(WARRENSBURG, Mo.) – Films from around the world will be featured at the fifth annual Show Me Justice Film Festival April 9-10 at the University of Central Missouri.

Films selected for the festival come from Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Kenya, Spain, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States, and address issues ranging from gender and sexuality to race relations and civil disobedience in Ferguson, Mo. Presented in documentary, narrative, animated and experimental formats, the two-day program of films is open to the public.

The festival opens with a program of short films from 12:30-1:45 p.m. Thursday, April 9 in Hendricks Hall. On Thursday evening, the festival continues at 7 p.m. in Hendricks Hall. Featured films include:

• “Jessica Walking,” a narrative film directed by Maria Sanders that examines the relationship between two women as they trace a lost cell phone and the prior evening’s events that involved unplanned drunken encounters. Sanders will be in attendance at the festival.
• “Unafraid: Voices from the Crime Victims Treatment Center,” a documentary by Karin Venegas, explores the impact of rape and the capacity of ordinary individuals to effect change as it shares the stories of four rape survivors interwoven with a look at Manhattan’s Crime Victims Center, where the four survivors receive assistance.
• “Living in the Overlap,” a documentary film by Mary Dalton and Cindy Hill that details the fight by two women to marry in North Carolina. Hill will be present for the screening of their film.
• “The Human Experiment,” a documentary by Dana Nachman and Don Hardy and executive produced by Sean Penn that lifts the veil on the reality that thousands of chemicals pervade our daily existence. The film tells the personal stories of people whose lives have been affected by chemicals, bringing to light a corrupt system that has been hidden to consumers.

 

The Friday afternoon shorts program is planned for noon to 12:50 p.m. in Hendricks Hall, followed by the evening program at 7 p.m. in Hendricks Hall. Featured films include:

• “Conviction,” a documentary directed by Brenda Truelson Fox that tells the story of three Dominican nuns who are arrested and tried for breaking into a Colorado missile silo. The film describes their motivation and tactics as they give their personal freedoms to bring attention to the issue of nuclear armaments. The director and editor, along with two of the activist nuns in the film, will be present at the festival.
• “Inside Story,” a documentary by Craig Leake that follows a Memphis actress and storyteller as she goes into a Tennessee women’s prison and teaches them to write the true stories of their lives. The stories form the basis for a revue-type performance, allowing the women to connect with their visitors and the actors who portray them.
• “A Dress Rehearsal for an Execution,” a documentary by Bahman Tavoosi that records the process of restaging the 1979 Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of an execution in post-revolution Iran taken by Jahanagir Razmir. The film dissects the role of documentary photography and social commentary while questioning creative license and political history. The filmmaker will be present at the festival.

The Show Me Justice Film Festival is coordinated by the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at UCM in cooperation with the department of communication. The films selected for the festival compete for prizes based on their artistic competence, creativity and exploration of the festival theme.

For a full schedule of the short films programs, visit ucmo.edu/filmfest. Financial support for the Show Me Justice Film Festival is provided in part by the Missouri Arts Council.