A hybrid documentary about two estranged trans men who used to date in middle school reconnecting over a long weekend to develop a film about their past. Through the pre-production process and writing exercises, they are forced to reconcile the differences in how they want to portray themselves, ...

Experimental/documentary short film by Francis DiClemente drops March 1, 2023.

Glimpses of Existence is an experimental/documentary short film in the form of video collage. Using poetry and scenes captured with an iPhone—both before and during the pandemic—the film attempts to find meaning in t...

Mini documentary from Jibril Washington now streaming on OTV.

A mini documentary focused on Dr. Rhoda Moise, a black female scientist, artist, & Egyptian yoga instructor. Her dream? Community health. She brings soul to science.

Rhoda grew up with immigrant parents from Haiti and found a passion...

Short film by George Ellzey Jr. now streaming on OTV.

Language is the building block of every civilization which shapes culture, identity, and community. Accompanied by contemporary dancer, Deja Hood, SWITCHIN' explores African American communication habits and the policing of said language for ...

Short film written by Juli Del Prete, produced by Diana Pérez Riveros now streaming on OTV.

22 year-old Caroline enters the audition room with a big smile, a laundry list of special skills, and a fresh diploma from the one of the best theatre programs in the country. On the other side of the tab...

Short film by Zanah Thirus now streaming on OTV.

A Black Feminist couple’s attempt to plan a patriarchy-free commitment ceremony.

Short film by Sibusisiwe Gugu Manqele now streaming on OTV.

A short experimental poetry film about trauma, healing and self-actualisation, narrated by a woman telling and owning her past and present experiences. The film is set at a diary session at a therapist’s couch, where we see Zethu talkin...

Short film created by Shruti Tewari now streaming on OTV.

When a suicidal teen runs into a grieving mother at the train tracks, an unspoken bond is forged.

CONTENT WARNING: Suicide Prevention, Teen Mental Health

Short film by Wapah Ezeigwe now streaming on OTV.

A queer man returns home after 15 years only to discover that there is no reason for him to stay.

Short film by Rahul Nath now streaming on OTV.

Three siblings with no parental support walk down their own road of destruction. A series of harsh events shakes the dynamics even more, when each sibling’s hidden lives are revealed to each other by accidental circumstances

Short film by Madeleine Bazil now streaming on OTV.

In 1939, a young Jewish man named Ernest Lowy makes a bold and narrow escape from his native Czechoslovakia, seeking safety and opportunity for his family as World War II intensifies. In the late 1980s, an elderly Ernest recounts his life story...

Short film by Ashley Denise now streaming on OTV.

Viceroy follows the story of two estranged half-brothers thrown into each other's lives after the death of their father. Set in Brooklyn, with elements of a modern-day Western, this coming-of-age tale explores the journey of two people in search ...

Soon after Evelyn realizes she is transgender, her parents sense she is simultaneously experiencing mental illness. As Evelyn struggles for independence, afraid of losing herself to her role in her nuclear family, her parents must fight to keep her safe. Prodigal Sun explores this conflict from b...

This film is dedicated to people who are struggling with the grips of depression and wondering if there is a way out. In Let Go and Let God she finds her release through dance. The movement stirs her soul to the point where it brings her back to life and she makes a commitment to live again, to t...

Series premieres on OTV on November 17th.

Manifold is an experimental anthology docuseries exploring the nuances of Black and Queer identity. This collaborative production platforms the creative works and visions of poets, performers, organizers, musicians, and more -- to express the real life ...

Video Vista is the last remaining video store in Chicago. Bored employee Polly escapes the reality of this dead industry with fantastical daydreams that parody the movies around her as she and her co-workers struggle to make ends meet. When Polly's roommate threatens to kick her out for being lat...

Across the Bay Area, illuminated windows reveal volunteers for Exhale, a hotline for people seeking help in processing their abortion experiences. In the still of night, these volunteers lend an ear to those who need it.

Upon overhearing her teen daughters recounting their dating experiences while getting ready on prom night, Judy accidentally drugs herself with Chinese herbal medicine spiraling into a gaudy, sexual fantasy with the class hunk.

