Film festival to showcase short documentaries on border crisis

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – “We were enjoying seeing short film celebrated so much because they really, you know, unless it’s accepted like a big film festival, they kind of get forgotten,” said Jade Stokes.

Jade Stokes was part of the 48-hour film festival last year where she and her fellow filmmakers made “La Grima,” and after finishing that mini film masterpiece, they all wanted to find a way to showcase short films.

“We wanted to make it as easy as possible for people to even like repurpose, you know, footage that they already had from projects that they had already shot, you know, if they aligned with the themes of the festival,” Stokes said.

Now, a year later, they’re hosting their own film fest the Fronteras Microfilm Festival.  People can submit films anywhere from 30 seconds to three minutes in different categories.

Stokes said they wanted to have a common theme for all the films. For its inaugural year they chose borders, enforcement, and crossings.

“We can all move around the world so easily. But we’re also bound by these sorts of like invisible lines, you know, between, you know, counties or between countries, and, you know, visa status and the applications that you have to go through,” she said.

The film festival has already gotten entries from Mexico, France, the UK and even Iran.

Through art, they hope to create a new kind of conversation around boundaries we make for ourselves Stokes said.

“It can often offer us the opportunity to consider perspectives that are different from ours, you know, and experiences that are very different from the ones that we’ve had. And I think that that’s something important for us to be engaging with,” said Stokes. 

The deadline to enter is May 2. For more information you can visit fronterasmicrofilm.com.