Set against the glamorous golden age of Formula 1 racing in the 1970s, Rush tells the true story of the great rivalry between handsome English playboy James Hunt and his methodical, brilliant opponent, Austrian driver Niki Lauda. The story chronicles their distinctly different personal styles on and off the track, their loves and the astonishing 1976 season in which both drivers were willing to risk everything to become world champion in a sport with no margin for error.

After the assassination of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas in 2009, there are a limited number of doctors left in the country who provide third-trimester abortions for women. After Tiller moves between the rapidly unfolding stories of these doctors, all of whom were close colleagues of Dr. Tiller, and are fighting to keep this service available in the wake of his death. These four people have become the new number-one targets of the pro-life movement, yet continue to risk their lives every day to do work that many believe is murder, but which they believe is profoundly important for their patients' lives. After Tiller shows them confronting harassment from protesters, challenges in their personal lives, and a series of tough ethical decisions.

Hortense is a small town chef and restaurant-owner whose life changes when she becomes the personal chef to the President of France.

In postwar Hong Kong, legendary Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man is reluctantly called into action once more. What began as simple challenges from rival kung fu schools soon finds him drawn into the dark and dangerous underworld of the Triads. Now, to defend life and honor, Ip Man has no choice but to fight - one last time. [Well Go USA]

When Herb and Dorothy Vogel, a retired postal clerk and librarian, began collecting works of contemporary art in the 1960s, they never imagined it would outgrow their one bedroom Manhattan apartment and spread throughout America. 50 years later, the collection is nearly 5,000 pieces and worth millions. Refusing to sell, the couple launches an unprecedented project to give a total of 2,500 artworks to museums in all fifty states.

Good Ol' Freda' tells the story of Freda Kelly, a shy Liverpudlian teenager asked to work for a young local band hoping to make it big: the Beatles. As the Beatles' fame multiplies, Freda bears witness to music and cultural history but never exploits her insider access. Their loyal secretary from beginning to end, Freda finally tells her tales for the first time in 50 years.

Through her fierce determination and dauntless courage, Winnie Mandela survived her husband's imprisonment, continuous harassment by the security police, banishment to a small Free State town, betrayal by friends and allies, and more than a year in solitary confinement - all the while keeping the name of Nelson Mandela alive. A sensitive and balanced portrayal, the film nevertheless thoroughly investigates and honestly examines the controversies that dogged Winnie Mandela in recent years. [dfilms]

A documentary follows the last months of Neil Platt, a young father with terminal and debilitating motor neuron disease.

Never before seen Super 8 home movies filmed by Richard Nixon's closest aides - and convicted Watergate conspirators - offer a surprising and intimate new look into his Presidency.

The Trials Of Muhammad Ali investigates its extraordinary and often complex subject's life outside the boxing ring. From joining the controversial Nation of Islam and changing his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali, to his refusal to serve in the Vietnam War in the name of protesting racial inequality, to his global humanitarian work, Muhammad Ali remains an inspiring and controversial figure. Outspoken and passionate in his beliefs, Ali found himself in the center of America's controversies over race, religion, and war. [Kino Lorber]

The Grandmaster is an epic action feature inspired by the life and times of legendary martial-arts master Ip Man. The story spans the tumultuous Republican era that followed the fall of Chinaâ

Based on a true story, an Alaska State Trooper partners with a young woman who escaped the clutches of serial killer Robert Hansen to bring the murderer to justice.

Each year, 60,000 people from around the globe gather in a dusty windswept Nevada desert to build a temporary city, collaborating on large-scale art and partying for a week before burning a giant effigy in a ritual frenzy. Rooted in principles of self-expression, self-reliance and community effort, Burning Man has grown famous for stirring ordinary people to shed their nine-to-five existence and act on their dreams. Spark takes us behind the curtain with Burning Man organizers and participants, revealing a year of unprecedented challenges and growth. When ideals of a new world based on freedom and inclusion collide with realities of the "default world," we wonder which dreams can survive.

The story of Steve Jobs' ascension from college dropout to one of the leading creative entrepreneurs of the 20th century.

