Movie Releases by Genre
The Pearl ButtonOctober 23, 2015The ocean contains the history of all humanity. The sea holds all the voices of the earth and those that come from outer space. Water receives impetus from the stars and transmits it to living creatures. Water, the longest border in Chile, also holds the secret of two mysterious buttons which were found on its ocean floor. Chile, with its 2,670 miles of coastline and the largest archipelago in the world, presents a supernatural landscape. In it are volcanoes, mountains and glaciers. In it are the voices of the Patagonian Indigenous people, the first English sailors and also those of its political prisoners. Some say that water has memory. This film shows that it also has a voice.
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India's DaughterOctober 23, 2015India's Daughter is the story of of the short life, and brutal gang rape and murder in Delhi in December 2012 of an exceptionally inspiring young woman. The rape and death of the 23 year old medical student, sparked unprecedented protests throughout India and led to the first glimmers of a change of mindset. Interwoven into the storyline are the lives, values and mindsets of the rapists whom the filmmakers have had exclusive access to interview before they hang. The film examines the society and values which spawn such violent acts, and makes an optimistic and impassioned plea for change.
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Heart of a DogOctober 21, 2015 |
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All Things Must PassOctober 16, 2015Established in 1960, Tower Records was once a retail powerhouse with two hundred stores, in thirty countries, on five continents. From humble beginnings in a small-town drugstore, Tower Records eventually became the heart and soul of the music world, and a powerful force in the music industry. In 1999, Tower Records made $1 billion. In 2006, the company filed for bankruptcy. What went wrong? Everyone thinks they know what killed Tower Records: The Internet. But that's not the story.
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The Russian WoodpeckerOctober 16, 2015Fedor Alexandrovich is a radioactive man. He was four years old in 1986, when he was exposed to the toxic effects of the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown and forced to leave his home. Now 33, he is an artist in Ukraine, with radioactive strontium in his bones and a singular obsession with Chernobyl, and with the giant, mysterious steel pyramid now rotting away 2 miles from the disaster site: a hulking Cold War weapon known as the Duga and nicknamed the "Russian Woodpecker" for the constant clicking radio frequencies that it emits. In Gracia's documentary/conspiracy thriller, Alexandrovich returns to the ghost towns in the radioactive Exclusion Zone to try to find answers - and to decide whether to risk his life by revealing them, amid growing clouds of Ukraine's emerging revolution and war.
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Field NiggasOctober 16, 2015 |
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Tab Hunter ConfidentialOctober 16, 2015In the 1950s, Tab Hunter is America’s Boy Next Door. Nothing, it seems, can damage his skyrocketing career. Nothing, that is, except for the fact that Tab Hunter is secretly gay. Now, Tab Hunter’s secret is out. In Tab Hunter Confidential, the real Tab Hunter shares the whole story of a happy, healthy survivor of Hollywood’s roller coaster.
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The Tainted VeilOctober 16, 2015Whether a veil of the soul, the mind or the body; the layers of the veil in history and the many meanings behind it will be revealed. Women are either judged for wearing the hijab or not wearing it (the hijab refers to the head covering). In The Tainted Veil, the challenges surrounding these ideas are exposed in a debate by diverse guests and extraordinary stories.
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A Ballerina's TaleOctober 14, 2015 |
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JununOctober 9, 2015 |
Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for FreedomOctober 9, 2015 |
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In My Father's HouseOctober 9, 2015In My Father's House explores identity and legacy in the African-American family, as Grammy award-winning rapper Che 'Rhymefest' Smith and his long-lost father reconnect and try to build a new future in Chicago's turbulent South Side. Himself a child of a broken home, Che hasn't seen his father, Brian, in over 20 years, and presumes him dead. But after buying his father's childhood home, Che sets out to find him, and learns that his is now a homeless alcoholic living only several blocks away. The film offers a probing take on memory and identity in a family two generations removed from slavery as it tracks Che and Brian's shared journey to create a new legacy for themselves, their community and the next generation of family.
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(T)errorOctober 7, 2015Saeed "Shariff" Torres, a counterterrorism informant for more than two decades, takes on what he swears is his last job for the FBI and invites filmmakers to follow his covert efforts to befriend a suspected jihadist - without informing his superiors. As surprising revelations emerge, not only about Torres’ past, but also about the increasingly murky ethical grounds of his present mission, (T)error explores just how far we are going to prevent terror and exactly what liberties we are sacrificing to get there.
