Made by Hand – 2026

Monday, April 13, 1:00 PM

The Hardest Working Man
Director: Aaron Cassara, Documentary, USA, 15 min
Having a good shoe repairman in New York City is like having a good mechanic in LA. You just can’t negotiate life on the streets without one. Lorenzo Powell first learned his trade working in his father’s shoe repair shop in Harlem in the late 70’s and 80’s. Back then, Harlem was acutely economically depressed. People wore their shoes until their feet touched the sidewalk—and they brought them right to Lorenzo’s family shop.

Damn the Man, Save the Rex!
Director: Akosua Adoma Owusu, Experimental, Ghana, 11 min
Damn the Man, Save the Rex! follows filmmaker Akosua Adoma Owusu’s ongoing effort to revive Ghana’s historic Rex Cinema, one of its oldest cinema houses. Blending archival material, voiceover, and experimental soundscapes, the short reflects on the legacy of Kwame Nkrumah’s vision for cinema as a cultural tool and reimagines the Rex as a living hub for film, art, and community.

Man and Nature
Director: Husayn Ahmad, Experimental, USA, 16 min
An exploration of man’s relationship to nature, through the architecture of Hot Springs, AR and suburban Texas.

Magenta: An AppalShort
Director: Nik Lee, Documentary, USA, 17 min
The largest Appalachia media collection in the world is facing major change after a series of climate disasters as they try to restore the damaged materials left behind in a historical 1000-year flood.

Subject of Desire
Director: Benett Holgerson, Documentary, USA, 10 min
A twenty-something seasonal worker on Fire Island, navigates the tempestuous waters of pleasure and connection in a journey to become an artist seen on their own terms.

Abel
Director: Brian Zahm, Documentary, USA, 20 min
Abel Berumen, an accomplished Mexican-American photographer, woke up blind one day as a result of a rare disease called Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum. This film, made seven years after the unexpected event, reflects on the paradox of his disability: how his loss of vision has enabled him to truly see.

Salvation Mountain Leonard Knight
Director: Harrod Blank, Documentary, USA, 20 min
A portrait of Leonard Knight and his visionary monument, Salvation Mountain.