Working largely uncredited in the Hollywood system, storyboard artist Harold and film researcher Lillian left an indelible mark on classics by Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Mel Brooks, Stanley Kubrick, Roman Polanski and many more.
As a teenager, Sergei Eisenstein signed his drawings with "Sir Gay". Mark Rappaport sees clear signs of his sexual preferences throughout the Russian’s film oeuvre. Numerous asides illustrate how Hollywood productions likewise frequently played with nods and winks and typical motifs from gay culture.
This film shines a light on a sorry and oft-forgotten chapter in US history— the forced sterilization of 7,600 people thought to have “undesirable” genetic make-ups. The film follows researchers & journalists who delved into dusty archives to bring North Carolina’s extensive eugenics program into the sunlight. When the journalists succeed in connecting those files to living survivors and the vast network of perpetrators are revealed, a grassroots movement begins, tirelessly insisting the state confront its nefarious past. The documentary— four years in the making, brings into focus the human tragedy that unfolded behind closed doors for decades and gives voice to survivors who believed their poverty would leave their stories untold and their pain unrecognized.
Alzheimer's: Every Minute Counts is an urgent wake-up call about the national threat posed by Alzheimer's disease. Many know the unique tragedy of this disease, but few know that Alzheimer's is one of the most critical public health crises facing America. Because of the growing number of aging baby boomers, and the fact that the onset of Alzheimer's is primarily age-related, the number of Alzheimer's case is predicted to skyrocket in the United States. This will not only be a profound human tragedy, but an overwhelming economic one as well. Due to the length of time people live with the illness and need care, it's the most expensive medical condition in the U.S. Future costs for Alzheimer's threaten to bankrupt Medicare, Medicaid, and the life savings of millions of Americans.
The first railway line in Thailand was inaugurated in 1893 – a sign of progress and prosperity. Shot over eight years on every active line of the country's railway system, this wondrous documentary offers an unprecedented immersion into the country's past and present.
An intimate portrait of the woman whose groundbreaking books revolutionized our relationship to the natural world. When 'Silent Spring' was published in September 1962 it became an instant bestseller and would go on to spark dramatic changes in the way the government regulated pesticides.
An attempt to re-contextualize the European migrant crisis and ongoing hostilities in Syria, through eyewitness and participant testimony. Children and parents recount the revolution, civil war, air strikes, atrocities and ongoing humanitarian aid crises, in a portrait of recent history and the consequences of violence.
The Force presents a cinema vérité look deep inside the long-troubled Oakland Police Department as it struggles to confront federal demands for reform, a popular uprising following events in Ferguson, MO, and an explosive scandal.
A contemporary portrait of a small Louisiana town created at the site of the world’s largest lumber mill. Captured here in its last days after thirty years, Miss Dixie Gallaspy conducts a charm school for girls in order to teach the young women of Bogalusa the social graces and skills that would guide them into “Ladyhood”. Dixie’s week long school, in a town confronted with many challenges (including a legacy of racial conflict and financial dissipation) preserves fragments of a world that may already be lost.
The planet’s busiest maternity hospital is located in one of its poorest and most populous countries: the Philippines. There, poor women face devastating consequences as their country struggles with reproductive health policy and the politics of conservative Catholic ideologies.
The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in April 1995 is the worst act of domestic terrorism in American history. This documentary explores how a series of deadly encounters between American citizens and federal law enforcement—including the standoffs at Ruby Ridge and Waco—led to it.
“In 1946, my great-grandfather murdered a black man named Bill Spann and got away with it.” So begins Travis Wilkerson’s critically acclaimed documentary, DID YOU WONDER WHO FIRED THE GUN?, which takes us on a journey through the American South to uncover the truth behind a horrific incident and the societal mores that allowed it to happen. Acting as narrator and guide, Wilkerson spins a strange, frightening tale, incorporating scenes from TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, the music of Janelle Monáe and Phil Ochs, and the story of Rosa Parks’ investigation into the Recy Taylor case, as well as his own family history, for a gripping investigation into our collective past and its echoes into the present day.
Inside Qatar’s labor camps, African and Asian migrant workers building the facilities of the 2022 World Cup compete in a football tournament of their own.
Intimate, personalized portrait of women of the 1960s through the eyes of one colorful class that graduated in 1969 - same year as Hillary Clinton - and recently turned 65, starting to explore the New Old Age. At a time when these Boomers' parents were asking less of themselves, many of these distinguished citizens are asking more, feeling a Third Wind. Where will it take them? Some are determined to keep making waves. The trigger for these revelations/reminiscences is the class's yearbook. Each photo was a collaboration with a sexy Turkish artist, is full of the 60s spirit of risk, rebelliousness, creativity. Indeed, this yearbook wasn't a book at all. The portraits came to each alumna loose leaf, in a box. Hence our metaphoric title: Unboxed! Written by Anonymous
Bandleader Vince Giordano keeps the Jazz Age alive with his 11-member band The Nighthawks, vintage musical instruments, and a collection of more than 60,000 original arrangements from the 1920s and '30s.