Lee Daniels' The Butler looks at the life of a White House butler who served eight presidents from 1952 to 1986 and had a unique front-row seat during a tumultuous period of American history.

In 1972—before the internet, before the porn explosion—Deep Throat was a phenomenon: the first scripted pornographic theatrical feature film, featuring a story, some jokes, and an unknown and unlikely star, Linda Lovelace. Escaping a strict religious family, Linda discovered freedom and the high-life when she fell for and married charismatic hustler Chuck Traynor. As Linda Lovelace she became an international sensation—less centerfold fantasy than a charming girl-next-door with an impressive capacity for fellatio. Fully inhabiting her new identity, Linda became an enthusiastic spokesperson for sexual freedom and uninhibited hedonism. Six years later she presented another narrative to the world—herself as the survivor of a far darker story. [RADiUS-TWC]

Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren try to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse. Forced to confront a powerful entity, the Warrens find themselves caught in the most terrifying case of their lives.

Examines the tumultuous life of legendary Chicago pimp Iceberg Slim (1918-1992) and how he reinvented himself from pimp to author of 7 groundbreaking books. These books were the birth of Street Lit and explored the world of the ghetto in gritty and poetic detail and have made him a cultural icon. Interviews with Iceberg Slim, Chris Rock, Henry Rollins, Ice-T, Snoop Dogg, and Quincy Jones.

Older people are using Viagra, running marathons, flying planes and ditching them safely on The Hudson. This Brooklyn band of buddies break bread and each other's chops every Wednesday evening (ROMEOWS stands for Retired Older Men Eating Out Wednesdays).

Nicholas Winton, an Englishman (today 102 years old) organized the rescue of 669 Czech and Slovak children just before the outbreak of World War II. Winton, now 102 years old, did not speak about these events with anyone for more than half a century. His exploits would have probably been forgotten if his wife, fifty years later, had not found a suitcase in the attic, full of documents and transport plans. Today the story of this rescue is known all over the world. 120,000 children in the Czech Republic signed a petition to award Nicholas Winton the Nobel Prize for Peace. Dozens of Winton's children have been found and to this day his family has grown to almost 6,000 people, many of whom have gone on to achieve great things themselves. It is incredible that all these people live due to the heroic deeds of one man - Sir Nicholas Winton.

The true story of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident, who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family, and strangers on the last day of 2008.

Steve Coogan and director Michael Winterbottom continue their fruitful partnership with this epic portrait of the rise and fall of British nudie theater impresario Paul Raymond. The symbol of Soho, sex and sophistication from the swinging 60s to the 80s, Raymond almost single-handedly rewrote the cultural history of the UK with an empire of topless theaters and softcore magazines that would eventually make him the richest man in the country. [IFC Films]

Fifteen years of footage show the epic rivalry between half-pipe legends Shaun White and Kevin Pearce, childhood friends who become number one and two in the world leading up to the Vancouver Winter Olympics, pushing one another to ever more dangerous tricks, until Kevin crashes on a Park City half-pipe, barely surviving. As Kevin recovers from his injury, Shaun wins Gold. Now all Kevin wants to do is get on his snowboard again, even though medics and family fear this could kill him.

A look at the life of philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt who reported for The New Yorker on the war crimes trial of the Nazi Adolf Eichmann.

A Green Story chronicles the life of Van Vlahakis, a Greek immigrant who arrived in America with only $22 in his pocket and eventually became the owner and CEO of Earth Friendly Products.

In 2008, as George W. Bush tried to gift the energy and mining industries thousands of acres of pristine Utah wilderness via a widely disputed federal auction, college student Tim DeChristopher decided to monkey-wrench the process. Bidding $1.7 million, he won 22,000 acres with no intention to pay or drill. For this astonishing (and successful) act of civil disobedience he was sent to federal prison. Bidder 70 tells the story of this peaceful warrior whose patriotism and willingness to sacrifice have ignited the climate justice movement. [First Run Features]

The untold stories of female jazz and big band instrumentalists and their groundbreaking journeys from the late 1930's to the present day.

