Four sex workers caught in the spiral of addiction turn to a self-proclaimed healer offering friendship and a path to salvation from the streets inside his roadside RV. But just as they begin to rebuild their lives, a shocking betrayal comes to light that will change them all.
Interviews, reenactments, animations, and more tell the story of the Black army regiments, formed after the Civil War, who played vital roles (from railroad builders to park rangers) in the American settling of the West.
Pigeon masters from across the globe compete in the highest-stakes bird races on the planet. Fame, fortune and livelihoods rest on the wings of these feathered athletes in this hilarious and charming story.
When a thriving, top-ranked African American elementary school is threatened to be replaced by a new high school favoring the community’s wealthier residents, parents, students and educators fight for the elementary school’s survival.
Director Yasmin C. Rams invites us on her journey to try and heal from epilepsy through several forms of therapy that are frowned upon by her own family. A first-person account that brims with charm and hope but is deeply rooted in skepticism, Yasmin’s film portrays people from all around the world who tell her about how they deal with their chronic illnesses using the tools of natural medicine. Will she stop having seizures?
The campaign to free Julian Assange takes on intimate dimensions in this documentary portrait of an elderly man’s fight to save his son. Arguably the world’s most famous political prisoner, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a figure pretty much everybody has an opinion about; perhaps more importantly, he serves as the emblem of an international arm wrestle over freedom of journalism, government corruption and unpunished war crimes. For his family members who face the prospect of losing him forever to the abyss of the US justice system, however, this David-and-Goliath struggle is personal – and, with his health declining in a British maximum-security prison and American government prosecutors pulling out all the stops to extradite him, the clock is ticking.
Opera confronts us with extremes of emotion, sometimes delivering unforgettable, life-changing experiences. Fuoro sacro (‘Sacred Fire’) seeks out singers who have the power to pierce our hearts, presenting three of them at work in the most intimate details of their rehearsals and preparations. Ermonela Jaho, Barbara Hannigan and Asmik Grigorian are watched closely as some of their secrets are revealed: how they inhabit their roles and transform words and notation on a page into that intangible but powerful magic being communicated to audiences from the opera stage. Over 90 minutes of extras are included featuring vocal warm-ups and live performances accompanied by pianists Evgenia Rubinova, Reinbert de Leeuw and Francesco Piemontesi.
A smoke-filled journey across the lives and the careers of the groundbreaking, genre-defying Hip Hop group, Cypress Hill. Their unique sound, influenced by their Latin roots and West Coast upbringing, was built on a movement rooted in true authenticity: from cultivating the flower, to smoking it, to rapping about it, their influence is forever burned into the musical landscape of Hip Hop as they continue to stay relevant after 30 years.
'Oski' is an intimate portrait of a young prodigy and the culture that surrounds him. A film documenting a year in the life of skateboarding sensation Oskar ‘Oski’ Rozenberg as he transforms from cool street skater to celebrity sportsman competing in the Olympics. The demands of being a sportman with a shot at the gold medal in Tokyo weighs hard on Oski. It’s obvious that he is not your everyday athlete. Can his sport, and his culture survive the transition from underground to mainstream? And will he loose himself and everything dear to him in the process? 'Oski' explores the history of a subculture at a pivotal point in its history and how a humble and different thinking athlete, loved and adored by thousands of skateboarders all around the world, struggles to find his own path in life as an adult and sportsman.
A young Jewish woman named Helena Citron is taken to Auschwitz, where she develops an unlikely romantic relationship with Franz Wunsch, a high-ranking SS officer. Thirty years later, a letter arrives from Wunsch's wife asking Helena to testify on Wunsch's behalf. Faced with an impossible decision, Helena must choose. Will she help the man who brutalized so many lives but saved hers?
Dave Evans was a renowned prosthetist, humanitarian and peace activist. A double amputee himself, he dedicated his post-military career to transforming lives shattered by these seemingly never-ending, interchangeable wars. From Syrian refugees in a prosthetics clinic in Amman, Jordan, to the fallout of war in places like Iraq, Dave chose a life of service to others.
Despite Blacks making up only 7% of Madison WI's population, they are leading in so many important areas from education to politics, and are launching so many multi-million dollar projects that people describe this period as a "Black Renaissance."
Barbara Marcel runs a film workshop at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Kinshasa. Starting with a discussion of the film The Lion Has Seven Heads by Glauber Rocha (Congo Brazzaville, 1969), the filmmaker questions the relationship between her country, Brazil, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Marlene offers an impassioned consideration of militant filmmaking.
At the death of her mother, Aga decides to leave her life in Germany with her partner Maja to look after her younger brother in Poland. To do this, she has to hide her love for another woman from the authorities. Closely following its protagonists, Silent Love delicately narrates their discreet struggle against a prying and viscerally homophobic society.
After the impressive Gulistan, Land of Roses (VdR 2016), the Kurdish filmmaker Zaynê Akyol returns with these conversations with imprisoned members of the Islamic State, alternating their words with aerial views of the countryside. An unexpected look at a far-reaching current political issue and a film whose subject matter and rhythm create an impressive cinematic object.
Gerry Anderson’s successful career spanned 60 years. Released a decade after his death, this documentary draws on exclusive access to over 30 hours of previously unpublished interviews, in order to share the untold stories that defined his life and body of work.
Discover the process behind Charli XCX’s 2020 quarantine album "how i'm feeling now", created in 40 days during the COVID-19 pandemic, including its semi-collaborative nature with her community of online fans.
Vast, wild, and remote, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is where some of the world’s greatest wildlife spectacles unfold. Situated in northeastern Alaska, this Refuge has long protected survivors of the Ice Age that still roam a frozen wilderness. Now, this icy fortress is melting due to climate change. For the caribou, musk oxen, polar bears, and Arctic foxes, the Ice Age is slipping away.
HipHop as a language and an outlet for young people: The film follows the youngest class members of a dance academy on their way to becoming professional dancers. Many of the students come from the socially deprived areas of Paris. Accompanied by a pulsating, dancing camera that pulls the audience right into the action, the film negotiates themes such as origins, pains, dreams and hopes.