Joy A. Tomchin

It's Okay

A quiet take on a very noisy subject—the rise of hate and intolerance against the LGBTQIA+ community—as two young brothers observe and absorb their first Drag Story Hour. A refrain of “It’s okay” underscores their experience, and this simple utterance takes on a multitude of meanings in its repetition, from assurance to question, hope to fear.

How to Survive a Pandemic

An inside look at the historic, multi-national race to research, develop, regulate, and roll out COVID-19 vaccines in the war against the coronavirus pandemic.

Welcome to Chechnya

This searing investigative work shadows a group of activists risking unimaginable peril to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ program raging in the repressive and closed Russian republic. Unfettered access and a remarkable approach to protecting anonymity exposes this under-reported atrocity–and an extraordinary group of people confronting evil.

Busy Inside

Karen Marshall’s body, mind, and heart do not belong to her alone. She shares them with Rosalee, a smart and perky teenager; Timee, a flamboyant, puerile youth, who wears women’s clothing; an old lady, a habitué of museums; and a dozen of others. Karen’s official diagnosis is Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Through personal stories, “Busy Inside” delves deeply into DID — a condition that fascinates and puzzles modern psychiatry.

AWOL

A young woman in the Army must make tough decisions when her love for an older woman causes her to question just where she is going. Adapted from Deb Shoval's 2011 short film of the same name.