Jeffrey Kagel travels to India in search of legendary saint Neem Karoli Baba, struggles through drug addiction and depression, and emerges as Krishna Das, a world famous spiritual teacher.

The true story of Richard Kuklinski, the notorious contract killer believed to have murdered over a hundred people while maintaining a seemingly normal life with his wife and children.

The story of legendary explorer Thor Heyerdal's epic 4,300 miles crossing of the Pacific on a balsa wood raft in 1947, in an effort prove it was possible for South Americans to settle in Polynesia in pre-Columbian times.

The life story of Jackie Robinson and his history-making signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers under the guidance of team executive Branch Rickey.

Andre Gregory: Before and After Dinner is an exploration of the life and work of Andre Gregory, groundbreaking director, actor, artist, and raconteur, filmed by prize-winning documentarian Cindy Kleine, his wife. Through her close-up lens, Cindy introduces us to this cultural icon and master storyteller, and tells the unusual story of a good marriage that thrives in collaboration, art, and humor, celebrating the great vitality of the later years in life.

A biopic of iconic Chilean artist and folksinger Violeta Parra filled with her music, her memories, and her devotion to her art.

In 1968, four young, talented Australian Aboriginal girls learn about love, friendship and war when their all girl group The Sapphires entertain the US troops in Vietnam.

A film about the remarkable life and relationships of Leonie Gilmour, editor and lover of Japanese poet Yone Noguchi and mother of the acclaimed artist and architect Isamu Noguchi.

Old Goats is a comedy that features three elderly men playing themselves, but within a fictional framework. Britt lives alone on a boat and searches for excitement and romance in his life. Bob writes a book of memoirs about his life as a soldier, para-trooper, and bush pilot, but is uneasy about revealing his sins as a younger man. David is struggling to adapt into retired life while living with his bossy wife.

A documentary on one of America’s greatest living novelist featuring candid interviews with the Pulitzer Prize-winner.

The true story of Abraham Lincoln's presidency is told from the perspective of his bodyguard, Ward Hill Lamon and with sets created via CineCollage from actual Civil War photographs.

In the summer of 1991 Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested in Milwaukee and sentenced to 957 years in prison for killing 17 people and dismembering their bodies. Through the use of archival footage and interviews with the local medical examiner, police detective, and Dahmer's neighbors, this documentary explores the ordinary man behind the horrifying acts.

Former Mayor Ed Koch ruled New York from 1978 to 1989—a down-and-dirty decade of grit, graffiti, near-bankruptcy and rampant crime. Making his directorial debut, former Wall Street Journal reporter Neil Barsky has crafted an intimate and revealing portrait of this intensely private man and the town he helped transform. Through candid interviews and rare archival footage, Koch thrillingly chronicles the personal and political toll of running the world’s most wondrous city in a time of upheaval and reinvention. [Zeitgeist Films]

Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and The Farm Midwives tells the story of a spirited group of women, led by counterculture heroine Ina May Gaskin, who taught themselves how to be midwives while creating a commune called The Farm in the 1970s. With access to the midwives’ archival video collection, the documentary captures the unique sisterhood at The Farm Clinic - from its earliest beginnings to the present - and the fight to preserve the community’s knowledge of midwifery.

When doctors diagnosed 19-year-old rocker Jason Becker with Lou Gehrig's Disease, they said he would never make music again and that he wouldn’t live to see his 25th birthday. 22 years later, without the ability to move or to speak, Jason is alive and making music with his eyes. Jason Becker : Not Dead Yet is a feature-length documentary film that tells the story of a guitar legend who refuses to give up on his dream of being a musician despite the most incredible odds. It is a story of dreams, love, and the strength of the human spirit. The film has been made with the full co-operation of Jason and the Becker family, who have given their consent for this to be the first feature-length documentary film about his life. They have provided their entire family archive of never-before-seen photos and footage. [Projextra.ca]

This documentary chronicles how a generation of artists, thinkers, and activists used their creativity as a response to the reactionary politics that many believe defined culture in the 1980s.

