Part of the Dangerous Docs 2026: States of Emergency (short film program)
An evocative program of docu-shorts exploring catastrophe not as spectacle, but as lived experience—charting the emotional and physical aftermath of a world in constant upheaval.
Break All The Vases, Steal All The Flowers
Michael Morris | US | 4
Oh rascal children of Gaza,
Come back,
Just come back…
Crying Glacier
Lutz Stautner | Switzerland, Germany | 10
What does a melting glacier sound like? Artist Ludwig Berger attempts to record a disappearing environment.
A Derailment
Nathan Truesdell | US | 26
At 8:55 PM on February 3, 2023, a freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. Told entirely through found footage and news archive, A Derailment puts you in the center of disaster. As local news coverage and publicly circulated footage unfold in real time, the film reveals not only the immediate catastrophe but the deepening crisis that followed—raising urgent questions about oversight, accountability, and the failures that allowed it to escalate.
Desert Ed
Christian Hurley & Bryan Taira | US | 11
After the passing of his longtime teammate on the reality TV Show Battlebots, robot engineer Edward Robinson moves out to the desert, where he reflects on his career and adapts a new hermetic lifestyle.
Endlings
María Luisa Santos | US, Costa Rica | 16
During the first human-driven mass extinction, a filmmaker drifts through churches, ancient DNA labs, and ghostly archives, searching for what remains.
A New Inferno
Nita Blum-Reddick & Jonathan Pickett | US | 16
Filmed during the hottest days of Phoenix, Arizona’s summer heatwave, A New Inferno follows paramedics as they race to save the lives of heatstroke victims using a radical new treatment: ice immersion therapy.
Still Standing
Victor Tadashi Suarez & Livia Albeck-Ripka | US | 10
After the Los Angeles wildfires leave thousands of homes contaminated, residents face an impossible choice: should they risk their health to return home?
Event Details
7:00 PM - Plaza Seating Opens
8:15 PM - Films Begin
9:45 PM - Q&A with Filmmakers