The Panola Project is a delightful and vital story of a small town woman’s dedication to getting her community access to the COVID-19 vaccine. Dorothy Oliver, a local store owner, is the focus of this doc, and her strong drive to help the small town of Panola, Ala., receive the medical care they need is absolutely infectious. “It’s in my heart to do what I need to do to help people,” she declares midway through the short, and directors Rachael DeCruz (helming her first film) and Jeremy S. Levine (For Akheem) seem to take that dedicated spirit to heart, presenting what could be difficult subject matter in these divided times and turning it into something incredibly uplifting. A strong call to action to get vaccinated as well as a beautiful portrait of an inspiring human being, The Panola Project proves that the world needs more Dorothy Olivers. Grade: A-minus —Josh McCormack

Directors D.L. Anderson and Matt Durning present a joyful portrait of North Carolina gospel icon Lena Mae Perry in Stay Prayed Up, a music-filled feature that seems like a lock for the audience award — if this year’s festival was in-person. Largely unknown outside of Raleigh (where Perry once ran a soul food restaurant), the surrounding counties, and the gospel circuit, the octogenarian remains sharp as ever and a force on the mic and in her community, and it’s a pleasure to spend time getting to know her. Along the way, viewers are treated to some familiar faces from the NC music scene, including Phil Cook (whose mission to make an album with Perry forms the impetus for the film) and former Asheville resident Michael Libramento, two of the many individuals happily caught up in Perry’s glow. Straightforward almost to a fault, there’s not much special going on with the filmmaking besides some beautiful drone shots, but the people, places, and energy captured here are the main attraction and don’t require much embellishment. Grade: B-plus —Edwin Arnaudin

In 1988, Harvard psychologist Brendon Maher coined the term the "Martha Mitchell Effect,” describing a process in which a person's beliefs are initially labeled as delusional but later turn out to be true. The wife of Nixon-era attorney general John Mitchell, Martha was widely known as an outspoken and boisterous presence, which made her a hit with the media and a fascinating gateway into 1970s politics. But what started as a gimmick and somewhat of a sideshow turned sour when Nixon's lies and the Watergate scandal became front-page news. Being opinionated and friendly with reporters, Martha soon became the ultimate pariah of the Republican Party.  

Nixon called her "a hell of a menace" and was quoted as saying "If it hadn't been for Martha, there'd have been no Watergate." These quotes start Anne Alvergue’s and Debra McClutchy’s The Martha Mitchell Effect, kicking off a highly engaging and detailed account of the years Martha was a part of Nixon's campaign and presidency. There’s plenty of archival footage and interviews, and, of course, tape recordings of Nixon discussing Martha with his “fixers” and deciding what to do with her, which makes it extra surreal to see the blatant corruption and gaslighting of Martha over the last months before Nixon resigned. Told in a tight 40 minutes, the constant stream of information and names of people make it hard to keep things straight at times, but brevity and subject matter keep you interested and enlightened. Grade: B-plus —Joel Winstead

For a short film inspired by the drowning of a young Mexican father and his one-year-old daughter on a border crossing gone wrong, No Soy Óscar proves surprisingly positive and inspirational. Rather than bludgeon viewers with depressing imagery, director Jon Ayon uses the tragedy of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez as a lens through which to view his own life with a daughter of a similar age, reflecting on the consequences of what at heart is an arbitrary property line that all but determines the fate of a person, depending on which side they’re born. Through crisp visuals of the rugged terrain and poignant voiceover narration critiquing the unnecessary conflict, Ayon celebrates the resilience of indigenous people whose land has been divided. In turn, he brings a fresh perspective to a well-documented yet misunderstood issue, and very well may sway some hearts and minds in the process. Grade: B —EA

With an extremely short runtime of 15 minutes, Natalie Chao’s To Know Her finds the director attempting to gain closure after she loses her mother to clinical depression. Intercut with old and new footage captured by the same miniDV camera her mother once wielded, Natalie goes about asking and answering questions with her father, which she then presents as voiceover, paired with a montage of home videos. 

While the idea of achieving peace via home videos sounds creative and intimate, the brief runtime feels insufficient for viewers to connect with the daughter or her mission. Even at the end of the film, Natalie says she's done asking questions, and she's “good." The overall result feels a bit disingenuous and more than a little disjointed, and this stream-of-consciousness fails to elicit much empathy or vested interest, ending too abruptly for such a change to be believed. Grade: C —JW

(Photos courtesy of Full Frame)