Are you convinced that there were no voting irregularities in 2004? Then witness Fannie Lewis in action on November 2, 2004 as she struggles to manage a polling station in a predominantly African American precinct in Cleveland, Ohio. Facing record numbers at the polls, Ms. Lewis spends her day on a cell phone begging for the machines and the technical support Ward 7 needs to handle the throngs of frustrated voters. On the one hand, No Umbrella is a sobering reminder of the United States’ inadequate election process. But the film sharpens its satiric edge by emphasizing Fannie Lewis’s steadfast sassiness in the face of the day’s frustratingly repetitive rituals. This delightful documentary won the Jury Award for Best Short at the 2006 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.