A young girl and her father go on a turbulent visit to her grandfather's grave; meanwhile, a chaste nun struggles with her growing desire for a young man.

Olly and Ade are two friends who cherish their bond and relationship. However, one strives to leave the environment by any means while the other grows dependent on the friendship.

By A Thread is a film that chronicles our nonbinary hero’s frustrating journey through a new, bustling city. Characterized by short interactions with a variety of characters and a soaring moment of release, the piece juxtaposes the harsh reality of the world with the magical expanse of the main c...

Joe just wants to be a cowboy, but no one believes him, especially not his father.

Written & Directed by: Jingjing Tian
Director of Photography: Nat Pinheiro
Editor: Luke Wilkening
Starring: Conder Shou, Lei Zhou

Film Festivals:
Cleveland International Film Festival
Bentonville Film Festival
Vi...

IMMORTAL☥ : living forever; never dying or decaying.

IMMORTAL☥ sinks into the perspective of Lassai, a black working class queer non binary person surviving in a pro-cishetero, homophobic, transphobic, and racist world. A world that has brutally demonized their body and lifestyle, ultimately for...

** Trigger warning: domestic violence.

Ke'Von isn't your typical black teenager and he knows it. Trying to grow up with a drugged-out single mother, while his classmates tease him for being the "weird black kid", Key struggles to find his voice. One tragic weekend will change that.

“Noodles represent our lives. The longer they are, the more years we have. They separate and tangle, only to come together once more in the broth… The smoke rises to the heavens, and blurs the lines between life and death.”

When Amy finds out that her girlfriend Megan is moving across the countr...

A young programmer attempts to revive their lost mother by building an A.I. with human memories. A.I. Mama is a post-cyberpunk short featuring Kei, a young programmer who attempts to resurrect their lost mother by coding an A.I. that can input childhood memories. Shot handheld on raw black & whit...

Amina, a Pakistani-American girl, starts her first day of middle school in the suburbs of Chicago. She quickly finds out, it's not all what it's cracked up to be and having hairy legs doesn't help.

Her traumatic experience has led her into an alleged crime that takes place in between manic episodes. When she realizes what happened it was already too late... or was it?

Set in 1950s Bronzeville, Louise Parker is facing eviction from her home. Desperate to keep her independence and status, she is introduced to a lucrative performing opportunity. While attempting to keep this new venture a secret, she simultaneously gains popularity, risking being exposed to and d...

CODA is a coming-of-age story that asks us to consider the passing of time and what it means to us.

Growing Pains is a short film denoting Daniel's first experience of love. Told through the form of a poem he recounts the highs, lows and how his surroundings impacted how this experience affected him.

Psychological drama by Kandis Golden.

Celeste and Sara move to LA to pursue their dreams. Celeste is a filmmaker and Sara is a med student from the middle east. After a tumultuous week of long sleepless nights, Celeste suggests they take the night off an edible. The couple appears to be getting...

Music video in dystopian future by Midwest-based artist, Finnoh.

Director - Elise Holowicki
Producer - Andrea Raby
DP - Joe Martinez Jr.

Show originally released February 2022, streaming on-demand Juneteenth 2022.

In this hour we are celebrating Chicago's blackness by showcasing some of Chicago's finest musicians, performers, writers, and filmmakers. From behind the scenes to in front of the camera, Well and Black Variety Show i...

Recording of the livestream is available on-demand until 3/16/22.

Cadenza is a musical film about Black women and femmes in the visitors' waiting rooms of a prison. Directed by Anna Martine Whitehead and Wills Glasspiegel, the film extends and documents FORCE!, an opera-in-progress by Whitehead,...

Evelyn Landow is a DIY filmmaker and musician. After spending years archiving home videos & recording two albums with her father during the pandemic, 'Make A Memory' is a hybrid film that celebrates the relationship with her father— a piece commemorating the playful love and memories that have re...

Contemporary Soul and R&B musician and southside native Shawnee Dez, performs an unplugged 3-part set accompanied by her trio Rene Cruz, Kenneth Leftridge and Eddie Burns. The performance is interspersed with with interview segments led by host Karla Huffman.

