October 8, 2019

LITTLE MISS SUMO

Banned from competing professionally, female sumo wrestler Hiyori faces the reality of forced retirement at the age of 21. Courtesy of Netflix.

October 8, 2019

LYDIA LUNCH – THE WAR IS NEVER OVER

WORLD PREMIERE Turning trauma into precise and angry feminist rock, American singer, writer and actress Lydia Lunch helped birth the No Wave music scene in the late 1970s and early ’80s—and she’s still killing it today. Fellow No Wave pioneer Beth B constructs a lively portrait of this innovative performer, whose confrontational artistry resonates loudly […]

October 8, 2019

MAURICE HINES: BRING THEM BACK

2019 METROPOLIS COMPETITION WINNER WORLD PREMIERE Maurice Hines: Bring Them Back is a portrait of the charismatic song-and-dance man from his tap-dancing childhood to today. Maurice and friends—Chita Rivera, Mercedes Ellington and Debbie Allen  tell tales from his seven-decade career, including Broadway shows, Hollywood films like Francis Ford Coppola’s The Cotton Club and about his loving yet difficult relationship with superstar brother Gregory […]

October 8, 2019

ON BROADWAY

NYC PREMIERE For anyone who loves theater, this contemporary history of Broadway is a joy, packed with legendary stars and performances. Key players—Helen Mirren, Christine Baranski, August Wilson, James Corden, Alec Baldwin, John Lithgow, Viola Davis, Hugh Jackman and Ian McKellen—take us behind the scenes of Broadway’s most groundbreaking shows, from A Chorus Line to […]

October 8, 2019

PIER KIDS

NYC PREMIERE Caught up in the precariousness of survival and self-preservation, homeless queer and trans youth of color hang out at Christopher Street Pier, forging their own chosen family. Genuine and charming, these eloquent youth must contend with overwhelming amounts of homophobia and abuse. As real as it gets, and with intimate, immersive access to the […]

October 8, 2019

QUEEN OF HEARTS: AUDREY FLACK

NYC PREMIERE DOC NYC alumna Deborah Shaffer, with co-director Rachel Reichman, offers an intimate look at the life and creative process of visual artist Audrey Flack. Feminist, rebel, mother, sculptor and teacher, Audrey’s often controversial 40-year career evolved from abstract expressionism in the 1950s to photorealism in the 1970s. One of the first women ever […]

October 8, 2019

SHELLA RECORD: A REGGAE MYSTERY

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE After record collector Chris Flanagan hears an obscure but haunting recording by a Jamaican singer named Shella Record, he develops a decade-long obsession to find the mysterious woman. Turning amateur music detective, he follows sparse clues from Canada and the USA into the world of Jamaican music. Aided by whimsical miniature models and fanciful […]

October 8, 2019

SHORTS: MY NAME IS…

Characters in profile. (TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 90 MIN) Bird’s Eye! | Director: Morgan Albrecht Petra Leary, a skater girl with no formal education, claims her place as one of the top aerial photographers in the world.  (NEW ZEALAND, 7 MIN) Lorrie Goulet: Spirit Into Stone | Director: Lucy Adams An observational portrait of a 94-year-old sculptor. (USA, 12 MIN) […]

October 8, 2019

STAY CLOSE

2019 SHORT LIST: SHORT DIRECTING AWARD An underdog fencer from Brooklyn overcomes a gauntlet of hardships on the road to the Olympics. Courtesy of New York Times Op-Docs/POV Shorts.