One of the most recognizable figures in contemporary music, Beyoncé rose to fame as the central member of pop-R&B group Destiny's Child before embarking on a multi-platinum, record-breaking solo career in 2001. Booming record sales, Grammy awards, movie roles, and marriage to rapper & CEO Jay-Z, combined to heighten her profile in the 2000s. Billboard named her female artist of the decade, while the R.I.A.A. acknowledged that, through 64 gold and platinum certifications, she was the decade's top-selling artist. Once she released her fifth solo album in 2013, it was evident that the singer, songwriter, and dancer wasn't merely an entertainer but a progressive artist as well. Get lost in the ultimate story of modern day superstardom, as we take you through the incredible Journey of Beyoncé.
Eddie and Jason, two Korean-American brothers get in over their heads when they are called to Korea to make a short film on prostitution and sex-trafficking. Things get complicated when they meet Crystal and Esther, two prostitutes who reveal just how deep the problem goes and set off on a dangerous mission to capture the truth. With the use of hidden cameras and access to pimps, johns, and sex-workers, the filmmakers explore and unravel the complexity of the sex trade in Seoul. They learn that this problem is rooted in issues far deeper than exploited girls and lustful men. Instead, it's a consequence of a culture and government that condones and turns a blind eye to the biggest human injustice of our time.
The Art of Listening is a documentary film about the journey music takes to reach a listener’s ear, from the intent of an instrument maker and composer, to the producers and engineers who capture and preserve an artist’s voice. This journey is narrated by intimate conversations with artists, engineers and producers about the philosophy of their work and the intent behind each musical note they create.
One woman’s journey through a century of love, war and discovery. Curiosity, Adventure & Love is a the story of a woman raised by fate to go boldly where few young women of her time and upbringing would go, into the arms of chance and life. A young American woman leaves her country and all security behind, to begin an adventure in the Philippines that would witness the birth of a nation, a cruel war and Occupation and reconstruction. Jessie is a striking personality, somewhere between Scarlett O’Hara and Amelia Earhart, who knew no boundaries and flew far ahead of her times, without regard to sex or society. Her story of a century well-lived is both rich and one that should restore our faith in our own humanity.
Filmmaker and omnivore John Papola, together with his vegetarian wife Lisa, offer up a timely and refreshingly unbiased look at how farm animals are raised for our consumption. With unprecedented access to large-scale conventional farms, Papola asks the tough questions behind every hamburger, glass of milk and baby-back rib. What he discovers are not heartless industrialists, but America's farmers - real people who, along with him, are grappling with the moral dimensions of farming animals for food.
In America, everyone has a family story of immigration. Every family, at some point, has had somebody leave their native country behind to search for a better life. How did they hold onto their identity? How did they adapt to their new life? Every family has a special story. In my case, it's my Chinese-American story. My father would always tell us his story about walking for 7 days and 6 nights, before swimming for 4 hours to Macau to escape communism in 1966. His story would fall on my deaf ears until I returned to China with him.
Does sentencing a teenager to life without parole serve our society well? The United States is the only country in the world that routinely condemns children to die in prison. This is the story of one of those children, now a young man, seeking a second chance in Florida. At age 15, Kenneth Young received four consecutive life sentences for a series of armed robberies. Imprisoned for more than a decade, he believed he would die behind bars. Now a U.S. Supreme Court decision could set him free. 15 to Life: Kenneth's Story follows Young's struggle for redemption, revealing a justice system with thousands of young people serving sentences intended for society's most dangerous criminals.
A finely-woven tapestry, unifying things that are incommensurate. What is it about? Something that we all know, but which resonates differently with each of us, that cannot be put into words. You could call it our inner hum.
There is a centuries-old seawall in the ancient port of Akka, located on Israel's northern coast. Today, Akka is a modern city inhabited by Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Baha'i, but its history goes all the way back to rule of the Egyptian Pharaohs. Young people dare to stand atop the 40' one-meter thick block structure and risk their fate by jumping into the roiling sea. This perilous tradition has continued for many generations, and has become a rite of passage for the children of Akka. "It's Better to Jump" is about the ancient walled city of Akka as it undergoes harsh economic pressures and vast social change. The film focuses on the aspirations and concerns of the Palestinian inhabitants who call the Old City home.
Bahman Mohassess was a celebrated artist at the time of the Shah. Trained in Italy, he created sculptures and paintings in his homeland. But audiences often took offence at the pronounced phalli on his mostly naked bronze figures and his work was regularly censored. All traces of him were lost after the revolution. It was said he destroyed his remaining paintings and disappeared.
Gaspard Delanoe joined the art squatting movement and squatted an abandoned building in Paris with his friends. The building soon became home to an accumulation of 30 artists who created a Dadaist museum on the top floor by collecting various objects. The documentary showcases how this museum eventually became the new "Pont des Arts" (Lovers' Bridge), and how the artists' success went beyond their dreams from years before.
On May 18, 2018, Christian Riley Garcia was among the 10 who were shot and killed in the Santa Fe high school shooting. This film will examine the impact of his heroic actions and his families fight for healing in the wakes of their loss.
A researcher takes a tour of the Province of Córdoba, interviewing historians, ethnologists, anthropologists, and some brave elders with memories about the African roots in the place. A Province that had more than 50% of the Afro population around 1850.
The American Soldier traces the evolution of America’s fighting men and women over the 250-year history of the nation. From the early settlers and the Revolutionary War against Britain, soldiers have played a key role in the seminal events that have shaped America. The two-hour special uses a blend of expert interviews, high end dramatizations and high-impact archive to tell the story of how the young independent nation plunges into the existential crisis of the Civil War in the 1860s, before coming of age in the World Wars of the 20th Century, and then finally emerges stronger from the complex conflicts of the Cold War and beyond. The American Soldier explores how the destiny of the United States and the story of the American Soldier are forever intertwined.
Guided by a mix of new age philosophy, comic book ambition, and a fundamental belief in the interconnectedness of events, Winnipeg artist Robert Pasternak creates a fast-paced and fun vision of a colourful and eclectic universe for all to marvel at.
Galvanized by the number of white women who voted for Donald Trump, two women of colour envision what unity looks in the United States. But instead of marching through the streets, they take a different approach. Race2Dinner was born, an afternoon of wining, dining and honest conversations about white supremacy and unconscious biases that white women live by. Navigating everyday privileges and cultural differences, the bold intervention changes minds and opens eyes for some, while others turn away because it is too hard. Everything is on the table to eat and unpack, but there is only one rule: no crying at the dinner table.