On October 14, 1947, Captain Chuck Yeager accomplished what many thought was impossible: he broke the sound barrier and in doing so, changed aviation history forever. Behind this remarkable achievement was a dedicated team of rocket scientists and engineers, and one incredible plane, a Bell X-1 named "Glamorous Glennis." This is the story of the plane and the people who dared to travel faster than the speed of sound, pushing flight science forward and proving that no matter the barrier, humanity can find a way to break through.
Colors of Character is a theatrical-length documentary film, featuring Steve Skipper's full amazing-but-true story. It includes interviews with key people in Steve's life, from ministers to sports figures to Civil Rights icons.
Ruth Finley, a pocket-sized woman of immense determination, has been the queen of the fashion industry since the 1930s. As a young mother, Ruth created the iconic pink Fashion Calendar, a publication that continues to organize and marshal American fashion today. Featuring Bill Cunningham, Carolina Herrera, Nicole Miller, Diane von Furstenberg, and more, this joyous profile is a love letter to fashion and the extraordinary life of one remarkable woman.
Origin of the Species is an experimental documentary that explores the current climate of android development with a focus on human/machine relations, gender and the ethical implications of this research. The film provides an insider look into cutting edge laboratories in Japan and the USA where scientists attempt to make robots move, speak and look human. These scientists and their discoveries are contextualized with cinematic and pop culture references, to underline the mythic, comic and uncanny aspects of our aspiration to create machines that are eerily similar to ourselves.
In the 1980s, Corey Pegues found himself embroiled in a life of crime as a member of New York’s City’s infamous Supreme Team gang. After an incident forces Pegues away from the streets, he unexpectedly emerges as a rising star in the NYPD, his past unknown to his fellow officers. A decorated 21-year police career is threatened when his political stances and revelations about his former life cause strife within the police community.
The remarkable history and legacy of one of the most important works of art to come out of the age of AIDS -- Bill T. Jones’ tour-de-force ballet "D-Man in the Waters."
Virtuoso Afro-Cuban-born brothers—violinist Ilmar and pianist Aldo—live on opposite sides of a geopolitical chasm a half-century wide. Tracking their parallel lives in New York and Havana, their poignant reunion, and their momentous first performances together, Los Hermanos/The Brothers suggests what is possible when walls come down, and borders are crossed. A nuanced, intensely moving view of nations long estranged, through the lens of music and family. Featuring an electrifying, genre-bending score composed by Cuban Aldo López-Gavilán, performed with his American brother, Ilmar, with a guest appearance by violin maestro Joshua Bell and the Harlem Quartet.
Exploring the fallout of MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini's startling discovery that facial recognition does not see dark-skinned faces accurately, and her journey to push for the first-ever legislation in the U.S. to govern against bias in the algorithms that impact us all.
The thrilling story of an elite group of Cuban spies sent undercover to the US in the 1990s. From their recruitment, training and eventual capture on US soil; this film peers into a secret world of false identities, love affairs and betrayal. Using never seen before footage from the Cuban Film Institute’s archive and first-hand testimony from the people at the heart of this story, Castro’s Spies gives a rare glimpse into the shadowy world of a spy – where the stakes are life and death.
Following the success of Darcy Weir's explosively popular Bigfoot documentary, The Unwonted Sasquatch, he is back with a follow up feature to flesh out the history of this creature and it's possible Relic Hominid cousins internationally. Since the days of Ancient Mesopotamia man-like humanoids have appeared in myths and legends of cultures from around the world. Today the best known wildman tale that people still say they see roaming the wilds of North America is better known as the Sasquatch or Big Foot. But there are other well known legends of wildmen from across the globe such as the Yeti, the Russian Almasty and the Yeren Man-Ape which is a commonly known as a Chinese relative to Big Foot.
An assaulted teen gives birth in the deep south and receives conflicting narratives about her infant's fate. 36 years later, her mother gives a deathbed confession that the baby never died. A filmmaker helps her uncover the truth.
This documentary film follows the lives of two drag queens Laveau Contraire and Franky Canga as they prepare for a weekend of New Orleans' queer celebration of identity, Southern Decadence.
Waging Change weaves the stories of individual workers such as Nataki Rhodes of Chicago and Naomi Debebe of Detroit with the efforts of thousands of restaurant workers across the country to demand respect and one fair wage.
The story of Six Flags New Orleans, a theme park devastated by Hurricane Katrina that has become a holy grail of sorts for urban exploration and the efforts to restore the park to its former glory.
After claiming the first descent of the world’s deepest canyon, five university students from Krakow risk it all to fight for democracy in the Eastern Bloc.
It took his whole life to live and three full years to film Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man. Filmed in four countries with more than 80 interviews from artists with a combined 58 Grammy Awards by the artist included, “Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man,” an Allen Farst film, is the cinematic documentary that shines a light on one of the greatest rock’n roll pianists and keyboardists over the last 40 years. Not just known for his musical influence, Leavell is also one of the biggest names in environmental forestry and was selected the National Tree Farmer of the Year in the United States. -His commitment to the planet and his strong family ties are refreshing reminders to be kind and treat your neighbor with respect. As Leavell puts it, “if you cut a tree down, plant two for the next guy.”
SKY BLOSSOM is a raw, uplifting window into 24.5 million children and millennials stepping forward as frontline heroes. Caring for family with tough medical conditions, they stay at home doing things often seen only in hospitals. They are cheerleaders, work part time, and go to college - but also live double lives - quietly growing up as America's next greatest generation. The filmmaker, veteran journalist and award-winning CNN/MSNBC news anchor Richard Lui says the interviews were so honest they genuinely surprised him, as they revealed insights into the lives of young people across America. Troops used to look up and say, "Here come the Sky Blossoms"-paratroopers rushing to their aid. Today, there is a new generation answering that call. These are their stories.