A fragile and depressed university student disappears from his apartment in the middle of a cold winter's night. Four weeks later his name and photo explode across social media and into the mainstream media as 'suspect 2' in the Boston Marathon bombings. The search for truth by citizen journalists, mainstream journalists and members of social media Web sites derails with tragic consequences as collective fear and suspicion rule the day and rain down upon a vulnerable family. Exclusive access and never released footage reveal the enduring love of a family in crisis.
For a gay filmmaker, filming in Saudi Arabia presents two serious challenges: filming is forbidden in the country and homosexuality is punishable by death. For filmmaker Parvez Sharma, however, these were risks he had to assume as he embarked on his Hajj pilgrimage, a journey considered the greatest accomplishment and aspiration within Islam, his religion. On his journey Parvez aims to look beyond 21st-century Islam’s crises of religious extremism, commercialism and sectarian battles. He brings back the story of the religion like it has never been told before, having endured the biggest jihad there is: the struggle with the self.
On the edge of a crumbling city, 11-year-old Alexander lives in a sequestered commune alongside other children, their mothers, and charismatic leader, Gregori. Gregori teaches the children how to raise livestock, grow vegetables, work as a community - and how to kill. With the birth of a new baby brother weighing on his mind, Alexander begins to question Gregori’s overpowering influence on the children and their training to become assassins. Threatened by his increasing unwillingness to fall in line, Gregori’s behavior turns erratic and adversarial toward the child he once considered a son. With the two set dangerously at odds and the commune’s way of life disintegrating, the residents fear a violent resolution is at hand.
On 15 March 1921, Talat Pasha, a high-ranking Turkish dignitary, was shot dead in a Berlin street by a young Armenian. A few months later, Soghomon Tehlirian, his assassin, appeared before a German court. He faced the death penalty. Yet, during the trial, the victim gradually changed into the guilty party, and the accused was finally acquitted.
Venture out to the Masumoto Farm – eighty acres of prime, peach-growing orchards – where seven varieties of the sweet juicy fruit are cultivated to sun-kissed perfection by a dynamic father-and-daughter team of David “Mas” and Nikiko Masumoto. Director Jim Choi succinctly captures this underrepresented facet of the CA farming industry about an Asian American family-run business, three generations strong, which in turn presents us with the changing idea of the American Dream. - See more at: http://laapff.festpro.com/films/detail/changing_season_2015#sthash.54OdJcdi.dpuf
The Day the '60s Died chronicles May 1970, the month in which four students were shot dead at Kent State. The mayhem that followed has been called the most divisive moment in American history since the Civil War. From college campuses, to the jungles of Cambodia, to the Nixon White House, the film takes us back into that turbulent spring 45 years ago.
When Dr. Haing S. Ngor was forced into labor camps by the Khmer Rouge, little did he know he would escape years of torture and recreate his experiences in a film that would win him an Academy Award®. "The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor" tells the dramatic story about arguably the most recognizable survivor of the Cambodian genocide, a man who became a worldwide ambassador for justice in his homeland, only to be murdered in a Los Angeles Chinatown alley - a case still muddled with conspiracy theories. Through an inspired blend of original animation and rare archival material - anchored by Ngor's richly layered autobiography - the years encapsulating the Khmer Rouge's tyrannical rule over Cambodia are experienced though a politically charged transnational journey of loss and reconciliation.
Game Face shows the quest to self-realization of LGBT athletes and the acceptance in society. The film follows athletes during their coming out process, and sheds light on the obstacles LGBT sports players deal with throughout their career.
Ted "Black Lightning" Patrick's practice of "deprogramming," also known as "reverse brainwashing," started in the early 1970s and quickly snowballed into a vast underground movement composed of concerned parents, ex-cultists-turned-deprogrammers and some sympathetic law-enforcers whose mission was to physically and mentally remove individuals from cults.
Amigo Undead is the story of Kevin Ostrowski as he attempts to reconcile with his estranged, underachieving brother Norm on a camping trip. They're accompanied by several of Norm's unusual friends. When one of these friends dies accidentally, the decision is made to bury him out in the desert with some very unforeseen supernatural consequences.
In Cienfuegos in the 1980s, a poetic young girl tries to make sense of her parents' volatile separation while keenly observing the reality of Cuba's dilemmas.
The film tells the story of a member of the Polish underground who acted as a courier during World War II and whose most prominent mission was to inform the Allied powers of Nazi crimes against the Jews of Europe in an effort to prevent the Holocaust.
An uproarious critique of the world financial crisis. Building on actor, comedian, and provocateur Russell Brand’s emergence as an activist following his 2014 book Revolution, where he railed against “corporate tyranny, ecological irresponsibility, and economic inequality".
Set against the backdrop of an international finance deal in New York and Peru, Oliver's Deal is an intense political drama which explores how far people will go to get what they want.
England, 1969. The fascinating Abbie and the troubled Lydia are great friends. After an unexpected tragedy occurs in the strict girls' school they attend, a mysterious epidemic of fainting breaks out that threatens the mental sanity and beliefs of the tormented people involved, both teachers and students.
Every afternoon Noelí, a young Dominican woman, hangs out on the beach at Las Terrenas. With her boyfriend, Yeremi, they look for ways to make a living at the expense of one of the hundreds of tourists there. However Noelí also has a steady client, Anne, a much older French woman, who, like many other Europeans, has found an idyllic refuge on the island to spend her last years. For Noelí, the relationship is one of convenience, but the feelings become more intense as they plan to leave together for Paris.
He's a big red engine with a siren, a horn, a tank full of water, and a whole lotta hose! He's a good-lookin' fire truck — and he's brave, too — but when the alarm sounds, he's gotta drive through smoke and heat, straight to a blazing fire!