The effects on the environment and our self-manufactured crisis. (Total Running Time: 92 MIN) Aguilucho: Dance of the Harpy Eagle | Director: Daniel Byers The indigenous people of the Darién Gap rainforest work with conservationists to use their heritage and traditions to protect the endangered Harpy Eagle and, in turn, protect their community. – Dewitt […]
The three-semester News and Documentary Graduate Program at NYU Journalism prepares students to be independent in the field and to shoot and edit a documentary on their own. We are a blend of rigorous journalism and film aesthetic. These three documentaries represent the variety of topics, approaches, and styles we encourage. The stories were shot […]
US PREMIERE Despite imprisonment, journalist Khadija Ismayilova courageously exposes the intricate corruption tactics of the families ruling Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan. Their dictatorships violate multiple human rights and launder public funds. Ismayilova strips the regimes of their democratic veneers to reveal their use of “caviar diplomacy”—e.g. American pop stars, six-figure cash gifts, and five-star hotel […]
Students in the one-year Documentary Specialization program at Columbia learn to write, film, and narrate the stories of our time, from deadline reporting to profile writing and audio stories. The films completed during the 2020 academic year faced unparalleled obstacles, as students were forbidden from shooting in person, and had to edit remotely. Nevertheless, two […]
WORLD PREMIERE Don’t let the 8- to 12- year- old age range fool you: Color Killer, a head-banging punk group, can bring the noise! But can they overcome in-fighting and jealousies to ace their biggest live performance ever? SNL’s Chris Parnell “counsels” their supportive, roadie/manager parents as the film follows the band during the weeks […]
WORLD PREMIERE Mr. McArevey is a visionary headmaster at a Catholic primary school in one of the toughest neighborhoods of Belfast, Northern Ireland. He loves Elvis and teaches his students to connect with their feelings, while taking on the legacies of the “The Troubles.” In this exceptional portrait of a community still healing from trauma, […]
US PREMIERE Filmmaker Alexandra Dalsbaek follows young activists in Russia in the lead-up to the Presidential election of 2018 as they campaign for Alexei Navalny, the opponent of Vladimir Putin. We follow the activists Milena and Kolya as they take part in street demonstrations in defiance of police crackdowns. The film vividly illustrates the passionate […]
NYC PREMIERE Reality Winner (her actual birth name) is a U.S. Air Force veteran who became a whistleblower in her 20s by leaking classified documents about Russian cyber-warfare attacks on the 2016 U.S. elections. Award-winning filmmaker Sonia Kennebeck (National Bird; Enemies of the State), supported by executive producer Wim Wenders, digs into her case, exploring […]
NYC PREMIERE For years, the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force ran roughshod through the city’s most vulnerable communities under the guise of getting guns off the streets. When veteran detective Sean Suiter is found dead on duty under dubious circumstances, the corruption within the unit is revealed to reach into the greater political […]
US PREMIERE In the 1970s, under the thumb of unprecedented repression, journalist Elias Barahona infiltrated the heart of the Guatemalan government. Becoming known only as “The Mole,” his work uncovering the regime’s transgressions revealed brazen acts of political violence and helped lift the wall of silence that had fallen over the nation. In this chilling […]