The Welcome Table - Josh Fox (Oscar Nominated filmmaker)

The Welcome Table - Josh Fox (Oscar Nominated filmmaker)

THE WELCOME TABLE, directed by Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Josh Fox (“Gasland”), tells the story of climate refugees across six continents, celebrating the voices and experiences of people living at the forefront of the climate crisis, displaced from their homes by climate disasters. Featuring John Boutté, John Cameron Mitchell, and celebrated New Orleans musicians, the film weaves together stories of migration and resilience through music, performance, and the installation of a 1,000-foot table along the New Orleans levee, where communities gather in conversation, solidarity, and celebration. From the United States to the Caribbean, Italy, Kenya, Peru, Brazil, and Australia, the film traces the devastating human consequences of a changing climate – from hurricanes and floods to droughts, rising seas, and the impact of extractive industries on Indigenous communities. Through intimate first-hand accounts, THE WELCOME TABLE captures the resilience and perseverance of communities amid life-altering upheaval and a world which increasingly chooses to build walls of exclusion in response. The film culminates in a massive singing celebration on the New Orleans levee, where a 1,000-foot table serves as a powerful expression of connection and resistance. About the filmmaker - JOSH FOX is an independent filmmaker and founder and artistic director of International WOW Company, a film and theater company working closely with actors, filmmakers, theater-makers, writers, activists, and artists from diverse cultural backgrounds, including activist communities in sustainable energy and design, creating work that addresses current national and global environmental, social and political crises. Josh's work is known for its mix of gripping narrative, heightened imagery and its commitment to socially conscious themes and subjects. Founded in 1996, International WOW has premiered new work in 8 countries with a rotating network over 100 actors, dancers, musicians, technical, and visual artists spanning 30 countries on 5 continents. With International WOW Company Josh received a Drama Desk Nomination, an Otto Award, five grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, five prestigious MAP Fund Grants and an Asian Cultural Council Fellowship among many other awards and honors. As a filmmaker, Josh's work has been featured on HBO and Netflix and have premiered at the Sundance and Tribeca Film Festivals. His debut film, Gasland, earned a Special Jury Prize at Sundance as well as an Oscar nomination. As a theatrical director, Josh established himself as a significant force New York theatre. The New York Times hailed him as "one of the most adventurous impresarios of the New York avant-garde," and Time Out NY has called him "one of downtown's most audacious auteurs," citing his "resourceful mastery of stagecraft."

Show Me the Line - Director Kelsey Ianuzzi

When Alabama's Supreme Court declares IVF embryos are legally children, the immediate fallout devastates families. For acclaimed reproductive journalist and visual artist Abbey Crain, this ruling disrupts half a decade of fertility treatments, placing her dreams of motherhood — and her embryos — in constitutional crossfire. But Crain refuses to surrender her creative power. With a pen and paintbrush, she embarks on a journey to uplift the voices of other grieving families. Driven by unheard stories of joy, anguish, and determination — including her own — Crain invites everyday Alabama women to congregate for a daring demonstration of resilience. SHOW ME THE LINE cuts through the noise of sensational headlines to reveal intimate portraits of the lives behind them. Unpacking history and fertility science, the film reaches the heart of reproductive care across the South. Through the unbreakable spirit of a community in reckoning, SHOW ME THE LINE celebrates connection and hope. About the filmmaker - Kelsey Ianuzzi is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, artist, and IVF baby with deep Alabama roots. She directed and produced the Emmy Award-winning documentary series MONOGRAPH for Alabama Public Television, where she also served as editor and cinematographer across multiple seasons. Her documentary work has featured storytelling visionaries including George Saunders, Willie Nelson, and Wanda Jackson, and has screened at AFI Docs, DOC NYC, and the PBS Film Festival. She is also a recipient of the Media Arts Fellowship and the Gay Burke Photography Fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. About the filmmaker - Stacey Davis is a mother, wife, filmmaker, and advocate. She has written and produced five short films (directing four), screening at over 60 festivals on four continents. In various producer roles, her films include BIRD IN HAND (Tribeca 2025), MCVEIGH (Tribeca), JOCKEY (Sundance), SWORD OF TRUST (SXSW), LITTLE SISTER (SXSW), and 1985 (SXSW). As an entertainment lawyer, Stacey has represented A24, MUBI, Hartbeat, and others on projects including Jim Jarmusch’s FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER, Maude Apatow’s POETIC LICENSE, and A24’s THE DRAMA, MOTHER MARY, THE MOMENT, ETERNITY, MINARI, MAXXXINE, and THE IRON CLAW. She is the past president of the Board of Directors for The Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Stowe Story Labs.

