The Department of Art & Art History presents a screening of eight thesis films produced by graduating second-year MFA students in the Documentary Film Program. Q&A with filmmakers and reception to immediately follow the screening. 

Thesis Films:

Trash by Zach Ben-Amots (Runtime: 17 mins) | Growing up, whenever his mom missed the garbage bill, Zach Ben-Amots had to sneak trash bags into the neighbor's dumpster with his older brother. This is a film about the things we throw out and the things we keep from childhood.

as the fires rage on by Sofia Stærmose Hardt (Runtime: 18 mins) | In a world of escalating fires and expanding prison systems, an incarcerated crew extinguishes blazes for 70¢ an hour. As the camera observes their daily routines, it examines not just their labor, but the systems of surveillance shaping both their lives and the film’s production.

The Vertep by Alem Kent (Runtime: 22 mins) | This is not a war story. This is what comes after—and how we dream through the wreckage.

película sin fin, 1995 by Elisa Leiva Anderson (Runtime: 23 mins) | película sin fin, 1995 traces a filmmaker’s discovery of an unfinished documentary about her grandmother, a Chilean human rights lawyer who led the historic Letelier Case. Through these images, she confronts a legacy of resistance—and how images are inherited, reassembled, and used to reimagine what history refuses to remember.

Presente en los Grandes Eventos by Pamela Martinez (Runtime: 22 mins) | Venezuelan Filmmaker, Pamela Martinez, an aunt-to-be documents her sister's pregnancy in Panama, as a pretext to visit her and try to understand the meaning of family while in the diaspora. Now living more than 2,000 miles apart, the sisters reflect on how to break the cycles of the past and create a different experience of family for the next generation. 

Jerusalem Stones by Ma'ayan Porat (Runtime: 18 mins) | Two Jerusalemite women from opposite sides of the holy city find themselves together on the other side of the world during times of war and destruction. They embark on a journey in search of images that recall a distant home within the diaspora. 

托孤 (tuō gū) by Yuxuan Ethan Wu (Runtime: 20 mins) | A mother wonders, who will take care of my child when I pass away one day? A child in her eyes, an autistic adult in others’—deemed unable to live independently. She prepares for a future without her presence.

When Snow Falls by Yue Wu (Runtime: 20 mins) | A farmer grandmother and her queer granddaughter quietly resist the pull of time—aging in contemporary society, reshaping memories, and weathering change in a shifting political landscape they still call home.

VISITOR INFORMATION: Oshman Hall is located within the McMurtry Building on Stanford campus at 355 Roth Way. Parking is free on weekends in most 'A', 'C', and visitor spaces unless otherwise posted. The nearest parking is at Roth Way Parking Garage. Alternatively, take the Caltrain to Palo Alto Transit Center and hop on the free Stanford Marguerite Shuttle. If you need a disability-related accommodation or wheelchair access information, please contact Julianne Garcia at juggarci@stanford.edu. This event is open to Stanford affiliates and the general public. Admission is free. Seating for this event is limited, and admission will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis. Please arrive to the venue early to secure your seat.

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