Medieval art treasures seized by the Nazis go missing at the end of World War II. Were they destroyed in the chaos of the final battles? Or were these thousand-year-old masterpieces stolen by advancing American troops? For over forty years, the mystery remained unsolved. A true detective story, "The Liberators" follows a dogged German art detective through the New York art world and military archives to the unlikeliest of destinations: a small town on the Texas prairie. Featuring interviews with Willi Korte (Portrait of Wally) and Texas attorney Dick DeGuerin, the film raises intriguing questions as to the motivations of the art thief and the whereabouts of the items that, to this day,
Death By Audio, an underground art and music venue, is forced to close in 2014. The film focuses on the struggles of maintaining a community in the face of Brooklyn property development, hostile construction workers, and a one billion-dollar company.
Off a dirt road in rural Maine, a precocious 20-year-old woman named Michelle Smith lives with her mother Julie. Michelle is quirky and charming, legally blind and diagnosed on the autism spectrum, with big dreams and varied passions. Searching for connection, Michelle explores love and empowerment outside the limits of “normal” through a provocative fringe community. Will she take the leap to experience the wide world for herself? Michelle’s joyful story of self-discovery celebrates outcasts everywhere.
Heavy snow falls from the sky as heavily-armed guards patrol the walls of an Iranian centre of correction and rehabilitation. Inside, the girls are waiting at the food counter. Among them are underage mothers and others who are married. All of them ended up here after becoming involved in crime. Drug dealing, assault, murder. Yet instead of cold-blooded criminals we discover friendly, warm young people who laugh, sing and cry together. Their close bonds have been forged by the troubled past they share. We learn of their fears of having to return to the lives they once left behind. The documental camera is intimate but respectful, the resulting portraits are full of dignity.
A brilliant and misunderstood Iranian writer struggles to pursue his ambitious goal of bringing together Metallica and Kabul Dreams, Afghanistan's first rock band.
The Same Difference is a documentary about lesbians who discriminate against other lesbians! The Same Difference, through a series of lesbian women stories, discusses the hypocrisy in terms of gender roles and the per formative expectations.
“The three parts developed over a year period of intense study during the mid-1970s. It sort of began and ended my dependency on “high-tech” equipment to make films and led me through the equally intensive parameters of what motion picture film could reproduce on a visceral, detail oriented level. In contrast to the high end 2K digital technology used to restore ‘Manhatta’ and 'Ballet Mechanique', I learned filmmaking decades earlier on a 35mm Oxberry beam-splitter, multi-head, aerial-image bi-pac optical printer. A dinosaur by today’s standards and all hand operated prior to the advent of computer-assists, this machine was precise and exact to the frame. ’S&J: Pt. 3' took 26 hours to shoot straight thru without one mistake.” —Bruce Posner
"I try to leave the imagination of the spectator as free as possible by using purely invented, abstract forms rather than representational forms. In watching these films it is not necessary to search for hidden meanings of try to associate these invented forms with familiar objects. The spectator may simply relax and look at these films as one would listen to music in order to fully respond to them." -Davis
Between 1900 and 1920 more than 14 million immigrants arrived in the US, like Howard Zinn's parents. They came fleeing poverty or war, or racism, or religious persecution. They dreamed of a promised land, of wealth, or simply of a better life.
ANGELS OF WAR captures the experiences of villagers who lived through the Papua New Guinea campaign. Caught up in a war they could not understand or influence, they had no choice but to obey whoever held the gun. Their homes were bombed. They starved as refugees in the bush. They were conscripted as carriers. They fought as infantrymen and guerillas. In Japanese-held areas, they were forced to collaborate or risk execution; some were later hanged for treason by the Australians.
It is a musical portrait that shines a spotlight on unknown aspects of the creative, visionary and groundbreaking talent of filmmaker and writer, Lina Wertmüller.
Unsupersize Me documents the inspiring story of Juan-Carlos Asse, owner of Zen Fitness, a personal training studio in Gainesville, Florida, and his quest to prove that a whole foods, plant-based diet coupled with an exercise regimen is capable of remarkably and rapidly improving the health of any and every individual. Asse takes his lifelong passions of fitness and nutrition setting out to demonstrate what he has witnessed in his training studio time and time again. The plant-based diet with exercise is the most effective and expeditious way to obtain optimal health.
When teenaged Fern is orphaned in the middle of a harsh Montreal winter, she is determined to avoid her mother’s tragic fate, and take care of herself. With Youth Protection nipping at her heels, she lies about her name and age, to get a job as a janitor another as a cook. Juggling life and work and the discovery of the book, ‘50 Ways to become a Millionaire: All you need to do is save,’ Fern decides to do just that, replacing her grief with the quest to become a millionaire. Written, directed and edited by award-winning filmmaker Wiebke von Carolsfeld (Marion Bridge, Stay), The Saver stars the newly discovered Imajyn Cardinal and is based on the young adult novel by Edeet Ravel.
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.