known as Tire Machèt. Teaching about the practical and spiritual value of the machete—which is both a weapon and a farmer’s key to survival—Avril provides a bridge between his country’s traditional past and its troubled present. The film documents his proud devotion to his heritage and his struggle to keep it alive in the face of contemporary globalization.

Directed by Jonathan David Kane, Papa Machete world premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2014, U.S. premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2015, and has since screened at more than 30 film festivals around the world. It was later selected as Vimeo's pick of the day, was awarded best documentary at the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival 2014 and the Zanzibar International Film Festival 2014, and has been received more than 2 million views on outlets such as National Geographic and The Atlantic.

For more information, please visit PapaMachete.com.

Swimming in your skin again

A film about motherhood, banality, Miami, the water, the divine feminine, and how to sing in church in a way that calls forth your own adulthood.

In 2014, we were honored to be brought on board as the co-producers of acclaimed director Terence Nance's Swimming in Your Skin Again, which was commissioned and produced by Borscht Corporation for the 2014 Borscht Film Festival. The film later had its world premiere at the 2015 International Film Festival Rotterdam, screened at Sundance 2016, and won high praise from various critics, including  The New Yorker's Richard Brody:

"Beginning with a lyrical view of a young man and woman who turn up as apparitions at a stirring musical service in a small church, Nance expands his vision to a sort of artistic cosmogony; by way of ecstatic imagery, thrillingly balletic performances, and a mighty sense of humor, he sketches a personal mythology of black American history and culture."

For more information, please visit Nowness.