Di is a 12-year-old girl from the mist-shrouded mountains of northern Vietnam. She belongs to the Hmong, an ethnic minority in which girls get married at a very young age. This is often preceded by a controversial “bride-napping,” where the girl is abducted by her future husband on New Year’s Eve. Negotiations between the families follow. This also happened to Di’s sister and their mother, so it doesn’t seem strange that in preparation the women and girls discuss sex and married life without embarrassment. But Di also goes to school, where she learns very different values. And in her own way, even Di’s mother tries to warn her daughter about child marriage.
A young Norwegian woman and two Ju/'hoansi bushmen sets out on a journey of self-discovery and survival as they walk 1490 km across the wilderness of Namibia to reach the ocean.
Randy Rhoads’ guitar riffs re-shaped rock ‘n roll and raised the stakes for guitarists around the world. Known primarily as the lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and for his groundbreaking guitar work on the albums “Blizzard of Ozz” and “Diary of a Madman”, Randy spent most of his life playing in a small band known at the time, Quiet Riot. After leaving Quiet Riot to play, record and tour with Ozzy, Randy died at the young age of 25 in a tragic plane crash in Florida. His body died that day, but his soul and music live on forever.
Joe Corré, son of punk visionaries Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, burns an estimated £5M worth of punk memorabilia protesting the commodification of punk. The film takes this incendiary act of ‘cultural terrorism’ and the questions it raised to explore the lifespan and true worth of punk - the 20th century's most volatile movement.
750 miles. Icy water. No motors. No support. Described as the Iditarod on a boat with a chance of drowning or being eaten by a Grizzly bear, this epic endurance race attracts intrepid, unhinged characters who find their edge on this punishing course.
A documentary relating to a video of the Grand Street Ball of 1988, held by Patricia Field and the House of Field. The film explores the relationships and connections between the music and culture of the Paradise Garage with the ball culture of the mid 1980's, driven by the participants' need to belong, each working, dancing, and surviving together despite the epic sweep of larger societal conflicts of the time. They are featured in present day interviews, along side 1980's archival photography and film, and iconic music representative of the theme, bridging this piece of history to the present day by the passion that lives on.
Gorgona, a remote Colombian island, has a dark secret. It’s a natural fortress, surrounded by shark-infested seas, blanketed in impenetrable jungle and teaming with deadly snakes. For that reason it was chosen by the Colombian government as the site of a high security prison, Colombia’s own Alcatraz.
The story of James Cotton, harmonica powerhouse, whose music shaped blues and rock. Orphaned at 9, Cotton’s life tracks America’s history—from the post-depression cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta to being mentored by the original Delta bluesmen, to Chicagoland’s artistic reinvention to the live music scene in Austin, Texas.
This documentary catalogues and examines early space age anomalies and UFOs. Cary and Stanton demonstrate NASA's interest in UFOs through astronaut testimony, examinations of declassified documents, and a history of cover up.
The Color of Care chronicles how people of color suffer from systemically substandard healthcare in the United States, with a pressing focus on how the Covid-19 pandemic shed light on the tragic consequences of that inequity. Oprah’s Harpo Productions and the Smithsonian Channel are teaming up on the timely project, which traces the origins of this systemic inequity to practices that first emerged during slavery in the United States.
Sam Now is a gripping family story consisting of home videos, Super 8 films and modern-day HD videos told over a lifetime. Director Reed Harkness captures the story of his half-brother, Sam, who grappled with the disappearance of his mother during the most formative years of his life. After setting out to find her as a teenager, Sam works through the subconscious trauma caused by her absence, his family members' denial and his feelings toward his mother, whose new life proves better than raising kids. Sam's journey is an emotional roller coaster with loops of mental health, commitment issues and familial relationships.
Mobile homes have long been an affordable option for people who struggle with the cost of other housing in the United States. But now the economy of mobile home parks is under threat as private equity firms are buying up properties and looking to squeeze more money out of mobile home owners. Filmmaker Sara Terry uses this backdrop to explore urgent class issues that resonate across America, and especially in the high-priced rental market of New York City.
On Nov. 5, 2021, rapper Travis Scott headlined the Astroworld Festival in Houston, which tragically led to the deaths of 10 concertgoers in a crowd crush.
In the shadow of the pandemic, a small town rallies to protect a beloved local bookstore. A landmark in Lenox, Massachusetts, The Bookstore is a magical, beatnik gem thanks to its owner Matt Tannenbaum, whose passion for stories runs deep. This portrait of The Bookstore and the family at its heart offers a journey through good times, hard times, and the stories hidden on the shelves.
The fall of 2021 marked the 50th anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof, the film Pauline Kael (The New Yorker) called "the most powerful movie musical ever made." Narrated by Jeff Goldblum, FIDDLER'S JOURNEY TO THE BIG SCREEN captures the humor and drama of director Norman Jewison's quest to recreate the lost world of Jewish life in Tsarist Russia and re-envision the beloved stage hit as a wide-screen epic. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Daniel Raim puts us in the director's chair and in Jewison's heart and mind, drawing on behind-the-scenes footage and never-before-seen stills as well as original interviews with Jewison, Topol (Tevye), composer John Williams, production designer Robert F. Boyle, film critic Kenneth Turan, lyricist Sheldon Harnick, and actresses Rosalind Harris, Michele Marsh, and Neva Small (Tevye’s daughters). The film explores how the experience of making Fiddler deepened Jewison as an artist and revived his soul.
Dewayne Johnson, a Bay Area groundskeeper, suffered from rashes in 2014 and wondered if they were caused by the herbicide he'd been using for the past couple years. As his health deteriorated, Johnson became the face of a David-and-Goliath legal battle to hold a multi-national agrochemical corporation accountable for a product with allegedly misleading labelling.
A rogue Chinese biophysicist disappears after developing the first designer babies, shocking the world and the entire scientific community, but an investigation shows he may not have been alone in his attempts to create a “better” human being.
A filmmaker unearths a pervasive history of multigenerational trauma in her Italian-American family. As decades of secrets, home movies, and long-avoided conversations surface, a family once bound by tradition forges a new path forward.
Big ambitions clash in tiny kitchens, all in the name of Singapore’s beloved hawker dish — chicken rice. Apple presents a documentary about hawker pride and conviction, set against the backdrop of the famous Maxwell Food Centre.
An examination of how Africa's mythological stories have served as the basis for the world religions that came after, especially in Western civilization.