NYC PREMIERE For the past three decades a community of wise, elderly women enjoy a simple life in Chernobyl’s radioactive exclusion zone, subsisting on their beloved but toxic land, while radiation experts and soldiers marvel at their resilience. The three protagonists, more fearful of starvation than radiation, defied Ukrainian authorities to join a sisterhood of […]
WORLD PREMIERE The United Nations’ International Court of Justice resolves international disputes through dialogue rather than warfare. Modeled on the ICJ, the Jessup is a prestigious simulated court competition that offers a sneak peek at the international leaders of the future. All Rise profiles seven passionate international law students, representing Jamaica, India, Palestine, Russia, Israel, Uganda […]
NYC PREMIERE If you’re looking to understand Russia, the Bolshoi Ballet is a good place to start. This visually stunning work, backed by HBO Documentary Films, takes us inside the Bolshoi’s world of great artistry and intense rivalry in the dramatic year after an acid attack on its leader. While one of the company members […]
Bernardo Ruiz’s compelling investigation into the human costs of the Mexican drug war, on both sides of the border, reveals the links between the lives and experiences of an activist nun in northern Mexico, a rancher in Texas who used to smuggle marijuana and a US drug enforcement agent on the border. A raw history […]
US PREMIERE Located on the edge of a cliff in China’s Sichuan province, the village of Gulu has been isolated from the outside world for centuries. Everything changes when Bao, an idealistic young revolutionary, arrives with plans to modernize the village, beginning with its only school. This doesn’t sit well with Shen, who, despite the […]
NYC PREMIERE Havana, Cuba. An up-and-coming singer searches for confidence, a young woman in love longs for motherhood and a veteran of the Revolution comes to terms with the death of her husband. Three women, united by blindness and a desire for independence, guide us through Cuba’s current economic and social landscape while pursuing their […]
NYC PREMIERE Moved by the plight of desperate women in countries with restrictive reproductive rights, Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts founded Women on Waves, which uses laws governing international waters to bring much-needed abortion and contraceptive services to those with no other recourse. Despite a quagmire of legal, religious, political and logistical obstacles, Gomperts and her […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE Olga Lvoff’s film is a sensitive examination of family, memory and mortality. Under the watchful eyes of her dutiful daughter Sonia, Regina recalls the Yiddish and French songs of her youth through music therapy sessions following a stroke. But the 93-year-old Holocaust survivor is starting to succumb to dementia. Fearful that their […]
NYC PREMIERE In equal measures inspiring and endearing, Leslie Chilcott’s film spotlights a group of Costa Rican village women who, seeking a way to offset the economically motivated flight of their husbands and sons from the community, form ASOMOBI, a coffee-growing collective—despite not knowing the first thing about growing coffee. Persevering through a steep […]
How does one claim an identity in a vacuum? Living in Poland, the four young women in Adam Zucker’s engaging film learned of their Jewish roots after growing up Catholic. Defining themselves through their difference, they feel like pioneers in a country that was once the epicenter of the Jewish world. But as life takes […]