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SherpaOctober 2, 2015A fight on Everest? It seemed incredible. But in 2013 news channels around the world reported an ugly brawl at 21,000ft as European climbers fled a mob of angry Sherpas. In 1953, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay had reached the summit in a spirit of co-operation and brave optimism. Now climbers and Sherpas were trading insults - even blows. What had happened to the happy, smiling Sherpas and their dedication in getting foreigners to the top of the mountain they hold so sacred? Determined to explore what was going on, the filmmakers set out to make a film of the 2014 Everest climbing season, from the Sherpas' point of view. Instead, they captured a tragedy that would change Everest forever. At 6.45am on 18th April, 2014, a 14 million ton block of ice crashed down onto the climbing route through the Khumbu Icefall, killing 16 Sherpas. It was the worst tragedy in the history of Everest. The disaster provoked a drastic reappraisal about the role of the Sherpas in the Everest industry.
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This Changes EverythingOctober 2, 2015What if confronting the climate crisis is the best chance we'll ever get to build a better world? Filmed over 211 shoot days in nine countries and five continents over four years, This Changes Everything is an epic attempt to re-imagine the vast challenge of climate change. The film presents seven portraits of communities on the front lines, from Montana's Powder River Basin to the Alberta Tar Sands, from the coast of South India to Beijing and beyond. Interwoven with these stories of struggle is Naomi Klein's narration, connecting the carbon in the air with the economic system that put it there. Throughout the film, Klein builds to her most controversial and exciting idea: that we can seize the existential crisis of climate change to transform our failed economic system into something radically better.
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He Named Me MalalaOctober 2, 2015Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai was targeted by the Taliban and severely wounded by a gunshot when returning home on her school bus in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. The then 15-year-old (she turned 18 this July) was singled out, along with her father, for advocating for girls’ education, and the attack on her sparked an outcry from supporters around the world. She miraculously survived and is now a leading campaigner for girls’ education globally as co-founder of the Malala Fund.
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The Creeping GardenSeptember 30, 2015The Creeping Garden is a feature length documentary exploring the work of fringe scientists, mycologists and artists, and their relationship with the extraordinary plasmodial slime mold. The slime mold is being used to explore biological-inspired design, emergence theory, unconventional computing and robot controllers, much of which borders on the world of science fiction. But as well as exploring the slime mold in the lab, the film also travels out into the wild, hunting for the organisms in their natural habitat.
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Brand: A Second ComingSeptember 25, 2015Every day of our lives, from the minute we can be marketed to the myth that becoming famous will make our lives complete, or consuming a certain something will be the answer, is chucked down our throats. Yet, the reality is that the medium ain't the message. You become famous for what you do, and therefore it's what you do that matters. This crucial element is overlooked entirely by whole generations of drones who worship at the wrong altar. Russell Brand is a troubled visionary who embraced the superficial and doped up times in which we live, only to find it was an empty proposition. He started a search for meaning, which lead him to dig out his heroes: Gandhi, Malcolm X, Jesus and Ché Guevara - to look at why they did what they did, how they did what they did, and in what ways he might be a little bit like them.
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Finders KeepersSeptember 25, 2015Shannon Whisnant has a nose for a bargain. But when he bought a used grill at a North Carolina auction, the severed human foot he found among its ashes was not part of the deal. Soon the gruesome discovery becomes the toast of the infotainment world, and the new owner spies a golden opportunity to cash in on the media frenzy, until struggling addict and amputee John Wood recognizes his missing member and demands his own foot back. It is the stuff of documentary legend. [Sundance]
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A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez StorySeptember 25, 2015Born with a rare syndrome that prevents her from gaining weight, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Velasquez was first bullied as a child in school for looking different and, later online, as a teenager when she discovered a YouTube video labeling her “The World’s Ugliest Woman.” The film chronicles unheard stories and details of Lizzie’s physical and emotional journey up to her multi-million viewed TEDx talk, and follows her pursuit from a motivational speaker to Capitol Hill as she lobbies for the first federal anti-bullying bill. [Cinedigm]
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Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National LampoonSeptember 25, 2015From the 1970s thru the 1990s, there was no hipper, no more outrageous comedy in print than The National Lampoon, the groundbreaking humor magazine that pushed the limits of taste and acceptability - and then pushed them even harder. Parodying everything from politics, religion, entertainment and the whole of American lifestyle, the Lampoon eventually went on to branch into successful radio shows, record albums, live stage revues and movies, launching dozens of huge careers on the way. Director Douglas Tirola tells the story of its rise and fall through fresh, candid interviews with its key staff, and illustrated with hundreds of outrageous images from the mag itself (along with never-seen interview footage from the magazine's prime). The film gives fans of the Lampoon a unique inside look at a magazine that dared to think what no one was thinking, but wished they had. [Magnolia Pictures]
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Becoming BulletproofSeptember 25, 2015A diverse group of disabled people from across the U S take on leading roles in a magical rip roaring costume drama Western, filmed on vintage Hollywood locations. This riveting film within a film immerses us in a dynamic, inclusive world of discipline and play, raising questions about why we so rarely see real disabled actors on the big screen?
