nowhere close to halfway

nowhere close to halfway does not offer neat resolutions. Instead, the seven films included in this program dwell in the ongoing attempt, the search, the still-unfulfilled—and, to varying degrees, the necessity of continually reaching for both what might be and what could have been. nowhere close to halfway holds within it a restless yearning that propels the program forward—an unresolved desire pulses through each of the films, manifesting as a longing for connection, family, home, nation, and self-determined futures.

In Eri Saito’s Social Circle, the narrator tries to make sense of her solitude through a critique of social pleasantries, such as the disingenuous invitation “When are we grabbing that drink?” while the audience gauges her story for signs of loneliness.

Offline Messages by Jia-chae Chang critically reflects on nostalgia through the tethers that bind one’s hometown across generations, cycles of colonialism, writers, and the filmmaking process, while Annie Sakkab’s غنينا قصيدة The Poem We Sang is dreamlike and steeped in nostalgia. Yet, its perfect memories fracture as moments of violence—both past and present—puncture the narrative.

In On and On and On, Evelyn Pakinewatik collapses time to share a prophecy by Elder Albert Ward. Alex Lo’s humorous film, Why Do Ants Go Back To Their Nest?, attempts to bridge an impossible distance—both spatially and temporally—in order to reach home. Meanwhile, Ayo Akingbade connects the dots between New York and London, trying to bring a dream to life in her most recent film, Keep Looking.

Mona Benyamin introduces us to the Lunar Embassy and the possibilities might hold in Moonscapes, while in We Are Not Alone, a film by Adebukola Bodunrin, explores an unlikely partnership born out of necessity after aliens make their presence known to Earthlings, and closes with an invitation: “Do you have beer?”

nowhere close to halfway, the title borrowed from Why Do Ants Go Back To Their Nest?, suggests both overwhelming distance and anticipates a possibility of togetherness. The works presented in this screening resist closure while acknowledging sites of connection in the wavering dislocation of exile and forced migration, the shifting terrain of language and communication, and the search for meaning in the spaces between you and I.