New Releases from New Day Films, 2026, Part 1
As a Farmer and a Filmmaker, I Like to See Things Grow. That Includes Six New Releases from New Day Films.
My job is to make fertile ground for new filmmakers in the co-op. To help launch new films for licensing and introduce the filmmakers who are topic experts for our Film & Speaker program. The harvest has been fruitful this year, so much so that this is only part one. Six films here and more to come.
Juanma Pagan Teitelbaum • Launch Lead, New Day films
A young woman surfer in Bangladesh defying cultural prohibitions; a lyrical portrait of Northern Maine’s borderlands that poses fresh thinking about our immigration policies; a poignant love story of an Abstract Expressionist and his long-time widow; ethnic Chinese survivors of a 1960s Indian internment camp finding empowerment through group connection, Young Asian- American activists battling a resurgence of anti-Asian hate in our country; ethnically and generationally diverse women confronting body image and discovering resilience through on-line dance– these unusual, creative and compelling stories all stimulate discussion and new thoughts about social justice, change and activism. And like all the titles in the New Day Films catalog, our new additions illuminate, inspire and challenge. Check them out!
Nasima
By Heather Kessinger, 85 min.
In Bangladesh, 14-year-old Nasima Akter encounters surfing—a sport particularly forbidden for women in a place where even swimming in public is culturally prohibited. Despite having no role models or proper equipment, she is soon beating top boys. Radiant and unapologetic on camera, we watch as Nasima goes up against centuries of cultural norms that insist on female compliance. As the teenager comes of age, she is increasingly thrust into the limelight, forced to consider the responsibility and burden of becoming a celebrity role model, even while the personal toll is staggering.
La Frontière
By Katy Haas, 36 min.
La Frontière is a poetic portrait of Northern Maine’s borderlands. It reflects on, and reframes, a discussion of border policy in America by looking at our largest but rarely-examined border with Canada. This exploration of history and culture on the six-hundred and eleven mile-long frontier between Maine and its northern neighbors Quebec and New Brunswick features stories from Wabanaki and Acadian communities, farmers, people who used to work and live at Loring Air Force Base, and young women competing in the annual Potato Blossom Festival. It is an instructive and poignant story of connection, resilience, and the subtle yet profound impact of borders on both individuals and communities.
Woman in the Sky
By Max Woertendyke, 16 min.
Woman in the Sky tells the extraordinary story of Magda Salvesen, who met Abstract Expressionist Jon Schueler in Scotland in 1970. Now in her 80s, Magda has single handedly kept Schueler’s legacy alive. What emerges here is an epic love story writ small across hundreds of canvases and thousands of pieces of archival grade paper. Featuring stunning cinematography of the Scottish landscapes that inspired both artist and guardian, viewers witness the often-invisible work of art preservation – from managing museum relationships to maintaining the artist's vision – as well as glimpsing the power these works have, not just as aesthetic objects, but as relics of a decades-long intimate partnership.
Making Waves: The Rise of Asian America
By Jon Osakiand Josh Chuck, 58 min.
The 1968 student strikes at UC Berkeley and San Francisco State were just the beginning. Making Waves documents Asian American activism as a strategy to address anti-Asian hate, fighting a current nationwide backlash against ethnic studies,. Many states have enacted laws to prevent the teaching of systemic racism, and created an atmosphere that has led to book bans, policies eliminating diversity and inclusion practices, and the erasure, in history curricula, of atrocities targeting communities of color. Against this backdrop, a new generation of student activists are stepping forward with determination, demanding their stories be taught throughout the country, without censorship, and with complexity and depth.
Why We Dance
By Michal Goldman, 36 min.
Why We Dance documents a Zumba Gold class taught over Zoom started during the Pandemic and continuing afterward. This community of geographically and ethnically diverse women from their 40s into their 80s confront body image, seek renewed community, and discover resilience, even as they approach and join the grandmother generation. Led by their charismatic and compassionate teacher, Ketty Rosenfeld, an Indonesian immigrant in her sixties, the women dance together virtually, gaining physical and emotional strength while supplying each other with mutual support. This joy-filled film encourages us to consider the importance of intergenerational engagement and older women's participation in it.
Voices of Deoli
ByLulu Men, 85 min.
Voices of Deoli uncovers the little-known incarceration of Chinese-Indian civilians following the 1962 Sino-Indian War. This film tracks a small yet resilient community of survivors of the Deoli Internment Camp in Rajasthan, India, where they were each imprisoned for up to five years during the 1960s. Decades later, now living in North America, they band together to seek recognition and justice. Their journey reveals the lasting human cost of war, forced migration, and state-sanctioned displacement. The survivors gain strength by sharing their personal histories, develop mutual support and create a feeling of individual and group empowerment.