In 2009, Mountain Bike Hall of Fame inductee Mike “The Bike” Rust went missing from his off-the-grid property in Colorado's San Luis Valley. His disappearance—which received almost no press—remains unsolved. An innovator in his sport, Rust custom-built bikes for Colorado’s mountain passes, starting a fat-tire revolution and designing gear that transformed the industry. Salida native Nathan Ward, himself an intrepid mountain biker, set out to tell Rust’s story, tracking the pioneer’s subject through the infancy of the sport to his role in the thriving community that surrounds it today. Ward brings the riveting documentary to life with a unique local perspective and access. By combining interviews, re-enactments, home movies, and archival footage—and even consulting a psychic to communicate with Rust’s sprit—the director/cinematographer attempts to find answers to this mystery full of loose ends and cold trails. -Denver Film Society
At the height of the war in Iraq, thousands of Iraqis were fleeing the country each day. Among them was Mohamed, a 23-year-old from Baghdad, whose strikingly Western appearance and manner resulted in threats to his life. Forced into exile in Syria, Mohamed crosses path with Jennifer, a freelance video journalist from Brooklyn, New York, who begins to document his life as a refugee. Drawn into the fantasy world he invents to escape his harsh reality, Jennifer forms a unique friendship with Mohamed, embarking on a series of adventures around the city of Damascus.
Within the last half century, our agriculture and food has changed more than it has changed before in several thousand years. New technologies and scientific ingenuity have given rise to genetically modified organisms (GMO) and other novel foods. Some people have raised concerns about the safety of GMOs in our food supply, given their incredible dominance in the majority of our diet. Traditional, organic farmers, have consistently been under attack by large corporate farming interests, who seek to dominate the food industry and run family farms out of business. This film looks at our current food system as well as a variety of smaller, organic options available to consumers who want to support sustainable farming methods.
In a portrait of his New York relatives, one of them a Holocaust survivor and the other her daughter, filmmaker Marco Niemeijer gradually unfolds the harrowing, smothering effects of the war trauma across generations.
Documenting the demolition of Cabrini Green, Chicago's most infamous public housing development, through the stories of three public housing residents whose lives are turned upside down in the name of progress.
"Searching for Home, Coming Back From War' is an emotional and unflinching look at returning veterans and their search for the 'home' they left behind, physically, mentally and spiritually. From World War II, Korea and Vietnam to the modern day conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, 'Searching for Home' is a multi-generational chronicle of the men and women who have left home only to return to new and difficult challenges as profoundly changed people.
The story of a group of surfers from Havana struggling to establish a niche for their sport in Cuba’s restrictive society. Guided by Eduardo Valdes, founder of the Havana Surf Association, two filmmakers travel across the island to the notorious Guantanamo province, home to the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, as well as the country’s best waves. Searching for surf along this controversial coast, they discover a forbidden paradise just miles from the American border, and learn what it means to be a surfer and a citizen of modern-day Cuba.
A documentary about the Famous Jeff Healey Club which opened in downtown Toronto, Canada in 2001 until its closure in 2008. The movie tells the story of the Jeff Healey club ,the A- list musicians who played there from around the world and of course the amazing talent that Jeff had as a Blind Musician who never let his disability stop him from doing what he loved most -Music. With interviews with Cristie Healey, Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Ronnie Hawkins and others and with rare live performance footage from the club with Jeff Healey, The Jeff Healey Blues Band, Ian Gillan, Jimmy Bowskill, Watermelon Slim and many more.
Seeking to storm the man-fortress of the DJ booth, a 29-year-old university grad is forced to deal with an old feminist dilemma: use your sexuality and get noticed, or refuse to and linger in the shadows.
A photograph of an unknown Mapuche great-grandmother is the starting point of this documentary essay. Through the analysis of said picture, conversations with family members, a trip to southern Chile cities, and an actress who re-enacts the photo, we see the existing prejudice against indigenous people.
In 1971, hundreds of young people claimed the 85 acres of an abandoned 17th century military base in Copenhagen and set up a community. Over the next 40 years, they build a self-governed community with the hope of becoming legitimate.
Finding it politically unpopular to evict the settlers, the Danish government declared Christiania a "short-term social experiment". Following 40 years of tense relations with the government, much of it focusing on the open hashish trade, Christiania is on its way to becoming a legitimate community.
Christiania was born in 1971 when youthful idealism and a severe housing shortage incited hundreds of young people to occupy 85 acres of deserted brick buildings, woods, ramparts and canals as their home.
The struggle for Muslim women’s emancipation is often portrayed stereotypically as a showdown between Western and Islamic values, but Arab feminism has existed for more than a century. This groundbreaking documentary recounts Arab feminism’s largely unknown story, from its taboo-shattering birth in Egypt by feminist pioneers up through viral Internet campaigns by today’s tech-savvy young activists during the Arab Spring.
When 24-year-old Hend Nafea is arrested and tortured for demonstrating peacefully in Cairo's Tahrir Square, her pursuit of justice reflects post-revolution Egypt at an uncertain crossroads.
Investigative documentary following three families involved in the Sandy Hook shooting, as they try to make sense of the tragedy and find a way to move on and rebuild their lives.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, the rock radio DJ played an unprecedented creative role in the rock music world. I Am What I Play profiles four disc jockeys in major markets during this period: their programming, their politics and their deep connections with musicians and fans in the heyday of rock radio. Where are they now - and how did they reinvent themselves as the medium changed? Featuring the music of The Ramones, Joni Mitchell, Rush, David Bowie, The Cars, The Sonics and more.