Todo Cambia, UC Merced’s annual Human Rights Film Festival, is about more than film this year.
The seven-day festival kicks off Saturday, March 1 with a talk and readings by a former Texas state poet laureate. Days later, a UC Santa Barbara professor emeritus will discuss his book about the scourge of housing discrimination. The next day, 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 March 7 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 (here's a full schedule, plus a form to RSVP for specific events):
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On opening night at The Mainzer in downtown Merced, ire’ne lara silva, prize-winning author of poetry and short stories, will read from recent works and talk about the power of exploring creativity without fear. The 2023 Texas state poet laureate also wrote “Venderal,” a graphic novel.
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The festival’s first call for work by Valley filmmakers attracted about 120 submissions. A quarter were selected for screenings, which will begin at 1 p.m. March 2 at the Mainzer. “They are all beautiful visions and portraits,” Sharim said, “most of them created by UC Merced students as well as students from Fresno and Sacramento.”
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In 2006, two brothers were sentenced to San Quentin Prison’s Death Row in the 1995 killing of five people at Pato’s Place, a bar in the San Joaquin Valley city of Tulare. Allegations of mishandled evidence and prosecutorial misconduct, along with the questionable motivations of the prosecution’s star witness, have haunted the case. “Reasonable Doubts,” a three-channel video experience created by Sharon Daniel, makes a case for the exoneration of one of the brothers, Timothy James Young. “Reasonable Doubts” will be shown at 1 p.m. March 3 in UC Merced’s COB2 390.
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An annual feature of Todo Cambia is a retrospective of a respected film. This year, it’s “A Woman Under the Influence,” directed by John Cassavetes. Gena Rowlands was an Oscar nominee following her role as a wife and mother institutionalized due to increasingly erratic behavior. The 1974 film explores the definitions of love, responsibility and society’s expectations. It will be screened at 6:30 p.m. March 4 at COB1 102.
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George Lipsitz, professor emeritus of Black studies and urban culture at the University of California Santa Barbara, will talk about his book, “The Danger Zone is Everywhere,” which asserts that housing discrimination is not just a civil and economic injustice but also a menace to public health. His talk will start at 1 p.m. March 6 in COB2 390 and on Zoom .
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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.
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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.
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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.
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