WORLD PREMIERE Through interviews, recited poetry, and quirky interstitials, this engaging documentary charts the unlikely presence of oysters in NYC, the myriad waterways surrounding the city, the scourge of pollution, and triumphant revitalization efforts. Poetic filming of familiar city scenes combine with fascinating archival photos for a watery love letter to the city. Lovingly crafted and […]
WORLD PREMIERE Drawing inspiration from Frederick Wiseman’s classic aesthetic, Nepalese filmmaker Kesang Tseten spends a year observing the community and culture of Himalayan immigrants in and around the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens. During the buildup to the 2020 U.S. Census, the inhabitants reveal their motivation to have their presence recorded, encouraged by visits from […]
NYC PREMIERE What does pure human generosity look like? Good health is a privilege; can we help others less fortunate to get there? New York filmmaker Penny Lane dives into these altruistic waters when she makes a kidney donation to a stranger. As she navigates the social, medical, and personal complexities of that choice, she […]
WORLD PREMIERE One of the world’s youngest elite rock climbers, Ashima Shiraishi spent her formative years breaking numerous age-based climbing milestones, spurred on by her number one fan and coach, her father, Poppo a retired Butoh dancer and avant-garde performer with no formal climbing experience. When these New Yorkers travel to South Africa to conquer […]
WORLD PREMIERE Roberta Flack’s place in music history was assured when she became the first artist to win back-to-back Grammy Awards for Record of the Year with “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” (1973) and “Killing Me Softly with His Song” (1974). The depth and complexity of her lyrical and thematic choices, as […]
NYC PREMIERE Challenging the monolithic idea of immigrants and processes of immigration, Vivek Bald and Alaudin Ullah’s IN SEARCH OF BENGALI HARLEM relates the specific history of Bengali Muslim immigrants who arrived in mid-20th century Harlem, often marrying into Black American families. In this fascinating uncovering of New York (and American) history, in a post- […]
WORLD PREMIERE Using his camera as a “weapon against injustice,” Chinese-American photographer Corky Lee brought art and politics together through his decades-long documentation of the Asian American experience. The Queens, NY native captured all aspects of the AAPI experience, from Lunar New Year to street protests, from Pakistani Independence Day to Diwali and more, uplifting […]
NYC PREMIERE Jonas Mekas, godfather of avant-garde cinema, emigrated to New York in 1949 and over the next 70 years drove the rise of the independent film scene. Filmmaker KD Davison allows Mekas (who died in 2019) to tell much of his own story, as he creates his celebrated diary films and searches for those […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE Vince Anderson made his way to New York to enter the seminary, but his true calling, music, changed his life forever. With his band, The Love Choir, Vince’s now-legendary weekly show became an institution in the Brooklyn music scene. Through powerful revival-style performance and social activism, Vince’s intimate journey of faith and […]
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE Using the only known photo of his grandfather, filmmaker Sherman De Jesus illuminates the legacy of prolific photographer James Van Der Zee. Van Der Zee took historic and elegant portraits of the Black community during the Harlem Renaissance when images of Black joy were still rare. De Jesus’s single photograph unspools several proud […]