Documentary

‘Thao Huynh French’ — Directed by fourth-year Alyson Booth, “Thao Huynh French” is a stark illustration of minority communities and the exploitation they face in their cities. Booth draws attention to the effects of inaccurate representation, namely the continuous dilution of Vietnamese voices. The documentary focuses on Thao Huynh French, an artist known as Mindful Murals, who combats cultural erasure in San Diego by creating murals representing the rich history and culture of the Vietnamese community in the city. 

In collaboration with Viet Vote San Diego — an organization dedicated to increasing civic engagement in the Vietnamese community — Thao created a “Year of the Tiger” mural in City Heights representing that year’s lunar zodiac. Unveiled during Tết, or Vietnamese Lunar New Year, the mural celebrates Vietnamese culture, along with Asian American and Pacific Islander pride. The mural serves as a cultural anchor in the neighborhood, and represents the resilience of the community in the face of historical hardships.

‘The Ground We Stand On’ — Two days after Christmas, in the midst of a tropical storm in Santa Cruz, California, strong winds toppled a large tree onto director Esme Brigham’s family home and destroyed it. But just as Brigham’s life begins to take shape again, disaster strikes a second time: A wildfire tears through the family’s second home, reducing it to ash. This documentary follows the Brigham family’s attempt to rebuild not just its home, but its sense of stability. 

Brigham and her family’s perspective on life completely shifted following the tragedies. “I don’t think [we’re] operating under any illusions of what the world holds for them,” Nicola Turner, Esme’s mother, said in the documentary’s closing moments while reflecting on the tragedies their family has faced. 

Brigham’s direction makes the film feel deeply intimate, featuring open discussion sequences between the family members that show their strength and fortitude. It is evident that these experiences have taught the Brighams to deromanticize life and avoid taking what we have for granted. Through home videos, photographs, and reflective interviews, Brigham welcomes the viewer into her personal home, piecing together a story that is less about life’s inexplicable tragedies and more about what follows. The film resists having an idealized view of life and rejects a narrative of recovery. Instead, Brigham challenges the belief that stability is permanent and emphasizes that true resilience comes from learning to live alongside loss.

– Meng-Shan Otero, Contributing Writer

Narrative

‘Timely’ — What if you could recapture the magic with your ex at the flip of a switch? “Timely” answers this question, and more, as it follows a boy named Auggie (Domo Lyon) who invents a time machine to revisit the idyllic early moments of a past romance. What seems like the perfect plan to win back his beloved Julie (Elizabeth Wheeler) goes awry when the machine malfunctions, potentially altering the space-time continuum — irreversibly. As we follow our Romeo in his sci-fi-tinged pursuit of his unsuspecting Juliet, we learn plenty about the pitfalls of attempting to recreate the past. 

Director and third-year Jacob Resurreccion takes the age-old story of time travel and places it at the forefront of a boy’s quest for lost love. Resurreccion uses a mix of purposefully comical editing — such as the visibly cropped PNG of an incoming meteor or pointed flashbacks of heartwrenching moments between the former girlfriend and boyfriend — to paint the picture of their love. With a perfect mix of raw emotion, softer moments, and plenty of jokes along the way, “Timely” uses time travel as a digestible way to tackle the complexity of limerence in past love. 

– Karina Moore, Contributing Writer

‘The Launderette’ — Director and second-year Rachel O’Kelley acutely captures the dichotomous moments of intensity and quiet intimacy that comes with being a college freshman navigating university life. 

The film opens on the familiar scene of a university laundry room at night. A student (Julia Jubas) struggles with the unfamiliarity of college — away from friends and family at home. To her surprise, a chance encounter with another student (Ethan Kim) helps the laundromat feel less lonely and makes college more manageable. 

The two students’ short-lived but nonetheless significant bond plays out on screen over seemingly mundane activities — grabbing a snack from the vending machine, fiddling with a finicky dryer, and sharing wired earbuds as they doze off to a tune. With an ambient soundtrack and a keen eye for detail, O’Kelley finds a way to make the ordinary task of laundry extraordinary. 

– Karina Moore, Contributing Writer 

Experimental 

‘The Absorbent’ — What makes “The Absorbent” so riveting is director Grace Smith’s commitment to making viewers uncomfortable using body horror elements. 

