Casey, the new flatmate, was everything Alessandro was not. He was energetic, adventurous and charismatic. Alessandro started to document this strange creature with his video camera, so different from himself. They were in their early twenties and living in Rome...every experience together felt new and exciting. But when Casey moved to the Middle East to work as a TV journalist, Alessandro's world was opened up even more. Drawn from 15 years of footage, The Things We Keep is an intimate look at friendship, a celebration of people's common humanity and an invitation to break out of one’s comfort zone.
In 1999 Aaron Baker broke his neck in a motocross accident, leaving him completely paralyzed from the neck down. Despite doctor's grim prognosis over the next 16 years Aaron decided not to listen to those who said 'he had a million-to-one odds of ever feeding himself again' and instead, through painstaking effort, endeavored to regain as much mobility as possible. This journey through the unknown took him from the depths of depression to the joys of cross country road tripping via tandem bicycle with his mother and friends, and finally, culminated in his opening a socially conscious low cost gym focused on increasing mobility for the disabled. Now in Coming To My Senses we watch as Aaron takes one final journey which symbolizes his recovery: to cross a 20 mile tract of Death Valley unsupported on foot. But will he make it?
In the gruelling world of competitive sheep shearing there is no women's section. Women and men compete together. She Shears is the story of passion, purpose and determination and five women for whom shearing is not just a job.
For the past 35 years, Jeff Voth has led his sons and other groups of men on an annual backpacking trip into the Colorado Rocky Mountains. This trip has become a legendary, masculine benchmark. Learning life-skills, trout fishing, extreme physical fatigue and the sharing of deep heart-felt secrets in sometimes beautiful, sometimes terrifying alpine backdrop has etched this event indelibly into these men's lives. They would each tell you that they have been forever changed... that have been forged into a deeper and healthier masculine place... that they have become better men because of the trip.
In 1965, Robert Kennedy was the first man to summit Mount Kennedy in the Yukon Territory, named in honor of his late brother. Leading that expedition was Jim Whitaker, the first American to summit Everest and original fulltime employee of REI. 50 years later, Jim’s sons Bob and Leif, along with Christopher Kennedy, decide to climb the mountain again in honor of their fathers’ joint accomplishment and unique friendship. Seattle-based filmmaker Eric Becker’s touching documentary combines archival footage—including several Kennedy home movies—with interviews from Jim himself and those who them best as we follow three sons and the journey literally in their fathers’ footsteps. Eddie Vedder, a personal friend of Bob’s, writes original music for film that tailor shots of the expansive mountain ranges together in this wholesome story.
Once around the globe on a motorbike - Christian Vogel has fulfilled this lifelong dream. During the 333 days and more than 50,000 kilometers, the camera was his only companion. What he saw on the way and whom he met.
On a Knife Edge is a father-son story about Guy and George Dull Knife that unfolds over the course of George’s coming-of-age journey. Under his father’s guidance, George becomes an activist and organizer, and begins identifying with the role of traditional Lakota warrior, which he views as his family legacy. He commits himself to the fight for social justice, but struggles with adapting the old ways and his father’s expectations to the modern-day realities of growing up on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Told largely through George’s eyes, the film offers a privileged glimpse into the youngest generation of the American Indian Movement, as well as George’s own evolving notions of Native identity, manhood, and duty. His story is interwoven with animated sequences that depict five generations of family history, narrated by his father and based on paintings he has created to explore the continuum of their fight through the generations.
Forever Faithful is a documentary film about the eternal bond that exists between humans and their dogs. The film highlights advances being made in the field of canine cancer and the extraordinary veterinary treatments available to dogs.
Dozens of people lost their lives in the 2008 terrorist attack on the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, India. Years later, five witnesses return to the scene. Until the day of the attack, their lives had been entirely different, and each of them was at the hotel for an entirely different reason. Now they share this traumatic experience.
Discover the story behind the man who sparked the Protestant Reformation. Told through a seamless combination of live-action storytelling and artistic animation, Martin Luther's daring life is presented in extensive detail while still making the film relevant, provocative, and accessible.
