Cinema is most powerful when it leaves the screen and enters the room. On April 11th, Sandy Siquier and I screened Domestic Animals at Lugar Común in Miami, hosted by Grupo de la Diversidad Terapéutica, a collective of Spanish-speaking mental health professionals. What followed was an hour and a half of dialogue that bridged cinema, psychology, and community. Exactly what this film was made for.

Domestic Animals, co-directed by Sandy Siquier and Alex Mendez Giner, won the Evelyn Hibbs Domestic Violence Awareness Award at the 27th Bare Bones International Independent Film & Music Festival in Muskogee, Oklahoma. The filmmakers also presented the panel "Lessons from the Set: Directing and Visualizing Domestic Violence" at the Three Rivers Museum, joined by Evelyn Hibbs of the WISH Foundation, bringing cinema and advocacy into conversation.

There's something particularly meaningful about showing your work to students who are standing exactly where you once stood. Last week, Sandy Siquier and I had the privilege of screening our short film Domestic Animals in Guinevere Turner's Career Prep class, a course designed for senior filmmaking students navigating the transition from academic training into professional practice.