It seems incomprehensible that there was a time in America's not-so-distant past when nearly a quarter of a million children from East Coast orphanages were loaded on trains and sent west, where they were presented "for the picking." West by Orphan Train will tell the story of these children, who were taken from a sometimes-rough existence to an unfamiliar rural setting during an era that lasted from 1854 to 1929. As some of the last of the still-living orphan train riders like to remind us, it was a different era - one that can't be judged without understanding what lives were like then. West by Orphan Train, a documentary film completed late in 2014, offers that understanding.
Find Me is a heartwarming drama that follows three families as they adopt children from China. This feature-length documentary film journeys with them as they seek to discover the back story of those who loved them first.
Inside Her Sex is a thought-provoking, feature-length documentary that explores female sexuality and shame through the eyes and experiences of three women from different walks of life, each brave enough to chart her own course of sexual discovery: Elle Chase, a popular sex blogger; Candida Royalle, the creator of Femme Productions Inc., a feminist adult film company designed to speak with a woman's voice; and Samantha Allen, the ex-devout Mormon and current gender, sex, and tech writer for The Daily Beast.
The de Smet brothers created a system to live their lives as singles in the most comfortable way. When a new woman moves into their street, their synergy turns out to be a house of cards.
A lonely cat living in a mall pet shop has a sour outlook on life until, in the midst of the holiday rush, she’s swept up into a robbery and a friendship with a human girl.
There lives a couple known as "100-year-old lovebirds". They're like fairy tale characters: the husband is strong like a woodman, and the wife is full of charms like a princess. They dearly love each other, wear Korean traditional clothes together, and still fall asleep hand in hand. However, death, quietly and like a thief, sits between them. This film starts from that moment, and follows the last moments of 76 years of their marriage.
Fate has taken its toll on the aging cabaret singer Ruth and the young but terminally ill Jonas. Yet despite their great age difference and their entirely opposite experiences in life, they form an intense bond and give each other a reason and purpose to live.
Helen, Rose and Lili have survived the Holocaust and have never seen each other since the war has ended. In 1960, they meet again in Berck, France. They learn to enjoy together simple pleasures in life: nice meals, ballads on the beach, playing in the waves.
Michel, a murderous womanizer, meets introverted Gloria online and treats her to a whirlwind one-night-stand. Offering herself as an accomplice in his seductive crimes, the unhinged lovers embark on a deadly odyssey amplified by wild sex, unbridled jealousy, and passionate forays into the dark arts. This smart and gory shocker breathes new life into the lovesick horror genre to serve up a chilling tale of white-hot desperation and terrifying devotion.
Twenty years ago, a young American hiker named Chris McCandless, the accomplished son of successful middle class parents, was found dead in an abandoned bus in the Alaskan wilderness and became the subject of the best-selling book and movie “Into the Wild.” Now, PBS retraces Chris McCandless’ steps to try to piece together why he severed all ties with his past, burnt or gave away all his money, changed his name and headed into the Denali Wilderness. McCandless' own letters, released for the first time, as well as new and surprising interviews, probe the mystery that still lies at the heart of a story that has become part of the American literary canon and compels so many to this day.
When an ex-hippie-turned-businessman hears about a miracle-making saint, he goes to India to find him to keep from living an empty life. A world music soundtrack by Grammy nominee Jai Uttal, exclusive interviews with Ram Dass and Krishna Das, rare footage of Neem Karoli Baba, and a new perspective on Eastern philosophy make this documentary unique.
A WWII pilot, bombardier, and radioman find themselves adrift on a lifeboat without food or water after being forced to ditch their plane during a scouting mission.
Lacey Schwartz grew up in a typical upper-middle-class Jewish household in Woodstock, NY, with loving parents and a strong sense of her Jewish identity - despite the open questions from those around her about how a white girl could have such dark skin. She believes her family's explanation that her looks were inherited from her dark-skinned Sicilian grandfather. But when her parents abruptly split, her gut starts to tell her something different. At age of 18, she finally confronts her mother and learns the truth: her biological father was not the man who raised her, but a black man named Rodney with whom her mother had had an affair.
Jacob Kaplan lives an ordinary life in Uruguay. Like many of his other Jewish friends, Jacob fled Europe for South America because of World War II. But now turning 76, he is grumpy and in need of adventure. An unexpected opportunity to achieve greatness comes in the form of a quiet, elderly German, who Mr Kaplan believes to be a runaway Nazi. Determined to capture this Nazi, as Eichmann was captured before him, Mr Kaplan surprises everyone when he takes up this challenge.
As the streets of Los Angeles overflow with camera-wielding gawkers seeking to capture images of a bizarre police pursuit, the same people who sought to exploit the suffering of others for amusement on the Internet become the stars of a gruesome viral video from which no one gets out alive.
In the Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire.
Miss Hill: Making Dance Matter tells the inspiring and largely unknown story of a woman whose life was defined by her love for dance. Martha Hill emerges as dance's secret weapon, someone who fought against great odds to establish dance as a legitimate art form in America. Through archival footage, lively interviews with friends and intimates, and rare footage of the spirited subject, the film explores Hills's arduous path from a Bible Belt childhood in Ohio to the halls of academe at NYU and Bennington College to a position of power and influence as Juilliard's founding director of dance (1952-1985). Peppered with anecdotal material delivered by dance notables who knew her, this revelatory story depicts her struggles and successes, including the battle royal that accompanied her move to the Lincoln Center campus.