New York Film Academy Documentary Department students learn to make films by making films. Hands-on, intensive MFA and one-year Conservatory programs pair rigorous instruction with close mentoring by a world class faculty to support students from around the world as they create their own documentary films. Alumni have received an Emmy® Award, multiple Academy Award®- […]
Sold for $100 at the age of 5, Fekri suffers through years of abuse before his plight is discovered. After almost a year of hospitalization and therapy Fekri moves into a group home where he finds support, mentorship, and eventual forgiveness towards the family which sold him.
NYC PREMIERE In 2006 a rush of molten mud exploded in East Java, Indonesia, flooding 16 villages and displacing more than 60,000 people; 12 years later the hot sludge is still flowing. Grit profiles one girl’s awakening to activism as her family campaigns against the corporation responsible for the man-made catastrophe. Cynthia Wade and Sasha […]
In his lyrical directorial debut, winner of a Special Jury Award for Creative Vision at this year’s Sundance, acclaimed photographer RaMell Ross rewrites familiar representational tropes of race, region and class in this impressionistic portrait of two young African-American men in the American South over five years. The film’s unique storytelling, composed of intimate, associative […]
Sil (10) and Merlijn (11) are about to go on a big adventure: they will visit a refugee camp at Lesbos and stay there for a week. Through their mothers, who both work there, they have heard stories about the children that live there. Now they want to see for themselves. What is it like […]
NYC PREMIERE New Kids on the Block, N*Sync, One Direction and, of course, The Beatles: Bands with big hair, bigger personalities and the ubiquitous screaming fangirls. I Used To Be Normal profiles these ardent fans, charming groupies who find joy in their devotion. Whimsical and lustrous, the film explores the complexity of social media relationships […]
NYC PREMIERE On the Navajo Nation, basketball is as much a part of life as the surrounding natural beauty and ancient traditions. Between dirt courts and a seven-thousand seat high school stadium, much of life in Chinle revolves around basketball. This is especially true for Nahatabaa Nacona, whose talent could prove to be her only […]
NYC PREMIERE Under a dank bridge in Kabul, Afghanistan—the country with the world’s highest rate of opium production and addiction—a squalid group of drug addicts is getting high or fiending for their next fix. Former child bride and self-proclaimed badass Laila offers salvation by inviting these lost souls to the detox clinics she runs with […]
WORLD PREMIERE After a controversial basketball ruling about head coverings makes it impossible for Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir to maintain her religious convictions while playing professionally, she begins training the next generation of Muslim girls at an Islamic school’s athletics program. As she reckons with the possibility of life without basketball, Bilqis fights to change the rules […]
NYC PREMIERE. Life can seem pretty overwhelming at times, particularly when you’re growing up. And it’s not always easy to talk to your parents or friends about your problems. Fortunately, the “Kindertelefoon” (Child Helpline) in the Netherlands provides a listening ear. LISTEN presents a cross-section of conversations between children and the Kindertelefoon. One girl talks about […]