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.
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.
Rockabilly is a subculture whose members operate as if they are living in the 1950's. From the music to the tattoos, pin up girls, hot rod cars and vintage fashion, this lifestyle gives creative people a place where they feel empowered. Rockabillies don't fit the mold of what American culture says is 'normal.' This scene makes invisible people visible. Simple as that. A Rockabilly's greatest fear is not being noticed.
A towboat drifts down the Mississippi River, due for the port of New Orleans. The water, the banks, the bright lights of a port ahead; the lure of a coming paycheck and a home-cooked meal. This is the world of BARGE. A green deckhand following his father into the family business. A former convict working his way upward job by job, in the hopes of being First Mate. A thirty-eight year veteran engineer in no hurry to retire. An ancient waterway pulling a double shift as the backbone of a national economy; a tangle of thick steel cables, tied together just right. As long as the boat’s moving, they’re making money. An intimate portrait of the machinery of American ambitions.
"The Principle" brings to light astonishing new scientific observations challenging the Copernican Principle; the foundational assumption underlying the modern scientific world view. The idea that the Earth occupies no special or favored position in the cosmos has launched the last two scientific revolutions - the Copernican Revolution and Relativity - and, as Lawrence Krauss has said, we could be on the verge of a third, with "Copernicus coming back to haunt us". Interviews with leading cosmologists are interspersed with the views of dissidents and mavericks, bringing into sharp focus the challenges and implications not only for cosmology, but for our cultural and religious view of reality.
The Film tells the grim tale of the half century War on Cancer and focuses on the character of Thomas Navarro. In 1999, the four year old boy was diagnosed with brain cancer and thrust into the system of Surgery, Chemo and Radiation and not allowed to be treated with a proven method by Texas Doctor Stanislaw Burzynski. The war between the Navarro Family and the FDA is perhaps this country's greatest evidence as to why there should be medical freedom and how since the War on Cancer began in 1971, the war is still failing in 2009.
Produced by the Army Pictorial Service, Signal Corps, with the cooperation of the Army Air Forces and the United States Navy, and released by Warner Bros. for the War Activities Committee shortly after the surrender of Japan. Follow General Douglas MacArthur and his men from their exile from the Philippines in early 1942, through the signing of the instrument of surrender on the USS Missouri on September 1, 1945. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.
HALF THE ROAD is a documentary film that explores the world of women's professional cycling, focusing on both the love of sport and the pressing issues of inequity that modern-day female riders face in a male-dominated sport. With footage from some of the world's best races to interviews with Olympians, world champs, rookies, coaches, managers, officials, doctors and even the U.S. Surgeon General, HALF THE ROAD offers a unique insight into the drive, dedication and passion it takes for a female cyclist to thrive despite oppression. Both on and off the bike, the voices and advocates of women's pro cycling take the audience on a journey of enlightenment, depth, strength, love, humor and best of all, change and growth.
Shaquille O'Neal turns up the heat for the second edition of the All Star Comedy Jam, with the legendary D.L. Hughley playing emcee and stand-up sharpshooters Earthquake, Lavell Crawford, Melanie Comarcho and Arnez J. topping the bill. Filmed at the Fillmore Miami Beach as part of the 2009 American Black Film Festival, the no-limits sketch revue taps the Original Kings of Comedy vein and gets the funny on.
What led Arthur Conan Doyle to create, and then destroy the world famous detective, Sherlock Holmes? This compelling drama explores the dark secrets that surround the author and his creation.
Widely recognized as the planet's worst film director, Uwe Boll embarks on a quest to conquer Hollywood and take vengeance upon the film fanatics striving to destroy him. Filmed over three years on and off the set, 'Raging Boll' is a walk in the shoes of a man people love to hate.
18-year-old Leigh lives in a trailer park on the outskirts of Los Angeles, attends community college, has no real friends and works part time at Home Depot. With an obsession for Steven Spielberg and enrolled in a film production class, he sets out to make his cinematic debut. He hopes the film will be his ticket out of his mundane life and into a world of popularity, women and success. And he just may be on his way, if he doesn't self-destruct first.
A woman awakens with amnesia after a suicide attempt, and her quest to find the meaning of life introduces her to a great spiritual philosophy. Her self-discovery becomes a real-life primer in higher consciousness.
Born in a tree house, killed in a friend’s living room, and 86’d from his own funeral Blaze Foley is now a bona fide Texas legend. His songs are covered by Merle Haggard, Lyle Lovett, John Prine, Willie Nelson and Joe Nichols. This new documentary movie brings his story to life on the screen for you.
Superpower illustrates how the United States has leveraged its position to ensure unilateral world domination through absolute economic and military superiority and government deception.
Dr. Frank Baxter, with the help of The Mad Hatter and Jabberwock, takes young Judy exploring the world of language, in which she finds out that language is for doing more than just talking.