The Short Films of Elizabeth Lo

A remarkable talent in the documentary arena, Elizabeth Lo's moving films highlight American societies' overlooked communities as they navigate the increasing states of inequality. Often forgotten, or even subjugated, by official institutions, Lo's sharp eye captures subjects young and old across the social spectrum, their communities, and the often makeshift solutions to these urgent public issues.

Hotel 22, 9 min

An early morning bus route serves as an ad-hoc shelter for Palo Alto's homeless.

FILMMAKER'S STATEMENT: "I was interested in making a film that took place entirely on a bus because I was intrigued by the idea of public transportation as these socially dynamic spaces where a collision of classes can reveal something about society."
-Elizabeth Lo

Some Explicit Language

Bisonhead, 9 min

A family of Ponderai Native Americans attempt to exercise their treaty rights of a traditional bison hunt under the constraints placed on them by the government.

FILMMAKER'S STATEMENT:"I was interested in exploring a lot of complicated questions around the continued colonization of the West: what it means to assert tribal sovereignty today, who national parks are really created for, what does entitlement to land look and feel like...from a formal perspective, I was interested in making a film that had the controlled aesthetic of a Western - a nonfiction take on the genre but from the contemporary perspective of a real Ponderai Native American family and their lived experience."
-Elizabeth Lo

Mother's Day (co-directed with R. J. Lozada), 8 min

A powerful portrait of a charity-run service that buses children to visit their imprisoned mothers explores the impact of mass-incarceration on a generation of youth.

FILMMAKER'S STATEMENT:"We made Mother's Day to remind us of the steep price an entire generation of youth -- and by extension, our nation -- has to pay because of systems that remain broken across America. The incarceration epidemic is not just today's problem; it's a structural disaster that stretches across generations, and will be with us for many years to come."
-Elizabeth Lo

Notes from Buena Vista, 9 min

In the shadows of wealth-collecting Silicon Valley, the area's last working-class mobile home park faces an existential crisis.

FILMMAKER'S STATEMENT:"Through portraits of the many families that live in the mobile home park, I hope that this film will glimpse into the lives of these residents and reveal what's at stake for Palo Alto if this entire community of 400 residents is forced out of it."
-Elizabeth Lo

Treasure Island (co-directed with Melissa Langer), 7 minutes

Follows the children of families housed in San Francisco's public housing units, located on a former naval base still teeming with nuclear waste.

FILMMAKER'S STATEMENT: "Treasure Island explores how children living in public housing on a former naval base have created fantastical stories about the real dangers they face due to the radiation buried beneath their homes. We were interested in how children internalized threats that emerge out of the intersections between class and environmental issues."
-Elizabeth Lo

Last Stop in Santa Rosa, 5 minutes

Lo's first film profiles the Bright Haven animal hospice in Santa Rosa and raises questions about the common practice of euthanasia for pets.

FILMMAKER'S STATEMENT:"I hoped to raise more universal questions about what it means to induce death -- or prolong life -- in both people and animals. At its core, this is a film about the dilemmas we face when our loved ones near the end stages of life."

-Elizabeth Lo

Preview link available upon request. Contact support@videoproject for more information

Films directed by Elizabeth Lo

Mother's Day directed w/ R. J. Lozada Treasure Island directed w/Melissa Langer

47 minutes • Closed Captioned

Grades 9 - Adult

Item #: ELO-1128

Series of short films highlighting overlooked communities in America

Starting at $79

Licensing Options

K-12 Schools, Public Libraries, Community Groups -$79 K-12 DVD + Digital File - $129 Colleges, Businesses, Institutions: DVD - $175 Colleges (DVD with Digital Site License) - $325 Community Screenings: Please Complete 'Host a Screening' Form found on top menu bar K-12 School District pricing available. Please inquire at [email protected]

Reviews and Festivals

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"HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. The Short Films of Elizabeth Lo is a beautifully photographed collection...These documentaries provide an intimate window into understanding the variety of experiences of people in society...These films all share a social conscience."
— Educational Media Reviews Online

"Important short documentary, highlights the growing wealth gap in San Francisco as the recent tech boom displaces more and more homeless people."
— Independent Magazine

"The close quarters of the bus and Lo's tightly cropped shots have an immersive effect. For the short time the film runs, the viewer is on that bus. You feel the exhaustion, the tension, the unpredictability of the environment."
— The Atlantic, CityLab

WINNER
CAAMFest, APCA Short Film Award
Cinema Eye Honors, Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking
Krakow Film Festival, Golden Dragon Award for Best Short Film,
CineMigrante Film Festival, Best Documentary Short

FEATURED ON
VIMEO Short of the Week
National Geographic Short Film Showcase
The Atlantic
PBS' POV Broadcast Series

OFFICIAL SELECTION
Sundance
New York Times Op-Docs
DOK Lepizig
Los Angeles Film Festival
San Francisco International Film Festival
Big Sky
Cinequest

"[Bisonhead] offers an understated and powerful glimpse into the struggle to keep ancient traditions alive, the marginalization of indigenous people and the slippery definitions of the word 'freedom'."
— Telluride Mountainfilm Festival

"[Bisonhead] is a quietly devastating glimpse into the modern indigenous struggle, focused just as intently on the snowy land and sturdy bison, as it is on the faces of the native tribe...Gracefully documents the gutted native culture attempting to persevere."
— No Budge

Screened at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian Native Cinema Showcase

OFFICIAL SELECTION
AFI Docs
DOC NYC
Telluride Mountainfilm
Big Sky
BAM Cinemafest
Los Angeles Film Fesetival
True/False

"A powerful short brimming with real-life emotion...Lo and Lozada's doc aims its gaze at the most heartbreaking and resonating element of this story - children growing up with absent Mother's."

— Short of the Week

"It is heartbreaking to watch the kids visit their moms in Mother's Day and those powerful images stay with you long after the film is over."
— Educational Media Reviews Online

WINNER
SF Docfest, Audience Award for Best Short Documentary

2017 VIMEO Staff Pick
Vimeo Short of the Week

OFFICIAL SELECTION
Tribeca
SF Docfest
New York Times Op Doc
New Orleans Film Festival
Camden International Film Festival
Palm Springs ShortsFest
DocYard

"[Notes from Buena Vista] provided a rare opportunity to move beyond a theoretical discussion about affordable housing and witness real examples of working families struggling to find housing they can afford."
— Silicon Valley Community Foundation

WINNER
Ann Arbor Film Festival, No Violence Award

OFFICIAL SELECTION
Cinequest
Atlanta Film Festival
Ann Arbor Film Festival

"Ethical, class, and environmental issues in San Francisco begin to surface through this collision of fantasy and realism."
— CAAMFest

WINNER
Brooklyn Film Festival, Spirit Award for Best Documentary

OFFICIAL SELECTION
Hot Docs Films Festival
Big Sky
CAAMFest
Brooklyn Film Festival
SF Docfest
AIASF Architecture + The City Festival

"[Last Stop in Santa Rosa] is hauntingly simple and beautifully executed. Delicately balances her subject matter,visually echoing a line uttered by one of her subjects: ‘What we see is what we see from the outside.’"
— KQED

WINNER
Black Maria Film Festival, Director's Choice 3rd Prize
San Francisco Film Society's Beyond Film School Showcase, Special Jury Mention

OFFICIAL SELECTION
DOC NYC
Big Sky
SF DocFest
Cinequest
Red Rock Film Festival

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The Short Films of Elizabeth Lo

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