In September 2004, Chechen rebels occupied a school in the small Russian city of Beslan, taking some 1,200 people-most of them children-hostage. At the end of three days, over 330 were dead.
Fanarchy explores the rise of fan culture and ways in which fans are threatening the Hollywood system by becoming a creative force in their own right. With affordable technology at their fingertips, fans are producing more new content per month than studios or networks combined. Whether it's an original idea or a personal spin on a favorite film or TV show, fans are taking the reins and blurring the line between amateur and professional. Written and directed by Halifax’s own Donna Davies, Fanarchy exposes the burgeoning media landscape and the issues that complicate it – copyright, intellectual property and the concept of originality in a remix culture.
Adaptation of Rómulo Gallegos' novel Sobre la misma tierra. A young mixed-race woman is forced to choose between her tribal heritage and her position in white society.
Before stalking was a well-known crime in North America, there was Theresa Saldana's story. A drifter from the U.K., Arthur Jackson, flies to the U.S. to seek Saldana out. His twisted mission: Jackson planned to murder Saldana, then request the death sentence for himself so he "could join her in paradise." The psychopathic Jackson confronts Saldana on the street in front of her home and stabs her violently several times. No one comes to Theresa's aid except water deliveryman Jeff Fenn, who overpowers Jackson and gets the knife away from him. Jackson is arrested & charged with attempted murder...and Theresa Saldana tells her story of terror and survival as herself in this TV movie.
The Algerian is an international political thriller about the colliding worlds of the Middle East and America. It follows Ali (Ben Youcef) across the world from Algeria to New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles as it reveals he is a sleeper cell part of an international plot.
In Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, the Vida/Sida Cacica Pageant brings together members of the Puerto Rican community to celebrate its transgender participants. I Am The Queen follows Bianca, Julissa and Jolizza as they prepare for the pageant under the guidance of Ginger Valdez, an experienced transgender from the neighborhood. These trans women share stories of their transition, their relatives’ varying reactions, and how they find support from within the community. Family dynamics, cultural heritage, and personal identity all play a part in how the contestants face the daily struggle that comes from being true to themselves.
When Hubert Lee decides to open the world's largest drive-in movie theater across the street from a funeral parlor, a feud erupts between Lee and Turner Knight, the owner of the funeral home. As Lee's many promotional ideas become more and more outrageous, he continues to enrage Knight until one of the promotions backfires with grave consequences.
When a bitter rivalry between two brothers finally erupts into bloody, life-changing violence it is younger bother Greg who signs up for frontline battle in France. Greg discovers a world of uncompromising brutality as we follow him on his journey through France at the outbreak of World War 2.
Director and Writer Eric Dow ("Honor in the Valley of Tears") brings us his second documentary as he goes behind the scenes of the fan fiction short film, "Batman: Dead End." In the winter of 2003 commercial director Sandy Collora and some of his friends set out to make a low-budget short film for his demo reel. What they wound up actually doing was making one of the most elaborate, most watched, most talked about and most controversial short films ever made: Batman Dead End. Considering the amount of press and admiration Batman: Dead End garnered,
Wide Open Sky follows the heart-warming story of an outback Australian children's choir. Chronicling their journey from auditions to end-of-year concert, the trials of trying to run a children's choir in a remote and disadvantaged region are revealed. Here, sport is king and music education is non-existent. Despite this, choir mistress Michelle has high expectations. She wants to teach the children contemporary, original, demanding music. It becomes clear for the children to believe in themselves, they all need someone who believes in them. Set against a landscape of devastating beauty, Wide Open Sky is a moving portrait of the fragile world of possibility that is childhood and reminds us why no child, anywhere, should grow up without music.