In June 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor host the King and Queen of England for a weekend at the Roosevelt home at Hyde Park on Hudson, in upstate New York – the first-ever visit of a reigning English monarch to America. With Britain facing imminent war with Germany, the Royals are desperately looking to FDR for support. But international affairs must be juggled with the complexities of FDR’s domestic establishment, as wife, mother, and mistresses all conspire to make the royal weekend an unforgettable one. Seen through the eyes of Daisy, Franklin’s neighbor and intimate, the weekend will produce not only a special relationship between two great nations, but, for Daisy – and through her, for us all – a deeper understanding of the mysteries of love and friendship. (Focus Features)

British actor and writer Stephen Fry embarks upon a journey to explore his fascination for Wagner and confront his troubled legacy. Can he disentangle the music he loves from its poisonous links with Hitler? His journey plays out against the backdrop of preparations for the Bayreuth Festival - the annual Wagner extravaganza held in a theatre purpose-built by the composer.

Rodrigo Santoro biography of the tragic life of one of Brazil's greatest soccer players from the 1940s, Heleno de Freitas.

The tragic true story of one filmmaker’s journey from obscurity to moral blindness in the seductive glare of the media spotlight.

Hitchcock is a love story about one of the most influential filmmakers of the last century, Alfred Hitchcock and his wife and partner Alma Reville. The film takes place during the making of Hitchcock's seminal movie Psycho.

A news anchor reports while graphic news coverage of a terrorist car bomb attack in 1990 in Oakland, CA is shown. Two Earth First! activists are immediately blamed by the FBI for bombing themselves. We learn that the victim/suspects Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney have later sued the FBI and Oakland Police and that Judi Bari is now dying of cancer before her case goes to trial. Weak though defiant, she gives her deposition, on camera, just a month before she dies. [Hokey Pokey]

TURNING, based on a tour of Europe by Antony and Charles Atlas, is a music documentary that explores the heart of that performance. Through its synthesis of Antony´s songs and unfurling video portraiture of the 13 remarkable women who performed on stage, TURNING creates an intimate and cinematic experience exploring themes of identity, transcendence and the revelation of essence. [TurningFilm.com]

Lincoln is a revealing drama that focuses on the 16th President's tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come. (DreamWorks Pictures)

In the spring of 2005, acclaimed environmental photographer James Balog headed to the Arctic on a tricky assignment for National Geographic: to capture images to help tell the story of the Earth’s changing climate. Even with a scientific upbringing, Balog had been a skeptic about climate change. But that first trip north opened his eyes to the biggest story in human history and sparked a challenge within him that would put his career and his very well-being at risk. Chasing Ice is the story of one man’s mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet. (National Geographic Channel)

Photographer Gregory Crewdson’s 10-year quest to create a series of haunting, surreal, and stunningly elaborate portraits of small-town American life — filmed with unprecedented access as he makes perfect renderings of a disturbing, imperfect world. [Ben Shapiro Productions]

On May 6th, 2009 Maine became the first state in this country to legislatively grant same-sex couples the right to marry. Seven months later, on November 3rd 2009 Maine reversed, becoming the thirty-first state in this country to say "no" to gay and lesbian marriage. Filmed from within both campaigns, "Question One" chronicles the fierce and emotional battle that took place in Maine during that time, a battle whose political symbolism is a bellwether for the greater ideological battlefield in American politics. (Fly on the Wall Productions)

In Foucault’s Pendulum, Umberto Eco calls the city of Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, the “Black Rome.” The rich culture of Salvador emanates from a fusion of European, African, and Native Indian roots. Today, tattooed onto the skin of the cityʼs 500-year-old urban landscape, one observes the ubiquitous public artwork created by the artist Bel Borba over the past 35 years. The documentary film, Bel Borba Aqui, reflects the intense and intimate relationship between this historically rich city and her beloved native son, Bel Borba. (Abramorama)

During Diana Vreeland’s fifty year reign as the “Empress of Fashion,” she launched Twiggy, advised Jackie Onassis, and established countless trends that have withstood the test of time. She was the fashion editor of Harper’s Bazaar where she worked for twenty-five years before becoming editor-in-chief of Vogue, followed by a remarkable stint at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, where she helped popularize its historical collections. Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel is an intimate portrait and a vibrant celebration of one of the most influential women of the twentieth century, an enduring icon who has had a strong influence on the course of fashion, beauty, publishing and culture. (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

Jian Ping was born in China in 1960, during the cultural revolution. After many hardships, she immigrated to America where she gave birth to her own daughter. As an emotional and cultural distance grew between her and her daughter, Jian began to write her memoir. And on a trip to modern China to visit relatives, Jian began to educate her daughter about her life.

