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 […]
Runner Up: Audience Award DOC NYC 2020 WORLD PREMIERE | Beginning in 1980s New York City, this film chronicles the love story between dancers Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane, the diverse dance company they founded, and the painful devastation of AIDS on the arts community, as told through the company’s signature performance piece D-Man in […]
IN THE ABSENCE DIR: Seung-jun Yi When the passenger ferry MV Sewol sank off the coast of South Korea in 2014, over three hundred people lost their lives, most of them schoolchildren. Years later, the victims’ families and survivors are still demanding justice from national authorities. Courtesy of Field of Vision. (USA/South Korea, 29 MIN, […]
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 […]
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE Chilean-born performer and writer Iván Monalisa fully embraces his dual selves: scrappy, masculine Iván as well as diva, transvestite sex-worker Monalisa. A reunion with filmmaker Nicole Costa, Iván’s former college classmate, provides the opportunity for a journey through this undocumented transgender immigrant’s daily life of sex, drugs and poetry—as well as a quest for […]
From the director of the Oscar®-nominated Life, Animated comes this rich history of Harlem’s Apollo Theater. For 85 years, this cultural landmark has played host to legendary African-American artists and to newcomers willing to take the stage on the venue’s famed Amateur Night. Framed around the inaugural staging of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ acclaimed Between the World […]
US PREMIERE In the aftermath of Stonewall and the rise of the gay liberation movement, gay men celebrated a newfound sexual freedom—but, in 1981, the dawning awareness of AIDS changed everything. Seeking the origins of the mysterious epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control interviewed men with the disease, finding patterns that suggested sexual transmission. Director Laurie […]
On bucking the system. (TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 78 MIN) Deborah Harry Does Not Like Interviews | Director: Meghan Fredrich Blondie’s Deborah Harry endures years of superficial and demeaning questions from journalists before turning the tables. (USA, 17 MIN) The Art of Making Money: This Guy Has Balls | Director: Nathan Truesdell A man attempts to use his handmade art […]
Short stories from and about New York City. (TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 78 MIN) A Great Day in Hip Hop Revisited | Director: Nelson George A look back at a historic day in music history, September 29, 1998, when Gordon Parks gathered over 200 hip hop artists to recreate the famed “A Great Day in Harlem” image. (USA, […]
A profile of Jill Freedman, the celebrated and award-winning New York City street photographer.