In 2014, Peter Liang, a Chinese-American police officer, shot and killed an innocent, unarmed black man named Akai Gurley in the dark stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project. In the midst of high racial tension surrounding police conduct, Liang becomes the first NYPD officer to receive a guilty verdict in such a case in over […]
With blight ravaging New York City in the 1970s, the Young Lords and Black Panthers fought for radical change in their communities. Through the leadership of Dr. Mutulu Shakur—Tupac Shakur’s stepfather—these activists created the first acupuncture detoxification program in the United States. While the legacy of the program has long been maintained by the residents […]
WORLD PREMIERE | Venezuela’s recent political upheavals are made vivid in A La Calle—meaning “to the street.” Covering multiple perspectives in the tradition of epic documentaries such as The Square or Winter on Fire, the film captures history unfolding over several years. Filmmakers Maxx Caicedo and Nelson G. Navarrete—Venezeulan himself—gain close access to Leopoldo López, whose arrest […]
In 1978, Philadelphia’s police department conducted a violent siege on the communal home of the Black revolutionary group MOVE. Nine members of MOVE went to prison over the resultant death of a police officer, despite forensic mysteries in the case. Two of the prisoners were the parents of Mike Africa, Jr., who dedicated his life […]
LOST AND FOUND DIR: Orlando von Einsiedel 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 […]
MACK WRESTLES DIR: Erin Sanger, Taylor Hess Mack Beggs, a gifted wrestler from Euless, Texas, struggles against the outside forces that stigmatize transgender athletes. Courtesy of ESPN Films. (USA, 25 MIN) In person: Taylor Hess and Erin Sanger SONG OF PARKLAND DIR: Amy Schatz In the wake of the tragic February 14 shooting at their school, […]
LEARNING TO SKATEBOARD IN A WARZONE (IF YOU’RE A GIRL) DIR: Carol Dysinger In the war-torn city of Kabul, a class of young girls from disadvantaged neighborhoods learns to read, write—and skateboard—in director Carol Dysinger’s love letter to a place she has filmed in for the last fifteen years. Courtesy of Lifetime Films/A&E IndieFilms. (USA/UK, […]
NYC PREMIERE Sure We Can is a nonprofit in Williamsburg, Brooklyn founded by a Spanish missionary as both a recycling center and a community space. Here, a diverse group of immigrants, homeless individuals and outcasts engages in work, friendship and deep thinking, forging a surrogate family. Ana, René, Malvin, Pierre and Walter discuss God, physics, loneliness […]
An exploration of identity, history and landscape by acclaimed Chilean director Patricio Guzmán. In his latest philosophical act of cinematic self-reflection, the Andean Cordillera mountain range becomes an ark where the most important poetic laws are stored, containing the ruins of the director’s childhood memories and the acts of police brutality and civil resistance that […]
Israeli attorney Lea Tsemel has defended Palestinians in court for five decades, from nonviolent demonstrators to armed militants. To many Israeli Jews, Tsemel is a controversial figure, even a traitor, willing to defend the enemy, but she remains steadfast in her belief that her clients’ crimes are acts of resistance that must be heeded. Directors […]