Unfolding as a strange fever dream, “The Absorbent” weaves together the lives of two unrelated characters: an older office worker experiencing issues socializing with her coworkers due to her uncontrollable bladder and a college student facing a crisis on an exam day. Unable to leave the room during the five-hour exam gap, the student’s discomfort starts to spiral into something more real. She puts in tampon after tampon and they begin to build up in her body. These tampons eventually transform into a grotesque creature that crawls out of her and attempts to take her life after her exam. But just as the end seems to be near, the office worker, having just clocked out of work, steps in and saves the girl from her doom. 

The use of wide and intrusive camera angles places the viewer uncomfortably close to characters, as if intruding on their personal space. Harsh, overexposed lighting and bold saturated colors give the film a distorted, uneasy atmosphere. 

Despite these intense features, the film doesn’t take itself too seriously. The characters speak in absurd and exaggerated ways to bridge tension and provide comedic relief. The use of stop-motion to animate the tampon monster adds another dimension of unconventionality to the film. The result is a film that isn’t afraid to push the boundaries of abjection, making us question where personal autonomy ends and monstrous matter begins.

‘A Happy Birthday’ — Directed by Warren Dang, this experimental film follows a person purchasing an Oreo cake from the grocery store, but when they bring it home, the film becomes silent, and the “birthday celebration” begins to unravel. What starts as a simple bite becomes excessive as the person devours the cake. One bite after another, crumbs scatter across the table and frosting smears over their face. By the end of their indulgence, the table is a mess, and the character is slumped next to the cake — a hollow shell of its original form. Sound returns when the person washes the frosting off their hands, bringing the viewer back to reality after the uncomfortable silence.

Visual direction carries the film in the absence of sound; dynamism is produced through flashing colored lights and titled perspectives. While these stylistic choices were meant to enhance the vibrancy of the film, the repetition of these shots made the film feel less like a performance piece and more like a gag. Additionally, the repetition of these shots dulled the overall impact, making key plot moments, like the person slumped over the table, feel less interesting than they could be. Due to a weaker visual impact, the contrast between the scenes with and without sound became a key component of the film and carried out the performance of eating a birthday cake. Despite Dang’s ambitious visual style, the film’s most compelling characteristic was not aesthetics but the contrast between silence and noise.

– Meng-Shan Otero, Contributing Writer

Animation

‘MagikMania’ — Directed by fourth-year Austin Lim, the animation bears likeness to that of a child’s crayon drawings. Its simplicity enhances the story, transporting the audience back to bygone elementary school days with a comfortable nostalgic air. The sound design contributes to the ambience of a schoolyard outdoor lunch area, filled with students’ chatter. Imaginative from start to finish, “MagikMania” is for the shy child inside all of us. 

“MagikMania” examines the wonder felt in playing a new game that will become a quintessential childhood favorite, coupled with meeting someone with whom you will soon make many cherished memories. It speaks to that new-to-school feeling of extreme anxiety, the pressures of fitting in with the “cool” kids and avoiding the potential travesty of being deemed a “loser.” Lucky for our protagonist, another boy approaches with an idea: Why not join him in a card game? Though apprehensive at first, the two agree and chaotic adventures ensue. The two boys let their imagination run wild, conjuring up skillful ninjas combatting powerful dragons and other mystical entities.

‘Due Now!’ — Animator and first-year Iris Wu’s film follows a bunny undergoing the universal student struggle: a dauntingly long essay with an impending due date. 

Our fluffy main character, determined to finish before her birthday party, works through the all-too-familiar trials and tribulations of procrastination, such as the regret after binging your favorite show instead of getting cracking on your work. When it all becomes a bit too overwhelming, our bunny buddy gratefully takes a helping hand from her loving friends, who remind her that she’s got this! She submits her essay successfully, and the film finishes as she celebrates at a party of cake, candles, and community.

Wu’s visual effects speak to the overwhelming feeling of procrastination that overtakes stressed students, such as the watercolor tsunami that nearly swallows the protagonist. She based the film on her experiences as “someone who tended to be a perfectionist and often ended up … mentally stressed because of that mentality in school.” The student struggles are displayed plainly in the bunny’s gestures, facial expressions, and movements, aiding the audience’s understanding of the animal anxieties and speaking to a common academic experience of many.

– Karina Moore, Contributing Writer