"City of Joel" is documentary - with unprecedented access - to a 1.1 square mile shtetl in the suburbs that is home to 22,000 members of an one of the most insular and orthodox Hasidic sects. We follow the battles they are waging to survive. Just 50 miles north of New York City, the Satmar sect has built Kiryas Joel as a religious haven where they can be fruitful, multiply and follow the 613 rules of the Talmud. But with some of the highest rates of marriage, birth and religious observance in the country, they have been almost too successful. Developers have come up with a plan to double the size of the village to keep up with this growth, but their neighbors fight back because they believe it will harm the environment and tilt the balance of political power.
A widely-acclaimed documentary film from 1982 about the effects of nuclear weapons, directed by Mick Jackson who went on to direct Threads two years later in 1984. What would be the effects on people and buildings if one medium-sized nuclear bomb was dropped on a large city? How effectively would various types of shelter protect us? In an experimental trial, two couples live in fallout shelters for ten days each
Our faith is based on the New Testament – but can we trust it? Skeptics say no, arguing that the gospel manuscripts have been doctored to push a theological agenda. Join Dr. Craig Evans as he takes this claim head-on, traveling the globe to track down the oldest surviving New Testament manuscripts.
A national public health emergency is sweeping through North America. In this close examination of the opioid crisis - the most deadly epidemic to devastate the US in recent years - medical professionals come together to deliver their verdict. Narrated by Ed Harris, Do No Harm shows us the devastating effects of these drugs, and casts light up on those who must be held accountable.
A feature length documentary film about four iconic characters who define the American West. Gary McMahan is a renowned cowboy singer and poet and champion yodeler. Brice Chapman is one of the world's most talented trick ropers and horse trainers. Yvonne Hollenbeck is a fourth generation rancher and award-winning poet and quilter. Jeff Nourse is a rancher, singer-songwriter and iron sculptor.
The Sax Man tells the story of a beloved street musician, Maurice Reedus Jr. , and how this once rising star fell from the heights of the stage to the humility of the street. As he spends his later years longing for the good old days, Maurice receives a surprise opportunity to reunite with his old band to take to the stage one more time giving him one final shot to show who Maurice Reedus Jr. really is. . .
OUR BODIES OUR DOCTORS tells the story of a rebellion in the field of medicine as a cohort of physicians faces abortion stigma within their own profession and confronts religious control over health care decisions. Their fight takes them into a larger struggle over the heart and soul of American medicine.
How did they migrate from the margin to the masses, from underground to mainstream? Tattoos have now permeated all levels of society, but what does the practice of tattooing actually convey? A remarkable investigation into the powers of tattooing. From Los Angeles to Tokyo, Paris to Amsterdam, the film will intermix personal stories from several key characters.
An ultra-Orthodox Jew, a couch surfing custodian, and a personal injury lawyer - risk everything to find their voices on the cutthroat New York comedy scene.
This is a film about the power and necessity of community action in Detroit, and the street level solutions that residents there are finding to make a way in the biggest city in our nation to ever go bust.
The Seawolf is the latest from awarded filmmaker Ben Gulliver, who follows seven professional surfers on a two-year, jaw-dropping, cinematic journey in search of remote, frigid waves. This cold-water surf film documents the best of the best as the navigate icy waters in Norway, Scotland, New Zealand, Canada, Australia and The Faroe Islands. For decades, the search of new and isolated waves has been inspiring surfers and filmmakers alike. With the progression of wetsuit technology and the desire to go further, the possibilities of triumph in visual cinematics and surf are exceeded with The Seawolf.
Detroit's Cass Corridor, one of the roughest areas in the city for the past 100 years, is experiencing a complete overhaul, as long-awaited development finally sweeps the area. Long known as a center of drugs and prostitution, and also once home to a thriving Chinese enclave, it’s now peppered with boutique shops, new bars and restaurants and the just-debuted Little Caesars Arena. This feature from noted Detroit artist Nicole Macdonald mixes a personal, journalistic and historic approach as it looks at who and what remains in the Corridor. We hear how residents survived, and how they sometimes didn't, as gentrification redefines the space.
Director Sam Hampton brings heart to this transgender-transition film with a story of celebration, health, and unconditional love. A much-needed portrayal of biracial trans and gender-nonconforming lives in America, this documentary chronicles the transition of Zo Thorpe and the sympathetic response of his family. But CHANGE IN THE FAMILY is about so much more than the transition experience; it speaks to the complexity of young adulthood, being a person of color, having a biracial identity, and coming out as trans and gender-nonconforming. Zo’s story provides hope for a time when portraying this type of experience is no longer so unusual.
The sculptor Elizabeth King mines the spaces in between classical sculpture and automata; life and the life- like. Double Take: The Art of Elizabeth King explores the motives and creations of this quiet iconoclast at a pivotal moment in her career.
Good People Go to Hell, Saved People Go to Heaven explores evangelical Christian belief and culture against the backdrop of hurricanes, coastal devastation and apocalyptic fear. The film follows a cross-carrying fundamentalist preacher, a moralizing youth choir leader, an agenda-filled mega church pastor, and a compelling array of urban and rural born-again believers. All believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible, and share a desire to prepare themselves and the world for the biblical End Times. In its pursuit to present this world authentically, Good People Go to Hell offers fresh and valuable insight into conservative evangelical Christian belief and its connection to the essence of American identity and doctrine in the 21st century.
A short documentary about urban planning and the harmonisation of old and new building elements in Jerusalem of the 1970's, led by the architect Moshe Safdie.