2025 Atlanta Documentary Film Festival

The Canary

Director Camilo Silva

Documentary Short - Canada - 19 min. 

In a climate of mounting censorship threats, "The Canary" captures the resilience of a Michigan librarian and mother of a transgender child as she navigates the imminent closure of her community library amidst fervent book-banning efforts, embodying the fight to preserve the freedom to read in modern-day America.

On Beyond Fences

Directors Lara Jacqueline Hartzenbusch, Tom Donohue, Jack Kudas, Wes Smith, Silvia Sonntag

Documentary Short - USA - 22 min. 

A rare, intimate look inside Maine State Prison, where efforts to reform the historically brutal institution (the basis for Stephen King's novella and the feature film, "The Shawshank Redemption") have dramatically shifted the prison culture, the way "residents" do their time and, ultimately, how they return to their communities.

Shadow People

Director Aaron Baggett

Documentary Short - USA - 8 min.

Through an intimate dialogue between a mother and son, Dorian longs to have freedom to travel across borders to visit his grandmother one last time, but his mother fears that his legal status may prevent him from returning, putting their relationship at risk and everything they sacrificed to live in the United States.