BY JODY MURRAY
UC Merced
Todo Cambia, UC Merced’s annual Human Rights Film Festival, is about more than film this year.
The seven-day festival kicked off on March 1 with a talk and readings by a former Texas state poet laureate. Days later, a UC Santa Barbara professor emeritus discussed his book about the scourge of housing discrimination. And on Friday, an artist and longtime Merced resident will share his graphic novel about an immigrant family.
To be sure, the festival also has films. Lots of films. For the first time, these include work from Central Valley creators who answered a call for submissions.
Todo Cambia runs through Friday at locations at UC Merced and in downtown Merced. All events are free to attend.
The theme of this year’s festival is “Beyond Approval.” Yehuda Sharim, the event’s artistic director and a UC Merced professor of media and performance studies, explained:
“Sometimes, when we are in a creative process, we look for others to approve of us. Our aim is to create a space where we’re not waiting for approval. We are shaping our vision and listening to our communities. With that, we shape our sense of justice, especially when laws do not necessarily represent justice.”
Highlights of the festival’s remaining days:
- At 6 p.m. March 5 at the Multicultural Arts Center in downtown Merced, join Merced artist and UC Merced student Oscar Torres for a presentation of his bilingual graphic novel, “Mi Abuelo Genaro.” In words and with a distinct art style, Torres describes a boy and his grandfather in their emigration from Mexico to the U.S. and the racial injustices that unfold around them.
- Documentarian Kristy Guevara-Flanagan will appear at 11 a.m. March 6 at COB2 390 to show and talk about “As Long as We Can,” her film about a turbulent day at an Arizona reproductive health clinic following the 2022 Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade. Guevara-Flanagan, a UCLA professor, also will discuss the role of film in shaping social change.
- The festival wraps up March 7 with three documentaries starting at 4 p.m. in COB1 102. “No Other Land” is about an alliance that forms between a Palestinian activist and an Israeli journalist amid the destruction of a West Bank community. “Separated” looks at the U.S. policy of taking children from families at the southern border. “Dahomey” follows the journey of plundered royal treasures as they are returned from Paris to the West African nation of Benin.
Sharim said he is pleased to share the creative breadth of this year’s Todo Cambia.
“The festival aims to bring together artists from separate fields who speak to one another, whether it’s a poet or a filmmaker or a painter,” he said. “The festival invites all of us to a space of thinking and creativity.”
Todo Cambia is supported by a grant from the Global Latinidades Project and by campus entities that include the Division of Equity, Justice and Inclusive Excellence, the dean’s office of the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts; and the Department of Global Arts, Media and Writing Studies.
