Box 1 features three theatrical performances. Love at First Slice and A Cup of T were produced and filmed specifically for BoxFest Detroit 2020. These directors used their creativity to experiment with theatrical storytelling in a post-Covid world. Selections from Cleopatra Boy presents excerpts from A Host of People’s devised production, Cleopatra Boy, featuring live music, projections, toy theater and more to examine justice and representation.

Box 2 features three compelling stories, all told through documentary film. Breaking the Cycle follows the private life of Indi Jackson, a record-breaking college athlete, revealing that life’s biggest challenges are often encountered off the field. The Way of Art shares the riveting and precarious journey of one theatre’s quest to bring a giant puppet to life, and The Impact examines MSU students’ responses to racially biased incidents.

Box 3 features five narrative films that are sure to entertain. Chatterboxing! delights as the festival’s only animated short. Personal trials take center stage in the substance-fueled dramedy, A Basement Film, and ASTRAY: The Justification of Grace, a story with faith-based themes. A Good Day is a surreal, existential trip, and Flame Out offers an apocalyptic tale of interpersonal strife. Day of Reckoning unsettles as the only horror short.

Box 4 rounds out the festival with five more narrative shorts. The coming-of-age story, golden, and The Idler, a gloomy rendition, explore university life and beyond in very different ways. Future Shock is a time traveling romp of pandemic proportions, and unexpected romance finds its way in of Masquerade and Rhymes. The dark comedy Taco Soup shows that a holiday family dinner can offer more than any of the guests bargain for.