IN BALANCHINE’S CLASSROOM takes us back to the glory years of George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet through the remembrances of his former dancers and their quest to fulfill the vision of a genius. Opening the door to his studio, Balanchine’s private laboratory, they reveal new facets of the groundbreaking choreographer: taskmaster, mad scientist, and spiritual teacher. Today, as his former dancers teach a new generation, questions arise: what was the secret of his teaching? Can it be replicated? Filled with never before seen archival footage of Balanchine at work during rehearsals, classes, and in preparation for his most seminal works, along with interviews with many of his adored and adoring dancers and those who try to carry on his legacy today, this is Balanchine as you have never seen him, and a film for anyone who loves ballet and the creative process.
In the mid-1960s, Australia was gripped by a fever. The Easybeats became Australia's first international rock stars. Over four tumultuous years 'Easy Fever' spread around the world. But then, just as suddenly, they split. This is the story of five musicians who brought the world to Australia, then took Australian music to the world.
Night falls on an arena in Colorado Springs as two combatants, dressed in 15th century armor, beat each other to a pulp with battle axes. Exhausted and elated, the two women remove their helmets and warmly embrace. This traditionally European sport was brought to present day America by way of a few traveling hobbyists who fell in love with its history and athleticism. Though very much male dominated, a group of female fighters joined the fray and the concept of a knight was reborn. Steel Song follows the lives of three of these women; Shoshana Shellans, a teacher and military veteran, Bridgette Parkison, a writer with autism and essential tremors, and Julee Slovacek-Peterson, a mother and domestic abuse survivor. Together they discover not just the fight but beauty in the fight itself. STEEL SONG tells the story of everyday people who find hope, family and strength in Medieval Armored Combat.
From veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker and chronicler of U.S. politics Michael Kirk and his team, this documentary traces the U.S. response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the devastating consequences that unfolded across four presidencies. Drawing on both new interviews and those from the dozens of documentaries Kirk and his award-winning team made in the years after 9/11, this two-hour special offers an epic re-examination of the decisions that changed the world and transformed America. From the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to the January 6 insurrection, America After 9/11 exposes the legacy of September 11 — and the ongoing challenge it poses for the president and the country.
When Fiona Clark, a young queer photographer exhibits her photography of the LGBTQI community in 1975, she and her friends face the systemic backlash of an oppressive New Zealand society. Unafraid, Fiona gives the middle finger to the patriarchy and we discover how her documentation and contribution to the community has helped transform New Zealand society.
In the 1970s, Dr. Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin significantly contributed to the development and psychopharmaceutical use of MDMA: a catalyst to personal doors entombed or unknown. His widow, co-author, and research partner, Ann—alongside friends, family, and colleagues—gives a guided tour of their life and laboratory, reflecting on how risks and revelations opened a world of compound enlightenment. Stippled with spirituality, sadness, and skepticism, the Shulgins’ chemical love story examines the power of psychedelic psychotherapy, sacred alchemy, and challenging the path of misunderstood resistance.
In that spirit, Pershing's Paths of Glory presents a real American Hero, General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, whose story is told by his living legacy, a diverse group of young people following the General’s paths across the globe.
In January 2011 Paul Crane discovered a tent city in downtown St. Louis, along the Mississippi River. He was curious as to who these people were, how they ended up there, and what life was like for them each day. He initially thought he would simply go down during the day and capture footage when possible, but he quickly realized that if he wanted to truly capture how these people lived and the full reality of their collective and individual existence, he would have to be there full time and become a part of the place, so he moved in with them.
After being convicted of espionage, branded a traitor, and ostracized by her people, Israeli whistleblower Anat Kamm tries to rebuild her life in the United States. She graduates from Columbia University, but her ghost of her past still haunts her.
A trip behind the scenes of Las Vegas' only Black male revue show and the often complicated lives of its male strippers. The dancers and staff are met with racial prejudice and a series of emotional pitfalls as they struggle in the city.
Playing Frisbee in North Korea is the first documentary produced and directed by an African-American female filmmaker from inside North Korea. The idea began at a conference on Korean Re-unification organized by General Colin L. Powell and the Colin Powell Center, where director Savanna Washington was a Graduate Fellow. Through verité footage from inside North Korea, interviews with North Korean refugees, long time aid workers, scholars, and experts on the topic, this documentary provides an authentic, on the ground perspective of the lives, struggles, and humanity of the people of North Korea.
A remote community in Africa, led by a woman chief, attempts to break the stranglehold of absolute poverty by waging a war on wildlife poaching. For decades illegal wildlife poaching by both subsistence and bush meat gangs has led to the government declaring this community’s homeland “depleted” of wildlife. The chief finds help in the form of a safari operator and they work together to bring stability to the community. But all was not well. Disease, food stability, and rampant alcoholism hamper basic needs like health care and education. Even young girls, just after reaching puberty, are sold by their parents as child brides in order to feed their family for one year. Dark forces including South African land speculators, criminal poaching gangs, and her own people conspire against the chief. Even elements from the modern world work against the chief’s wishes. Will the chief and her community see success?
Documentary about the life and legacy of Picture Post, the revolutionary magazine which shaped perceptions of British life during and after the Second World War.
In 1978, Rocco "Rocky" Napoli takes control of the family's gambling business from father James "Jimmy Nap" Napoli. Jimmy Nap ran the largest numbers operation in the country for over thirty years. Members of the Genovese crime family, both were arrested in 1988 for the alleged murder plot of Jon Gotti and brother Gene.
Ian Hislop's sharp, provocative take on 200 years of fake news and its consequences - from Victorians on the moon to 21st-century deepfake, and Hislop as never seen before.
In the early 1960's the "folk music revival" had a strong impact on bluegrass music across the country including San Diego, California, where a group of young men from different backgrounds gathered to make this traditional music.
The film follows the Australian-Lebanese filmmaker Daizy Gedeon's independent introspection into how Lebanon has ended up in a state of complete catastrophe, exposing the country's dark underbelly which is its most sinister enemy.