October 7, 2014

SEX(ED)

NYC PREMIERE How did you first learn about sex? Before the Internet put a shocking amount of sexually explicit information at our fingertips, generations of Americans first encountered the birds and the bees at school, usually through educational films. Brenda Goodman assembles an eye-opening array of these well-intentioned but often funny teaching tools to reveal […]

October 7, 2014

KINGS OF PASTRY (2009)

Sixteen French pastry chefs gathered at the prestigious Meilleurs Ouvriers de France competition for three intense days of mixing, piping and sculpting everything from delicate chocolates to six-foot sugar sculptures in hopes of being declared by President Nicolas Sarkozy one of the best. The finalists, France’s culinary elite, risk their reputations as well as sacrifice […]

October 7, 2014

SONGS FOR ALEXIS

NYC PREMIERE Young love—and heartbreak—is captured through a tailor-made soundtrack in Elvira Lind’s sweetly observed naturalistic portrait. 18-year-old hopeless romantic Ryan writes songs about his 16-year-old girlfriend Alexis as the couple navigates a long-distance relationship between Long Island and San Francisco. But in contrast to his supportive family, Alexis’s father doesn’t approve of their relationship […]

October 7, 2014

SOFT VENGEANCE: ALBIE SACHS AND THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA

NYC PREMIERE At the height of apartheid, noted South African activist, author and attorney Albie Sachs was driven into exile, yet still faced threats to his life that cost him dearly. Rather than exchange violence for violence, his revenge took on the form of hope: drafting the nation’s new, inclusive constitution. A powerful testament to […]

October 7, 2014

SHE’S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE’S ANGRY

NYC PREMIERE Through a treasure trove of archival material and profiles of several outspoken pioneers of the women’s movement, She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry revisits the remarkable eruption of activism in the late 1960s and early 1970s that signaled the arrival of modern feminism. Mary Dore’s vibrant and inspirational film is at once a far-ranging […]

October 7, 2014

DISRUPTION

NYC PREMIERE Recognizing the persistence of income inequality in South America, a group of activist economists join together to offer an alternative path to eliminating poverty: encouraging the poor to open savings accounts and thereby become active agents within the existing economic system. Fundación Capital partners with impoverished women to put their plan for financial […]

October 7, 2014

TOP SPIN

WORLD PREMIERE In Sara Newens and Mina T. Son’s spirited sports film, three driven teenage athletes attempt to go for Olympic gold. Their sport? The perpetually popular but underappreciated game of table tennis. Northern California’s Ariel Hsing and Lily Zhang balance friendship and professional rivalry to see who’ll come out on top, while Long Island’s […]

October 7, 2014

HARDY

NYC PREMIERE Although Brooklyn’s Heather “The Heat” Hardy has only been boxing for a few years, she’s a world champion in the making—but first she has to be given the chance to prove herself in a sport that has been slow to open its doors to female athletes. Training at the world-famous Gleason’s Gym, the […]

October 7, 2014

9-MAN

Played since the 1930s, 9-Man, a variant of volleyball, was developed by Chinese immigrants to America as both an athletic pastime and a social outlet in a time of widespread anti-Chinese sentiment, discrimination and segregation. Ursula Liang’s film traces the game’s fascinating history as a backdrop to the present-day national championship, in which Asian-American players, […]

October 7, 2014

US, NAKED: TRIXIE & MONKEY

WORLD PREMIERE A pair of acrobatic burlesque performers attempt to juggle art, love and financial stability in this perceptive portrait. Following the effervescent Trixie and the puckish Monkey from their base in Baltimore to hone their skills at a New England circus school, to burlesque competitions in Las Vegas and, finally, to a new home […]