Ghosts of the République follows Aurelien and Nicolas, who, when confronted by France's conservative surrogacy laws, decide to exhaust their last option by traveling to Las Vegas to start a family of their own through surrogacy. This film demonstrates the extreme lengths many gay couples go to have children, highlighting the ever-expanding and controversial surrogacy industry.
When seemingly happy, travel-infatuated CJ Twomey violently ended his own life at age 20, his family was plunged into unrelenting grief and guilt. In a moment of desperate inspiration, his mother Hallie put out an open call on Facebook, looking only for a handful of travelers who might help fulfill her son’s wish to see the world by scattering some of his ashes in a place of beauty or special meaning.
The key ingredient in bird's nest soup is the hardened saliva of the swiftlet. Once a rarity and now a harvested agricultural product, demand for this Chinese delicacy attracts entrepreneurs to Southeast Asia, where the swiftlets make their edible homes. Howard Gan is one of these investors: a recently retired Chinese-Malaysian Canadian immigrant who spent over half his life in Montreal. Gan decides to return to extended family and oversee his investment. The swiftlet's idiosyncratic life cycle—building homes for their offspring, only to be displaced and forced to resettle—captures the imagination of Gan's artist daughter, who sees the parallels to her father's own life. Addressing themes of home and heritage, Cavebirds is a beautifully crafted father-daughter story that explores the changing values between generations and our desire to know where we come from.
'Poet: An Intimate Discussion with Wade Radford' is a brand new, independent documentary about the life and work in Poetry of Underground Filmmaker and Actor Wade Radford. Known globally for his controversial role in 'TWINK' as well as other film credits in the LGBT market including; 'Sex Lies and Depravity', '1 Last Chance at Paradise' and 'Boys Behind Bars' - Wade behind the scenes has been releasing Poetry anthologies and read aloud recordings online for the last eight years. 'Poet' explores the themes of Wade's work and for the first time ever introduces the audience to this complex and candid individual. Up until now Radford has hidden behind the mask of his work; but those days are over. Join Wade as he embarks on a week long road trip, visiting places that inspired the poetry and remain dear to his heart
This documentary is perhaps one of the most notorious subject matters on the 1980's Male Revue. We hear from the actual 1980'S former Chippendale performers and others. We explore vintage footage from the 1980's to the present day lives of Michael Rapp, Dean Mammales, John Richardson, Scott Marlowe, David Cohen and Brian Carpenter. A must see! Behind the scenes, up close and personal.
Called a maverick, a miracle-worker, and a quack, Dr. Marty Goldstein is a pioneer of integrative veterinary medicine. By holistically treating animals after other vets have given up, Goldstein provides a last hope for pet owners with nothing left to lose.
Fathers of Football follows the triumphs and struggles of life in a small town, where football is not only the brightest stage but also the best ticket out.
To A More Perfect Union: U.S. v Windsor chronicles unlikely heroes -- octogenarian Edie Windsor and her attorney, Roberta Kaplan, on their quest for justice: Edie had been forced to pay a huge estate tax bill upon the death of her spouse because the federal government denied federal benefits to same-sex couples – and Edie’s spouse was a woman. Deeply offended by this lack of recognition of her more than forty-year relationship with the love of her life, Edie decided to sue the United States government – and won. Windsor and Kaplan’s legal and personal journeys are told in their own words, and through interviews with others of the legal team, movement activists, legal analysts, well-known supporters and opponents. Beyond the story of this pivotal case in the marriage equality movement and the stories behind it, the film also tells the story of our journey as a people, as a culture, and as citizens with equal rights.
After a decade of making music together, Jim and Sam, a recently married singer/songwriter duo from Los Angeles, were not the conventionally successful band they hoped they’d be. Feeling stuck and anxious about their future, the duo made a spontaneous decision to go “all in,” making a pact to play one show every day for a year. With suitcases and a guitar, the troubadours ventured out for a 365-day tour down unexplored roads, and onto unexpected stages, bringing their music to new audiences throughout 14 different countries. After So Many Days, is an intimate front row seat to the highs and lows of what it’s like for two people to pursue a dream, together.
