According to a 2009 Sports Illustrated article, 60 percent of former NBA players are broke within five years of retirement. By the time they have been retired for two years, 78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress. Sucked into bad investments, stalked by freeloaders, saddled with medical problems, and naturally prone to showing off, many pro athletes get shocked by harsh economic realities after years of living the high life. Drawing surprisingly vulnerable confessions from retired stars like Keith McCants, Bernie Kosar and Andre Rison, as well as Marvin Miller, the former executive director of the MLB Players Association, this fascinating documentary digs into the psychology of men whose competitive nature can carry them to victory on the field and ruin off it.
Trance dance and water implosion, a line drawn between secular freak-outs and religious phenomena. Shot in a single-take at a sacred site on the Upper Suriname River, the minor secrets of an animist are revealed as time itself is undone. Rites are the new Trypps, embodiment is our eternal everything.
Twenty years after peace activist Im Su-kyong swore that she would cross the border between North and South Korea on foot, Argentine documentary filmmaker José Luis García goes in search of the young woman who was once known as "The Flower of Reunification." (TIFF)
Harry, Liam, Zayn, Niall & Louis have proven they're more than a manufactured boy band by becoming global superstars almost overnight. Presented by X Factor's Sinitta, this program unleashes all the highs of the band's turbo-charged fame. From five individual hopeful singers taking part in Simon Cowell's British X Factor. the boys of One Direction have defied the odds, and their critics, by becoming the hottest British boy band in the world. With A-List interviews from Piers Morgan, Zac Efron, Katherine Jenkins and some members of the cast of Glee and many others, we explore what makes these boys a chart topping success. Smashing worldwide charts with their debut No 1 single and album, One Direction have it all: great voices, charm and good looks. proving the only way is UP for One Direction.
“McConkey,” a 90-minute documentary to be released in 2013, is a heartfelt examination of the legacy one athlete left to the progression of his sports, and the path he paved to conquer his dreams. Shane McConkey is revered as the pioneer of freeskiing and ski base jumping, and through his talent and unique outlook on life, he inspired countless lives. In a new film from Red Bull Media House in association with Matchstick Productions, “McConkey” celebrates the life of one of the world’s ultimate innovators
Kevin and Garrison are boyhood friends in a sleepy California suburb. They share a love of skateboarding, an evangelical Christian faith and a sense of confusion about romantic relationships.
Over three million Cambodians died in the genocide between 1975 and 1979. The Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror also decimated a homegrown film industry that had flourished since 1960: movie theaters were bombed, film prints were destroyed and artists were executed. In Golden Slumbers, French-Cambodian filmmaker Davy Chou mourns this loss of lives and culture, but balances the somber material with a playfulness that honors the lush melodramas and mythic adventures of the glory years.
The United States of America is the richest, freest nation the world has ever seen. But nowadays all signs point to the reality of a sickness in the soul of our country, and history tells us that we're headed for disaster if we don't change our course now. Follow Kirk Cameron across Europe and the U.S. as he seeks to discover the people, places and principles that made America the freest, most prosperous and generous nation the world has ever known.
After a lifetime of hiding, Chely Wright becomes the first commercial country music singer to come out as gay, shattering cultural stereotypes within Nashville, per conservative heartland family and, most importantly, within herself. With unprecedented access over a two-year period, including her private video diaries, the film layers Chely's rise to fame while hiding in the late 90's with the execution of her coming out plan, culminating in the exciting moment when she steps into the media glare to reveal she is gay. The film shows both the devastation of internalized homophobia and the transformational power of living an authentic life. The film also documents the conflicting responses from Nashville, the heartland and the LGBT community as Chely Wright prepares for an unknown future.
My mother used to wake me up with a vinyl record. It's the first thing I remember about life. Many years have passed but vinyl records have never abandoned me. And you? Have you ever listened to a vinyl record? With its unique sound and crackling that gives you butterflies. Have you ever plunged into the colours of the sleeves artwork? Have you smelled it? Music captures a unique taste, seductive. In "Vinylmania" the director guides us through the grooves of an object that has never lost its soul. He investigates what makes it so legendary in a world dominated by liquid music: Simple nostalgia? Possession? The search for an idenitity? A cry against the fast food music? The digital river that has no heart or soul, just ones and zeros...
Just days before Bernard Madoff captured headlines as the largest Ponzi schemer in U.S. history, Marc Dreier, a prominent Manhattan attorney, was arrested for orchestrating a massive fraud scheme that netted hundreds of millions of dollars from hedge funds. Brazen forgeries and impersonations branded the white collar crime spree remarkable. "Unraveled" is set in the purgatory of house arrest -- an Upper East Side penthouse -- where the Court has ordered Dreier confined until his sentencing day. The film weaves Dreier's struggle to prepare for the possibility of life imprisonment with first-person flashbacks, which reveal his audacious path of destruction. Destroyed by his own hubris, Dreier attempts to grasp his tragic unraveling. With unprecedented access, "Unraveled" exposes a mastermind of criminal deception.
Breast cancer has become the poster child of corporate cause-related marketing campaigns. Countless women and men walk, bike, climb and shop for the cure. Each year, millions of dollars are raised in the name of breast cancer, but where does this money go and what does it actually achieve? Pink Ribbons, Inc. is a feature documentary that shows how the devastating reality of breast cancer, which marketing experts have labeled a "dream cause," becomes obfuscated by a shiny, pink story of success.
Follows the globe-trotting journey of President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, the lowest-lying country in the world, who, after bringing democracy to his country, takes up the fight to keep it from disappearing under the sea.
Experimental filmmaker Pip Chodorov traces the course of experimental film in America, taking the very personal point of view of someone who grew up as part of the experimental film community.
An average guy makes a resolution to stop using plastic bags at the grocery store. Little does he know that this simple decision will change his life completely. He comes to the conclusion that our consumptive use of plastic has finally caught up to us, and looks at what we can do about it. Today. Right now.
Using unedited archive footage Questa storia qua recounts Vasco Rossi's exceptional career as an artist and a man. Twenty-five million albums sold in his thirty year-long career, unfading success and a unique story: Vasco Rossi talks about himself in this documentary and for the first time presents us with an intimate self portrait. A new, authentic picture is created of this rockstar from Emilia Romagna thanks to super 8 footage, family photographs and amateur videos. Vasco accompanies us along the path which took him from Zocca, in the province of Modena, to success. He describes his personal history without ever taking himself too seriously, while his words conjure up recollections of an era and a generation. He is accompanied by friends, his loved ones and musicians who have always followed him and who help us to discover that special mix of memories, nostalgia, rebellion, freedom and talent which have inspired his songs.