A journalist upends Japan’s entrenched codes of silence when she brings sexual assault charges against a well-connected member of the Japanese media elite. Against the wishes of many of those closest to her, Shiro Ito presses on with her case, bravely confronting an entire system. Her case becomes a landmark in Japan, and her choices […]
Twenty-six priceless Beninois artifacts, looted by the French, are repatriated to Benin by the French government. Filmmaker Mati Diop examines the impact of the restitution, imagining the personification of an artifact and documenting the power the treasures have on current generations of Beninois. The occasion is both monumental and penurious: Just 26 objects, out of […]
Angela Patton found a way for young girls whose fathers were incarcerated to connect: A prison-hosted dad/daughter dance. The event was about more than just the day. For the fathers, seeing the impact of their absence from their daughter’s lives provides an unrivaled emotional redemption opportunity. Working with co-director Natalia Rae to showcase the now […]
NYC PREMIERE Oscar-nominated filmmaker Raoul Peck has done it again. In this rousing, elegant documentary, Peck opens the life and works of a seminal artist of the 20th century, South African photographer Ernest Cole. Denouncing apartheid with the publication of his 1967 photo book House of Bondage, Cole then lived in exile in the US, […]
Emmy-nominated editor and first-time feature director Carla Gutiérrez takes the unusual lstep of using the iconic twentieth-century Mexican artist Frida Khalo’s own words, gleaned from diaries, letters, interviews, and other sources. Mixing lyrical animation of Kahlo’s influential works with expressive voice-over by several artists, Frida is a definitive film. “If you only see one filmic […]
Lhakpa Sherpa is the first Nepali woman to summit and descend Mount Everest – but how she navigates her life as a single mother and immigrant is an even more heroic tale. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Lucy Walker illuminates the inspiring world of a remarkable woman who continues to venture forth from her new life in Connecticut […]
Directed by a collective of Palestinian and Israeli activists, No Other Land chronicles the resistance of the Palestinian community of Musafer Yatta in the southern West Bank to continuing violence from Israeli settlers and soldiers. Filmed over several years, the film chronicles a bond of friendship between Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham as they unite […]
What is worth fighting for, if not culture? Three Ukrainian artists take up arms when Russia invades their country, but refuse to put down their drive to create. After enlisting to defend their beloved homeland, Slava, Anya and Andrey channel their art into their new roles on the front lines, and demonstrate their pride in […]
Jenna grew up in the desolate Siberian town of Magadan, and did what innumerable queer young people around the world do— depart for a major urban center that promises a more inclusive environment. Except in Putin’s Russia, the criminalization of LGBTQIA+ people renders even a Moscow art school hostile to Jenna’s elaborately original, creative art […]
In this magnificent essay film, Johan Grimonprez explores the riveting historical rollercoaster of the Congo after its independence from colonial control. Richly illustrated with eyewitness accounts, official government memos, testimonies from mercenaries and CIA operatives, and a veritable pantheon of jazz icons, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat interrogates Cold War history to tell an urgent […]