Concert originally streamed on-time...

A voice bigger than the stage, Andrew Sa has been surprising audiences in small clubs for years but what he has planned for a Millennium Park debut is even larger. As part of the city’s Year of Chicago Music, and the Millennium Park Music Series, CIVL (Chicago Independent Venue League) has invite...

Visibility Sucks is a 24-hour glimpse into the life of an artist suffering from a major identity crisis after a global pandemic sends him plummeting from the limelight to working in a grocery store. Shard, the protagonist, takes the viewer on a surreal journey as he tries his best to regain a sen...

After Reza, a non-binary rising performing artist from a township in Soweto, begins to settle into Johannesburg when Mase, a writer struggling to understand his identity, unexpectedly arrives into his life. Through their brief introduction they suddenly begin to reveal intimate vulnerabilities th...

Flock is a trans-created dramatic thriller about a man traveling to Maine to rescue his lover from a lethal cult.

A viral video detailing a reoccuring nightmare reveals a portal into hell. One viewer tries it hirself and, after passing through to the other side, confronts the demons that await hir.

don’t @ me (please) is a SlamFam Ensemble digital show that explores the “unprecedented times” we have been living in by blending poetry and film. Together, our ensemble of poets will ask all the burning questions that we need the answers to right now: how do you measure growth and progress when ...

A film about Black Women having the freedom to live in their truths without apology or permission.

A young woman reluctantly confronts her feelings as she revisits a complicated relationship with an old flame.

A woman takes the time to fulfill her partner's sexual desires.

Wake Up, Jaleela is a short film about a girl trapped in a nightmare determined to wake up. In order to escape the dream, she embarks on a journey that challenges her to reasses the waking world.

Everything changes when the matriarch ensuring everyone’s survival decides it’s time for her to die.

In a forest that turns all of its inhabitants into trees, two sisters and their grandmother have eked out a means for survival. But, one sister yearns for more.

In a near-future techno-dystopia, a trans shut-in named Ven orders a box of pills off a shady website that promises to make their aberrant and strange fantasies a reality.

"Drive Slow", follows a teenager from the South-Side of Chicago attempting to finish his college essays. As he struggles to boil down his complex surroundings in 500 words, his friends' disparate opinions, racist news narratives, and the threat of lingering danger only complicate the process.

This International Women's Day join women and femme-filmmakers Ashley O'Shay, Elena Valentine, Stephanie Jeter, and host, Sarah Minnie as they discuss their journeys in the film industry, how they have thrived over the years, challenges they've overcome, and more.

While visiting her American relatives, Chidinma, a soft-spoken Nigerian girl, notices a shadow slinking around the house. She avoids it, spending very little time in her room and not sleeping at night. But she fails and the creature comes for her. Her aunt and uncle refuse to believe that there’s...

In this social thriller, Tonia Stanwell finds herself on a nightmarish quest through a mysterious government agency to get to her 36th birthday. As our protagonist navigates this surreal and absurd world hellbent on preventing her from getting to 36, we examine the social issues and portray the v...

Shot entirely within brightly-coloured constructed sets, Liang Luscombe’s new surreal situational comedy, Itchy IOUs (2020) follows two women, Fran and Sol, as they struggle with the twisted world of personal debt. Set in a parallel universe featuring puppets and giant mouths, Sol can’t stop her ...

In the world of Lipstick City Miss Couleé and Shea exact revenge on Miss Couleé's unfaithful husband.

Sweaty Scales created by Liang Luscombe

In a world akin to the surreal vignettes of Peewee’s Playhouse, Sweaty Scales takes us through a series of portals to tell the story of a pair of lovers. Asian American advertising art director Lisa meets Oliver at his 30th birthday party in which he seduc...

Ghosts and Where They Lay contemplates memory, possession and the act of letting go. This story follows a ghost stuck in her past and the two teens who have ‘captured’ her as they recognize that holding on, to power, the past, or idolization, does not, in fact, grant satisfaction. Through non-tra...

A young girl uses dance to balance the ups and downs of foster care, challenging expectations and pushing the boundaries, to define for herself the meaning of family.