The Music Box Theatre invites everyone to “Life Within the Lens”, a celebration of Black Chicago filmmakers. This short film screening will feature some of the city’s most talented creators, showcasing their visions and interpretations of life’s nuances, struggles and humor through cinema.

SHORTS ANNOUNCED

A PORTRAIT OF PLATONIC BLACK LOVE - Dir. Ahlaam Yasmin, 2024, 4 min

This heartfelt film is a meditation on friendship, community, and connection. Inspired by Carrie Mae Weems’ Kitchen Table Series, it captures the quiet yet profound moments of a young person sharing life with their friends.

DAUGHTERS - Dir. Sharyon Culberson & Brittani Nightengale, 2024, 13 min

After yet another tense interaction with her emotionally unavailable mother, Cissy is ready to throw in the towel on their relationship. Thank goodness the connection with her own teen daughter Bennie is so different - thanks to years of therapy. On a regular night in, Cissy and Bennie stumble upon an old family photo album. The aged, crumbling photos they discovered inside not only expose the secrets of their ancestors’ survival, but they also help them travel through time to understand the struggles of the women in their family - and maybe learn how to heal their lineage.

MAN OF THE PEOPLE - Dir. Amir George, 2019, 17 min

MAN OF THE PEOPLE is a political thriller surrounding the legacy of Chicago mayor Harold Washington. A complex unfolding of his two campaign runs leading to his sudden and mysterious death during his second term.

Amir George creates spiritual stories, juxtaposing sound and image with a non-linear perception. He creates fragmented vignettes that conjure the secret life of objects both found and collected. The characters that inhabit his stories tend to dwell outside of social norms and exist in the space between and in the process of becoming. Amir’s short films have screened at film festivals including  BlackStar Film Festival, Rockaway Film Festival and Camden International Film Festival, as well as cultural institutions, including  Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; Moma PS1; Royal College of Art; Museum of Contemporary Arts, Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles; and Museum of Contemporary Arts Detroit. 

COTTAGE GROVE - Dir. George Ellzey Jr., 2024, 13 min

A young man and his stroke-afflicted father try to find common ground in a store parking lot.

Filmmaker Bio: George is a Chicago-based director and screenwriter known for his award-winning experimental film SWITCHIN', featured on NBC5 Chicago and streaming on OTV Open Television. His thesis film Cottage Grove won Best Editing and Best in Illinois at the 2024 Blue Whiskey Film Festival, and his work has been showcased at festivals like the Athens International Film Festival and the Chicago Black Harvest Film Festival. George's storytelling explores the complexities of being Black while promoting mental and emotional well-being.

TOO THANKFUL: A REVELATION - Dir. Brenden Smith, 2024, 18 min

TOO THANKFUL: A REVELATION tells the prophetic prologue to the manifestations of international artist Hakim Dough's present reality. Part narrative film, part music video, part documentary, this experimental short 4 years in the making shows a snapshot of what it means when the spirit of freedom finds us, and guides us in taking that freedom back.