As reproductive rights grow more embattled, award-winning filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern (Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, The Devil Came on Horseback) trace the legacy of the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision. One surprising revelation is how much abortion rights were supported by Republicans in the 1960s. The film “reminds us […]
Director Rudy Valdez’s sister, Cindy, a married mother of three young girls, long ago left a drug-dealing ex. Despite this, she receives a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison under conspiracy charges related to his crimes. Over a period of ten years, Rudy’s camera captures the moments in his nieces’ lives that Cindy […]
This program presents two films appearing in our Short List: Shorts section recognizing some of the top documentary shorts films of the year. END GAME DIRS: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman A moving film about the passage from life to death, End Game is a portrait of the last days of those in palliative care in […]
US veterans and active-duty service members come together through a workshop led by poet Seema Reza to combat their traumatic military pasts via the written word. Sharing fears, vulnerabilities and victories, their writing becomes a tool for empowerment and healing culminating in the live performance of a collaborative poem under the direction of Jeffrey Wright. […]
NYC PREMIERE This Changes Everything gathers a who’s who of female actors and directors for a powerful call to action on elevating women’s roles in film and television, both on and off screen. Meryl Streep, Sandra Oh, Jessica Chastain, Shonda Rhimes, Reese Witherspoon, Taraji P. Henson and executive producer Geena Davis are among the many […]
NYC PREMIERE War correspondent Marie Colvin repeatedly and selflessly put her life on the line to report the atrocities unfolding in conflict-ravaged Syria, specifically against its innocent civilians. This gritty adaptation of fellow correspondent Paul Conroy’s titular book puts the viewer under fire on the frontline alongside the intrepid journalists, using harrowing on-the-ground footage. A […]
NYC PREMIERE After losing his mother and four siblings in a bombing that left him permanently injured, Syrian teenager Ibraheem and his father make a new life in Winnipeg despite the heartbreak of leaving their homeland behind. Narrated through his wartime diary, the film follows Ibraheem through his first week of high school in Winnipeg. […]
NYC PREMIERE When he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2005, Bakari Sellers became the youngest African-American elected official in US history. In While I Breathe, I Hope, the charismatic Democrat sets his sights on becoming the state’s lieutenant governor, a role not held by an African American since 1876. Emily […]
The hopes and dreams of the youngest generation. A nine-year-old explains the feeling of being stricken with the world’s oldest infliction—True Love in Pueblo Texti (Cuba/Spain/USA, 5 min., Horatio Baltz). New Orleans high school student Chasity investigates the safety of her neighborhood, Station 15 (USA, 15 min., Kira Akerman, Sophie Tintori), hard hit by Hurricane […]
History is made, for better or worse. The Happiness Machine (USA, 24 min., Rebecca B. Blumhagen) profiles philosopher, inventor and farmer, Carl, who grew up a sharecropper on 22 acres in rural Iowa which he now hopes to pass on to his children as a gift of place. Using entirely archival footage, In the Absence […]