Meet Louise and Martine Fokkens: 69-year-old identical twins who have worked as prostitutes in Amsterdam's red light district for over 50 years. Louise is newly retired due to arthritis (“I couldn't get one leg over the other”), but Martine carries on, unable to support herself on a state pension. Between explicit scenes of her daily grind, she and Louise stroll the city in matching outfits, recounting hilariously ribald stories from a lifetime of sex work. (Discussing a client who was a chaplain, one recalls: “Don't you remember, we even had a little confessional!”) An immensely affectionate portrait of two women who have seen and done everything (and everyone), Meet the Fokkens is a rollicking and revealing look at the world's oldest profession in the 21st century.(Kino Lorber)

What is a big corporation capable of doing in order to protect its brand? Recently, Swedish documentary filmmaker Fredrik Gertten experienced this personally. His previous film BANANAS!* recounts the lawsuit that 12 Nicaraguan plantation workers successfully brought against the fruit giant Dole Food Company. That film was selected for competition by the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival. Nothing wrong so far, right? But then just before leaving Sweden to attend the Los Angeles world premiere of his film, Gertten gets a strange message: the festival has decided to remove Bananas!* from competition. Then, a scathing, controversial and misinformed article appears on the cover of the Los Angeles Business Journal about the film a week before the premiere. And subsequently, Gertten receives a letter from Dole's attorneys threatening legal action if the film is shown at this festival and to cease and desist. What follows is an unparalleled story that Gertten captured on film. He filmed this entire process of corporate bullying and media spin - from DOLE attacking the producers with a defamation lawsuit, utilizing scare tactics, to media-control and PR-spin. Big Boys Gone Bananas!* can be seen as a thriller and a cautionary tale. But, mostly this is a personal story about what happened to Gertten, as a documentary filmmaker and to his company and how the livelihood of documentary filmmakers can be easily put into jeopardy. (WG Film)

The Imposter is a chilling factual thriller that chronicles the story of a 13-year-old boy who disappears without a trace from San Antonio, Texas in 1994. Three and a half years later he is found alive, thousands of miles away in a village in southern Spain with a story of kidnapping and torture. His family is overjoyed to bring him home. But all is not quite as it seems. The boy bears many of the same distinguishing marks he always had, but why does he now have a strange accent? Why does he look so different? Any why doesn't the family seem to notice these glaring inconsistencies? It's only when an investigator starts asking questions that this strange tale takes an even stranger turn. The stranger than fiction mystery, which features many twists and turns, is told in a cinematic language that combines documentary and stylized visualizations. Perception is challenged at every turn, and just as the truth begins to dawn on you, another truth merges leaving you even more on edge. (Indomina Releasing)

Set in the world of male strippers, "Magic Mike" follows Mike as he takes a young dancer called The Kid under his wing and schools him in the fine arts of partying, picking up women, and making easy money. [Warner Bros. Pictures]

Searching for Sugar Man tells the incredible true story of Rodriguez, the greatest '70s rock icon who never was. Discovered in a Detroit bar in the late '60s by two celebrated producers struck by his soulful melodies and prophetic lyrics, they recorded an album which they believed would secure his reputation as the greatest recording artist of his generation. In fact, the album bombed and the singer disappeared into obscurity amid rumors of a gruesome on-stage suicide. But a bootleg recording found its way into apartheid South Africa and, over the next two decades, he became a phenomenon. The film follows the story of two South African fans who set out to find out what really happened to their hero. Their investigation leads them to a story more extraordinary than any of the existing myths about the artist known as Rodriguez. (Sony Pictures Classics)

