Sightlines: Ohio Documentary Shorts | Cinema Columbus Film Festival 2026
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With their hearts planted in Ohio, these exceptional documentary shorts cover personal struggle, warm relationships, societal pressure, the way history informs our present, and more. The 17th state in the union is a vast landscape for talented cinematic hands to mold their human stories both at home and abroad.
Break All The Vases, Steal All The Flowers
Oh rascal children of Gaza, You who constantly disturbed me with your screams under my window, You who filled every morning with rush and chaos, You who broke my vase and stole the lonely flower on my balcony, “Come back – And scream as you want, And break all the vases, Steal all the flowers, Come back, Just come back…” -- Khalid Juma
Maroon
Through the syntax of family, Maroon explores Haitian existence in the United States, where familial stories illuminate personal lives shaped by larger histories of migration, resistance, and survival.
North Star
North Star follows a team of researchers as they uncover the true story of their hometown's greatest export—legendary sharpshooter Annie Oakley. Through these women's efforts to know Annie, we learn about the nature of legacy, community and place.
Paper Promises
Through the voices of mill workers, union leaders, small business owners, and local officials of Chillicothe, OH, the film captures a fallout of a corporate decision made far from the people it affects most.
Good Morning
The filmmaker explores loss and memory by visiting spaces that should hold those memories years after her mother’s death. Time and place all blur until we ask if it was 23 years, 25 years, or was it all just simply a dream.
home—work
Home—work is a short documentary portrait of Akeylah Wellington—a sculptor and tapestry maker whose intricate pony bead tapestries tend to carceral displacement, girlhood, humor, and survival.
Hands That Fed Us
Food, family, and foreign experiences are at the center of Hands That Fed Us. Told through the eyes of an old family friend, this nonfiction short follows an Irish chef whose lifetime in the kitchen—and late-career reinvention—spark a deeper appreciation for cooking and connection.
Break All The Vases, Steal All The Flowers
Oh rascal children of Gaza, You who constantly disturbed me with your screams under my window, You who filled every morning with rush and chaos, You who broke my vase and stole the lonely flower on my balcony, “Come back – And scream as you want, And break all the vases, Steal all the flowers, Come back, Just come back…” -- Khalid Juma
Maroon
Through the syntax of family, Maroon explores Haitian existence in the United States, where familial stories illuminate personal lives shaped by larger histories of migration, resistance, and survival.
North Star
North Star follows a team of researchers as they uncover the true story of their hometown's greatest export—legendary sharpshooter Annie Oakley. Through these women's efforts to know Annie, we learn about the nature of legacy, community and place.
Paper Promises
Through the voices of mill workers, union leaders, small business owners, and local officials of Chillicothe, OH, the film captures a fallout of a corporate decision made far from the people it affects most.
Good Morning
The filmmaker explores loss and memory by visiting spaces that should hold those memories years after her mother’s death. Time and place all blur until we ask if it was 23 years, 25 years, or was it all just simply a dream.
home—work
Home—work is a short documentary portrait of Akeylah Wellington—a sculptor and tapestry maker whose intricate pony bead tapestries tend to carceral displacement, girlhood, humor, and survival.
Hands That Fed Us
Food, family, and foreign experiences are at the center of Hands That Fed Us. Told through the eyes of an old family friend, this nonfiction short follows an Irish chef whose lifetime in the kitchen—and late-career reinvention—spark a deeper appreciation for cooking and connection.
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Where is it happening?
Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 N High St,Columbus, Ohio, United States
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherCinema Columbus
