Love and Bananas tackles the issue of what can be done to prevent the extinction of Asian elephants, which are at risk of becoming trophies and product imports for man’s desire and greed.

Mercury 13 is a remarkable story of the women who were tested for spaceflight in 1961 before their dreams were dashed in being the first to make the trip beyond Earth. NASA’s ‘man in space’ program, dubbed ‘Project Mercury’ began in 1958. The men chosen - all military test pilots - became known as The Mercury 7. But away from the glare of the media, behind firmly closed doors, female pilots were also screened. Thirteen of them passed and, in some cases, performed better than the men. They were called the Mercury 13 and had the ‘right stuff’ but were, unfortunately, the wrong gender. Underneath the obsession of the space race that gripped America, the Mercury 13 women were aviation pioneers who emerged thirsty for a new frontier, but whose time would have to wait.

William Friedkin returns not only to his documentary roots but to the subject of one of his most towering works, 1973’s The Exorcist. Friedkin, a legendary raconteur, leads a tour that moves from the infamous Exorcist steps in Georgetown to Italy, where he meets with the 91-year-old Father Gabriele Amorth, official exorcist of the Diocese of Rome, and accompanies Amorth on one of his harrowing house calls. A sprightly, at times gonzo-style, investigation into the long history of demonic lore, and a one-of-a-kind insight into the persistence of medieval belief in the supposedly modern world.

"You're free. Go home" Most Holocaust films end with these words, the very words that survivors heard at liberation. After Auschwitz begins with these words, inviting audiences to experience what happened next. For survivors, liberation from the camps was the beginning of a life long struggle. They wanted to go home, but there was no home left in Europe. They came to America and wanted to tell people about their pasts but were silenced for over three decades. "You're in America now, put it behind you". After Auschwitz is a "Post-Holocaust" documentary that captures what it means to survive and try to life a normal life after unspeakable tragedy. Six extraordinary women who all survived Auschwitz take us on a journey that American audiences have never seen before. These women all moved to Los Angeles, married, raised children and became "Americans" but they never truly found a place to call home. What makes the story so much more fascinating is how these women saw, interpreted and interacted with the changing face of America in the second half of the 20th century. They serve as our guides on an unbelievable journey, sometimes celebratory, sometimes heart breaking but always inspiring. It is also the only "Holocaust" film that includes Ricardo Montalban, George W. Bush and an appearance at The Kennedy Center Honors. After Auschwitz gives us the story that we have always wanted to see and one that in many ways is as important as the stories of the camps themselves.

This electrifying journey through the public and private worlds of pop culture mega-icon Grace Jones contrasts musical sequences with intimate personal footage, all the while brimming with Jones’s bold aesthetic. A larger-than-life entertainer, an androgynous glam-pop diva, an unpredictable media presence – Grace Jones is all these things and more. Sophie Fiennes’s documentary goes beyond the traditional music biography, offering a portrait as stylish and unconventional as its subject. Taking us home with her to Jamaica, into the studio with long-time collaborators Sly & Robbie, and backstage at gigs around the world, the film reveals Jones as lover, daughter, mother, and businesswoman. But the stage is the fixed point to which the film returns, with eye-popping performances of "Slave to the Rhythm," “Pull Up to the Bumper,” "Love is the Drug," and more. Jones herself has said watching the film “will be like seeing me almost naked” and, indeed, Fiennes’s treatment is every bit as definition-defying as its subject, untamed by either age or life itself.

When she was a young lawyer, Kholoud Al-Faqih walked into the office of Palestine’s Chief Justice and announced she wanted to join the bench. He laughed at her. But just a few years later, Kholoud became the first woman judge to be appointed to the Middle East’s Shari’a (Islamic law) courts. The Judge offers a unique portrait of Judge Kholoud—her brave journey as a lawyer, her tireless fight for justice for women, and her drop-in visits with clients, friends, and family. With unparalleled access to the courts, The Judge presents an unfolding vérité legal drama, with rare insight into both Islamic law and gendered justice. In the process, the film illuminates some of the universal conflicts in the domestic life of Palestine—custody of children, divorce, abuse—while offering an unvarnished look at life for women and Shari’a.

Filmmaker Rüdiger Suchsland suggests that the Third Reich was essentially an immersive movie starring the German nation, produced and directed by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. Hitler’s Hollywood collages key films from the more than 1000 features the Nazis produced from 1933-1945: musicals, melodramas, romances, costume dramas, war films – and when the real war got tough, insanely lavish, over-the-top fantasies. The German folk were portrayed as happy and sporty with lives of exaggerated cheerfulness or, conversely, full of morbid yearning for a death that would serve the Fatherland. Hannah Arendt gives perspective and context: “One of the chief characteristics of modern masses… (is) they do not trust their eyes and ears, but only their imaginations. What convinces masses are not facts, not even invented facts, but only the consistency of the illusion.” It’s a frightening insight that could just as easily apply to the American political landscape today. Narrated by Udo Kier [Film Forum]

At Chengdu Panda Base in China, scientists are dedicated to protecting the species by breeding adult Giant Pandas in order to introduce cubs into the wild. This film follows one such researcher, whose passion leads her to initiate a new technique inspired by a black bear program in rural New Hampshire. What starts as a cross-culture collaboration becomes a life-changing journey for an American biologist who crosses an ocean to join her; a scientist from Inner Mongolia; and a very curious female cub named Qian Qian, born in captivity.