He called himself Luke the Drifter. He pioneered, and pretty much invented what we know today as country music. At the peak of his career, he was acknowledged to be the greatest singer-songwriter in American history. But after a meteoric rise to record and radio super-stardom in the late 1940's, the man had made a train wreck of his life. Drugs, alcohol, and a hair-trigger temper had ended two marriages, ruined a host of friendships and made the tortured genius a virtual untouchable in the music business. So at the end of 1952, Hank Williams gathered what was left of his physical strength to make things right, and begin the long road back. He booked New Years shows in West Virginia and Ohio, and hired a local kid who didn't even own a radio, much less know who this legend was, to drive him there from Montgomery Alabama. No one else wanted the job. He never got there. Somewhere on that last highway, the country music legend passed away on New Year's Day, 1953, in the back of his powder blue Cadillac, carrying only his guitar and a notebook full of unfinished songs. He was 29. Inspired by the mysterious final days Hank Williams' mercurial life, The Last Ride is the story of that final drive through the bleak Appalachian countryside of 1950's America. A lonely two-man odyssey; a boy coming of age, and a man leaving this world way before his time, a victim of his own abuses. (Mozark Productions)

Seductive, fearless, and outrageous, Marina Abramovic has been redefining what art is for nearly forty years. Using her own body as a vehicle, pushing herself beyond her physical and mental limits––and at times risking her life in the process––she creates performances that challenge, shock, and move us. Through her and with her, boundaries are crossed, consciousness expanded, and art as we know it is reborn. She is, quite simply, one of the most compelling artists of our time. (Music Box Films)

He won Grammys and an Academy Award; wrote many #1 songs from Barbra Streisand's "Evergreen" to the Carpenter's "We've Only Just Begun" as well as Kermit the Frog's biggest hit, "The Rainbow Connection"; starred in a Brian DePalma movie; put out his own hit records and albums; was a guest on The Tonight Show fifty times; and is the president of ASCAP... and you might not have heard of him. In the 1970's, Paul Williams was the singer / actor / songwriter that emotional, alienated teenage boys all over the world wanted to be, a sex symbol before MTV, when sex symbols could be 5"2 and sing songs about loneliness with the Muppets. One of those boys was Steve Kessler, a chubby kid from Queens. Thirty years later, Kessler discovered something amazing: Paul Williams didn't die. And no one had ever tried to make a documentary about him. A wistful musical journey that will re-introduce a new generation to Williams' soulful classics, "Paul Williams: Still Alive" is the self-narrated story of Stephen Kessler's lifelong obsession with the former superstar-and what happens when the nostalgic filmmaker finally catches up with him. (Abramorama Films)

Chely Wright: Wish Me Away is the story of Chely Wright, the first Nashville music star to come out as gay. Over three years, the filmmakers were given extraordinary access to Chely's struggle and her unfolding plan to come out publicly. Using interviews with Chely, her family, her pastor, and key players in the music world, alongside Chely's intimate private video diaries, the film goes deep into her back story as an established star and then forward as she steps into the national spotlight to reveal her secret. Chronicling the aftermath in Nashville and within the LGBT community, Chely Wright: Wish Me Away reveals both the devastation of her own internalized homophobia and the transformational power of living an authentic life. (First Run Features)

Can you make a movie while having mental illness? Bud Clayman is doing it. Will making a documentary about your mental illness change your life? Maybe. Mental illness interrupted Bud's dream of a filmmaking career. Thirty years later, he’s making the movie of his life. This is a personal story with universal relevance as Bud documents his quest for belonging. (Fisher Klingenstein Films)

Bill W. tells the story of William G. Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, a man included in TIME Magazine's "100 Persons of the 20th Century." Interviews, recreations, and rare archival material reveal how Bill Wilson, a hopeless drunk near death from his alcoholism, found a way out of his own addiction and then forged a path for countless others to follow. With Bill as its driving force, A.A. grew from a handful of men to a worldwide fellowship of over 2 million men and women – a success that made him an icon within A.A., but also an alcoholic unable to be a member of the very society he had created. A reluctant hero, Bill Wilson lived a life of sacrifice and service, and left a legacy that continues every day, all around the world. (Page 124 Productions)

