These six short docs profile fascinating people in some incredibly insightful ways. Persistence of Vision chronicles the experiences of blind photographer John Dugdale and the changes in his creative process after his loss of vision. Libertad is the inspiring story of Alejandra, an incredibly charming health care worker in the Bay Area, who always knew deep down inside that she was a chola, not a cholo. In Mezzo, we meet 25-year-old Breanna Sinclaire, a talented African American opera singer and the first openly transwoman to study at a major conservatory—right here in San Francisco. In A Doll’s Eyes, Jonathan Wysocki searches for the meaning behind his lifelong obsession with the movie Jaws only to discover a fear deeper than the shark stalking his imagination. Those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s live an average of eight years after their symptoms first become noticeable—it’s been 12 years for Greg when we meet him and his partner of 40 years, Michael, in the incredibly moving, Alzheimer’s: A Love Story. In the sublime SXSW 2016 Jury Award-winning film, _These Ccksucking Tears, we’re introduced to Patrick Haggerty, the man behind the world’s first and only gay-themed country music album, _Lavender Country*, 40 years after its release.

— Kevin Schaub