In 2007, the human rights organisation B’tselem launched a project consisting of providing video cameras and training to Palestinian volunteers in the West Bank to document their lives under Israeli occupation. Made up of many short films, Of Land and Bread is a film of painful eloquence.
Flying in the face of this culture's extreme ageism, STILL DOING IT explores the lives of older women. Partnered, single, straight, gay, black and white; nine extraordinary women, age 67-87, express with startling honesty and humor how they feel about themselves, sex and love in later life and the poignant realities of aging. Outspoken for their generation, these women mark a sea change. Women over 65 have been the fastest growing part of the population for decades, but with boomers turning 65, the number of older women is skyrocketing. Still Doing It looks at this society's complex relationship to women and aging with surprising and revelatory results.
This documentary offers rare interviews with over 15 major Asian-Pacific American women poets. Organized in interwoven sections such as Immigration, Language, Family, Memory, and Spirituality, it is a sophisticated merging of Asian-American history and identity with the questions of performance, voice, and image.
Nat Bates For Mayor tells the story of the outrageous 2014 mayor's race in Richmond, home to the second largest refinery in California. In a brazen move, Chevron spent more than $3 million to back 83-year-old African American stalwart Nat Bates. Bates makes a Faustian bargain with the city's corporate behemoth in a cagey attempt to preserve the long-standing but waning power of Richmond's African-American working class community, whose rich history dates back to the formation of the Kaiser shipyards during World War Two.
Once known as a Polish Catholic town, Hamtramck, MI is now home to America’s first Muslim-majority city. As election season approaches, candidates set out to win hearts, minds and votes in this rapidly changing city. Going behind the scenes of small-town politics, HAMTRAMCK, USA explores the beauty and challenges that come with multiculturalism.
Released a year before Roe v. Wade, this short film by Amalie Rothschild lays out the dire realities of illegal abortion, interviewing women from a variety of backgrounds who made the choice to terminate a pregnancy.
Shot in six cities along the Trans-Siberian Railway, this documentary details the current state of the Russian queer community - giving both broad societal overviews and deeply personal accounts from activists and non-activists alike. The film follows Paul Rice and Liam Jackson Montgomery, a gay couple from Ireland, as they travel on the Trans-Siberian Railway, meeting with a diverse range of LGBT+ people-from Nobel Peace prize nominees and drag queens to those who have suffered brutal homophobic and transphobic attacks.
Stop-motion animation on the arranging of marriages in 1950/60s set in the Eastern-Polish borderland. The script is based on a part of Mikołaj Smyk's diary, the director's grandfather. The biographical objects used in the animation, such as an authentic headscarf, Polish and Russian books, the copy of Mikołaj Smyk's diary and photographs help situate the story in its original environment.
A film describing the political history of Dubrovnik and the history of its architecture, painting, literature and science until the end of Republic of Ragusa.
COCHENGO MIRANDA is a portrait of a farmer and his family living in the Pampas region of Central Argentina. Made by Jorge Preloran, Argentina's best-known documentary filmmaker, the film is an example of his unique genre of ethnobiography, in which the story of an individual reveals larger truths about a culture and way of life.
Larger-than-life actress, cabaret performer, activist, and proud sex professional since the age of eleven, Luana Muniz - arguably one of Brazil’s most recognizable transgender personalities, shapes a new reality for a new generation of transgender sex workers in her hostel by providing a safe working environment in the dangerous neighborhood of Lapa in Rio de Janeiro. Queen of Lapa explores the day-to-day lives, quests for love, housemate rivalries in a turbulent political climate under matriarch Muniz’s watchful and guiding eye.
For thousands of years, gold has been the most treasured and coveted of all metals. But extraction sites are dwindling and what little gold that remains is harder and harder to mine. However, there is a place where you can still find vast quantities of gold. Underwater archaeology has revealed that 3 million shipwrecks litter the ocean floor, 3,500 of which sunk with cargoes of ’precious metals’ onboard. Billions of dollars worth of gold, just sitting there, at the bottom of the sea. With today’s technology, this gold is in reach.
An examination of shamanism in the Yanomamo society. Dedehiewa, a shaman of the Mishimishi-mabowei-teri village, summons spirits called hekura to "cure or kill".
"The Atheist Experience," produced in Austin, Texas, is the only atheist TV show in the United States. Every Sunday afternoon, two atheists debate callers for one hour, on camera. ATHEIST AMERICA portrays the show, its protagonists, and the discussions between the hosts and callers. The debates between believers and skeptics are funny, touching and shocking in turn, and they're interspersed with footage of the very public religious displays common in the state of Texas. The film is an intimate, concentrated, and entertaining insight into the culture wars, and is sure to provoke inspiration as well as frustration, no matter which side of the divide you fall on.
Alternative Facts: The Lies of Executive Order 9066 is a documentary feature film about the false information and political influences which led to the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans. Alternative Facts sheds light on the people and politics that influenced the signing of the infamous Executive Order 9066 which authorized the mass incarceration of nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans. The film will expose the lies used to justify the decision and the cover-up that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Alternative Facts will also examine the parallels to the current climate of fear, attitudes towards immigrant communities, and similar attempts to abuse the powers of the government.
Geneticist George Busby and biblical scholar pastor Joe Basile travel the globe extracting and analyzing samples from the most famous religious relics from history in search of the DNA of the most famous figure in history; Jesus Christ.
When the Supreme Court legalized marriage equality, the backlash by the religious right was swift, severe, and successful. Karslake’s documentary looks at four faith-based families with LGBTQ children caught in the crosshairs of sexuality, identity, and scripture.
Erick's life changed forever when he got into a taxi. The driver and two accomplices sexually assaulted him. The then 17-year-old never went to the police, never saw a doctor and never told his family or friends. After feeling broken for 10 years, he goes on a journey to reclaim his life - changing the world around him along the way.
Storm Under the Sun is a documentary about one of the "political storms" by Mao Zedong that fell upon the intellectuals of China in the 50's. Centered around the Hu Feng Case, the documentary traces the synergy that generated such an event, Mao's personal involvement in every step, and various victims' reaction to and realizations following the humiliation and accusations.