Jalanan is the captivating story of Boni, Ho and Titi - three gifted, charismatic bus musicians in Jakarta - and through them a mostly unknown story of contemporary Indonesia. Jalanan intimately portrays the young musicians' quirky sub-culture while also painting an alarming portrait of Indonesia's frenzied capital city that is raw, humorous and brutally honest. Jalanan accompanies the three characters as they perform songs of social angst, get caught in political unrest, face family crises and get locked up by police. It follows them to their distant home villages in Java and traces their elusive, heartfelt quest for identity and love in an adopted city rapidly being overrun by the effects of globalization. A powerful soundtrack of the musicians' original compositions drives the film.
Why do human beings get married in almost every society in the world? Why do we cheat? Why is monogamy so important to a relationship and why does infidelity cause so much grief? These are some of the questions acclaimed documentary filmmaker Dhruv Dhawan confronts in his next feature length documentary which explores why human beings evolved cultures of marriage and monogamy that are rife with infidelity. As he attends various lavish weddings occurring within his family, Dhruv is pestered to follow suit but is haunted by his family’s history of infidelity, as well as his own and embarks on a personal quest to discover the origins of marriage, the reasons for monogamy and the pain of infidelity as he tries to mediate an open relationship with the woman he loves. Dhruv’s search takes us on a journey into the biology of sex, the history of patriarchy and the politics of monogamy told through the lives of scientists, swingers, adulterers and Dhruv’s own family.
Big in Japan is a comedic rock-and-roll road movie about struggling Seattle rock band, Tennis Pro, who decide to sell their tour-van and head to Tokyo for one last shot at acceptance
Tummy tuck. Nose job. Lipo. Millions of people routinely undergo these cosmetic surgeries each year, hoping the results will help them look and feel better. But when something goes wrong, the consequences can be devastating. This HBO Documentary Films presentation exposes the dark side of plastic surgery with a look at three cases of procedures that went horrifically wrong.
The wild Seventies. A quest for higher consciousness, spirituality and sexual freedom. In England, young Hugh Milne hears the voice of spiritual teacher Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh on an audiotape and travels to India in search of his own self. Sheela Patel, a young Indian woman, is brought to the charismatic guru by her father. At 21, she knows: all she wants is to be with this man. In his Ashram in Poona, Bhagwan urges his disciples to meditate and practise tantric sex in order to reach a higher plane of consciousness. Hugh watches the guru's ascent as his bodyguard. Sheela becomes his secretary and the powerful boss of Bhagwan's model community born in the mountains of Oregon...
Narrated by Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman, "JFK: A President Betrayed" uncovers new evidence that reveals how JFK embarked on secret back channel peace efforts with Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro and was determined to get out of Vietnam despite intense opposition inside his own government.
On March 25, 1911, a catastrophic fire broke out at the Triangle Waist Company in New York City. Trapped inside the upper floors of a ten-story building, 146 workers - mostly young immigrant women and teenage girls - were burned alive or forced to jump to their deaths to escape an inferno that consumed the factory in just 18 minutes. It was the worst disaster at a workplace in New York State until 9/11. The tragedy changed the course of history, paving the way for government to represent working people, not just business, for the first time, and helped an emerging American middle class to live the American Dream.
The weightlessness of youth: every breath radiates opportunity and hope; every sense thrives on the wealth of the present; every thing whispers of brilliance and awe. When you've seen the season’s first great snow through the eyes of a child—you've known true happiness. But what happened to that simple joy? Where do we find the freedom that time and wisdom stole away? Valhalla, Sweetgrass Productions’ fourth feature film, is the tale of one man’s search to rediscover the freedom of his youth. Feeling the distant heat of it’s fire still burning in the mountains of the frozen north, he goes in search of those tending the flame—the untamed, the wild, and the outcast dwelling on the fringe. Weaving narrative-driven style with award-winning, face-melting backcountry ski and snowboard cinematography; Valhalla is a vivid explosion of color, character, snow, and nostalgic soul.
In this powerful documentary on the church of Scientology, a band of former elite members emerge from the secretive religion to allege extreme cruelty, slave labour and financial greed.
Three chords, three countries, one revolution...PUNK IN AFRICA is the story of the multiracial punk movement within the recent political and social upheavals experienced in three Southern African countries: South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
Spanish director Ventura Pons returns to documentary filmmaking with this study of world-renowned museum expert Ignasi Millet. HIV-positive yet promiscuous, accustomed to opulence yet now struggling to endure Spain’s economic crisis, Ignasi is a fascinating set of contradictions — and Pons’ film is a portrait of both the man and his times.
Jon Reiss and his crew travel to Asia, Australia, the Middle East and beyond, exploring the local graffiti scenes and artists. Follow-up to the groundbreaking street art documentary "Bomb It".
Through the prism of a beauty pageant staged by female inmates of a Siberian prison camp emerges a complex narrative of the lives of the first generation of women to come of age in Post-Soviet Russia. Miss GULAG explores the individual destinies of three women: Yulia, Tatiana, and Natasha, all bound together by long prison sentences and circumstances that have made them the vigilantes of their own destinies. For these women, undoubtedly, life is harsh under the constant surveillance of UF-91/9, but it is no less so on the outside. Today they, their families, and loved ones are sustained by hope for a better life upon release. This is a story of survival told from both sides of the fence.
Amid the nation’s ongoing debate over health care reform, this bracing new documentary examines the everyday realities of Americans who lack access to affordable medical treatment. Filmed during three days in the operation of a “no-cost” clinic set up annually at Bristol, Tennessee’s NASCAR speedway, Remote Area Medical documents the range of medical care the eponymous organization provides to low-income patients in the heart of Appalachia.
Masked in tattoos and armed with an indomitable spirit, Lucky Torres has forged a path all her own. Spanning five years, this intimate survival story delves deep into the fringes of NYC to reveal a life etched in wounds, longing, resilience and dreams.
As its title implies, this video attempts to go beyond the public persona of one of major league baseball's greatest stars. Accepting Ruth as a larger-than-life figure, this 59-minute video doesn't attempt to rationalize, apologize, or analyze his behavior. Rather, it endeavors to present an unbiased account of the life of George Herman Ruth, contradictions and all.
A first time documentary filmmaker offers a compelling insight into a devastating reality of breast cancer, as seen through the eyes of several female patients helping demystify the disease while painting poignant and often humorous intimate portraits of survival.