Borderlands Film Series

We are featuring international, regional, local, and indigenous short films from 2021 Fort Smith International Film Festival. Mark Williams’ (36 min) “Ikaiyana la chi” ( I Will Remember) exposes the unknown stories of the last Choctaw removal to Oklahoma in 1903 by train, the cultural impact it had on the Choctaw people and a certain Oklahoma community. In Samer Al Sayegh’s (15 min) “Luna,” Karim, a Lebanese teenage boy with feelings of insecurity meets an equally unwanted classmate named Luna through a presentation about the eclipse happening the next day. Arkansas filmmaker Johnnie Brannon’s (9 min) “Ladies Night” tells the story of three best friends who get together for a night of wine and to share their deepest darkest secrets. “Decolonized Cooking with Chef Nico Albert” by Jeremy Charles (9 min) shows when it comes to Cherokee cooking, professional Chef Nico Albert takes pride in taking our food to the next level and as the singer of a metal band in her spare time, really, her whole life is next level. Jessica Graham (10 min) highlights the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States, with “Into Light,” which bringing to life suffragist Inez Milholland’s inspiring final speech. Colleen Thurston’s (11 min) “Sardis” takes us deep into the Choctaw Nation, where a picturesque lake hosts an unusual sight: an island populated by rows of headstones, the last relic of what was the town of Sardis, Oklahoma.