Inside Southwest Detroit is proud to present a small series of short films at this year’s SW Fest at Senate Theater on Saturday, August 19, 2023.
This set offers three short films. Each film highlights storytelling about, in, or relevant to Southwest Detroit and/or features contributions by local filmmakers. We hope you enjoy the show!
A Little Mexican Village
Directed by Jesus Arzola Vega
A Little Mexican Village explores the simple and uneventful lives of the few remaining residents of El Encino de La Paz, in Durango; tiny, impoverished and destined to disappear. It is precisely for this reason that the story of such a place must be told: before its residents, and the village itself, are gone.
Watch ‘A Little Mexican Village’ on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/350988912
a Slang in the Steel, a Sound for the Sangat
Directed by Erik Paul Howard
For decades Detroit has transmitted culture and sound with global reach. Nep Sidhu’s ‘Paradox of Harmonics’ vibrates at a frequency that left Detroiters feeling seen in an exhibit that revealed itself as “a beautiful mirror”. Short film ‘a Slang in the Steel, a Sound for the Sangat’ asks how artists might enter communities respectfully as it reflects on Nep Sidhu’s epic 2022 installation at MOCAD.
Watch ‘a Slang in the Steel, a Sound for the Sangat’ on YouTube: https://youtu.be/wHixvIadjOI
Freshwater
Directed by dream hampton
Detroit filmmaker dream hampton explores water as an archive, a force of harmony and devastation. Freshwater is a narrated portrait of her disappearing Black city, flooded basements, and the fluid nature of memory.
Watch ‘Freshwater’ on NYTimes Op-Docs: https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000008730916/freshwater.html?