East L.A. Interchange follows the evolution of working-class, immigrant Boyle Heights, the oldest neighborhood in East Los Angeles from multiethnic to predominately Latino and a cradle of Mexican-American culture in the U.S. The documentary tells the story of how one neighborhood managed to survive the construction of the largest and busiest freeway interchange in the nation and explores the shifting face of community in the United States today arguing why it should matter to us all.
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is known by all, treasured for its powerful melody and stirring lyrics. And yet, only about 40% of U.S. citizens know all the words. And even fewer know their meaning. Join us as we travel back to 1814, when Washington D.C. was under British attack during the "Second War of Independence," and the very bricks and mortar of American democracy were reduced to smoking rubble. We examine the battle that inspired witness Francis Scott Key to immortalize its final moments, then reveal how his poem transformed into an anthem.
IN PLAIN SIGHT: Stories of Hope and Freedom is a feature-length documentary focused on six modern-day abolitionists as they fight sex trafficking across America. Journeying to six US cities, the film opens the viewer's eyes to what's happening down the street "in plain sight". Through engaging interviews with numerous victims of sex trafficking, the force, coercion, and deception of the children and women becomes apparent. In the midst of the darkness, stories of hope and freedom emerge as each survivor shares how she was impacted through the work of a sex trafficking aftercare home.
COINTELPRO 101 exposes illegal surveillance, disruption, and outright murder committed by the US government in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. “COINTELPRO” refers to the official FBI COunter INTELigence PROgram carried out to surveil, imprison, and eliminate leaders of social justice movements and to disrupt, divide, and destroy the movements as well. Many of the government's crimes are still unknown. Through interviews with activists who experienced these abuses first-hand, with rare historical footage, the film provides an educational introduction to a period of intense repression and draws relevant lessons for the present and future.
This film speaks to the uniquely inherent traits that drummers and percussionists possess as natural explorers of music and sound, and how this particular story explores the challenge of translating foreign voices of percussive expression into the dialect of a Western classical orchestra setting. Five accomplished percussionists, Drum, and a rock star composer, Stewart Copeland, come together with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra to create a groundbreaking work.
From Paris to Beijing, atmospheric pollution is already killing millions every year. A major documentary, which charts its greatest harmful effects across the world.
This short documentary follows several refugee families during their first 19 days in Canada, as they navigate an unfamiliar terrain that has suddenly become their home. Located in the quiet Calgary neighbourhood of Bridgeland, the Margaret Chisholm Resettlement Centre is the starting point for government-assisted refugees who arrive in the city. During the 19-day timeline established by the federal government, an initial assessment is done and refugees are assisted with everything from airport reception and orientation to referrals, documents, and counselling. 19 Days reveals the human side of the refugee resettlement process. A unique look at the global migration crisis and one particular stage of asylum, it lays plain the realities faced on the difficult road towards integration.
Profiled is a feature length documentary that knits the stories of mothers of Black and Latin unarmed youth murdered by the NYPD into a powerful indictment of racial profiling and police brutality, and places them within a historical context of the roots of racism in the U.S. Driven by anger when their demands for justice are ignored the women transition from grieving parents to activists participating in the grass roots movement now spreading across the country since the much-publicized deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.
Failed by a healthcare system that is largely ignorant of their existence, four patients with a life-threatening, rare disease learn to find strength in each other and their small, but strong community.
The work of the Flemish choreographer Ann van den Broek is very personal. Her intense choreography is dedicated to her own extreme experiences and emotions. Her approach will spare nothing and nobody. She expects unconditional commitment from herself, but also from her dancers. As a result, we get to witness innovative and highly successful dance performances, but also a complicated hate-love relationship with the people around her. In The Lady in Black, director Lisa Boerstra (L.A. Raeven) shows us the extent to which Ann is interwoven with the choreographies, bringing the artist’s life and work together in a new experience.
More than a genre, salsa was a cultural movement that arose in a time of need for strengthening the Latino culture and spread across the world with such force that, 50 years later, is still moving the feet of dancers in the most inhospitable corners world. At the heart of the movement is the figure of Johnny Pacheco, know as one of the great musical legacies responsible for salsa music.
Kelly is a sassy young woman who loves performing and dreams of becoming a Hollywood star. Her devoted brother Brian, an actor himself, sets out to do everything he can to help make her dream a reality. As sometimes happens in close-knit relationships, jealousy and co-dependency threaten to break the siblings apart. Kelly’s Hollywood is a loving glimpse into a tender relationship.
'Don't build prisons, they cost too much!' In this era of Great Recession, the conservative and tough-on-crime State of Texas takes an unprecedented path by becoming a social justice leader with programs that rehabilitate offenders. Looks like rape, abuse and death are no longer parts of the solution for modern-day Bonnie and Clyde...
In a historical vegetable garden on a Dutch estate, the 85 year-old pruning master and the gardener tend to the espaliers. As they prune, the men chat about food, the weather, the world and they share their knowledge of horticulture. Fifteen years they have spent working on the pear arbour. Will it finally close over this year?
Life Under the Horseshoe is a fun, entertaining and historical look at Spring City, Utah's only live FM stage radio show. The film teaches us a little about history while taking us back to the golden age of radio. The documentary interviews Mark and Vicki Allen, the show hosts while learning more about their interesting, but opposite family history. The film also highlights the historical Victory Hall, a one-hundred-year-old restored vaudeville theater on Main Street, and "Spit & Whittle" Avenue, where Charlie (1885-1936), son of Simon Beck, had a bench the women of the town called the "Bummer's Bench." The men claimed it was where important community events were discussed and decisions made. Simon's son Charlie, paralyzed at an early age, presided at the bench providing advice and wisdom to all comers.
Stay inside all the time? Never take your shoes off? Feel fatigued? You could have Natural Deficit Disorder. Learn how the earth can help neutralize the disease-causing radicals in the body, by doing something as simple as swimming or walking barefoot.
"On The Map" tells the story of '77 team, the one that brought the first European Cup to Israel and became "The Team of the Nation" Still demoralized after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israel was hungry for a collective uplifting event. "On The Map", a fast-moving, emotional and awe-inspiring documentary, recounts the story of how one Tel Aviv team no one thought could win toppled the four-time defending European Champions and put Israel firmly on the map. Featuring interviews with the Jewish American athletes who made history, "On the Map" combines the pulsepounding action of a high-stakes game with an incendiary political situation at the height of the Cold War to deliver a film that honors Israeli heroes, mesmerizes fans of the game and captures the spirit of a nation triumphant and victorious against all odds.
The story of American POWs, who were surrendered in the Philippines to the Japanese Army, then sent to slave labor camps in the northern Chinese city of Mukden (now Shenyang).