The Long Beach Community Media Arts Film Club (LBCMA) and Echo Park Film Center hosted a night of new short films at PLACE Long Beach on Sept. 27, supported in part by the Arts Council for Long Beach.
Community members view the screenings at Place Long Beach on Sept. 27, 2025 in Long Beach, California. The program, presented by Long Beach Community Media Arts in partnership with Echo Park Film Center Collective, showcased personal documentary, essay and diary films. (Isaiah Ryan)
The event featured personal documentaries, essay films, and diary-style works, all curated by the LBCMA Film Club.
The screening also included “A Living Archive: Multi-Generational Stories from Long Beach,” a new collaborative film project, and documentary shorts created through Echo Park Film Center’s free Summer Intro to Documentary Filmmaking Workshop.
Filmmaker Tomboy Barbi speaks about their film “LA LOTERIA” at Place Long Beach on Sept. 27, 2025 in Long Beach, California. The program, presented by Long Beach Community Media Arts in partnership with Echo Park Film Center Collective, showcased personal documentary, essay and diary films. (Isaiah Ryan)
Each film offered a distinct and personal point of view, which touched on themes of family, identity and resilience.
One short film followed an immigrant father who engineered a homemade e-bike, nicknamed “Chopper Frankenstein,” with multiple batteries powerful enough to climb the steep hills of San Pedro. The story, filmmaker David Rodriguez explained, symbolizes perseverance.
“Everyone has hills in their life. ‘Ponte Las Pilas’ which translates to put in your batteries, but the connotation means put your heart and soul into it and do it well,” said Rodriguez.
Another film documented a father’s relationship with his two daughters through 235 drawings he created for their lunchboxes as they were kids. Some of the drawings have been animated and are planned to be wheat pasted around Los Angeles as a public art project.
Other works explored topics such as death, love, sorrow, grief, self acceptance and joy, all through a lens of liberation and hope. As well as short docs on the lives of ants and an expert typewriter repairman.
LBCC student and regular visitor to Place Long Beach, Vanessa Covington, said the event reflected the growing presence of community based art spaces in the city.
“Having a real community place, especially in an area that can get overlooked, shows that there’s a live art community here. Film can feel like such a gate kept medium, so it’s inspiring to see people from similar backgrounds making beautiful art.” Covington said.
Filmmaker Jacqueline “Jacks” Zaragoza described their piece as both creative and deeply personal.
Filmmaker Jacqueline “Jacks” Zaragoza pauses for a portrait at Place Long Beach on Sept. 27, 2025 in Long Beach, California. The program, presented by Long Beach Community Media Arts in partnership with Echo Park Film Center Collective, showcased personal documentary, essay and diary films. (Isaiah Ryan)
“My film felt very therapeutic, I released a lot of things I was holding on from my childhood. At the end of the day, closure isn’t real. Things are just experiences, and you take what you can from them,” Zaragoza said.
“The music I made for the film was meant to emulate that feeling of an existential crisis and anxiety attack, like when your heart’s palpitating and your skin tightens around your throat,” Zaragoza said.
The evening’s lineup reflected the collaborative spirit shared by all involved. The organizers’ mission, to make filmmaking accessible, affordable and community centered came through in every piece screened.
“At a place like Place LB, you feel the love. Everyone pushes each other past their limits. Don’t just use your creativity to survive, use it to express yourself.” Zaragoza said.
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