EXPANSIVE ECOLOGICAL IMAGINATION 1

A program of short films from around the living world to expand our ecological imaginations

Thursday, March 26, 2026 | 7:30 p.m. | The Hollywood Theatre

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS (COMING SOON)

(More information about each film follows.)

AKABABURU: EXPRESSION OF ASTONISHMENT

Directed by Irati Dojura Landa Yagarí
2025 | Colombia | 14 minutes
Emberá Chamí and Spanish with English subtitles

Official Selection | Indigenous Voices | West Coast Premiere

AL BASATEEN (THE ORCHARDS)

Directed by Antoine Chapon
2025 | France | 25 minutes
Arabic with English subtitles

Official Selection | Regional Premiere

In 2015, the Basateen al-Razi district of Damascus was razed to the ground as punishment for the population's uprising against Bashar al-Assad's regime. This area is set to be replaced by Marota City, a modern and connected district featuring 80 skyscrapers. Ten years on, two former residents talk about their neighborhood, where their homes and the oldest orchards in Damascus once stood. Having lost everything, two former residents recall their neighborhood, where their homes and the city's oldest orchards once stood. Through their testimonies and the repurposing of regime-produced 3D animations, memory is awakened to resist this deliberate erasure.

BALCONADA

Directed by Iva Tokmakchieva
2025 | Bulgaria | 8 minutes

Official Selection | West Coast Premiere

When a hot summer day brings several neighbors out onto their balconies, Mother Nature finds a way to awaken them from their torpor and reconnect them to each other and the present moment.

DISTANCE TO THE MOON

Directed by Victoria Watson and Sacha Kyle
2025 | United Kingdom | 9 minutes

Official Selection | West Coast Premiere

X leaves a desolate Earth to embark, reluctantly, on a surreal and mesmerising journey into the vastness of space. There, X explores existential isolation, connection, memory, loss, and the profound power of the cosmos.