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Mission to LarsSeptember 25, 2015Tom Spicer has Fragile X Syndrome and has spent his adult life in a residential care home; ignored, for the most part, by his siblings, Kate and Will. He has only ever asked them for one thing, to meet Lars Ulrich, drummer with Metallica. Mission to Lars follows the three siblings as Kate and Will decide to break their severely autistic brother Tom out of his home in a sleepy English town and take him to America to find Lars. Any dreams of a bonding rock n roll roadtrip fade as Kate and Will’s struggle to understand their brother’s condition, while Tom confronts the challenges of his syndrome and the ignorance and noise in the outside world.
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WesternSeptember 25, 2015 |
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UnbrandedSeptember 25, 2015“Ain’t nothing we can’t do and damn little we won’t try,” was the motto during the Unbranded ride, an unprecedented journey reminiscent of the American Frontier. Ben Masters, a young Texas horseman, set out to inspire adoptions for 50,000 wild horses and burros living in government captivity. He gathered three friends and hatched an outrageous plot to adopt, train and ride wild mustangs 3,000 miles from the Mexican border to Canada through the American West’s wildest terrain. The trip is an epic journey of self-discovery, challenged friendships, and iconic landscapes that includes runaway horses, a sassy donkey, perilous mountain passes, rodeo rides, sickness, injury, and death. [Gravitas Ventures]
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The Reflektor TapesSeptember 23, 2015The Reflektor Tapes recontextualizes the experience of listening to Arcade Fire’s Reflektor, transporting the viewer into a kaleidoscopic sonic and visual landscape. It charts the band’s creative journey as they lay foundations for the album in Jamaica, record in Montreal and play an impromptu gig at a Haitian hotel on the first night of Carnival, before bringing their live show to packed arenas in Los Angeles and London. The Reflektor Tapes blends never before seen personal interviews and moments captured by the band to dazzling effect, and features 15 minutes of exclusive unseen footage, filmed only for cinema audiences.
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Prophet's PreySeptember 18, 2015When Warren Jeffs rose to Prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, he took control of a religion with a history of polygamous and underage marriage. In a short time, Warren managed to expand these practices and the power of his position in unprecedented ways. He bridged the gap between sister wives and ecclesiastically rape, befuddling the moral compass of his entire congregation. The film examines Warren Jeffs' life and shows how he became a worshipped and adored Prophet. Warren has a devout following numbering in the tens of thousands - many of whom would give their life at any moment with just one word from the Prophet. Despite a trail of abuse and ruined lives, Warren has maintained his grip on power.
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The Man Who Saved the WorldSeptember 18, 2015Few people know of Stanislav Petrov… yet hundreds of millions of people are alive because of him. The Man Who Saved the World tells the gripping true story of Stanislav Petrov - a man who single-handedly averted a fullscale nuclear war, but now struggles to get his life back on track before it is too late.
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Racing ExtinctionSeptember 18, 2015 |
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Keith Richards: Under the InfluenceSeptember 18, 2015 |
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Peace OfficerSeptember 16, 2015Dub Lawrence is a man obsessed. As a young rookie cop, he used his savvy investigation skills to help break the Ted Bundy case. His obsession with turning around the systemic failings he saw as a young police officer led to a successful bid to become Sheriff of Davis County, Utah at a young age in 1974. Committed to the highest standards of peace officers serving the public good, he once wrote himself a parking ticket when a citizen called him out for his patrol car's violation. After years in public service, today Dub works in semi-retirement as a private investigator, with projects fueled mostly by income from his water and sewage pump repair service. When he's not wading through raw sewage, his remaining free time is spent investigating the shooting death of his son-in-law Brian Wood.
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Meet the PatelsSeptember 11, 2015 |
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How to Change the WorldSeptember 9, 2015In 1971, a group of friends sail into a nuclear test zone, and their protest captures the world's imagination. Using never before seen archive that brings their extraordinary world to life, How To Change The World is the story of the pioneers who founded Greenpeace and defined the modern green movement.
