We had a blast combing through the HSDFF archives to come up with the lineup of doc shorts for our America250 finale. For different reasons, each one of these films holds a special place for us.
Dale Capenter’s poignant Arkansas-based Little League epic A Long Season does a masterful job of not only evoking America’s pastime and the endless days of summer, but also a tender relationship between father and son.
Eric Frith and Sherman Alexie’s witty 49? takes us to the streets of Seattle for a vox pop perspective on a Native American art form that few can identify by name or source, but which resonates deeply with so many.
The spare Solo, Piano gives us a fly on the wall perspective on a piano left alone on a New York sidewalk, begging the thoroughly cinematic question, “What happens next?”
A skate park in Any Town, USA is given a pink makeover in Gnarly in Pink, this delightful story of three girl skateboarders who shred bowls and stereotypes in equal measure.
10 years before his 2026 Oscar-winning short All the Empty Rooms, Joshua Seftel brought us Zain’s Summer, the poignant story of Zain and his family, who fled Pakistan to make a new life here in America.
Quilted Education is Kayla Robinson’s lovely story about her mom Karen’s creative response to the lack of Black history being taught in Texas schools by literally taking matters into her own hands.
In their toe-tapping and intimate Stud Country, Lina Abascal & Alexandra Kern invite us into the largest queer country western line dancing event in America and tell a tale both specific and universal.
Last but not least, Courtney Dixon’s inspiring and sobering The Changebaker introduces us to the commitment, struggles and huge heart of Manolo Betancur, who uses his bakery in North Carolina for good — for his workers and for people everywhere who are in need — and to nourish our still evolving American soul.
Happy 250th, America!
The Lineup: A LONG SEASON (25 min) – 1996 HSDFF Director: Dale Carpenter
We have several seats left in our 15-seat shuttle leaving from Hot Springs to attend the event at UAPB. If you would like to reserve a spot, please email ken@hsdfi.org as soon as possible.
SPECIAL UAPB PASS OFFER:
For all those attending the UAPB event, we are offering a ONE-TIME PASS SALE of $297 for our All Access Pass and $175 for our Film Buff passes for the 2026 HSDFF on Oct. 9 – 17. (Over $125 discount on All Access and $75 discount on Film Buff.) You must be present to receive the special QR discount code.
One of the things about writing grants for a nonprofit organization is that, because grant deadlines often come well in advance of the programs for which you are seeking support, you have to bring a certain amount of imagination to the process. What programs do I envision putting on a year or more from now? What themes and topics might be resonant with audiences? Who are the partners that I might like to approach as co-presenters? The process is a useful one because it forces you to think beyond the day-to-day realities of the organization to dream about where you might be headed — and why.
Thankfully, when I applied for National Endowment for the Arts support back in 2025, the NEA itself provided a couple of very useful guideposts. First, they were keen to accept proposals from organizations seeking with their programs to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary and the Declaration of Independence. That was a relative no-brainer for me, as I loved the idea of marking our nation’s anniversary in some way, using the medium of documentary storytelling as the vehicle for doing so.
Thus, we proposed a documentary screening series to be held throughout the state of Arkansas from April through July. And, now with generous support from the NEA, that series kicks off on April 23rd with the launch of our America250 celebration at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. On that evening, we are partnering with the University and Hot Springs’ own Gateway Community Association to put on the UAPB Film Festival, plus The Baddest Speechwriter of All, a new short documentary directed by two-time Oscar-winner and HSDFF alum Ben Proudfoot and basketball icon Stephen Curry.
In a nice bit of overlapping priorities, the NEA was encouraging its grantees to partner with HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) just as I was thinking of ways to team up with the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, a 153-year-old 1890 Land-Grant HBCU. UAPB is the oldest HBCU in Arkansas and the only one that is a public university.
We benefitted from more good timing when it turned out that UAPB was planning to hold its annual UAPB Film Festival at the same time that we were proposing a documentary film screening at the university. So, we decided to combine forces. We would curate a special night of films, including new UAPB student-directed films along with a new documentary short to be programmed by HSDFF.
So, what documentary to show? Once again, fate shined upon us. I happened to see Ben Proudfoot’s sublime new documentary short at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Ben, a two-time Oscar-winner (and HSDFF jury prize winner), has an amazing ability to find remarkable people to profile and a unique creative approach to bring those stories to life. The Baddest Speechwriter of All is the latest proof of that. The film, also directed by Stephen Curry, profiles Dr. Clarence B. Jones, a lawyer, speechwriter and close aide to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Clarence B. Jones at the Lincoln Memorial.
And there we have it — the connective tissue to America250. In 1958, King delivered a stirring commencement address at Arkansas AM&N College, now UAPB. Five years later, in August 1963, Jones would write the first part of the famous “I Have a Dream” speech that King delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. In that speech, King said, “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men — yes, Black men as well as white men — would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Those words — and even more important — the struggles and achievements of the Civil Rights Movement would help bring the U.S. closer to the ideals that the Founding Fathers signed on to 250 years ago. Now, that’s something to celebrate.
Please join us on Thursday, April 23 at the SJ Parker 1890 Extension Complex auditorium at 2300 L.A. “Prexy” Davis Drive for the kickoff of our America250 series. The event is free, but we encourage registration here.
There will be a reception at 5:00 PM, doors open at 5:30 PM and the program begins at 6:00 PM. We are thrilled to be hosting Tim Johnson, one of the editors of The Baddest Speechwriter of All for a Q&A following the screening of the film.
Special thanks to Mary Hester-Clfton, Director of Communications at UAPB and Randy Kelley, Television Program Manager UAPB TV.
