FREE RENTY tells the story of Tamara Lanier, an African American woman determined to force Harvard University to cede possession of daguerreotypes of her great-great-great grandfather, an enslaved man named Renty. The daguerreotypes were commissioned in 1850 by a Harvard professor to "prove" the superiority of the white race. The images remain emblematic of America’s failure to acknowledge the cruelty of slavery, the racist science that supported it and the white supremacy that continues to infect our society today. The film focuses on Lanier and tracks her lawsuit against Harvard, and features attorney Benjamin Crump, author Ta-Nehisi Coates and scholars Ariella Azoulay and Tina Campt.
Twenty-three years after his BMX bicycle company folded, Alden Olmsted sets out to reconnect with the people his innovative bikes impacted and possibly re-launch the brand that was born out of a teenage dream.
Thirty-plus years after its release, the popular two-part miniseries "It" and its infamous villain Pennywise live on in the minds of horror fans around the world. This documentary captures not only the buzz the "It" saga generated in 1990 but also the lasting impact it has had on an entire generation and the horror genre at large. Several years in the making, the film features exclusive interviews with many of the cult classic's key players, from cast members Richard Thomas, Seth Green, and Tim Curry, who portrayed the notorious monster clown Pennywise, to director Tommy Lee Wallace and special effects makeup artist Bart Mixon. The documentary also boasts a wealth of archival material and never-before-seen footage.
Bruma is a visual documentary chronicle about the fragility and, at the same time, the integrity of life. Bruma observes and contemplates the human condition and the different ways of existing through the metaphorical space of the sea, the fishing cycle and the human beings who survive from this ancestral relationship.
Stroke of Fire explores athletes' full and limited evolution within skiing and the pure joy that manifests from that process. The choice to enter this world is a spark, and with every new experience, the fire grows. With more knowledge comes more exploration, both physically and geographically, which helps to understand what those raw experiences connected with nature do for the soul.
A cathartic journey that Qais, a Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker embarks on as he traces the life of H.P. Lovecraft, from woodland cemeteries in Rhode Island, to the docks of New York and on to the cobbled stoned streets of Quebec City. A documentary that proves that the truth is weirder than fiction.
Largely composed of immigrants and first-generation Canadians from Vancouver’s suburbs, The Notic underground basketball collective overcame all odds to achieve global fame 20 years ago. In defiance of their high school coaches’ casual racism and desire for oppressive conformity, this gregarious group discovered self-expression through streetball’s loose structure and aversion to rules. Bursting onto the scene at the NBA-sponsored Hoop It Up tournament near Science World, the group unleashed a devastating arsenal of bravura tricks and moves. DIY VHS highlights of their showstopping exploits would soon be collected on their first "mixtape". With copies finding their way to every corner of the globe, it was anointed "the bible of streetball".
The Dutch water polo men's team has not qualified for the Olympic Games since 2000. The team will get a new chance during the 2021 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Rotterdam. This documentary follows Bilal, Eelco, and Robin during the preparations. The chance that they will succeed is small, they all know that. But imagine that it will work.
The computer game chain GameStop created so much chaos in the stock market that it forced large hedge funds to their knees. How could it happen? Here we follow different people who were brought together during 2020 because of their interest in GameStop's future. Some had invested in the chain's stock, others wondered about it. While the chain's employees trusted that the company would pay their salaries at a time when millions of people went bankrupt and became unemployed.
"The Art of Dissent" celebrates the resilience and power of artistic engagement in Czechoslovakia before and after the 1968 Soviet-led invasion. The documentary's main protagonists - Václav Havel, banned singer Marta Kubisová, and the underground rock group the Plastic People of the Universe (PPU) - became the most recognizable dissidents during the 1970-80s. Havel bridged the disparate clusters of individuals and fused the literary, musical, political, and philosophical nonviolent elements into a hybrid network that eventually toppled the totalitarian regime in 1989.
Something From Nothing takes you on a stand-up comedy tour during the pandemic from a comedians perspective, filmed in the parking lot of a diner in Queens, NY. The film shares the story of Jay Nog and his family during the pandemic as well as the comedians and employees who performed and worked at the diner.
Danny Abel’s documentary tells the incredible, all-American story of Jeremiah Heaton and his geographical conquest. It all starts in 2014, when Heaton lays claim to 500,000 acres of desert land between Egypt and Sudan; his initial aim is to establish a kingdom so that his daughter can be made a princess. What follows is media attention, a movie deal with Disney, and a shift in motivation: Heaton decides to create a bonafide nation, with industry, a military, and more.
Travel is at a tipping point. From Carribean beaches to remote villages in Kenya, forgotten voices reveal the real conditions and consequences of one of the largest industries in the world. The role of the modern tourist is on trial.
RANGER is a story about a rite of passage. Set within Kenya’s Maasai homeland, an intimate and contemporary story of self-discovery unfolds, as 12 women become East Africa’s first all-female anti-poaching unit. Upending the male-dominated, reliance upon military-style training to make a wildlife ranger, Virginia, Liz, Momina and Damaris instead undergo a year-long program of deep trauma-release and healing, triggering profound transformation within themselves and sending shockwaves through their communities.
When the horrific murder of nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015 sparks a national reckoning around the meaning of the Confederate flag, battle lines are drawn in Mississippi to determine the fate of the last state flag to include the most powerful, and divisive, symbol of our fractured history. In Look Away, Look Away, director Patrick O'Connor introduces us to an array of activists, and captures the fierce five-year battle over the Mississippi state flag, revealing how race, heritage and long-simmering grievances over the Civil War shapes our sense of who we are as Americans.
When a young woman turns to the camera for refuge, she ends up with a firsthand account of what will become the deadliest man-made epidemic in United States history.
Almost 1 million people in 22 countries carried out the unprovoked murder of 11 million innocent men, women and children. The Allies knew where a great many of the murderers could be found - Germany, Austria, Italy, the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, and numerous countries in South America. The Allies unanimously agreed to prosecute those responsible when they drew up The London Agreement in August 1945, but, after the late 1940s, these very same Allies did almost nothing. Why were so many were actively permitted to get away with their crimes?