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Welcome to LeithSeptember 9, 2015Welcome to Leith chronicles the attempted takeover of a small town in North Dakota by notorious white supremacist Craig Cobb. As his behavior becomes more threatening, tensions soar, and the residents desperately look for ways to expel their unwanted neighbor. With incredible access to both longtime residents of Leith and white supremacists, the film examines a small community in the plains struggling for sovereignty against an extremist vision. [First Run Features]
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A Sinner in MeccaSeptember 4, 2015For a gay filmmaker, filming in Saudi Arabia presents two serious challenges: filming is forbidden in the country and homosexuality is punishable by death. For filmmaker Parvez Sharma, however, these were risks he had to assume as he embarked on his Hajj pilgrimage, a journey considered the greatest accomplishment and aspiration within Islam, his religion. On his journey Parvez aims to look beyond 21st-century Islam's crises of religious extremism, commercialism and sectarian battles. He brings back the story of the religion like it has never been told before, having endured the biggest jihad there is: the struggle with the self.
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Steve Jobs: Man in the MachineSeptember 4, 2015In his signature black turtleneck and blue jeans, shrouded in shadows below a milky apple, Steve Jobs’ image was ubiquitous. But who was the man on the stage? What accounted for the grief of so many across the world when he died? Steve Jobs: The Man In The Machine is a critical examination of Jobs who was at once revered as an iconoclastic genius and a barbed-tongued tyrant. A candid look at Jobs' legacy featuring interviews with a handful of those close to him at different stages in his life, the film is evocative and nuanced in capturing the essence of the Apple legend and his values which shape the culture of Silicon Valley to this day. [Magnolia Pictures]
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The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the RevolutionSeptember 2, 2015 |
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I Touched All Your StuffAugust 28, 2015 |
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Butterfly GirlAugust 28, 2015At first glance, it is not obvious that Abbie Evans lives with a life-threatening skin disease. She is a typical teenager: moody, rebellious, irreverent, and is also strikingly beautiful. But her life is the antithesis of normal. Abbie grew up in hospitals, cared for by her protective mother and father. She then came into her own in honky tonks, selling merchandise for her father’s band. But just like any other 18 year-old, Abbie yearns for a life of her own. [Indican Pictures]
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Being EvelAugust 21, 2015A generation of Americans grew up worshipping self-styled hero Evel Knievel – watching him every Saturday on Wide World of Sports and buying his Ideal toys. For producer/subject Johnny Knoxville and so many others, he was the ultimate antidote to the disenchantment of the 70′s. But few knew the incredible and often complex aspects of his epic life, which, like his jumps, was sometimes glorious and sometimes disastrous. With an entire genre of sports ascending from his daring inventiveness, now is the time to look at this extreme man and his complicated legacy. [Gravitas Ventures]
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Top SpinAugust 21, 2015Inside a cramped gym, the clacking sounds of hollow plastic balls whirling at 80 mph are punctuated by exclamations of victory and bitter cries of defeat. Welcome to the hidden world of competitive ping pong. Three fiercely committed teenagers battle their way through the world of elite table tennis. With devoted parents by their side, they have traded normal teenage life for a chance to represent their country on the world's biggest athletic stage: the Olympics. [First Run Features]
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Station to StationAugust 21, 2015In the summer of 2013, a train designed as a kinetic light sculpture by Doug Aitken traveled from New York City to San Francisco over 24 days. Rolling into ten stations on the route, the train set in motion a series of happenings, each unique to its location and mix of creative participants. A high speed roadtrip through modern creativity, Station to Station is a revolutionary feature comprising 62 one-minute films highlighting an exciting and eclectic mix of artists, musicians, writers, places and perspectives. [Submarine Deluxe]
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MateoAugust 21, 2015Matthew Stoneman dreamed of pop stardom. Instead, he went to jail, learned Spanish, and emerged as “Mateo,” America’s first white mariachi singer. Mateo is on the brink of completing an album of original songs in Havana. But his estrangement from friends and family, his criminal past, and his love for Cuban women could derail him on his quest for fame. [XLrator Media]
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The Iron MinistryAugust 21, 2015Filmed over three years on China’s railways, The Iron Ministry traces the vast interiors of a country on the move: flesh and metal, clangs and squeals, light and dark, language and gesture. Scores of rail journeys come together into one, capturing the thrills and anxieties of social and technological transformation.
