WORLD PREMIERE If you fall ill in small-town China, chances are you’ll wind up in a hospital with overworked, underpaid doctors who conduct three-minute consults, carry pepper spray to work for protection from angry patients and are incentivized to help the rich over the poor.
NYC PREMIERE Rudy Kurniawan, an unassuming young Indonesian man, makes a splash when he begins to attend specialty wine auctions. An apparent wine savant, his aggressive buying helps lead the wave that sees fine wine prices skyrocket before the 2008 financial crisis. Kurniawan amasses $35 million from auctioning off rare wines from his own collection. […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE In a rural village in northern China, a father/son clash echoes the pull of tradition and modernization. When 20-year-old Maofu returns home after migrant city work, he tries to convince his aging beekeeping father Lao Yu to develop a brand for the family’s honey. Lao Yu instead insists his son first learn […]
NYC PREMIERE As part of a $586 billion infrastructure development plan, the Chinese government begins building the massive Xu-Huai Highway. Director Zhang Zanbo provides an in-depth look at the impact of the corruption-filled project in rural Hunan province. Representing the subcontracted construction company, professional problem solver Mr. Meng must contend with the complaints of displaced […]
Mother and daughter artisans devote their lives in pursuit of understanding and preserving the national treasure of Japanese textile.
Artists and their art. Sideshow of the Absurd (USA, 14 min., Tina DiFeliciantonio, Jane C. Wagner) profiles antique carnival attractions. Cindy Sherman: “Untitled Film Stills” (USA, 4 min., Douglas Sloan) puts the famed photographer’s early work into focus. Colors of Life (Japan, 14 min., Goro Ushijima) explores the Japanese practice of creating colors found in […]
Director Joshua Oppenheimer continues the masterful exploration of Indonesia’s legacy of violence that began with his Oscar-nominated documentary The Act of Killing. This new work stands on its own. The key figure is Adi, whose older brother was murdered five decades ago. As a village optometrist, Adi uses his profession to confront the families of […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE After her sons died and she could no longer conceive, Maggi chose the intellectually disabled Chun-hee as a second wife for her husband to continue the family line. Forty-five years later, and after their husband has passed, the two elderly women continue to share a life, but Maggi worries about Chun-hee’s fate […]
WORLD PREMIERE Attending NYC’s elite public schools – Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech – can set students up for future success, but first they have to beat the odds to claim a coveted spot. Each year, middle-school students pin all of their hopes on a single test: the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT). […]
US PREMIERE After fleeing his native North Korea to defect to the south, the artist Sun Mu works under a defiant alias meaning “no boundaries” to criticize the repressive regime of Kim Jong-un. A former propaganda artist, he subverts familiar images which once glorified the Supreme Leader, transforming them into satirical political pop art. Offered […]