Patricia Benabe

The Facility

Detained inside an infamous American detention center as the pandemic spreads, a group of immigrants organize in protest to demand protection and their release. Separated from their families, and fearing for their lives, they take bold action. But officials who run the detention center are intent on keeping these men and women silent, and keeping them locked up. Filmed using the cameras attached to tablets installed inside the detention center cell-blocks, the film is a unique, real-time chronicle of a life in an immigration detention facility, and of a struggle for freedom and accountability.

Stateless

Director Michèle Stephenson’s new documentary follows families of those affected by the 2013 legislation stripping citizenship from Dominicans of Haitian descent, uncovering the complex history and present-day politics of Haiti and the Dominican Republic through the grassroots electoral campaign of a young attorney named Rosa Iris.

Councilwoman

Carmen Castillo, a Dominican hotel housekeeper in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, has won an election to the City Council. Now she must manage her day job cleaning hotel rooms, while advocating for low-income workers as a rookie politician.

Love the Sinner

A short documentary exploring the connection between Christianity and homophobia in the wake of the shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

Memories of a Penitent Heart

Twenty five years after Miguel died from AIDS, his niece, filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo, embarks on an excavation into a quagmire of unresolved family drama. Like many gay men in the 1980s, Miguel moved from Puerto Rico to New York City; he found a career in theater and a rewarding relationship. Yet, on his deathbed he grappled to reconcile his homosexuality with his Catholic upbringing. Now, decades after his death, Cecilia locates Miguel’s lover Robert, who has been shunned and demonized by the family, in order to understand the whole story.

The Hand That Feeds

Behind the scenes of a popular deli on New York's Upper East Side, undocumented immigrant workers face sublegal wages, dangerous machinery, and abusive managers. Mild-mannered sandwich maker Mahoma López has never been interested in politics, but in Jan. 2012, he convinces a small group of his co-workers to fight back. Risking deportation and the loss of livelihood, the workers team up with a diverse crew of innovative young organizers and take the unusual step of forming an independent union, launching themselves on a journey that will test the limits of their resolve. In one rollercoaster year, they must overcome a shocking betrayal and a two month lockout. Lawyers will battle in backroom negotiations, Occupy Wall Street protesters will take over the restaurant, and a picket line will divide the neighborhood. If they can win a contract, it will set a historic precedent for low-wage workers across the country. But whatever happens, Mahoma and his compañeros won't be exploited again.