It’s 1984 and Venice Beach, CA, is at the epicenter of a pop culture explosion. Young people of color seeking refuge from the turmoil of inner city life flock to the eclectic ocean community to create a brand new phenomenon: roller dancing! The talent and vibrant personality of this multicultural roller ‘family’ draws massive crowds and influence Hollywood. But just as roller dancing flourishes, politics, money and gentrification conspire to take their dreams away.
The “Prophecy of the 7th Fire” says a “black snake” will bring destruction to the earth. For Winona LaDuke, the “black snake” is oil trains and pipelines. When she learns that Canadian-owned Enbridge plans to route a new pipeline through her tribe’s 1855 Treaty land, she and her community spring into action to save the sacred wild rice lakes and preserve their traditional indigenous way of life. Launching an annual spiritual horse ride along the proposed pipeline route, speaking at community meetings and regulatory hearings. Winona testifies that the pipeline route follows one of historical and present-day trauma. The tribe participates in the pipeline permitting process, asserting their treaty rights to protect their natural resources. LaDuke joins with her tribe and others to demand that the pipelines’ impact on tribal people’s resources be considered in the permitting process.
Africa's history is stained with suffering; but after generations of slavery, oppression, and diaspora, many ancestral Africans are now returning to reclaim their heritage. In the heart of Ethiopia, Shashamane was dedicated by King Haile Selassie as a homeland for those of African descent. This thoughtful and beautifully shot documentary follows those who have heeded this call to return to their ancestral home and recover their African identity.
Jewish-American history has been rooted in an ever-changing “Old Country”. Interviews with top scholars in Jewish history, notable Jewish-American writers, and many immigrants themselves detail the varied stories of migration through the last five centuries, with a rarely explored look at the actual journeys to get here.
Nikola Tesla transformed the world with technology that was ahead of its time. Claiming to be in contact with aliens, he was ultimately prevented from pursuing his greatest inventions by a ruling elite concerned he would derail their systems of mass control.
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.
Every climbing reward comes at the cost of a potential risk, but when you are a climbing pioneer, driven by the unknown and unexpected, you are willing to risk whatever it takes for the chance to find the perfect first ascent line. This is a story of exploration and discovery, a journey of friendship and solitude, a quest to fuel an obsessive passion. Starring Paul Robinson, Jimmy Webb, Daniel Woods, Chris Sharma and Niky Ceria.
Mumford and Sons are a band that have never stayed still. An innate desire to travel, to meet people and to do the unexpected has become a calling card of sorts as fans the world over join their community and fall in love with their consistently evolving music. The documentary follows the band and their latest set of collaborators as they travel across uncharted territory, playing the major cities of South Africa with an eclectic mix of musician friends. They explore the craft of song writing and the people, events and influences that dictate that. The film showcases the band at their most open and collaborative as they relish the excitement of playing to crowds in new cities who've never seen them before. Along the way they set a fresh challenge for themselves; taking their collaborative culture one step further as they attempt to write and record a mini album in just two days, with the other musicians on tour. The filming of this process not only lifts the lid on the art of song....
Documentary about the increasingly necessary conversation taking place in homes and communities across the country between parents of color and their children, especially sons, about how to behave if they are ever stopped by the police.
A celebration of the musical legacy of Memphis’ best-known secret – Big Star – performed by a collective featuring members of Big Star, the dB’s, Let’s Active, the Posies, R.E.M., Semisonic, Wilco and Yo La Tengo with the Kronos Quartet and more.
Pure Comedy is a black and white document of the live tracking of Pure Comedy, as well as a surreal look into Tillman's writing process. A six person crew, complete with cranes in the tracking rooms, captured every moment of the recording, giving the viewer intimate audience to actual album takes, including the one and only 2:00am performance of the 13-minute "Leaving LA."
'Miriam: Home Delivery' is a feature length documentary following one of the longest-practicing midwives in New York City. Miriam has a 'voice and a mission'. We are with her as she drives through the city, enabling those women who have made choices about how and where they give birth, against the cultural norm.
Lemonade and Ducktape Stuffs is a film about quitting. Giving up on the everyday routine and having fun. It was time to say farewell to appeasing the masses and check out. It's not easy. Actually it's really hard. Thats what makes it right. This how we want to be remembered.
At the Waseskun Healing Center, men with troubled and violent pasts follow a treatment plan based on Indigenous philosophy. In the great tradition of cinéma vérité, director Steve Patry spends an extended period of time at the centre, producing a gripping film that captures daily life in this unique alternative detention facility.
Cesano is a small town in the Roman countryside with an abnormally high incidence of leukaemia and other diseases, especially among children. It is also home to the Vatican Radio’s global transmitter site. Links between the two have lead residents of Cesano to form a committee and engage in a long legal battle against Vatican Radio, which has led up to an investigation for manslaughter. What sets Cesano apart is the vast radio transmitter site that sits on the edge of town. The site is owned by Vatican Radio, whose motto is: 'The voice of the Pope and the Church in dialogue with the world' and broadcasts worldwide in many languages. At night the tall crucifix-shaped antenna is illuminated red and can be seen from miles away.
Blows the roof of Barbie’s “Dreamhouse,” revealing generations of people obsessed with the world’s most popular toy. At Barbie conventions and anti-Barbie demonstrations, from San Francisco’s gay pride parade to Croatia’s bunkers, Barbie fans, foes, fetishists – and Barbie’s creator Ruth Handler – reveal the history and fantasy behind the icon.
Their names are George, Inge, Jo, Sepp, Paula, Walo, Anita, Klaus and Klaus. They were acolytes, pupils, wards and foster home children, who were sexually, emotionally and physically abused by members of the clergy.