Welcome to the war-torn Nuba Mountains of Sudan, where American doctor Tom Catena selflessly and courageously serves the needs of a forgotten people, as the region is bombed relentlessly by an indicted war criminal, Omar Al-Bashir. Two things remain constant: Dr. Tom’s faith and his enduring love for the Nuba people.

Filmed between a large-scale underground mine in post-war Serbia and an illegal mining collective in the tropical heat of Suriname, Good Luck is a visceral non-fiction portrait of hope and sacrifice in a time of global economic turmoil.

If you were impoverished, politically voiceless, and believed you didn’t matter, ACORN hoped to change your mind. For 40 years, the controversial community-organizing group sought to empower marginalized communities. Its critics, though, believed ACORN exemplified everything wrong with liberal ideals, by promoting government waste and ineffective activism. These competing perceptions exploded on the national stage in 2008, just as Barack Obama became president. Fueled by a YouTube video made by undercover journalists, ACORN’s very existence would be challenged. ACORN and the Firestorm goes beyond the 24-hour news cycle and cuts to the heart of the great political divide.

Science fiction has long anticipated the rise of machine intelligence. Today, a new generation of self-learning computers is reshaping every aspect of our lives. Incomprehensible amounts of data are being collected, interpreted, and fed back to us in a tsunami of apps, smart devices, and targeted advertisements. Virtually every industry on earth is feeling this transformation, from job automation to medical diagnostics, from elections to battlefield weapons. Do You Trust This Computer? explores the promises and perils of this developing era. Will A.I. usher in an age of unprecedented potential, or prove to be our final invention?

Four Syrian families struggle to find their way in America.

King in the Wilderness chronicles the final chapters of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life, revealing a conflicted leader who faced an onslaught of criticism from both sides of the political spectrum.

The Gardener is a documentary film which reflects on the meaning of gardening. Influential gardener Frank Cabot recounts his personal quest for perfection at his twenty-acre English style garden in the Charlevoix County in Quebec.

From the producers of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room comes a Wall Street heist story about a still-unfolding financial crime so big, it has the power to affect all of our wallets. Investors on the fringes of the financial world feverishly seek new alternatives for high-return investments in the global markets, and have found a goldmine in China. But when one investor discovers a massive web of fraud, everything else is called into question. Jed Rothstein’s documentary rings the alarm on the need for transparency in an increasingly deregulated financial world by following those working to uncover the biggest heist you’ve never heard of.

Like countless others Philippe, Michel, Andre and Patrick were labeled 'idiots', locked away and forgotten in violent asylums, until the 1960s, when the young philosopher Jean Vanier took a stand and secured their release - the first time in history that anyone had beaten the system. Together they created L'Arche, a commune at the edge of a beautiful forest near Paris. A quiet revolution was born. Now in his 80s, and still at L'Arche, Jean has discovered something that most of us have forgotten - what it is to be human, to be foolish, and to be happy.

What We Started is the definitive electronic dance film. Featured throughout the documentary are heavy-weight electronic dance music artists, including Carl Cox, Martin Garrix, Erick Morillo, Moby, David Guetta, Afrojack, Paul Oakenfold, Seth Troxler, and Tiesto. There are also cameos from musical superstars, like Usher and Ed Sheeran, who help exemplify the power and reach that electronic dance music has over mainstream music genres. Through an artfully crafted narrative and stunning visual techniques, the film delves into the highly popular world of electronic dance music, providing backdoor access to a widely misunderstood, self-driven and well-insulated industry on its way to global domination. [Abramorama]

In 'Ramen Heads,' Osamu Tomita, Japan's reigning king of ramen, takes us deep into his world, revealing every single step of his obsessive approach to creating the perfect soup and noodles, and his relentless search for the highest-quality ingredients. In addition to Tomita's story, the film also profiles five other notable ramen shops, each with its own philosophy and flavour, which exemplify various different aspects the ramen world. Mixing in a brief rundown of ramen's historical roots, the film gives viewers an in-depth look at the culture surrounding this unique and beguiling dish. This is a documentary record of 15 months in the lives of Japan's top ramen masters and their legions of devoted fans.

Every era gets the drug it deserves. In America today, where competition is ceaseless from school to the workforce and everyone wants a performance edge, Adderall and other prescription stimulants are the defining drugs of this generation.

