FILM

and racial discrimination, police brutality, and health-care access for people of color, which could not have been more fitting in a year where everything got turned upside down.

The exposure of the roots of systemic racism in a new light presented Soft Cage the opportunity to work to untangle them in public.

In June, Soft Cage launched its first initiative, a filmmaker Q&A series that showcases work from local filmmakers like Reshmi Hazra Rustebakke, Zanah Thirus, JC Farris, and Pegah Pasalar, and is intended to spark vital conversations around activism, immigration, racial justice, and sexual assault. Five virtual events were held in 2020 and the team is planning six more events this year with a new title that represents the goal of providing a space to discuss di cult matters—the group planning the series calls themselves the Committee of Uncomfortable Conversations.

“The Q&As have really impacted me,” says Troi Valles, who moderates the series and is on the planning committee. “We have had such interesting conversations and they have been so honest, direct, forthcoming about topics that are super serious.”