In the 1960s, frustrated by the growing problem of urban pollution, Athelstan Spilhaus, a visionary scientist and futurist comic strip writer, assembled a team of experts to develop a bold experiment: the Minnesota Experimental City (MXC). MXC would be the city of the future, a domed metropolis for 250,000 pioneering residents, built from scratch and using cutting-edge technology to prevent urban sprawl and pollution. Things didn’t quite go as planned, as explored in Chad Friedrichs’ fascinating look back at the would-be city of tomorrow.
This is the exclusive and untold story of a small band of men who overcame incredible odds and hunted Marwan - the Bin Laden of Asia. At dawn on January 25, 2015, thirteen men of the Special Action Force (SAF) attacked the hut where Marwan lived in Mamasapano. The SAF successfully terminated him. This documentary gives us unprecedented access to OPLAN EXODUS, the special operation that took out one of the FBI's most wanted. With never before seen interviews, footage of the actual fighting itself, and dramatic reenactments by elite members of the Special Action Force, we reveal the men mourned by an entire nation. We discover the impact of the SAF's work, and the significance of eliminating the terrorist, Marwan - the man behing the Bali Bombing, the Australian Embassy Bombing (2004) and the JW Market & Ritz Calton Bombing (2009) And in the end as 44 caskets were laid to rest we ask, was it all worth it?
Susanna Edwards' follows Christina Sanchez, Spain's most successful female bullfighter, in this intimate, intense documentary about what it means to be a woman in a male-dominated sport.
Shot over a period of 25 years, Two Blue Lines examines the human and political situation of Palestinian people from the years prior to the creation of Israel to the present day. By primarily featuring the narratives of Israelis whose positions run counter to their country's official policy, filmmaker Tom Hayes provides a portrait of the ongoing conflict not often depicted in mainstream media.
Ernesto Gainza stands 4,000 meters above the ground in Dubai, preparing to set a Guinness world record skydiving with the smallest and fastest parachute in history. Experts say he is likely to die, but he jumps. Born in Valencia, Venezuela, Ernesto's father died days before he was born, leaving his mother to care for him and his sister singlehandedly in humble circumstances. After a difficult divorce, Ernesto gave up everything to move to Europe and took a skydiving course. His life changed forever and a career in parachute stunts quickly developed in a dream of setting a world record by April 5, 2014.
In Drew Xanthopoulos’ intimate and cinematic documentary, we meet Joe, a patriarch whose affliction is so all-encompassing that he’s indifferent to his long-suffering wife; and twin brothers Sam and Nathan, musicians who are no longer able to breathe outside of their real-life sterile “plastic bubble,” and whose mother, Karen, developed her illness when she was only 17. These characters all suffer from debilitating sensitivities to their environment. Whether from ambient chemicals, genetics, electricity, or even psychogenic reasons, the cause is not clear, but the reality of the effects on these individuals is undeniable. Fortunately, Susie Molloy, a quiet firebrand who is chemically sensitive herself, seeks to help. In her, those afflicted by this modern malady have found an advocate whose mission is to de-stigmatize this community, and in telling their stories, Xanthopoulos has crafted a film itself as deeply sensitive as its title suggests. Cara Cusumano
Welcome to the world of an extraordinary man who has everything he wants, but is missing the one thing he needs. Mirco Kuball: an ultra-wealthy, flamboyant, sophisticated and outspoken man who just happens to have down’s syndrome. This touching film explores an unexpected life. It moves through the castle where he lives; the massage parlours and restaurants where he's indulged; and the theater where he performs. But, beneath the opulent showman, lies a man like any other, who realises that beyond shelter, food, and companionship, nothing else counts.
One war, ten days, three stories: the Old City of Jerusalem, at the dawn of a new Middle East. For the Brits, it’s the shameful end of 30 years Mandate. For the Jews, it’s the birthday of their State. And for the Palestinians, it’s a catastrophe. Only now, 60 years later, images can be shown from three opposing points of view, telling a whole new story.