Every year in France, 92,000 people are placed under psychiatric care without their consent. By law, the hospital has 12 days to bring each patient before a judge. Based on medical records and a doctor’s recommendations, a crucial decision has to be made – will the patient stay or leave?

Filmed over three years in China and the U.S., Maineland is a multi-layered coming-of-age tale that follows two affluent and cosmopolitan teenagers as they settle into a boarding school in blue-collar rural Maine. Part of the enormous wave of "parachute students" from China enrolling in U.S. private schools, bubbly, fun-loving Stella and introspective Harry come seeking a Western-style education, escape from the dreaded Chinese college entrance exam, and the promise of a Hollywood-style U.S. high school experience. As Stella and Harry’s fuzzy visions of the American dream slowly gain more clarity, they ruminate on their experiences of alienation, culture clash, and personal identity, sharing new understandings and poignant discourses on home and country.

A look at the life, work and religious heritage of violinist Itzhak Perlman.

Leaning into the Wind is a vibrant journey through the diverse layers of Andy Goldsworthy's world. From urban Edinburgh and London to the South of France and New England, each environment he encounters becomes a fresh kaleidoscopic canvas for his art. A lushly-visualized travelogue, Goldsworthy's work and Thomas Riedelsheimer's exquisite cinematography redefine landscape and inextricably tie human life to the natural world. [Magnolia Pictures]

In Hondros, director and childhood friend Greg Campbell reveals a portrait of a man who found and explored humanity in these war-torn countries with great depth and sensitivity. Hondros' passion for his craft could only be matched by his unending talent for creating breathtaking imagery.

Breaking Point: The War for Democracy in Ukraine is the dramatic and inspiring portrait of people willing to give up their private, normal lives to unite in a collective effort to bring the rule of law and democracy to their country. Their battle to wrest power from the autocrats and plutocrats who control their governments is a struggle that is being waged around the world, from the Mideast to America. The outcome affects not only the future of Ukraine, but the future of democracy throughout the world.

In 1946, my great-grandfather murdered a black man named Bill Spann and got away with it." So begins Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?, filmmaker Travis Wilkerson critically acclaimed investigation into the murder, family history, and the societal mores that allowed it to happen. Wilkerson tells a frightening and troubling story, incorporating scenes from To Kill a Mockingbird, the music of Janelle Monáe and Phil Ochs, and a dogged search for the truth — one that unearths long-buried secrets, destroyed records, and real threats of violence.

An immersive and enthralling journey through the Sonoran Desert on the U.S.-Mexico border, El Mar La Mar weaves together harrowing oral histories from the area with hand-processed 16mm images of flora, fauna and items left behind by travelers. Subjects speak of intense, mythic experiences in the desert: A man tells of a fifteen-foot-tall monster said to haunt the region, while a border patrolman spins a similarly bizarre tale of man versus beast. A sonically rich soundtrack adds to the eerie atmosphere as the call of birds and other nocturnal noises invisibly populate the austere landscape. [Cinema Guild]

Today, you're more likely to go to prison in the United States than anywhere else in the world. So in the unfortunate case it should happen to you - this is the Survivors Guide to Prison.

Lives Well Lived celebrates the incredible wit, wisdom and experiences of adults aged 75 to 100 years old. Through their intimate memories and inspiring personal histories encompassing over 3000 years of experience, forty people share their secrets and insights to living a meaningful life. These men and women open the vault on their journey into old age through family histories, personal triumph and tragedies, loves and losses - seeing the best and worst of humanity along the way. Their stories will make you laugh, perhaps cry, but mostly inspire you.

To some, Gloria Allred is a money-grubbing, shrill feminist prone to tawdry theatrics; to others she’s the most effective and fearless women’s rights attorney in America. In this intimate, warts-and-all documentary, one thing is certain: Allred’s 40-year devotion to asserting, protecting, and expanding the rights of women is unwavering and her influence unassailable.

The Peacemaker follows international peacemaker Padraig O'Malley, who helps make peace for others but struggles to find it for himself. The film takes us from Padraig's isolated life in Cambridge, Massachusetts to some of the most dangerous crisis zones on Earth – from Northern Ireland to Kosovo, Nigeria to Iraq over five years – as he works a peacemaking model based on his recovery from addiction. We meet Padraig in the third act of his life in a race against time to find some kind of salvation for both the world and himself.

