Director Rachel Lears won the 2014 DOC NYC Audience Award for The Hand That Feeds. Now Lears captures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as she conducts a surprise campaign for Congress while still working as a bartender. Lears also follows three other first-time female candidates, revealing that AOC’s effort wasn’t a fluke but part of a fervent grassroots […]
An artist contends with loss through the process of creation, destruction and art-making.
WORLD PREMIERE Despite restrictions beginning under the regime of Fidel Castro, heavy metal band Zeus became icons of the Cuban music scene. Over the decades, the band and their front man, Diony Arce, have challenged the status quo under threat of government suppression. As the bandmates approach their 30th anniversary together in a shifting political […]
Kamal Hussein is a Rohingya refugee who has dedicated his life to reuniting children who have been separated from their parents during the campaign of ethnic cleansing and violence perpetrated by the Myanmar military, which has driven more than 700,000 Rohingya from their homes. Courtesy of National Geographic Documentary Films.
As climate change erases the Louisiana coast, the last two teenagers on Isle de Jean Charles fight to stay on an island that’s been their family home for generations.
WORLD PREMIERE Turning trauma into precise and angry feminist rock, American singer, writer and actress Lydia Lunch helped birth the No Wave music scene in the late 1970s and early ’80s—and she’s still killing it today. Fellow No Wave pioneer Beth B constructs a lively portrait of this innovative performer, whose confrontational artistry resonates loudly […]
WORLD PREMIERE After the patriotic themes of her first hit song launch her to stardom in Vietnam, Mai Khoi’s personal and artistic growth places her and those around her in jeopardy. A shift from pop star to activist sees Khoi run for office, advocate for women’s rights and sit down with President Barack Obama. Her […]
In Mexico City—population nine million, but with only 45 government-sanctioned ambulances—the Ochoa family struggles to make a living as ragtag private paramedics. Racing against cutthroat competition to be the first to respond to patients in need of urgent help, hardworking Fer and his young sons increasingly face ethical dilemmas in their harrowing profession. Director Luke […]
Filmmaker Hassan Fazili documents his family’s journey as they’re forced to flee their home in Afghanistan under threat of death. We follow him, his wife Fatima and their daughters Nagris and Zahra over several years and through several countries. They travel with few possessions besides the cell phones used to shoot this remarkable documentary. “The […]
NYC PREMIERE Mossville, Louisiana, a community founded by formerly enslaved African Americans, was once a thriving, safe haven. Today it’s a breeding ground for petrochemical plants and their spewing black clouds. Many residents are forced from their homes; those that stay suffer from prolonged exposure to contamination and pollution. Amid this chaos stands one man, […]