a mother refuses a lie and an act of witness becomes an act of solidarity.

At a women’s shelter, a Native mother with a black eye faces her abusive ex when he arrives with flowers and a sad apology. She has to decide whether to accept the performance or see the truth.

I made this in 507 during my first semester at USC to explore the performative nature of apology. The inspiration for this came from 2024 Joe Biden apology to Native people for the history of Indian boarding schools. In the middle of his speech, a woman stood up and asked what about the people in Gaza. The crowd tried to shut her down, but she kept going. It was a break in the script, a refusal to let ceremony and polished words distract from the violence happening right now.

I thought about how our communities have responded to the atrocities being committed against Indigenous Palestinians, from elders carrying stories of survival to youth raising their voices in the streets. This film is shaped by that same instinct to interrupt, to refuse the comfort of empty gestures, and to stay with the truth even when it’s unwelcome. It leans on what Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang write about in their work on refusal, rejecting moves that only ease guilt or protect power for those who caused the harm. A real apology is not performance. It’s risk, it’s loss. Until that happens, we keep naming the harm, refusing the distraction, and standing with each other.

Tia Blais Billie — Native mother
Qasim Mteuzi — Son
Nadine Salameh — Palestinian woman
Victoria Smith — Women’s shelter intake worker
Barret Lewis — The Ex
Diana Dray — Secret Service

Jessica Silva — Producer
Max Zhang — Director of Photography
Marcelus Leyva — A/C
alika mteuzi — Writer / Director / Editor
Sammy Shiblaq — Music

Midge Costin — Sound
Sam Rocco — Directing
Neal Brown — Cinematography
Christopher Cooke — Editing
David Hemphill — Producing