When life hits him hard, Joe Carman punches back. Newly 40, Joe juggles long hours working in a boiler room, an ongoing custody battle, his wife’s chronic illness, and the demands of raising four girls. The one place he finds release is in the ring, where he competes in the bruising sport of mixed martial arts. Despite the promise he made to his family to stop fighting, Joe continues to train secretly, determined to prove that he can keep up with the new crop of younger, up-and-coming competitors. But as he contends with a series of increasingly worrying health scares, the question arises: how much is Joe willing to risk—his family, his marriage, maybe even his life—to keep fighting? [Sundance Selects]

Made following the discovery of amateur footage shot in China in 1966 during the first and most radical stage of the Cultural Revolution, In the Intense Now speaks to the fleeting nature of moments of great intensity. Scenes of China are set alongside archival images of the events of 1968 in France, Czechoslovakia, and, to a lesser extent, Brazil. In keeping with the tradition of the film-essay, they serve to investigate how the people who took part in those events continued onward after passions had cooled. The footage, all of it archival, not only reveals the state of mind of those filmed—joy, enchantment, fear, disappointment, dismay—but also sheds light on the relationship between a document and its political context. What can one say of Paris, Prague, Rio de Janeiro, or Beijing by looking at the images of the period? Why did each of these cities produce a specific sort of record? [Icarus FIlms]

Amos Gitai returns to the occupied territories for the first time since his 1982 documentary Field Diary with this portrait of the citizens, Israelis and Palestinians, who are trying to overcome the consequences of occupation. West of the Jordan River shows the human ties woven by the military, human rights activists, journalists, mourning mothers, and even Jewish settlers. Faced with the failure of politics to solve the occupation issue, these men and women rise and act in the name of their civic consciousness. This human energy is a proposal for long-overdue change. [Kino Lorber]

A sweeping, insiders' account of President Barack Obama's foreign policy team during their final year as they set out to define their legacy, promote diplomacy - and react to the unexpected rise of Donald Trump. Featuring unprecedented access inside the White House, the State Department, and the machinery of American power.

From the heart of Australia comes this comprehensive and controversial documentary that focuses on one of the world's most recognizable icons, the kangaroo. This groundbreaking film reveals the truth surrounding Australia’s love-hate relationship with its beloved icon. The kangaroo ‘image’ is proudly used by top companies, sports teams and tourist souvenirs, yet as they hop across the vast continent, many consider them pests to be shot and sold for profit. Kangaroo unpacks a national paradigm where the relationship with kangaroos is examined. [Abramorama]

A mosaic of asphalt adventures, landscape photography, and some of the craziest shit you’ve ever seen, Dmitrii Kalashnikov’s The Road Movie is a stunning compilation of video footage shot exclusively via the deluge of dashboard cameras that populate Russian roads. The epitome of a you-have- to-see- it-to- believe-it documentary, The Road Movie captures a wide range of spectacles through the windshield—including a comet crashing down to Earth, an epic forest fire, and no shortage of angry motorists taking road rage to wholly new and unexpected levels—all accompanied by bemused commentary from unseen and often stoic drivers and passengers.

This film tells the story of the unstoppable rise of the skyscrapers. Starting in 1869, in New York and Chicago, elevators, steel, and electricity combined to create a frenzy of tall and taller buildings. Tall traces the experiments of the early skyscraper architects, especially Louis Sullivan, the Chicago architect (and mentor of Frank Lloyd Wright) who pioneered a new skyscraper form. His credo was that "form ever follows function." His elegant buildings, some still standing and featured in the film, bear out his reputation as the father of the skyscraper. Fierce rivals, led by Daniel Burnham, builder of the Flatiron Building, competed with him for favor, money, and power. The progressive designs of the 1880s and 90s once again reverted to historical styles, culminating in the "Cathedral of Commerce," the gothic Woolworth Tower of 1912. Tall pits the struggle for artistic integrity against the demands of fashion and the client's bottom line. It documents the showdown between Louis Sullivan and Daniel Burnham. The outcome changed the future, shaping the modern skyline throughout the world. [Cinema Guild]

Time swims: modern country-clubbers celebrate an annual Pow Wow party while a 1908 mounted posse chases Willie Boy across the desert.

Thirty years after his death, Joseph Beuys still feels like a visionary and is widely considered one of the most influential artists of his generation. Known for his contributions to the Fluxus movement and his work across diverse media — from happening and performance to sculpture, installation, and graphic art — Beuys’ expanded concept of the role of the artist places him in the middle of socially relevant discourses on media, community, and capitalism. Using previously untapped visual and audio sources, director Andreas Veiel has created a one-of-a-kind chronicle: Beuys is not a portrait in the traditional sense, but an intimate and in-depth look at a human being, his art and ideas, and the way they have impacted the world. [Kino Lorber]

The Opera House surveys a remarkable period of the Metropolitan Opera's rich history and a time of great change for New York. Featuring rarely seen archival footage, stills, recent interviews, and a soundtrack of extraordinary Met performances, the film chronicles the creation of the Met's storied home of the last 50 years, against the backdrop of the artists, architects, and politicians who shaped the cultural life of New York City in the '50s and '60s.

