Two first-time filmmakers stop their lives to find out why rhinos are being killed for their horns. Carving out six months for the project, the women quickly find themselves immersed in a world far larger and more dangerous than they had imagined, only emerging from their odyssey four years later.
Ghost Fleet follows a small group of activists who risk their lives on remote Indonesian islands to find justice and freedom for the enslaved fishermen who feed the world’s insatiable appetite for seafood. Bangkok-based Patima Tungpuchayakul, a Thai abolitionist, has committed her life to helping these “lost” men return home. Facing illness, death threats, corruption, and complacency, Patima’s fearless determination for justice inspires her nation and the world.
Dolours Price, the infamous IRA radical convicted of bombing England's Old Bailey in 1973, granted a series of revealing interviews in 2010 on the strict condition of their posthumous release. The interviews, brought to life through vividly cinematic reenactments, uncover the birth of her fierce commitment to Irish Republicanism. Price revisits the bombing and the 200-day hunger strike that followed, and discusses her role in the disappearances of some suspected Republican informants. With 2018 marking the 20th anniversary since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, and 50 years since the start of the Troubles, filmmaker Maurice Sweeney presents an eye-opening portrait of a once passionate, now disillusioned nationalist whose clarity of purpose both inspired allegiance and promised terror for so many.
Ghosts of the République follows Aurelien and Nicolas, who, when confronted by France's conservative surrogacy laws, decide to exhaust their last option by traveling to Las Vegas to start a family of their own through surrogacy. This film demonstrates the extreme lengths many gay couples go to have children, highlighting the ever-expanding and controversial surrogacy industry.
Calling All Earthlings explores a mid-century UFO cult led by one-time Howard Hughes confidante, George Van Tassel. Van Tassel claimed to have combined alien guidance with the writings of inventor/physicist Nikola Tesla, and other controversial science, to build an electromagnetic time machine he dubbed “The Integratron.” Was he insane? Or could the dome really break through the boundaries of space, time, and energy? FBI agents worked against Van Tassel and the alternative community that formed out of his work. Would he finish the Integratron before the government finished him?
In 1990, actor, comedian, writer and director, Robert Townsend, went against every obstacle in Hollywood, relying on his faith, street smarts, and tenacity to bring his passion project, 1991’s The Five Heartbeats, to big screens. The Motown-flavored story of the rise and fall of an African-American vocal group in the 1960s, the musical drama is the subject of Townsend’s documentary, Making The Five Heartbeats. The documentary chronicles the inspiring journey of a young black writer/director (Townsend) determined to present a new image of black people in cinema while endeavoring to create a classic.
The bell tower of the Curon church rises from the waters of Lake Resia, in the Venosta Valley in South Tyrol, Italy. It stands as a lonely, silent witness to the horrible tragedy that befell Graun (Curon) and Reschen (Resia) in 1950, when both villages — with their unique natural and cultural landscape — were submerged by the waters of the newly-built Resia dam and water reservoir. This documentary film project aims to give a voice to the tragedy’s last contemporary witnesses.
A documentary-tribute to the filmmaker Humberto Mauro considered the pioneer of Brazilian and Latin American cinema, directed by his grandnephew, André Di Mauro.
Iceland has been ranked first in gender equality by the U.N. nine years in a row and was the first country in the world to democratically elect a female president. Tag along with world champion snowboarders Anne-Flore Marxer and Aline Bock as they explore the unique surf, snow, and sky of Iceland, and enjoy inspiring conversations with the women they meet along the way.
Brother and sister Gyembo and Tashi are normal teenagers. They love soccer and their phones. In their Himalayan village, their father oversees a Buddhist temple that has been in the family for generations. He hopes his son will one day take over his duties. He would prefer that Gyembo leave his modern English-language school in favor of a monk school. In this thoughtful and tender portrait of a Bhutanese family, the generation gap is as large as their love for one another. Celibacy doesn't offer an enticing future to an adolescent boy, which Gyembo's father understands. Nonetheless, he still tries to convince his son that being a monk offers many advantages. Meanwhile, Tashi feels more like a boy than a girl, and dreams of a life as a pro soccer player. She wants to attend a soccer camp that would be the first step in being selected for the national team. Unfortunately, though happiness is high on the political agenda in Bhutan, not all wishes come true.
For a life of pomp and splendor, Bastian takes over the kindergarten of a private parents' initiative as treasurer. The documentary tells the true story of an impostor. It is about social coexistence, trust and setting an example of values for children. Bastian doesn't give a damn about these values. For him, they are just annoying conventions, obstacles on the way to a life with a Ferrari and high-class prostitutes. And for this life, Bastian steals from the kindergarten of a private parents' initiative. For the viewer, this is an astonishing balancing act between right and wrong, between pity and schadenfreude.
Filmmaker Christophe Espenan's tribute to The Great Escape, The Coolest Guy Movie Ever is a fascinating documentary that returns to the iconic locations where that classic film was shot, complete with rare footage and interviews.
This personal portrait of the British singer-songwriter, filmed by his cousin Murray Cummings, follows this modest performer’s creative process as he writes a new song from scratch that will entrance millions.
A uniquely styled nature doc about the life of the Baltic Sea, where National Geographic photographer Mattias A. Klum follows the cycle of seasons around one of the most beautiful inland seas in the world today. By capturing the hidden life and beauty of the amazing species that live in the Baltic Sea, Klum delivers a timely reminder of our role in the survival of these fragile ecosystems, as the Baltic Sea comes under increasing threat from human activity.
Mauro ffortissimo, an artist and musician, drags an old grand piano onto the bluffs near his home by the sea. The county tells him to stop, and so he burns it. Twelve Pianos is the story of art and culture struggling to survive in a modern world.
In a darkened classroom, the white cracked walls serve as a movie screen. We are in a remote mountain village in Georgia. The light from the projector breaks the darkness: the children's first cinematic experience is about to begin. Among the kids are Iman and Eva, two Muslim girls, for whom the experience becomes a turning point and inspires them to pick up a camera and start filming their daily lives. The girls are growing up in a valley infested by radicalism, where most people live in constant fear that their relatives will sacrifice their lives in the name of God.