Award-winning! - Honeyjoon - Director Lilian T. Mehrel

In this light-and-dark comedy, HONEYJOON, June and her Persian-British mother Lela travel to the romantic Azores islands for a grief anniversary, with contrasting ways of coping. A charming surfer takes them on a tour as we surf the waves of life, loss, flirting… an unforgettable ride. A surprisingly sexy, darkly funny, emotional rollercoaster. We are joined in conversation with Director, Producer and Screenwriter Lillian T. Mehrel. *WINNER: SFFilm Rainin Award* *WINNER: Audience Award, Top 3, Tribeca AT&T Untold Stories Award – 2025 Tribeca Festival* *WINNER: Audience Favorite US Cinema – 2025 Mill Valley Festival* *WINNER: Audience Choice Narrative – 2025 New Hampshire Film Festival* *WINNER: Jury Award: Best Feature – 2025 Three Rivers Film Festival* *WINNER: Narrative – 2026 Spokane Film Festival* *WINNER: Jury Award: Best Feature – 2026 El Dorado Film Festival* *WINNER: Jury Award: Best Feature – 2026 Spokane International Film Festival* *WINNER : Jury Award: Best Feature, Women Director, Official Selection – 2026 Poppy Jasper International Film Festival* About the filmmaker - Director, Writer, Producer Lilian T. Mehrel is an award-winning writer & director with a visionary sense of feeling and humor. She is the winner of the Tribeca AT&T Untold Stories Award for her debut feature, Honeyjoon, which premiered at Tribeca. Lilian’s films have also screened at Palm Springs, Sao Paolo Mostra, Clermont-Ferrand, and the AmPav Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at Cannes. She was selected for the SFFILM Rainin Grant, TorinoFilmLab ComedyLab, Film Independent Episodic Lab, Sloan Award, Nancy Malone Directing Award, Geri Ashur Screenwriting Award, NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship, CineQuaNonLab, Film Fatales Episodic Directing Shadow Workshop, TFI Labs with YouTube/Google and Warner Media, and the Marcie Bloom Fellowship. Lilian earned her MFA from NYU Tisch Grad Film with a PDS Fellowship, and her BA from Dartmouth with a Senior Fellowship. She also enjoys hip hop dance.

Award winning Doc! - The Gas Station Attendant - Director Karla Murthy

As a young boy, H.N. Shantha Murthy ran away from home to escape the extreme poverty of his Indian village. He travelled the country in search of work, holding onto the belief that one day his life would change. It did, following a serendipitous encounter with a Texan couple. With a sponsored visa, he travelled to the US, but his American Dream was not to be fulfilled. Karla Murthy’s film weaves together home videos and phone conversations recorded during her father’s stint as a gas station attendant, while also reflecting on her own identity as a first-generation American. What emerges is an intimate love letter – a meditation on a complicated father-daughter relationship and a poignant tribute to the immigrant working class. - Emmy-nominated director Karla Murthy's The Gas Station Attendant, world premiering in Sheffield Doc/Fest's International Competition (as the only American film). Executive Produced by Carrie Lozano, Geeta Gandbhir (The Perfect Neighbor), Rekha Maholtra, Stanley Nelson, Marcia Smith, Stephen Gong, Donald Young. About the filmmaker - Karla Murthy is a director and Emmy-nominated producer. She began her career working for the veteran journalist Bill Moyers and has been a producer, shooter and correspondent for several news programs on PBS. Her award-winning work was described in the Columbia Journalism Review as “compelling, informative and compassionate.” Her directorial debut, the feature documentary The Place That Makes Us [https://www.ytownfilm.com/] won Best of the Festival at Arlington Film Festival, Best Feature at Better Cities Festival and Emerging Documentary Filmmaker at Woods Hole Film Festival, and screened at the United Nations World Cities Day Event. The film had its national broadcast premiere on the WORLD Channel/PBS series America ReFramed [https://www.amdoc.org/america-reframed/]. Most recently, she directed and edited the short film Love, Jamie [https://lovejamiefilm.com/] about a transgender artist incarcerated in Texas which premiered at OUTFEST LA and won the Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding Documentary Short [https://www.outfest.org/outfest-award-winning-love-jamie-paints-picture-of-trans-liberation/] and was called “one of the best short documentaries” by Texas Monthly [https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/jamie-diaz-houston-artist-painting-trans-prison-christian-experience/]. The film is now streaming on PBS American Masters [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/announcing-american-masters-shorts/31542/]. Karla is of Filipino and South Asian descent. She studied classical piano at the High School for Performing and Visual Arts in Houston and graduated from Oberlin College with a degree in Religion and Computer Science. Her work has been supported by Women Make Movies, the New York State Council of the Arts, Vital Projects Fund, the Firelight Media Residency at Slough Farm on Martha’s Vineyard, and the Yaddo artist residency.

FLAG DAY - Co-directors Melissa Shea & Andrew Shea

Set in the small farming community of Three Oaks, Michigan — home to the nation’s largest Flag Day parade — Flag Day is a verité portrait of ritual, identity, and belonging in an era of deep political division. Somewhere between tradition and transformation lies this village, whose annual parade has become a pageant of American aspiration and memory. Over the course of Flag Day weekend, the film immerses viewers in the lives of a diverse cross-section of townspeople: veterans, local business owners, marching bands, and volunteers who, for one weekend each June, create an event that is at once nostalgic and reflective of the tensions of our time. Their stories reveal both the beauty and the fragility of community life in a time of polarization. Flag Day was filmed in an observational, verité style, capturing moments of humor, conflict, and grace as the community prepares for its defining ritual. The film offers a ground-level portrait of civic life — a portrait that holds both the good and the hard truths of being American. The project asks what binds us together today and whether those bonds can still be renewed. About the filmmaker - Andrew Shea (Director, Producer, Editor) is an award-winning director, producer, and screenwriter who has enjoyed success in film, television, and theatre. His films have screened at several of the most prestigious and selective film festivals in the world: the Cannes Film Festival Critics Week, the Sundance Film Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival, DOC NYC, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), the Austin Film Festival, and SXSW. Andrew is a professor in the Department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. About the filmmaker - Melissa Shea (Director, Producer, Editor) is a creative and versatile filmmaker who worked in commercials in Los Angeles before making the switch to feature films. Her narrative and documentary work has screened at major film festivals including Cannes, Sundance, SXSW, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), DOC NYC, Austin, and Tribeca. Her creative partnership with co-director Andrew Shea began at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where they collaborated on the short film Take My Breath Away, which was invited to screen in the International Critics’ Week section at the Cannes Film Festival.