The city of Huzhou, where the film is shot, is home to 18,000 clothing factories. They are staffed by about 300,000 workers, many of them migrants from rural areas in the surrounding provinces. Bitter Money follows a handful of these workers, both at work where they may labor for more than 12 hours a day and in their off-hours, as they hang around shabby dorms drinking, dreaming of home, worrying about getting paid, and trying to decide whether their jobs are worth keeping.

In this scandalous political thriller, an investigation into a chemical spill spirals into an indictment of the entire system meant to protect drinking water, revealing cover-ups at the highest levels of government.

In the Land of Pomegranates focuses on a group of young people who were born into a violent and insidious ongoing war. They are young Palestinians and Israelis invited to Cyprus to join a retreat called 'Vacation From War' where they live under the same roof and face each other every day. In highly charged encounters they confront the entrenched myths and grievances that each side has for the other. Woven into this intense footage are the stories of other embattled lives in the Occupied Territories and Israel: a mother and four children living in the shadow of Gaza's border wall; an imprisoned Palestinian and the subsequent path he's taken; a traumatized Israeli survivor of a suicide bombing; and a daring Palestinian mother whose son's life is saved by an Israeli doctor. They are all caught in the duality of the pomegranate: will they embrace rebirth and each other's humanity, or will they pull the pin on the grenade?

Marcelo Gomes is a danceur noble: a male ballet dancer whose extraordinary technique, charismatic presence, and seemingly effortless strength make him the embodiment of the classical prince. Raised in Rio de Janeiro, the darkly handsome dancer, a principal with American Ballet Theatre since 2002, has been called the Pelé of Ballet. When not performing, rehearsing, or traveling the world as a guest artist, Gomes is at home in NYC’s Hell’s Kitchen, accompanied by Lua, his dachshund. He is a delight, whether candidly discussing the positive influence of a gay uncle while he was growing up, the joys of particular roles, or the vicissitudes of his devotion to classical dance. [Cinema Tropical]

Immigrant children have to find their way in a new classroom, with a new teacher and a language they don't understand. An ode to the teacher every child deserves.

The Rape of Recy Taylor is the epic story of sexual violence in Jim Crow South. It is the little-known story of courageous black women who waged war to take back their bodies and their dignity, and whose vocal protests helped inspire the Civil Rights Movement 10 years later. Boldly speaking up against her rapists and putting her life and that of her family’s in grave danger, Recy Taylor attracted the attention of the NAACP and their chief investigator Rosa Parks. Parks, commonly believed to be a tired seamstress who refused to give up her seat on the bus in 1955 triggering the Montgomery Bus Boycott, was, in fact, an activist, working for years to undo years of criminal rapes and physical abuse against black women.

Filmed with vérité intimacy for nearly a decade, Quest is the moving portrait of the Rainey family living in North Philadelphia. Beginning at the dawn of the Obama presidency, Christopher "Quest" Rainey, and his wife, Christine'a "Ma Quest" raise a family while nurturing a community of hip hop artists in their home music studio. It's a safe space where all are welcome, but this creative sanctuary can't always shield them from the strife that grips their neighborhood. Epic in scope, Quest is a vivid illumination of race and class in America, and a testament to love, healing and hope. [First Run Features]

The normally private Seattle native and Grammy-winning guitarist opens up for an exploration of his life, work, and musical process.

Voyeur follows Gay Talese—the 84-year-old giant of modern journalism—as he reports one of the most controversial stories of his career: a portrait of a Colorado motel owner, Gerald Foos. For decades, Foos secretly watched his guests with the aid of specially designed ceiling vents, peering down from an “observation platform” he built in the motel’s attic. He kept detailed journals of his guests’ most private moments -- from the mundane to the shocking -- but most of all he sought out, spied on, and documented one thing: strangers having sex. Talese’s insatiable curiosity leads him to turn his gaze to a man accustomed to being the watcher, exploring a tangle of ethical questions: What does a journalist owe to his subjects? How can a reporter trust a source who has made a career of deception? Who is really the voyeur?

In the 1980s, Richard Hambleton was the Shadowman, a specter in the night who painted hundreds of startling silhouettes on the walls of lower Manhattan and, along with Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, sparked the street art movement. After drug addiction and homelessness sent him spinning out of the art scene for 20 years, the Shadowman gets a second chance… but will he take it?

Bjarke Ingels started out as a young man dreaming of creating cartoons. Now, he has been named “one of architecture’s biggest stars” by The Wall Street Journal. Big Time follows Bjarke during th course of 5 years (2011-2016), while he struggles to finish his biggest project so far. We are let into Bjarke’s creative processes as well as the endless compromises that his work entails, and we are on the side when his personal life starts putting pressure on him, too. Bjarke Ingels’ company Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has been given the task of designing and building one of the skyscrapers, which will replace the Twin Towers, which collapsed on the 11th of September 2001 in Manhattan. While Bjarke is creating a building, which will change the New York skyline, he is hit by health-related issues. The film offers an intimate look into the innovative and ambitious Danish architect, whom the entire world is celebrating as a genius.