Can one be happy despite being gravely ill? Nick Difino, a food performer, posed this question to himself. After being diagnosed with a Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, his disease became a challenge to find his own "recipe for happiness". His story - mainly narrated using his video diaries - is alternated with the voices of seven acclaimed Chefs and artists - among which Simone Salvini, Roy Paci, Diego Rossi and others - who portray Nick's struggle, since cooking for him during the treatment has got them closely involved. While preparing the meals they ponder over subjects as disease, happiness, love for life, death and - of course - the role of Food.
A married couple cling to prayers for answers during a series of hardships: the news of the husband's 4th degree stomach cancer on the day the wife gives birth to a daughter; the sudden death of her mother; and the news of the wife's 4th cancer a week after the end of the husband's chemo treatment.
A year in the life of abstract artist Sean Scully, one of the world’s richest painters. Little known at home but a superstar abroad, Sean flies around the world to open 15 major museum exhibitions - a journey that also reveals his extraordinary life story. Now, at the age of 73, Scully opens up about his unique experiences spanning 55 years in an often hostile art world - how he built a reputation from nothing, having grown up penniless on the streets of Dublin and London, often homeless as a child and running with street gangs as a teenager, to turn his striped paintings into the huge success they are today.
Cobby's Hobbies was a 1960's children's TV program featuring a chimpanzee getting hmself into all sorts of mischief. For filmmaker Donna McRae, the show was a crucial part of getting through a lonely childhood. McRae seeks people that made the show, Cobby's zoo friends, zoo keepers and the animal rights activists that help her piece together the story of an animal stolen from his natural habitat to work on TV before, being retired into the San Francisco Zoo at age 7. Most primates chimps in entertainment suffered horrifically, becoming research animals or caged in roadside zoos. This documentary examines how we perceive animals in entertainment and how we address their plight now.
An entrepreneur sets out to reinvent school food — to challenge the way Boston's public school students eat lunch. Over a yearlong journey, she wrangles with bureaucracy, unwieldy regulations and a team of stalwart lunch ladies, to navigate a path to replace plastic-wrapped vended meals with fresh, healthy food cooked from scratch that changes the way kids both eat and learn.
It seems that Canada don't want to hear about their heroes of the two World Wars, especially in Quebec. In English, La Guerre oubliée means The Forgotten War. Here, we talk about the 1914-18 big thing. This documentary doesn't use old footage, but actors to show us some parts of that war in Quebec. Joe Bocan sings some songs of that period and makes the narrations. There's also some rare veterans of the war who talk.
En route to an international competition, Closing The Gap follows the North Korean men's hockey team as they strive to bring home gold for Marshal Kim Jong Un. While their commitment and dedication to their training is unmatched, they're hard pressed to catch a break. Whether it be the UN sanctions on North Korea, or the flurry of injuries and rumours that plague the DPRK team, this film is a window into the lives of a group of underdog athletes.
Reinhold Niebuhr's Serenity Prayer remains one of the most quoted writings in American literature. Yet Niebuhr's impact was far greater, as presidents and civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. often turned to Niebuhr's writings for guidance and inspiration on the most volatile political and social issues of the 20th century. Niebuhr rose from a small Midwest church pulpit to become the nation's moral voice - an American conscience -during some of the most defining moments in American history.
Through verité documentary footage, humorous storytelling, interviews and archival film material, Leonard Soloway's Broadway captures a Broadway few ever see as told through the eyes of a legendary Broadway producer you've probably never heard of. He lived an unconventional life on his own terms who, over a 70-year span, staged over 100 shows (and counting) which generated history making headlines, over 40 Tony Awards, 62 Tony Nominations, 21 Drama Desk Awards, 29 Drama Desk nominations and 3 Pulitzer Prizes in addition to launching the careers of famous stars known the world over.
Iceland has been ranked first in gender equality by the U.N. nine years in a row and was the first country in the world to democratically elect a female president. Tag along with world champion snowboarders Anne-Flore Marxer and Aline Bock as they explore the unique surf, snow, and sky of Iceland, and enjoy inspiring conversations with the women they meet along the way.