Shorts Program: Making it Happen – Women in STEM

This is a featured presentation of our Making it Happen: Women in STEM program area.

نگران نباش (Don’t Worry)
Director: Mana Pakseresht
Narrative Short, 2020 [Iran] Persian, 3 minutes
A teenage girl who is home alone on her birthday has a surprise coming to her from her mother who works as a hospital nurse.

Fine Particles (Particules Fines) {US Premiere}
Director: Anne-Claire Jaulin
Narrative Short, 2020 [France] French, 17 minutes
Delphine lives with her seven year old, Louise. With the peak in pollution, her daughter’s asthma attacks intensify. Delphine has no choice but to stay at home and take care of her.

The Scientists vs. Dartmouth {East Coast Premiere}
Director: Sharon Shattuck
Documentary Short, 2021 [USA] English, 14 minutes
Young women in science are told that to be a “good” scientist, they should keep their heads down and focus on their work: don’t speak up, don’t be an activist. But after neuroscience Ph.D. student Vassiki Chauhan is assaulted by a well-known Dartmouth professor, she bands together with other women in her department to file a lawsuit against the school — and together, they make a life-changing decision to speak up for women in science everywhere.

The Missfits
Director: Ellie Wen
Documentary Short, 2020 [USA] English, 21 minutes
The Missfits follows an all-girls robotics team based in San Francisco that is taking on the male-dominated field of engineering. They are determined to show other girls how fun and rewarding STEM can be, one robot at a time. The documentary follows The Missfits as they confront growing pains, build their robot, and travel to competitions. The diverse team is made up of twenty girls from high schools around the Bay Area ranging in age from fifteen to eighteen and coming from a variety of backgrounds. On their own, they are outsiders, misfits. But together, on the team, they build each other up and learn to embrace their own identities.