NYC PREMIERE “I want to tell people how I became this woman with razor blades between her teeth.” So says Sonia Sanchez, a seminal figure in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s, a poet who has harnessed her gift for words as a champion against racism, sexism and war, fusing art and activism over the past […]
WORLD PREMIERE When the federal government bans a chemical, deeming it harmful to the well-being of its citizens, few know that they actively encourage the manufacturer to export it abroad for profit. Evan Mascagni and Shannon Post’s pointed exposé reveals this disturbing practice, focusing on the global trade in banned pesticides, their devastating environmental and […]
A portrait of art used as a revolutionary weapon. This film is followed by, THE INVADERS
US PREMIERE Filmmaker Danae Elon grew up in Jerusalem as the daughter of writer Amos Elon, then relocated to New York City. In this film, she chronicles what happens when she and her husband Philip, a French-Algerian Jew who never lived in Israel, move their family to Jerusalem. Shot over three years, the film captures […]
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 […]
US PREMIERE Academy Award winner Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy (Saving Face) teams with filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir to follow a group of Bangladeshi women police officers on a UN peacekeeping mission to Haiti. We come to feel the emotional toll of a risky and grueling year abroad. Muslim women are often kept at a distance in the Western […]
2015 VIEWFINDERS COMPETITION WINNER NYC PREMIERE More than five years into her practice as a defense lawyer in Kabul – the first and only Western lawyer, not to mention the only woman, licensed to work in the Afghan courts – no- nonsense attorney Kimberley Motley finds herself at a crossroads. Though originally motivated to provide […]
Jon Alpert (DCTV) and Sheila Nevins (HBO Documentary Films) present the world premiere of a new documentary short, followed by a keynote conversation and reception co-presented by HBO Documentary Films. In Alpert’s new film, Mariela Castro’s March: Cuba’s LGBT Revolution, Cuban Congresswoman Mariela Castro – daughter of Raúl and niece of Fidel Castro – confronts decades of cultural and institutional homophobia to serve as a tireless champion of […]
NYC PREMIERE This timely look at US-Cuba relations focuses on the younger Cubans and Cuban Americans who are seeking to bridge the conflicts of their parents’ generation. Covering a span of ten years, the film looks at the buildup to and aftermath of the 2009 Peace Without Borders concert in Havana that assembled some of […]
Experiences in the melting pot. Satellite Baby (USA, 9 min., Jenny Schweitzer) uncovers the consequences of a Chinese immigrant daycare alternative. A Resident Alien (USA/Spain, 18 min., Naiara Eizaguirre-Paulos) evaded Honduran drug cartels but may be forced back home. The Absentees (UAE, 10 min, Tanya Daud) are stuck in a no-man’s land. A Romanian Olympian […]