WORLD PREMIERE: In January 1972, Aretha Franklin gave two days of gospel performances at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles, recording what would become her bestselling album, Amazing Grace. The sessions were captured by a film crew led by Sydney Pollack, but the footage wound up shelved in a vault and […]
WORLD PREMIERE After a contentious race last fall, the runoff for mayor of New Orleans came down to two candidates: Desiree Charbonnet and LaToya Cantrell, two very different black women. The winner of this election would take office as the first female mayor of New Orleans and the city’s fourth black mayor. Through news footage, […]
2018 METROPOLIS COMPETITION WINNER US PREMIERE Offering a recontextualization of the 1960s New York art and experimental film scene through the story of a remarkably influential, yet unheralded, figure, Chuck Smith’s film introduces viewers to Barbara Rubin. This extraordinary young filmmaker, who defied sexist conventions when she picked up a film camera and shot an […]
NYC PREMIERE This high-stakes legal drama focuses on Bei Bei Shuai, a depressed, pregnant Chinese immigrant who is put on trial for the murder of her unborn child after attempting suicide. The case captivates the nation, and in particular the state of Indiana, as it sets a disturbing legal precedent for women who terminate their […]
NYC PREMIERE Formed by a group of local, black women from communities surrounding the Kruger National Park, The Black Mambas is South Africa’s first and only all-female, anti-poaching unit, the first line of defense in an attempt to rescue their country’s threatened rhino population from the edge of extinction. They are the eyes and ears […]
WORLD PREMIERE Three young Indian women in a conservative Muslim town seek to change their futures through education and self-determination. The opportunity to continue their schooling has opened up the possibility of a different future for Karishma, Apsana and Samira, but even as they prepare for final exams, their families threaten to pull them back […]
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE A must for any newly engaged Chinese couple is the pre-wedding photo shoot. A marked break from the austere, purely functional weddings of the generation who grew up in the shadow of the Cultural Revolution, this multibillion dollar industry is the ultimate display of romance, status and wealth. Take a trip through modern-day Shanghai […]
NYC PREMIERE Faced with the amorphous threat of ISIS, resourceful Commander Arian gathers her all-women Kurdish battalion to rescue enslaved civilians in northern Syria. During the final battle of a two-year campaign to free the besieged village of Kobane, Arian is shot five times. Weaving together footage of the intrepid commander training recruits, the troops […]
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE Alexis has an incurable, life-threatening disease. She spends her time in a small house in the wooded expanse of northern Scotland where she takes care of dozens of others who are also sick, wounded or dying. Some have terminal cancer, some were about to be killed because of their disabilities, some were saved […]
Students in The Documentary Project at Columbia Journalism School learn to write, film and narrate the stories of our time, from deadline reporting to profile writing and documentary features. Successful candidates have leveraged their work to include magazine features, NPR radio stories and newspaper articles. Columbia’s showcase includes: The Lifehouse (USA, 31 min., Heba Elorbany, […]