Short Block | Dream Keepers

A collection of documentaries that highlight the vital role of cultural anchors—both people and community staples—in preserving heritage, fostering connection, and shaping identity. These films tell the stories of cherished local figures, businesses, and gathering spaces that serve as lifelines for their communities. They explore the impact of these anchors when they thrive and the deep loss felt when they are gone, reminding us of what is at stake as neighborhoods and societies change.

Di Sarno- The story of Emilio's Ballato | Dir. Johannes Kroemer, Lou Carvell | 10 min | Documentary, Short | USA

If you walk down Manhattan’s Houston street, you probably won’t notice this restaurant- unless you wonder what all these people are standing in line for.

It’s a place that’s unpretentious, yet a celebrity hangout.

It’s famous, yet most people have never heard about it.

It’s an Instagram spot, yet the owner doesn’t have a mobile phone.

Emilio learned to read from recipe books and to cook from his mother. His influence is everywhere- from the food to the smallest details in the restaurant.

The connection to Southern Italy runs deep. Emilio was born in the San Marzano area, home of the famous tomatoes. Gioacchino, his brother-in-law, still grows them there for him.

The passion this family pours into the restaurant is what makes it magical.

This is what New York is about.

Splendido! | Dir. Sophie Mager | 11 min | Documentary, Short | USA

Vinnie’s Italian Iron Works is a relic of Brooklyn’s industrial past. An operational workshop that has stood defiant for 63 years now surrounded by multi-million dollar brownstones in the heart of Cobble Hill as gentrification lurches to its front door. Now, aged 87, and after a lifetime of devotion to iron and his dream, owner Vinnie contemplates letting go.

The Jasper's Experience | Dir. Jake Bakirdan | 14 min | Documentary, Short | USA

Robberies, fights, stabbings, and great sandwiches. At Jasper's Deli, Bronx locals mix with college students from the nearby university, and sometimes, they don't mix well.

Owned and operated by Yemeni immigrant "Rocco" and his family, get an inside look at how the deli, with its over-the-top-sandwiches and rowdy atmosphere has become a place where many call home.

The People Could Fly | Dir. Imani Nikyah Dennison | 21 min | Documentary, Short | USA

The People Could Fly is a poetic documentary about the history of Black gathering spaces in Louisville, KY from the 1960's to mid 2000's. Through an intimate video portrait, we delve into the ritual of roller skating and how roller rinks emerged as sanctuaries for Black culture. Through a charged combination of archival footage, still photos, newly shot material and newsreel, we explore the history of a segregated Louisville and the magic that its Black community has conjured as an act of resistance.

BABA (爸爸) | Dir. Teresa Xie | 9 min | Documentary | USA

Filmmaker Teresa Xie follows her little sister on their first family trip to China in six years. Through interviews, Teresa unravels her sister’s reflections on her grandfather’s passing, her father’s grief, and her relationship with her parents.

in living memory | Dir. Dori Annette Walker | 33 min | Documentary, Experimental, Short | USA

How do we honor precedent while rupturing it for new life? As living beings we are time and space collapsed. We subvert linear time as we experience and shoulder the overwhelming shadow and noise of different memories, existences, and dreams in every moment. We cry, love, grieve, bleed, and just “are” every day. We pass down and inherit all of these things. We are entitled to keep them—a frighteningly stunning life. What is happening in the current moment, spliced with the past, is to live in memory, and that dynamic is to be human.

"in living memory," is an experimental documentary that portraits a Black American family from the perspective of it's youngest generation, exploring the Black experience of family histories, self, and memory.

Host or Publisher Bushwick Film Festival