State College, Pennsylvania, home to Penn State University, has long prided itself on its football program, lionizing its head coach, Joe Paterno. But when “Saint Joe” is caught up in the Jerry Sandusky scandal, the once-harmonious community splinters. With impressive access to family members and community residents who are still reeling from the accusations, Amir […]
Winner of the SXSW grand jury prize, The Great Invisible examines the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and its impact on fishermen, oilmen and survivors. Director Margaret Brown (The Order of Myths) brings a nuanced understanding of the American South to the film, paying attention to ecosystems of nature and society. […]
When Vivian Maier died in 2009 at age 83, she left behind more than 100,000 negatives of her street photography—images that she’d scarcely shared with anyone. Acquiring a box of her photos at a storage auction, John Maloof became obsessed and set out to tell her story, teaming with collaborator Charlie Siskel. As New York […]
Katy Chevigny and Ross Kauffman’s breathtaking film chronicles the dangerous but life- affirming work performed by the Human Rights Watch Emergency Team, or E-Team, a compelling group of intrepid investigators willing to enter hostile territories to document crimes against humanity that might otherwise go unreported. Allowing outside filmmakers to follow them for the first time, […]
In early 2013, Oscar®-nominated director Laura Poitras started receiving encrypted e-mails from someone identifying himself as “citizen four,” who was ready to blow the whistle on the massive covert surveillance programs run by the NSA and other intelligence agencies. That June, she and reporter Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong for the first of many […]
Following the passage of California’s controversial Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage, progressive David Boies and ultra-conservative Ted Olson, legendary foes who had faced off in Bush v. Gore, formed an unexpected legal partnership to fight for its overturn, with two same-sex couples serving as the opposition’s public face. Ben Cotner and Ryan White follow […]
NYC PREMIERE How did you first learn about sex? Before the Internet put a shocking amount of sexually explicit information at our fingertips, generations of Americans first encountered the birds and the bees at school, usually through educational films. Brenda Goodman assembles an eye-opening array of these well-intentioned but often funny teaching tools to reveal […]
NYC PREMIERE Imagine a This American Life episode devoted to a real-world Twin Peaks, and you might approximate the stranger-than-fiction story of small-town Chadron, Nebraska. Guided by the idiosyncrasies of author Poe Ballantine, Dave Jannetta explores the intriguing mystery behind math professor Steven Haataja, a loner who vanished without a trace soon after coming to […]
WORLD PREMIERE Phobia House consistently has been ranked as one of the best haunted houses in Michigan, but that didn’t stop the fire marshal from shutting down the family-run business last year. Determined to make up for their losses, the Gerards set out to create their scariest attraction ever. Anthony Morrison shadows them as they […]
Sixteen French pastry chefs gathered at the prestigious Meilleurs Ouvriers de France competition for three intense days of mixing, piping and sculpting everything from delicate chocolates to six-foot sugar sculptures in hopes of being declared by President Nicolas Sarkozy one of the best. The finalists, France’s culinary elite, risk their reputations as well as sacrifice […]