Uncompromising millennial radicals from the United States and the United Kingdom attack the system through dangerous technological means, which evolves into a high-stakes game with world authorities in the midst of a dramatically changing political landscape.

In 1943 a young British officer, Norman Lewis, entered a war-torn Naples with the American Fifth Army. Lewis began writing in his notepad everything that happened to him during his one-year stay observing the complex social cauldron of a city that contrived every day the most incredible ways of fighting to survive. These notes turned into the masterpiece Naples '44. This film adaptation imagines Lewis returning to the city that charmed and seduced him many years later. This visionary reminiscence is made up of flashbacks between the places of the present that Lewis revisits and the stories of the past. We will see in eighty minutes a thrilling and unpredictable parade of absolutely unforgettable stories and characters: women in feather hats milking cows in the rubble, statues of saints carried by hysterical crowds attempting to stop Vesuvius erupting and impoverished professionals surviving by impersonating aristocratic uncles from Rome at funerals and weddings. But Naples '44 is also – and perhaps above all - a powerful condemnation of the horrors of war, whether just or unjust.

Jon Alpert began a chronicle of Fidel Castro’s Cuba in 1972, bringing along a small crew and a portable camera. Filmed over 45 years, Cuba and the Cameraman follows three families and Castro. Alpert was there for Cuba’s socialism of the early ‘70s, and for the 1980 Mariel Bay boatlift, when over 100,000 Cubans fled the island, accompanied by inmates released from prisons and insane asylums. He returned to cover the hardships of the 1990s and the “Special Period” after the fall of the Soviet Union when Cuba literally went dark, documenting how these families and the Cuban leader dealt with the serious challenges gripping their country.

From an early age, Eric Clapton was captivated by the blues. As he says of his lifelong fascination: “It was always one man with his guitar versus the world. He was completely alone and had no options other than to just sing and play to ease his pain.” In this unflinching and deeply personal documentary, director Lili Fini Zanuck (Oscar winner, Driving Miss Daisy) traces Clapton’s five-decade career as he reflects candidly on how his life experiences were channeled into music. Through an extensive archive of performances and home movies, along with audio interviews from those who knew him best—George Harrison and Steve Winwood, among others—we come away with a deeper sense of what inspired the legendary musician and his unforgettable work. [Abramorama]

The world's most beautiful woman was also the secret inventor of secure wifi, bluetooth and GPS communications, but her arresting looks stood in the way of her being given the credit she deserved... until now.

In the spring of 2016, global music sensation Major Lazer performed a free concert in Havana, Cuba for an unexpected audience of almost half a million people. A concert documentary evolves into an exploration of youth culture in a country on the precipice of change.

Soufra follows the unlikely and wildly inspirational story of intrepid social entrepreneur, Mariam Shaar – a generational refugee who has spent her entire life in the 65-year-old Burl El Barajneh refugee camp just south of Beirut, Lebanon. The film follows Mariam as she sets out against all odds to change her fate by launching a successful catering company, “Soufra,” and then expand it into a food truck business with a diverse team of fellow refugee woman who now share this camp as their home.

Jim Carrey earned critical acclaim and a Golden Globe for the performance, but many of the production’s most Kaufmanesque moments played out behind the scenes, thankfully captured on video by Andy’s former girlfriend, Lynne Margulies and former writing partner, Bob Zmuda. In Jim & Andy, Carrey looks back at the resulting footage 18 years later, reflecting on how he and Andy came up in oddly parallel universes, his experience channelling Andy and Tony and more broadly the spiritual journey of his career.

In the last store in a defunct shopping mall, 91-year-old Sonia Warshawski – great-grandmother, businesswoman, and Holocaust survivor – runs the tailor shop she’s owned for more than 30 years. But when she’s served an eviction notice, the specter of retirement prompts Sonia to resist her harrowing past as a refugee and witness to genocide. A poignant story of generational trauma and healing, Big Sonia also offers a laugh-out-loud-funny portrait of the power of love to triumph over bigotry, and the power of truth-telling to heal us all.

Exploring universal themes of identity, dreams and family, Rebels on Pointe is the first-ever documentary film celebrating the world famous Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. The notorious all-male, drag ballet company was founded over 40 years ago in New York City on the heels of the Stonewall riots, and has a passionate cult following around the world. The film juxtaposes intimate behind-the-scenes access, rich archives and history, engaging character driven stories, and dance performances shot in North America, Europe and Japan. Rebels on Pointe is a creative blend of gender-bending artistic expression, diversity, passion and purpose. A story which ultimately proves that a ballerina is not only a woman dancing—but an act of revolution in a tutu.

