WORLD PREMIERE Attending NYC’s elite public schools – Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech – can set students up for future success, but first they have to beat the odds to claim a coveted spot. Each year, middle-school students pin all of their hopes on a single test: the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT). […]
NYC PREMIERE “I want to tell people how I became this woman with razor blades between her teeth.” So says Sonia Sanchez, a seminal figure in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s, a poet who has harnessed her gift for words as a champion against racism, sexism and war, fusing art and activism over the past […]
NYC PREMIERE From filmmaker and cancer survivor Meghan O’Hara (producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, Bowling for Columbine and Sicko), comes a daring and intimate film that seeks to change the way we think about cancer. O’Hara investigates the connection between the current cancer epidemic and our western lifestyle, including medical professionals’ tendency to treat only the symptoms and not the underlying […]
WORLD PREMIERE When the federal government bans a chemical, deeming it harmful to the well-being of its citizens, few know that they actively encourage the manufacturer to export it abroad for profit. Evan Mascagni and Shannon Post’s pointed exposé reveals this disturbing practice, focusing on the global trade in banned pesticides, their devastating environmental and […]
A portrait of art used as a revolutionary weapon. This film is followed by, THE INVADERS
US PREMIERE When Aussie everyman Dayne Pratzky left Sydney to build a home in rural Tara, he never expected he’d find himself in a battle over one of today’s most contentious issues: fracking. After the gas companies arrive to exploit the coal seam gas trapped beneath his land, Dayne learns he has no legal recourse […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE When René Redzepi set out to create Noma, a restaurant in Copenhagen that only used Nordic ingredients, the culinary community thought he was mad. Within a relatively short period of time, Noma bested longtime champion El Bulli to be named the best restaurant in the world. The acclaimed chef’s continual updating of […]
An encore screening of the winners of the DOC NYC U Showcases, which provide audiences with a sneak peek at the work coming out of the city’s best university documentary programs. Discover the nonfiction filmmakers of tomorrow! Below are the winners. Best Film: “Fairy Tales” (New York University) directed by Rongfei Guo. Special Mentions: Spirited Storytelling: “Alive and […]
45th anniversary screening, in memory of Al Maysles, who passed away this year. What began as a Direct Cinema portrait of the Rolling Stones becomes a disturbing record of a notorious concert. In contrast to Woodstock’s free-flowing peace and love, a palpable tension hangs over the free Altamont Speedway show on December 6, 1969, recognized […]
20th anniversary screening. Jon Alpert and Maryann De Leo teamed with former drug addict Rich Farell, a resident of Lowell, Massachusetts, for this harrowing chronicle of addiction in the economically depressed blue-collar town. Filmed over a year and a half, Brenda, Dicky and Boo-Boo are followed in and out of crackhouses, rehab and jail, seeking […]