Name: “What These Walls Won’t Hold” + “How We Get Free” + “Sol in the Garden”
Start: 2023-04-16T14:00:00-07:00
End: 2023-04-16T17:00:00-07:00
Location: BAMPFA

2023 SFFILM Festival

“What These Walls Won’t Hold” + “How We Get Free” + “Sol in the Garden”

Sunday, April 16 | 2 pm PT | BAMPFA

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a man and a woman hugging each other in front of a white fence.

Mid-Length

What These Walls Won’t Hold

Set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic at San Quentin State Prison, a community builds intimacy and connection across prison walls.

Adamu Chan

USA | Mid-Length | 42

a woman in a face mask sits in a waiting room.

Shorts

How We Get Free

In Denver, an intrepid activist runs for office with the aim of eliminating cash bail.

Geeta Gandbhir, Samantha Knowles

USA | Shorts | 30

Shorts

Sol in the Garden

A formerly incarcerated woman catches the sun as she nourishes a garden with her new community. Expected guests: Director Emily Cohen Ibañez, Director Débora Souza Silva

Emily Cohen Ibañez, Débora Souza Silva

USA | Shorts | 21

Program Description

Closed captions are available for this program. Please let us know if you would like a device when purchasing your ticket or by emailing ADA@SFFilm.org.

What These Walls Won’t Hold
Filmed during the coronavirus pandemic, Adamu Chan’s What These Walls Won't Hold is not about COVID but about the way the crisis brought into focus and catalyzed ongoing organizing efforts at San Quentin State Prison. Chan, who was incarcerated there, chronicles his journey home, interweaving his account with those of his loved ones both inside and outside the penitentiary walls. What emerges is a tender picture of a community thriving with relationships built on trust, and an indomitable zeal to fight for a brighter and better future for those incarcerated. It creates a blueprint for resistance and liberation that is for all and invites us to imagine the abolitionist utopia that awaits us at the end of our strife.
Adamu Chan (USA 2022, 42 min)
World Premiere

How We Get Free
In Denver, an intrepid activist runs for office with the aim of eliminating cash bail.
Geeta Gandbhir, Samantha Knowles (USA 2023, 30 min)

Sol in the Garden
A formerly incarcerated woman catches the sun as she nourishes a garden with her new community.
Emily Cohen Ibañez, Débora Souza Silva (USA 2022, 21 min)
World Premiere

Total Runtime 94 min

Expected Guests

What These Walls Won't Hold Director Adamu Chan
Sol in the Garden Directors Emily Cohen Ibañez and Débora Souza Silva, Subject Sol Mercado

WITH SUPPORT FROM

CAAM Logo

Adamu Chan Director—What These Walls Wont Hold

Adamu Chan is a Bay Area filmmaker, writer, and community activist, who was formerly incarcerated at San Quentin Prison. During his time there, he made numerous short films, leading up to What These Walls Won’t Hold.

Geeta Gandbhir Director—How We Get Free

Geeta Gandbhir is an award winning director, producer and editor. She has been the recipient of a Ford Foundation grant, a MacArthur Grant, among others, and in 2017, she was the recipient of Chicken & Egg Pictures’ Chicken & Egg Award.

Samantha Knowles Director—How We Get Free

Samantha Knowles is an award-winning Brooklyn-based filmmaker. Most recently she won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Directing in a Documentary Series, and the Gracie Award for Best Director of a National TV Program for the HBO docuseries Black and Missing, which brings attention to black and missing persons cases that are routinely neglected by the police and the media.

Emily Cohen Ibañez Director—Sol in the Garden

Emily Cohen Ibañez is a Latinx filmmaker based in Oakland who earned her doctorate in Anthropology with a certificate in Culture and Media at New York University. Her film work pairs lyricism with social activism, advocating for labor, environmental, and health justice.

Débora Souza Silva Director—Sol in the Garden

Débora Souza Silva is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work examines systemic racism and inequality. Her work has been featured on PBS, BBC, Reveal News, KQED, and Fusion. Her work has also been funded by Sundance, Glassbreaker Films, the Investigative Reporting Program, the Tribeca Film Institute, Fork Films, Perspective Fund, Catapult Film Fund, The Center for Investigative Reporting, Berkeley Film Foundation, DocPich, and California Humanities. Her debut feature documentary, Black Mothers Love & Resist, follows the mothers behind the Black Lives Matter movement, and also premiered at SFFILM Festival 2022.