A celebratory exploration of the boisterous times of Freaknik, the iconic Atlanta street party that drew hundreds of thousands of people in the 80s and 90s, helping put Atlanta on the map culturally.
Kaniela: The Danny Kaleikini Story, is a biographical documentary based on the life of the man known as Hawaii’s Ambassador of Aloha, as told in his own words. Born into a large family with limited resources, Kaleikini learned the value of hard work by selling newspapers, shining shoes and singing on street corners at a young age to help support his family. He developed his singing and entertaining skills during his family’s weekend backyard parties. Kaleikini began working in Hawaii’s tourism industry in the 1950’s and after learning lessons from other local entertainers, blossomed into a beloved and globally known entertainer with over 30 years of performing in Hawaii, Las Vegas and Japan.
This letter originated in Paris as a means of addressing the issue of ‘everyday racism’ and violence that cannot be replaced by the universal. Its purpose is also to offer a response to my friends who have shared their own experiences of discrimination and violence.
Spring 2020 and Paris is slowly emerging from its first covid lockdown. The parks are reopening, people are starting to express their love of public space again, and the film’s director feels she, too, needs to find somewhere to go. Her wanderings in the parks of Paris become the occasion for a short inner adventure where the questions and quests of a lifetime rise to the surface of consciousness, searching for answers. What if life could be just a carefree stroll through a springlike world? This is the tenderly melancholic cinematic depiction of this walk, discovering the quiet beauty of people and things all around. Short and sweetly healing, like the warm caress of the sun on a beautiful day when you just want to get out and celebrate the fact that you’re alive; and free.
The poet Gabriel Ferrater – or Biel, as his friends called him – grew up during one of the most turbulent times in Spanish history. Shortly after his birth, there was a coup d’état; before he even turned 10, the king abdicated and Spain became a Republic; as he was entering adolescence, the police imprisoned his father for politically supporting an independent Catalan republic, and two years later, a terrible civil war broke out. During his childhood, Biel is barely aware of what is happening. He is a gifted child who learns to read and write at home. However, the radicalization of the political and social clashes taking place around him turns Biel into a witness of horror. The story of a teenage boy through the most violent years in the history of Spain, years that will lead to the disenchantment with which Gabriel Ferrater and other members of his generation perceive the human condition.
"My 60-year-long love affair with books and authors, their stories, and the life lessons they have gifted me. Filmed during the 2024 Oscars for Joel Havers Annual I Shot A Movie During The Oscars Worldwide Film Festival."
On the verge of the eighth decade of his life, Dimitris Omiridis trains daily, claiming a healthy and fit body. At the same time, he is the owner of a fitness academy in downtown Athens, where friends and students get acquainted with his singular philosophy and body training practice that he calls OMI-DO.
The parallel stories of four Pakistani immigrants in Greece become the trigger for the director to explore the story of his father, a worker in the Perama Shipyard. The background unfolds a most deadly shipwreck, Libyan immigrants found in limbo, as well as a (possibly racist) crime, which was committed during the shooting of this film.
"Some of the biggest news stories in our country were revealed by local journalists; from early 20th century lynchings to the Rodney King beating to the murder of Breonna Taylor, local news was there first. But as budgets drop and outlets disappear, this type of coverage is in jeopardy."
A huge collection of Russian modernist paintings enters the art market and European and American museums. Is it fake or real? And who is the mysterious man behind it?
Two children accused parents and teachers of leading a paedophilic satanic cult, supposedly headquartered in secret rooms on the school premises. The story was not true. But once the fire was lit, it was hard to put out. Emily Turner’s film considers the real-world impact of an outrageous online conspiracy theory, exploring the importance of truth and the cost of lies.
In the spring of 1989, the planting of the oak tree grove of Lithuanian national revival was started in the birthplace of Jonas Basanavičius in the village of Ožkabaliai. Thousands of people from all over Lithuania came to the planting, carrying seedlings and Lithuania's tricolours.