THURSDAY AT PHLAFF – WEEK TRES: STORIES OF SELF-RECKONING UNFOLD AT ULISES

PHLAFF 2025 goes to Ulises Books with a profoundly introspective lineup of screenings that pull audiences deep into the personal stories of longing, reinvention, and defiance in the face of silence. From Chilean coastal towns to Miami alleyways and West Coast writers’ rooms, each film programmed for Thursday at PHLAFF – Week Tres invites us to witness people caught in moments of fragile truth.

With screenings running from 4:30 to 9:00 PM, this program is curated for those craving depth — an immersive, slow-burning meditation on the quiet battles we carry inside.

FEATURE PRESENTATION: PRIMERA PERSONA (Chile)

🕓 4:30–6:15 PM
A washed-up rock musician disappears into the coastal silence of Chile, trying to escape both public scrutiny and private disappointment. Primera Persona traces a man’s retreat from the world, his once-vibrant creative spark now dulled by time and trauma. When a young couple crosses his path, they don’t just stir his memories — they unearth a vulnerability he thought he’d buried.

This meditative, character-driven drama paints grief, lost potential, and fleeting connection in soft cinematic strokes. It is a quiet triumph of internal storytelling — one that asks not how we move forward, but whether we dare to look back.

SEARCHING SHORTS BLOCK

🕕 6:30–7:15 PM
From physical journeys to emotional ones, this collection of shorts explores what it means to search — for answers, identity, forgiveness, and belonging.

• SAD PEOPLE (United States)
Two parents navigate the heartbreak of uncertainty as they seek answers for their non-verbal 3-year-old son. Their ache is quiet but all-consuming, echoing the universal desperation to name what hurts.

• Little Haiti, Miami, USA (United States)
A Cuban mother arrives in Little Haiti with a painting — a face her son painted before his death. She doesn’t know the man it depicts, only that he exists. With no English and only instinct to guide her, she teams up with a local teen on an unexpected journey through art, grief, and cross-cultural kinship.

• Reunion (United States)
Fresh from rehab, Alex returns home hoping to reconcile with his brother. But Jacob, hardened by years of damage, isn’t ready. This story of fractured family ties balances hope with heartbreak, offering no easy resolutions — just the raw possibility of repair.

• One Minute of Unconsciousness (United States, Peru)
Ariana, a Peruvian filmmaker in L.A., is broke, burned out, and creatively stuck. In reaching out to an acclaimed screenwriter for help, she opens the door to a deeper confrontation: with her own trauma, artistic insecurity, and the question every storyteller must face — why am I really doing this? A stirring blend of narrative and self-inquiry.

FEATURE PRESENTATION: SI PUDIERA QUEDARME / IF I COULD STAY (United States)

🕢 7:30–9:00 PM
Two undocumented mothers. Two churches. One goal: to stay with their children.

Si Pudiera Quedarme is an intimate, galvanizing portrait of sanctuary in the United States. It follows women who, threatened with deportation, find protection within church walls — and, in doing so, ignite movements of solidarity and resistance. Their daily lives are laced with anxiety, but also with immense strength. The film captures quiet moments — cooking, prayer, phone calls — against the ever-present hum of danger, reminding viewers that home is not a place, but a choice to stay rooted in love, no matter the cost.

📍 THE DETAILS

Location: Ulises, 1525 N American St Studio 104
Date: Thursday, June 12
Time: 4:30–9:00 PM
Tickets: Available now via Eventive — secure yours before they’re gone.

Come for the stories. Stay for the reckoning.