During this screening Sawyer Avenue, Sunday Afternoon will be followed by No Man’s Air
Sawyer Avenue, Sunday Afternoon
“Migra! Migra! … ICE!” someone cries out in Spanish. Whistles are blown as burly masked men get out of cars and chase a young Latin American man through the streets, manhandle him to the ground and handcuff him. This is October 2025 in Chicago, during Operation Midway Blitz, part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented migrants who are branded as terrorists. The arrest attracts attention. Alarmed residents rush outside, some still in their nightclothes, and bombard the Border Patrol arrest team with questions. The situation escalates quickly: questions give way to shouted abuse, pushing and shoving, a collision and tear gas.
This example of Trump’s controversial and aggressive anti-immigration policies was filmed on residents’ phones and the arrest team’s body cameras, footage that was released as a result of a lawsuit. The resulting collage of images, often shown in split screen, captures the anger of local residents, the unease of the officers, who are themselves Latino, the resignation of the man being arrested, and the speed with which a peaceful neighborhood can erupt into chaos.
Bill Morrison, United States, 17 min
No Man’s Air
A Cyprus Airways pilot looks back on the last-ever flight to Nicosia Airport in July 1974. President Makarios has been ousted in a coup, and tourists are trying to leave the island.
The pilot first flies a full plane from Cyprus to London, then returns via Rome the following day with just seven passengers. All other flights have been canceled, leaving the airspace almost empty. On his radar, he sees Turkish ships gathering around the island. Reluctantly, he obeys the order to land in Nicosia, trying until the very last moment to obtain information about the impending Turkish invasion. On his approach to the airport, he realizes he is merely a pawn in a pre-written plot.
Today, the once-bustling hub lies in ruins, deserted in the demilitarized buffer zone, with a decommissioned airplane standing as a silent witness. Any access is prohibited. Therefore, all the footage in No Man’s Air is found material from the internet, edited and augmented with visual effects. In the film, the wrecked aircraft takes to the skies once again as the pilot recounts that long night and final flight.
Gerco de Ruijter, Peter Delpeut, Netherlands, 42 min