NYC PREMIERE From belly dancing to synchronized swimming and golf: everything that a pensioner’s heart desires is offered at The Villages, the world’s largest retirement community. Valerie Blankenbyl’s enthralling and amusing portrait of the fastest growing “town” in the US—soon to be four times the size of Manhattan—explores its complexities and contradictions while shedding light […]
WORLD PREMIERE Tourists flock to the west coast of Ireland to take in the breathtaking cliffs of Moher, but the real treasure lies in the soulful, acoustic sounds wafting out of pubs and living rooms of Doolin, County Clare. The denizens of this unspoiled coastal village of tight-knit neighbors and unlocked doors revel in the […]
NYC PREMIERE Uber, DoorDash, Citi Bikes and the like are part of the global explosion of convenience for consumers, and they provide desperately needed income opportunities for otherwise marginalized workers—but often with high hidden costs. Following several workers from around the world, director Shannon Walsh explores the economic and physical vulnerability of these enterprising wage […]
US PREMIERE Like their European counterparts, many Sephardic Jews and Jews from Arab lands left their homelands for the promise of freedom and opportunity in Israel. Unbeknownst to them, these Mizrahim were to be systematically relegated to bleak transit camps and development towns, and prohibited from enjoying full rights of Israeli citizenship. Through interviews and […]
NYC PREMEIERE A thought-provoking and candid documentary about what it means to be Black and beautiful, and the role of historical representation that the media has played in creating an image of Black women in society. Told from the perspective of women who aren’t afraid to challenge conventional beauty standards, the film is partially set […]
NYC PREMIERE Filmmakers Jerry Risius and Beth Levison celebrate the vitality of local journalism as it undergoes a crisis with this portrait of a small-town Iowa paper, The Storm Lake Times. Editor Art Cullen oversees the family-run business that was recognized with a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on dark money in corporate agriculture. “Storm […]
US PREMIERE Two men from opposite sides of the world come together over a shared love of action cinema. Isaac Nabwana, a director hailed as “Africa’s Tarantino,” and Alan Hofmanis, a film programmer from New York, struck a deep friendship while making films with minimal resources in the slums of Kampala. Alan sees the genius […]
US PREMIERE Mateo Sobode Chiqueno has been using an old tape recorder to capture stories, songs, and testimonies of his ancestral culture since the seventies. As a young native Ayoreo, he was a victim of the violent uprooting perpetrated in Paraguay by white missionaries, who forced them to abandon their ancestral territory, their means of […]
NYC PREMIERE In her feature directorial debut, Chris J. Russo presents a perceptive exploration into the lives and work of six women who are the backbone of the cannabis community in California. Their accomplishments and battles reveal a new industry that remains in flux, as it tackles preserving the past while simultaneously establishing its own […]
NYC PREMIERE While locked up for six years in federal prison, artist Jesse Krimes secretly creates monumental works of art—including an astonishing 30-foot mural made with prison bed sheets, hair gel, and newspaper. He smuggles out each panel piece-by-piece with the help of fellow artists, only seeing the mural in totality upon coming home. As […]