Investigative documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney—best known for 2008’s Oscar-winning Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, and at least a dozen others—turns his sights on the 1994 Loughinisland massacre, a cold case that remains an open wound in the Irish peace process. The families of the victims—who were murdered while watching the World Cup in their local pub—were promised justice, but 20 years later they still didn’t know who killed their loved ones. Gibney uncovers a web of secrecy, lies, and corruption that so often results when the powerful insist they are acting for the greater good. [Abramorama]

No Greater Love depicts the combat deployment of the legendary “No Slack” Battalion, 101st Airborne Division, through the eyes of Army Chaplain Justin David Roberts. While deployed in Afghanistan, Justin decided to carry a camera to document the hardships his unit endured. He captured not only the gritty reality of war but also the incredibly strong bond that is forged between soldiers.

Destination Unknown blends intimate testimony with immersive archive to bring the stories of twelve Holocaust survivors to the screen.

Pulling back the curtain on mass murder censorship in Hollywood due to U.S. government pressure to appease a strategic ally, Intent to Destroy embeds with a historic feature film production as a springboard to explore the violent history of the Armenian Genocide and legacy of Turkish suppression and denial over the past century. Joe Berlinger’s thirteenth feature documentary film captures the cinematic and political challenges of producing a historically meaningful, big-budget feature film in an environment rife with political suppression and threats of retaliation. Berlinger juxtaposes evocative and beautifully shot scenes from the feature film The Promise with actual archival images from the period, along with present day interviews from a variety of experts, allowing the documentary to depict the reality of the atrocities carried out against the Armenians by the Ottoman Turks in a haunting and cinematic manner.

Gilbert is a wildly funny and unexpectedly poignant portrait of the life and career of one of comedy's most iconic figures, Gilbert Gottfried.

In 2010 David Crowley, an Iraq veteran, aspiring filmmaker and charismatic up-and-coming voice in fringe politics, began production on his film A Gray State. Set in a dystopian near-future where civil liberties are trampled by an unrestrained federal government, the film's crowd funded trailer was enthusiastically received by the burgeoning online community of libertarians, Tea Party activists and members of the nascent alt-right. In January of 2015, Crowley was found dead with his family in their suburban Minnesota home. Their shocking deaths quickly become a cause célèbre for conspiracy theorists who speculate that Crowley was assassinated by a shadowy government concerned about a film and filmmaker that was getting too close to the truth about their aims. A Gray State combs through Crowley's archive of 13,000 photographs, hundreds of hours of home video, and exhaustive behind-the-scenes footage of Crowley's work in progress to reveal what happens when a paranoid view of the government turns inward — blurring the lines of what is real and what people want to believe. [First Run Features]

On the morning of Election Day 2016, Americans of all stripes woke up and went about living their lives. These were the hours leading up to Donald Trump's unexpected, earth-shaking victory, but, of course, no one knew that yet.

The untold story of fame, love, tragedy and 90 years of American entertainment through the eyes of the woman who did it all—Rose Marie.

A River Below captures the Amazon in all its complexity as it examines the actions of environmental activists using the media in an age where truth is a relative term.

Method actor, filmmaker, photographer, fine artist, art collector, and all-American madman—the many sides of Dennis Hopper are explored in Nick Ebeling’s documentary, confirming Hopper as a major filmmaker, a fact often eclipsed by his legend. Through the triumph of Easy Rider, the magnificent career suicide of The Last Movie, the overlooked masterpiece Out of the Blue, and a midlife comeback after plenty of booze and brawling, Along for the Ride is a work of film biography with a freewheeling style that’s only appropriate to its anarchic subject.

Once a year, the Dream Boat sets sail—a cruise only for gay men. Far from their families and political restrictions, we follow five men from five countries on a quest for their dreams. The cruise promises seven days of sunshine, love and freedom, but on board are also their personal stories, their doubts and uncertainties.

In the early 1970s, one man stood up to the entire New York City police force. Hailed as a hero by many, hated by others, officer Frank Serpico made headlines when he blew the whistle on a culture of bribery and corruption within the department. His one-man crusade for police reform inspired the Al Pacino classic that bears his name, but the real life saga is as gripping as anything Hollywood could dream up. Now, Serpico tells his story in his own words: from his Italian-American roots in Brooklyn to his disillusionment with the NYPD to his riveting account of a dramatic drug bust—and possible set-up—that ended with him being shot in the face. [Sundance Selects]

Bill Nye is a man on a mission: to stop the spread of anti-scientific thinking across the world. The former star of the popular kids show "Bill Nye The Science Guy" is now the CEO of The Planetary Society, an organization founded by Bill's mentor Carl Sagan, where he's launching a solar propelled spacecraft into the cosmos and advocating for the importance of science, research, and discovery in public life. With intimate and exclusive access —as well as plenty of wonder and whimsy — this behind-the-scenes portrait of Nye follows him as he takes off his Science Guy lab coat and takes on those who deny climate change, evolution, and a science-based world view.

