NYC PREMIERE Wilma Mankiller rose from poverty to become the first female chief of the Cherokee nation. After a forced relocation from her native Oklahoma at 10, Wilma developed her activist chops in turbulent 1960s San Francisco, fighting for land rights during the Alcatraz Occupation. Back with her people, she organized around issues of social and […]
WORLD PREMIERE Award-winning filmmaker Julia Bacha (Budrus) chronicles the remarkable journey of Naila Ayesh, who played a key role in the nonviolent Palestinian uprising known as the First Intifada. When the uprising broke out in the late 1980s, Naila was living in Gaza. Faced with a choice between love, family and freedom, she embraced all […]
WORLD PREMIERE Combining archival footage and interviews with female activists, scientists and scholars in the US and Africa, director Harriet Hirshorn demonstrates the vital role that women activists have played and continue to play in the global fight against HIV/AIDS. An unexpectedly upbeat film about pressing global issues conveyed through intimate, evocative journeys, Nothing Without Us […]
NYC PREMIERE Acclaimed filmmaker Mila Turajlic (Cinema Komunisto) follows the recent troubled history of Serbia through the experiences of her mother, Srbijanka, a tireless dissident against multiple regimes. Over the course of several months, Mila and Srbijanka engage in probing and humorous dialogues over Serbia’s past, present and future. Their country has typically gained more […]
US PREMIERE Liberian activist Silas Siakor is a tireless crusader against illegal logging. He’s watched multinational corporations wreak havoc on the environment by enriching themselves and impoverishing Liberians. This kind of corruption has gone on for so long that it can induce fatigue. But Silas is a bracing wake-up call to the power of citizens […]
WORLD PREMIERE A compelling, ground-level immersion into the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time, Sky & Ground accompanies the Nabi clan, a large, extended Syrian-Kurdish family, as they painstakingly make their way from their home in Aleppo, bombed out by the war, to the Idomeni refugee camp on the border of Greece and Macedonia. Their […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE Assembling a diverse group of Middle Eastern women with a shared love of food, Mariam Shaar successfully launches Soufra, her own catering company. What makes her enterprise unique is that Mariam has lived her entire life in Burl El Barajneh, a refugee camp near Beirut, home to everyone on her team. The […]
US PREMIERE Anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and physical and verbal assaults against Jews are on the rise throughout Europe, particularly in France. In response to rising tensions and fears, many in the Jewish community decide to leave. Others, like lawyer Julien, remain behind to fight back against those who would fan the flames of hate, like popular […]
WORLD PREMIERE In Bushwick, where rapid gentrification is pushing out Latino families, a unique alternative after-school program serves as a haven for the community. Led by a former high school teacher disillusioned with mainstream education’s focus on testing, Still Waters in a Storm serves 40 children, ages 5-15, free of charge, and encourages creativity and […]
Twenty-five years ago, William Ford, an unarmed young black man, was killed after an argument with a white mechanic escalated. William was painted as the aggressor while his killer was set free, unpunished. Director Yance Ford’s carefully composed and starkly personal film simmers with a quiet anger as it dissects the long-lasting impact of his […]