I Cannot Tell You How I Feel
A Film by Su Friedrich
| Su Friedrich takes up the camera in a new chapter of her quest to film the battleground of family life. Her mother Lore—who played the lead in The Ties That Bind (1984), a film about her experiences growing up in Germany during the Second World War—plays the lead again, this time kicking and protesting against being moved at the age of 94 from her home in Chicago. Su and her two siblings fill out the supporting roles, cajoling, comforting, and freaking out, but they cannot deny that their mother is no longer able to care for herself. Lore has severe memory loss and is convinced that her doorman has been robbing her. She often asks Su the same question repeatedly and cannot remember what she ate for breakfast. In an effort for Su and her siblings to be closer to her, they move her from her home of 50 years to an “independent living” facility in Long Island, New York. I Cannot Tell You How I Feel is a heartfelt examination of growing old in today’s society, and the responsibility of adult children to their parents. |
Mrs. B, A North Korean Woman
A film by Jero Yun
| “There are five kinds of families that buy us,” says Mrs. B over dinner and drinks with fellow North Korean exiles living in China. “The first type, either the father or the mother is missing and the son can’t get married. Then there are the very poor families, like my husband’s.” Mrs. B (we don’t learn her real name) is something of an expert when it comes to the trafficking of North Koreans. In 2003, at age 37, she left her husband and two sons behind in North Korea, crossed the icy Tumen River into China, and was sold into marriage. When we meet her a decade later, she’s running a robust trafficking business from her home on a small farm in northern China. While her husband fixes equipment and brings in the harvest, she’s on her cellphone negotiating with people smugglers, bringing in karaoke girls, and advising newly smuggled clients on how to avoid detection and deportation. Mrs. B, A North Korean Woman is a closely observed vérité portrait of a world-weary woman who finds herself between countries, between worlds, and between families. |
| Like Any Other Kid A film by Victoria Mills Something incredible is happening behind the locked doors of the James Ranch in Morgan Hill, California, the Bridge City Center for Youth in Bridge City, Louisiana, and 162nd St. Sheltering Arms, in the Bronx, New York. Caring and committed staff are using guidance, setting boundaries, and showing unconditional love and compassion to youth offenders. Like Any Other Kid provides a rare glimpse into the inner workings of one of the most promising developments in juvenile justice reform: the use of non-punitive, therapeutic programs to change behavior and help youth re-enter their communities. |