Across more than 50 years of essays, novels, screenplays, and criticism, Joan Didion has been our premier chronicler of the ebb and flow of America’s cultural and political tides with observations on her personal – and our own – upheavals, downturns, life changes, and states of mind. In the intimate, extraordinary documentary Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold, actor and director Griffin Dunne unearths a treasure trove of archival footage and talks at length to his “Aunt Joan” about the eras she covered and the eventful life she’s lived, including partying with Janis Joplin in a house full of L.A. rockers; hanging in a recording studio with Jim Morrison; and cooking dinner for one of Charles Manson’s women for a magazine story. Didion guides us through the sleek literati scene of New York in the 1950s and early ’60s, when she wrote for Vogue; her return to her home state of California for two turbulent decades; the writing of her seminal books, including Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Play It as It Lays, A Book of Common Prayer, and The White Album; her film scripts, including The Panic in Needle Park; her view of 1980s and ’90s political personalities; and the meeting of minds that was her long marriage to writer John Gregory Dunne. She reflects on writing about her reckoning with grief after Dunne’s death, in The Year of Magical Thinking (winner of the National Book Award for Nonfiction), and the death of their daughter Quintana Roo, in Blue Nights. With commentary from friends and collaborators including Vanessa Redgrave, Harrison Ford, Anna Wintour, David Hare, Calvin Trillin, Hilton Als, and Susanna Moore, the most crucial voice belongs to Didion, one of the most influential American writers alive today. [Netflix]

A musical dance/art film documentary about the last two years of Jayne Mansfield's life, Mansfield 66/67 explores the legend of a uniquely enduring mega-watt star and the myth of her death being caused by a curse. In 1966, Jayne was 33 and she lived in a Pink Palace. Ahead of her time and refusing to play by society's rules, this astounding and amazing bombshell embarks on a wild and ultimately tragic psychedelic adventure with lawyer/boyfriend Sam Brody in tow, desperately trying to redefine herself and what a woman of her era could be.

The National Pyrotechnic Festival in Tultepec, Mexico is a site of festivity unlike any other in the world. In celebration of San Juan de Dios, patron saint of firework makers, conflagrant revelry engulfs the town for ten days. Artisans show off their technical virtuosity, up­and-comers create their own rowdy, lo­fi combustibles, and dozens of teams build larger-than- life papier-mâché bulls to parade into the town square, adorned with fireworks that blow up in all directions. More than three quarters of Tultepec’s residents work in pyrotechnics, making the festival more than revelry for revelry’s sake. It is a celebration that anchors a way of life built around a generations-old, homegrown business of making fireworks by hand. For the people of Tultepec, the National Pyrotechnic Festival is explosive celebration, unrestrained delight and real peril.

The discovery of records from WWII sparks a family’s quest for answers as two brothers separated as babies reunite with each other and their elderly mother, who hid more from them than just each other. Izak Szewelwicz was born in the Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp in 1945 and sent for adoption in Israel. Though Izak was able to form a relationship with his birth mother, his life was turned upside down years later when he located not only his birth certificate, but also another of a brother he never knew existed. Filmmakers Alon and Shaul Schwarz set out to find answers for Izak, uncovering questions of identity, resilience, and the plight of displaced persons as Izak and his brother Shep—both nearly 70 years old—finally meet in Canada before traveling to a nursing home in Quebec to introduce Shep to his elderly mother, Aida, for the first time. [Music Box Films]

One of the most renowned card magicians of all time, Richard Turner astounds audiences around the world with his legendary sleight of hand. What they may not even realize—and what makes his achievements all the more amazing—is that he is completely blind. Charting Turner’s colorful life from his tumultuous childhood to the present, Dealt reveals how through determination and force of will, he overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles to rise to the top of his profession. [Sundance Selects]

One of Us offers a look into the secretive world of Hasidic Judaism and those who wish to escape that community for a life among the non-religious, whatever the costs.

A documentary about the practice of exorcism and people's issues of everyday life: the contrasts between ancient traditions and modern habits. The incredible true story of one priest's mission to protect ordinary people from extraordinary evil.

Two women, a voyage in two voices, which, like reflections of a single echo, convey what fear means in the life of a human being. Highways, landscapes, gazes. Mexico from north to south in an era when violence has taken control of our lives, our desires and our dreams. An emotional and evocative journey, steeped not only in loss and pain, but also love, dignity and resistance.

Set inside a single room in Folsom Prison, The Work follows three men from outside as they participate in a four-day group therapy retreat with level-four convicts. Over the four days, each man in the room takes his turn at delving deep into his past. The raw and revealing process that the incarcerated men undertake exceeds the expectations of the free men, ripping them out of their comfort zones and forcing them to see themselves and the prisoners in unexpected ways. [SXSW]