Two people standing in a dim, green-tinted hallway viewed through a digital targeting overlay; both wear paper bags over their heads and carry small bags, one facing slightly toward the other. The corridor has doors and recessed ceiling lights, and the image has a grainy, low-light look.

2026 Festival Program

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Film Selection (in presentation order):

Person with short red hair and a striped shirt stands with their back to the camera, facing a large ornate stone arch in a sunny plaza; people stroll nearby under a blue sky.

The Flaneur

Dilahan Cavusoglu ‘28 (Swarthmore College)

A traveler zips through Paris by herself. Slowly, friends join her to wander and enjoy the streets of Paris as flaneurs together.

Jianchuan Courtyard Gardens

CJ Chen, ‘28 (Haverford College)

Gardening enthusiast and retired truck driver Zhang Canbao lives in the countryside of Jianchuan in Yunnan Province, China. Mr. Zhang is part of the Bai ethnic minority, a community that makes up much of Jianchuan’s population. He walks into the gardens of neighbors and friends to showcase elements of a good courtyard garden and the bonsai within it, reflecting popular Chinese beliefs and symbolism in the plants, ornamentation, and larger environment around Jianchuan. 

Zhang Canbao standing in front of a closed wooden gate decorated with red and gold vertical banners. A potted plant sits to their right and a narrow alley runs along the left side of the building.
A person seated at a workbench, leaning forward and focused on a vintage sewing machine under a bright task lamp; papers and small tools are scattered on the table, and shelves and supplies fill the dimly lit workspace.

May’s

Eliana Haah ‘26 and Quinn Brady ‘26 (Bryn Mawr College)

May Kim, a Korean American tailor, has run her own shop in Wayne, PA for the past 31 years. This film showcases her quiet courage and resilience as she faces an 11-year threat to her livelihood in a rapidly digitizing world. 

Let It Stew/炖吧炖吧

Qingyao (Grace) Li ‘27 (Haverford College)

Facing the stew of geopolitical tensions, an international student carves out their own space through cooking, as a way to cope, resist, and eat their feelings. 

Close-up of a pot lid covered in water droplets with a wooden knob at the center; dim, warm lighting casts soft shadows across the metal surface.
A close-up of a young person with wavy brown hair and a neutral expression, seated indoors against a dimly lit background; they wear a light-gray hoodie with partially visible maroon text and look slightly toward the camera.

Blood

Tova Gordon ‘27 (Haverford College)

Tova has known she was conceived of sperm donation from a very young age, but at 20, she decides to go through the donor identity release process. Connecting with her donor provides an additional connection: her biological half sister via sperm donation. Serendipitously, Tova has a trip planned to visit friends near Poughkeepsie, and is able to dedicate one day of the trip to meeting her biological half sister. This process has led her into a period of introspection: rethinking her definition of family, reshaping her convictions about inherited traits, and broadening her outlook on conceiving a child through sperm donation on her own someday. 

“I’m Just Thinking About the Baby:” The Lies of Crisis Pregnancy Centers

Isabella Otterbein ‘26 (Haverford College)

A simple Google search for pregnancy help takes a deceptive turn, revealing how Crisis Pregnancy Centers use kindness and misinformation to influence vulnerable callers. 

A screenshot of the Google search homepage with the search box showing the typed query "i just took a positive pregnancy test now what" and autocomplete suggestions
A close-up of a person seated and leaning forward, covering their face with one hand; the scene is bathed in an intense red light.

A Call for Madness

Anquon Neely ‘26 (Haverford College)

An essay about the madness experienced by a black man in college. 

Just My Luck

Iz Lee ‘27 (Swarthmore College)

They say that everything in your life happens for a reason but sometimes you’re just damn unlucky. Michael Kim is convinced his lifetime of bad luck came from a fortune telling ritual gone wrong. The only way to fix it? Killing God.

A dimly lit scene showing a person in a suit leaning over a table and staring at a small clay or puppet-like bird with its beak open; the background is black and a single light highlights the table and figures.
Two people standing in a dim, green-tinted hallway viewed through a digital targeting overlay; both wear paper bags over their heads and carry small bags, one facing slightly toward the other. The corridor has doors and recessed ceiling lights, and the image has a grainy, low-light look.

Operation Paperbag

Ahmad Fayyaz ‘27 (Swarthmore College)

Two office workers find themselves trapped in an endless loop of hallways after trying to leave for the day, as the building around them begins to behave in unsettling, intentional ways. Realizing they are being watched and controlled by an unseen system, they must outthink it to escape. Their solution turns out to be as absurd as it is effective.

Happy Un-Birthday

Emily McClung ‘26 (Swarthmore College)

“There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents, and only one for birthday presents, you know.” – Lewis Carroll

Overhead view down a square stairwell showing several people gathered on a landing around a small lit candle or diya; the warm light illuminates their faces and hands while the surrounding stairs remain dim.