NYC PREMIEREAward-winning filmmaker Yung Chang (Up the Yangtze) profiles the legendary Middle East journalist Robert Fisk, known for his books Pity the Nation and The Great War for Civilization. Now in his 70s, Fisk remains vital and intrepid. The film follows him on contemporary reporting missions from Syria to Bosnia, while also looking back on […]
WORLD PREMIERE How did the idea of “rugged individualism” become a curse for everyday Americans? Distraught over the loss of too many childhood classmates, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn explore the causes and costs of opioid addiction, poverty and incarceration plaguing America, from the inner city to small towns like Kristof’s hometown […]
As the festival honors the late D.A. Pennebaker, we present a special screening of a new DCP of this rare classic. In 1971, Pennebaker filmed an event at New York’s Town Hall exemplifying the crosscurrents of feminism. On stage, Norman Mailer engaged in a debate with Female Eunuch author Germaine Greer, lesbian journalist Jill Johnston, […]
A week in the peculiar lives of a middle-class suburban Mumbai household, which is turned topsy-turvy when the family adopts a chicken as a pet. Courtesy of New York Times Op-Docs.
WORLD PREMIERE Mike Tyson escaped a life of poverty and petty crime to make a name for himself, becoming the youngest Heavyweight Champion of the World and a household name—but his rise was followed by a very public fall. In this remarkably candid portrait, the boxer addresses his controversial past, including the rape charge that […]
WORLD PREMIERE Veteran educator Peter Bergson established the Natural Creativity Center on the outskirts of Philadelphia to offer an alternative to dehumanizing formal education. His unconventional method of “unschooling” favors self-motivation, empowering students to direct their own learning. After 30 years of success with suburban children, Bergson finds his philosophy and methods—and the assumptions they […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE Rising from a desperately poor childhood to international acclaim and financial success, Sean Scully creates art as grand as his personality. The cheeky, self-taught Irishman is confident, funny and jaw-droppingly blunt, owing his success to his innate talent and his street-kid smarts. In Nick Willing’s profile, art dealers, critics and the artist […]
WORLD PREMIERE Director Laura Naylor presents an observational portrait of seasonal labor during the harvest of a family-owned vineyard in France’s Champagne region. Many of the hired hands have returned year after year for decades, becoming part of the celebrated vintner’s extended family. Their closeness lends an affectionate tone to scenes of their everyday activities—work, […]
WORLD PREMIERE The National Restaurant Association, the “other NRA,” has lobbied the government to keep the federal minimum wage for tipped workers at $2.13 an hour since 1991. Facing off against this powerful lobby is Saru Jayaraman of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, who mobilizes grassroots support for a national movement to fight for one fair wage. […]
NYC PREMIERE Finding that traditional youth organizations aren’t directly focusing on the issues facing young girls of color, two moms, Anyavette Martinez and Marilyn Hollinquest, begin their own troop, the Radical Monarchs. Based in Oakland, a city with a long history of social justice movements, this progressive group is more likely to participate in protest […]