REEL SOUTH

Growing up, Frankie Gonzales-Wolfe learned to be a fighter but never imagined having a chance to make history as the first openly elected transgender official in Texas. Unfolding amidst an onslaught of legal attacks against the trans community, ‘A Run for More’ immerses viewers in Frankie’s journey as she finds her voice, questions her relationship with the community, and tries to win an election.

With coal mining destroying the mountains that he loves, Jim Webb establishes Wiley’s Last Resort, a place for local activists, musicians, artists, and dreamers to celebrate Appalachian culture and help fight back against strip mining.

After Jared Dawson’s family forced him out of his childhood home because of their staunch religious convictions, he discovered his alter ego as a radical drag performer. As “Lavonia Elberton,” Jared navigates a new sense of belonging and family within the LGBTQIA+ community of Atlanta.

A Korean-American filmmaker from Alabama explores the complexities of international adoption through the stories of her birth mother and another adoptee in New York. ‘The Space Between You and Me’ is an effort to reclaim a stolen identity while searching for belonging between the worlds of the Jewish South, the Korean-American diaspora, and a fraught legacy of Korean adoption programs.

After living in Asia for over a decade and longing for a taste of home, Jessica opens a Tennessee-style diner out of her home in Jeju, South Korea. But after appearing on one of the country’s most popular television programs, she and her husband Dongseop must adjust to the shock of newfound TV fame, the crowds of curious new customers it brings, and the growing uncertainty of a global pandemic.

Suicides at a juvenile detention center in Louisiana raise troubling questions about the facility and the agencies tasked with overseeing it. Thirteen-year-old Solan Peterson had only been at Ware Youth Center for eight days when he took his life while in isolation. ‘8 Days at Ware’ examines Solan’s last days – exposing the system that failed him and a legacy of abuse going back decades.

In a notorious Alabama prison, Michael falls deeply in love and matrimony follows. But when serving a life sentence, without parole, keeping his relationship alive proves too difficult. When Michael is miraculously released after 36 years, can he find a way to rehabilitate his marriage, too?

A Tennessee folklorist, a fifth-generation Carolina farmer, a Mississippi river guide, and a former professional football player journey through loss and healing in this poetic ode to the power of landscape. A film shot during the COVID-19 Pandemic, ‘Stay Here Awhile’ invites us to linger in the space we find at the end of things.

The only thing mightier than Lena Mae Perry’s electrifying voice is her faith. She’s spent the last 50 years sharing and honing both as the steadfast frontwoman of The Branchettes, a legendary North Carolina gospel group that has packed churches and lifted weary hearts throughout the South.

In a time when books are banned and discussions around race are curtailed, Karen Hinton Robinson takes on the responsibility of teaching Black history beyond the institution. In this mother-daughter interview, the historian and skilled quilter explains how her craft is used to supplement education by creating quilts that document the important figures of Black history, missing in Texas schools.

This is a coming-of-age story about two best friends living on the US-Mexico border in a scarred landscape of racial tensions, family wounds, and lack of opportunities as they embark on their extraordinary journeys in 3D innovation and artistic creativity to heal themselves, their families, and their community.