Documentary Shorts

Death by Numbers
Kim A. Snyder and Janique L. Robillard

Here's a powerful story of a Marjorie Stoneman Douglas high school student who was shot by a fellow student and asked to testify at his trial years later. Her strength, her courage, her righteous anger leaves us asking why we can't solve this problem, why certain weapons are available to the public (and for the record, I am not anti gun). In the context of the next film in the list, it is very hard not to be rooting for the shooter to get the death penalty for killing over a dozen people and severely injuring over a dozen more. One wonders what the difference is between this murderer and...

I Am Ready, Warden
Smriti Mundhra and Maya Gnyp

This one. As a young troubled nineteen year old, John Henry Ramirez murders a young father for the change in his pocket. He is sentenced to death (one horrifying murder, but still, ONE) and he seems to have made peace with his fate. He says goodbye, he takes responsibility, he apologizes, he becomes a better man, and he says that if his death can help soothe the pain of the family who lost the father, then it would be worth it. In this one, we are rooting quite strongly against the death penalty - including a pro-death penalty elderly woman who befriends John and fights for a reprieve from the Texas Governor (like that would ever happen).

Incident

Bill Morrison and Jamie Kalven

What to do when police violence is pieced together quite literally before your eyes? This is not me making a political statement, I'm not a person who wants to defund the police, nor am I a person who disbelieves that there are inequities in our justice system. But this case, this one case, we see a situation unfold escalated by two rookie police, and we see the holstered gun removed from the dead man - perhaps to reinforce the bogus claim that he was about to shoot - a blatant lie.

Instruments of a Beating Heart

Ema Ryan Yamazaki and Eric Nyari

Weirdly, this sweet documentary is the only one that made me cry. The little group of 1st graders, about to become second graders, work tirelessly to learn Ode to Joy so they can properly perform and welcome the incoming 1st graders. Ayame works hard to win the part of the cymbal player, but then struggles to keep up with the rest of the class. Her music teacher is tough but when she triumphs, the celebration is palpable.

The Only Girl in the Orchestra

Molly O’Brien and Lisa Remington

Badass Oren O'Brian is the first woman ever to be hired to the New York Philharmonic, hired by the great Leonard Bernstein. And you guessed it, she was a DEI hire - or what even is that? With a legacy of superb playing of the double bass, and teaching student after student to find his or her greatness, we learn that sometimes, the only way to crack through the discrimination of a time, is for a great leader to decide that it's time to hire someone who doesn't look like "the guy we've always hired." She shows that inclusion is most often not about hiring the less qualified person, and more about not hiring the less qualified person who looks like all the other qualified ones. Somebody with vision HAS to decide. And Oren showed them, surviving for over 40 years with her instrument in one of the greatest philharmonics in the world.