#BlackBoyJoyGone

Director: Hannah Berryman

Year: 2024

A landmark feature documentary about astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command the Space Shuttle. Eileen’s incredible journey starts with her smalltown beginnings, sees her smash through many glass ceilings, and culminates in four dramatic space shuttle missions, the last being possibly the most dangerous and most important of them all. At its heart the film is the moving human drama of one family, where a mother’s extraordinary career takes us straight to the big philosophical question of what is the level of acceptable risk in human endeavour? This film celebrates Commander Collins’ trailblazing NASA career which opened the way for women to become spacecraft pilots and commanders, and proved a perfect riposte to a previous generation of male astronauts who thought there was no place for women to lead the way in space. Official Selection DOC NYC 2024 - World premiere Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025 - European premiere

Director: Konadu Gyamfi

Year: 2023

Konadu Yiadom Gyamfi takes a poetry-led journey through Ghana and the experience of female welder Stella A true story captured through poetry, director and poet Konadu Yiadom Gyamfi follows the journey of Stella, a female welder from Uganda. Shot in Ghana, the film showcases the profound impact of faith in guiding her towards success in a world that often challenges her path as a woman. “There are so many diverse and captivating stories to be explored within this beautiful and complex continent but we don’t often hear the stories of women from their own mouths. Platforming stories like Stella’s is how we start moving forward in portraying Africa and its people.” Defying expectations through her resilience and passionate dedication to her craft, Stella transcended early challenges she faced by entering into a program for young women, now a working welder in spite of societal beliefs regarding women’s roles. Evolving over several months of close collaboration between Stella and Gyamfi, the film illustrates Stella's life and the local landscape through insightful conversations tracing her path into welding, lensing a remarkable reality that confronts narratives on African women that strip away their agency.

Director: Tatiana Stark

Year: 2025

As thousands of people travel to see the total solar eclipse in Texas, one woman drives from Dallas to New Mexico, in search of a legal abortion. Concurrently, people in a town off the Interstate she is driving along decide whether to crack down on 'abortion traffickers' like her. Official Selection Odense Film Festival 2025