Paul Simon’s Grammy-winning album Graceland – an irresistible and groundbreaking fusion of American and South African pop music — was an immediate hit when it was released in 1986. It also proved to be a lightning rod for controversy, after South African leaders protested that Simon had broken the cultural boycott of the nation’s oppressively racist apartheid regime. In the documentary Under African Skies, premiering at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, Simon returns to South Africa, which formally ended apartheid in 1994 — 25 years after Graceland‘s release. Director Joe Berlinger (Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory) follows Simon as he reunites with his South African collaborators, and revisits the controversy the album caused, while luminaries like Oprah Winfrey, Quincy Jones, Lorne Michaels, David Bryne and Sir Paul McCartney share their thoughts on what the album meant to them. (Radical Media)

Bob Marley's universal appeal, impact on music history and role as a social and political prophet is both unique and unparalleled. Marley is the definitive life story of the musician, revolutionary, and legend, from his early days to his rise to international superstardom. Made with the support of the Marley family, the film features rare footage, incredible performances and revelatory interviews with the people that knew him best. (Magnolia Pictures)

The Lady is the story of Aung San Suu Kyi and her husband, Michael Aris. It is also the epic story of the peaceful quest of the woman who is at the core of Burma’s democracy movement. Despite distance, long separations, and a dangerously hostile regime, their love endures until the very end. (Entertainment Film Distributors)

When Nirvana burst onto the scene in 1991, the music industry was completely transformed in a way nobody expected...especially the young musicians who went from sharing tiny Seattle apartments to international superstardom, sometimes overnight. Just three years later, the drug-related deaths of several prominent musicians, capped by the suicide of Kurt Cobain, closed the books on an all too brief era. As the acclaimed drummer of Courtney Love’s seminal rock band Hole, Patty Schemel was right in the middle of all of it. The openly gay woman who always felt “different” never dreamed she would be part of a multi-platinum selling band, touring with legends, or on the cover of Rolling Stone. Nor could she imagine that, thanks to drug addiction, she could lose it all. Hit So Hard tells the story of Patty’s rise to fame (and nearly fatal fall from it), with no punches pulled… and it’s one hell of a story. Told with insider interviews and stunningly intimate, never-before-seen footage shot by Patty and her friends (Patty was given a Hi-8 camera just before Hole’s infamous Live Through This world tour), Hit So Hard is not only an all-access backstage pass to the music that shaped a generation, but a harrowing tale of overnight success, the cost of addiction, and ultimately, recovery and redemption. (Variance Films)

Tatsumi celebrates the life and work of Yoshihiro Tatsumi and his life in post-war Japan. (Happiness Distribution)

1957. The Latin Quarter, Paris. A cheap no-name hotel became a haven for a new breed of artists fleeing the conformity and censorship of America. The hotel soon turned into an epicenter of Beat writing that produced some of the most important works of the Beat generation. It came to be known as the Beat Hotel. Alan Govenar’s feature documentary The Beat Hotel explores this amazing place and time. (First Run Features)

The film tells the story of French philosopher, activist, and mystic, Simone Weil (1909-1943)-- a woman Albert Camus described as "the only great spirit of our time." On her quest to understand Simone Weil, filmmaker Julia Haslett confronts profound questions of moral responsibility both within her own family and the larger world. From the battlefields of the Spanish Civil War to anti-war protests in Washington DC, from intimate exchanges between the filmmaker and her older brother who struggles with depression to captivating interviews with people who knew Simone Weil, the film takes us on an unforgettable journey into the heart of what it means to be a compassionate human being. (Line Street Productions)

