Short Strand Part I: Against the Grain

A dynamic collection of shorts revealing the fight for truth—spotlighting whistleblowers, documentarians, and the power of going on the record. The screenings will be followed by a Q&A. Door open at 12:30 PM. An Unknown Substance | directed by Steven Leckart | 39 min What makes a person risk everything to bring out evidence, when powerful interests would rather it disappeared? In Steven Leckart's An Unknown Substance , Evgenia Kara-Murza becomes the public voice of her husband, Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza, after he is sentenced to 25 years for speaking out against the war in Ukraine. Late at night she transcribes the columns he writes by hand in prison. Wild East | directed by Maia Wikler | 39 min In Wild East , a Romanian environmentalist faces down threats of violence to document allegedly illegal logging of some of Romania’s last ancient forests for a global conglomerate, and to trace where that wood ends up. (Hint: It's closer than you think.) About the Double Exposure Film Festival On the Record: Evidence in an Age of Doubt Alongside premieres of bold new short films, the DX Public Forum brings panels, workshops, and conversations that open the tools of accountability filmmaking to all. The festival is grounded in the idea that the rights to document, to question, and to demand transparency do not belong solely to journalists. The ability to film in public spaces, to access public records, to recognize manipulated media—these are shared civic tools. The MLK Library welcomes audiences who have felt the ground shift under what they thought they knew, and who come seeking clarity, context, and a deeper understanding of how truth is made—and unmade—today. To learn more visit: https://dxfest.com/ Join us for workshops and panels from the Double Exposure Investigative Journalism Film Festival, presented in partnership with 100Reporters: 11:00 am-12:15 PM - The People’s Archive: What’s In It, How to Use It 11:30 am-12:45 PM - Restoring Reality: A Wayback Machine Deep Dive 1:00 PM-2:30 PM - Short Strand Part I: Against the Grain 3:00 PM-5:00 PM - S hort Strand Part II: Minneapolis