Screening now through October 15:
Futility Season (2021)
Neda in the taxi cab. Still from Futility Season.
Futility Season (2021) is an attempt to revive a friendship that has faded away due to circumstances that imprisoned one and forced the other to emigrate. Neda, who lives in Iran, spent her thirtieth birthday in prison, and Hoda, the film director, began her thirties in a new country as an immigrant.

Runtime 23m. In Farsi with English subtitles. Directed by Hoda Sobhani.

Hoda Sobhani was born and raised in Iran and works as a filmmaker and theater director. She has made three short films in Iran. Hoda intends to continue her work as a filmmaker to document women’s issues, especially immigrant women from the Middle East.
October 4, 2022 - Update from Director, Hoda Sobhani
Neda, who is featured in Futility Season, was again arrested in Tehran this week Protests have erupted in Iran since the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Jina Amini, who had been detained by the country's so-called morality police on September 16, 2022. People in cities around the world have gathered in the streets in a show of solidarity with women in Iran. Striking words and images that have typified the protests rocking Iran include chants of "Women, life, freedom!" 

Please pay attention to and talk about the protests in Iran; sweeping internet and media blackouts have been imposed to attempt to suppress information and quell protests.

Next:
October 18-29:
Sea State (2022) 
The violent forces of the sea converge on a boat in the water. Mariners must read the wind, swell, and currents, overwhelming forces which influence each other as surely as they impact the boat. Safe passage at sea requires an instinctual understanding that no force exists in isolation, a critical lesson for our survival on land. Runtime 20m. Directed by Jordan Freeman.
Upcoming online event: November 2, 2022, 4-5:00 p.m. PT
Frames Per Second: Diaristic Storytelling
Join us for a conversation on diaristic storytelling and narrative technique with SocDoc filmmakers Chisato Hughes, Hoda Sobhani, and Oana Tenter.
We also invite you to the annual SocDoc thesis screening event at the Del Mar Theatre on November 9, 2022 to view works by the full 2022 cohort.

Wednesday, November 9, 2022,
7-10:00 pm
Del Mar Theatre
1124 Pacific Avenue
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Free and open to the public.

Lucie Noël Thune is a visual artist based in Norway. She works with the transient nature of objects. She incorporates mediums such as sculpture, drawings and films in her artistic process. She uses everyday materials to investigate and amplify links between social, political and economic systems. Thune has taught and participated in residence programs as a visiting artist in Europe and the United States. 

Frosty sculpture, wax and found objects comprise the installation, Flora. Thune utilizes everyday materials to reflect upon our lives. In this garden, we discover plastic flowers formed by disposable jewelry strings. We encounter chemical based petroleum flowers. We are met by ephemeral works that awaken our senses–a cold sculpture that accrues frost and evolves like a timepiece.
Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery
Porter College, UC Santa Cruz
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
(831) 459-3606

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Mondays – Closed
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Wednesday 12–8 p.m.