In 2000, one of the most innovative and influential figures in music and fine art for the last 30 years, Genesis P-Orridge, began a series of sex reassignment surgeries in order to more closely resemble his love, Lady Jaye (née Jacqueline Breyer), who remained his wife and artistic partner for nearly 15 years. It was the ultimate act of devotion, and Genesis’s most risky, ambitious, and subversive performance to date: he became a she in a triumphant act of artistic self-expression. Genesis called this project “Creating the Pandrogyne”, an attempt to deconstruct two individual identities through the creation of an indivisible third. This is a love story, and a portrait of two lives that illustrate the transformative powers of both love and art. (Adopt Films)

Better Than Something is a feature documentary about the controversial and prolific rock musician Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr, better known as Jay Reatard. This intimate portrait, captured just months before his untimely passing, brings us incredibly close to Jay's complicated punk-rock world in Memphis, Tennessee. (IFC Films)

The film traces the rise of one of the world’s premier architects, Norman Foster and his unending quest to improve the quality of life through design. Portrayed are Foster’s origins and how his dreams and influences inspired the design of emblematic projects such as the largest building in the world Beijing Airport, the Reichstag, the Hearst Building in New York and works such as the tallest bridge ever in Millau France. In the very near future, the majority of mankind will abandon the countryside and live entirely in cities. Foster offers some striking solutions to the problems that this historic event will create. (Art Commissioners)

The story of legendary performer Carol Channing's life is as colorful as the lipstick on her big, bright smile. In Carol Channing: Larger Than Life, director Dori Berinstein captures the magic and vivacity of the 90-year-old icon – both onstage and off...past and present. The film is both an intimate love story and a rarefied journey inside Broadway's most glamorous era. It is, above all, a look at an inspiring, incomparable and always entertaining American legend. (Entertainment One)

The documentary follows John Mellencamp as he tours America and records his 2011 album No Better Than This.

The Iron Lady is a surprising and intimate portrait of Margaret Thatcher, the first and only female Prime Minister of The United Kingdom. One of the 20th century’s most famous and influential women, Thatcher came from nowhere to smash through barriers of gender and class to be heard in a male dominated world. (The Weinstein Company)

Addiction Incorporated tells the amazing story of Victor DeNoble, one of the most important and influential whistle-blowers of all time. In the 1980s, DeNoble was a research scientist at Philip Morris, where he was tasked with finding a substitute for nicotine that would not cause heart attacks. His quest was to find out whether it would be possible to create a cigarette that would be safer for smokers… though not necessarily less addictive. DeNoble succeeded, but in the process, produced something that had been denied and avoided for years: scientific evidence that nicotine was addictive. After his lab was shuttered and his research pulled from publication and locked in a vault, DeNoble took his findings public in what was nothing less than an act of modern-day heroism, testifying about his research in the infamous 1994 Congressional hearings—the same ones that produced the now-famous video of the seven heads of the major tobacco companies declaring, under oath, that they believed nicotine was not addictive. In the end, an unprecedented alliance of journalists, politicians, attorneys, and whistle blowers banded together to achieve what was once considered impossible: the first-ever federal regulation of the tobacco industry. (Variance Films)

Grandma, A Thousand Times is a documentary that puts a feisty Beiruti grandmother at the center of brave film exercises concocted by her grandson to commemorate her many worlds before they are erased by the passage of time and her eventual death. Teta Kaabour is an 83-year old family matriarch and sharp-witted queen bee of an old Beiruti quarter. She’s been gripped as of late by the silence of her once-buzzing household where she raised children and grandchildren. Resigned to Argileh smoking and day-long coffee drinking on a now-empty balcony, Teta now invokes the deepest memories of her violinist husband who died twenty years ago. She claims a preparedness to re-unite with him. (Veritas Films)

Freya Films was founded in Los Angeles in 2008 by Dina Rosenmeier to bring to life long held dream projects in both theater and film. The company’s first production was the classic play Hedda Gabler at The Odyssey Theatre, followed by the documentary feature A Journey in My Mother's Footsteps. (Freya Films)

An epic 12-year journey into in the world of an Irish Traveller community, Knuckle takes us inside their brutal, secretive and exhilarating bare-knuckle fighting lives. Chronicling a history of violent feuding between rival families, the story focuses on two brothers as they fight for their reputations and the honor of their family name. (Arc Entertainment)