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Beltracchi: The Art of ForgeryAugust 19, 2015For nearly 40 years, Wolfgang Beltracchi fooled the international art world and was responsible for the biggest art forgery scandal of the postwar era. An expert in art history, theory and painting techniques, he tracked down the gaps in the oeuvres of great artists – Max Ernst, Fernand Léger, Heinrich Campendonk, André Derain and Max Pechstein, above all – and filled them with his own works. He and his wife Helene would then introduce them to the art world as originals. What makes these forgeries truly one-of-a-kind is that they are never mere copies of once-existing paintings, but products of Beltracchi’s imagination, works “in the style of” famous early 20th-century artists. With his forgeries, he fooled renowned experts, curators and art dealers. [KimStim Films]
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MeruAugust 14, 2015 |
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We Come as FriendsAugust 14, 2015 |
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RosenwaldAugust 14, 2015Chicago philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, the son of an immigrant peddler, rose to head Sears, partnered with Booker T. Washington to build 5,400 Southern schools in African American communities in the early 1900s during the Jim Crow era. Rosenwald also built YMCAs and housing for African Americans to address the pressing needs of the Great Migration. The Rosenwald Fund supported great artists like Marian Anderson, Woody Guthrie, Langston Hughes, Gordon Parks, and Jacob Lawrence. Among those interviewed are civil rights leaders Julian Bond, Ben Jealous and Congressman John Lewis, columnists Eugene Robinson and Clarence Page, Cokie Roberts, Rabbi David Saperstein, Rosenwald school alumni writer Maya Angelou and director George C. Wolfe and Rosenwald relatives.
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How to Smell a Rose: A Visit with Ricky Leacock at his Farm in NormandyAugust 12, 2015In the year 2000, Les Blank, along with co-filmmaker Gina Leibrecht, visited Richard Leacock (1921-2011) at his farm in Normandy, France and recorded conversations with him about his life, his work, and his other passion: cooking! With the flair of a seasoned raconteur, Leacock recounts key moments in his seventy years as a filmmaker and the innovations that he, D.A. Pennebaker, Albert Maysles and others invented that revolutionized documentary filmmaking, and explores the mystery of creativity. With the passing of both Blank and Leacock, the documentary is a moving insight into the lives of two seminal figures in the history of film.
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Call Me LuckyAugust 7, 2015Barry Crimmins is pissed. His hellfire brand of comedy has rained verbal lightning bolts on American audiences and politicians for decades, yet you've probably never heard of him. But once you've experienced Bobcat Goldthwait's brilliant character portrait of him and heard Crimmins's secret, you will never forget him. From his unmistakable bullish frame came a scathingly ribald stand-up style that took early audiences by force. Through stark, smart observation and judo-like turns of phrase, Crimmins's rapid-fire comedy was a war on ignorance and complacency in '80s America at the height of an ill-considered foreign policy. Crimmins discusses another side of his character, revealing in detail a dark and painful past that inspired his life-changing campaign of activism in the hope of saving others from a similar experience. Interviews with comics like Margaret Cho and Marc Maron illustrate Crimmins's love affair with comedy and his role in discovering and supporting the development of many of today's stars.
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Homme LessAugust 7, 2015Photographer Mark Reay's life stands as a metaphor for the struggle of the vanishing middle class in America. Homme Less is about the underbelly of the American Dream, the hidden backyard of our society. But it’s also a film about the relationship between New York City and one of its residents. New York is not simply a beautiful backdrop for this story. She’s the antagonist that dictates the direction Mark’s life is going in. The joy and pain, the love and hate, the success and denial New York is teasing him with, the hardship he is going through in order to stay in her grace and the inventiveness he comes up with to be with her are all unique. [Cargo Film Releasing]
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SneakerheadzAugust 7, 2015To Rock or Stock? Sneakerheads will do almost anything to get their hands on a unique pair of kicks, going to such extreme lengths as hiding in trash cans to score a pair of Retro Jordan 11s to camping for days in sub zero temperatures for the latest Nike Foamposites. How did sneakers become as prized as collectable art? From the shores of Cali to the congested streets of Tokyo, Sneakerheadz examines the cultural influence of sneaker collecting around the world and delves into a subculture whose proud members don’t just want to admire art, they want to wear it.
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Best of EnemiesJuly 31, 2015In the summer of 1968, television news changed forever. Dead last in the ratings, ABC hired two towering public intellectuals to debate each other during the Democratic and Republican national conventions. William F. Buckley Jr. was a leading light of the new conservative movement. A Democrat and cousin to Jackie Onassis, Gore Vidal was a leftist novelist and polemicist. Armed with deep-seated distrust and enmity, Vidal and Buckley believed each other’s political ideologies were dangerous for America. Like rounds in a heavyweight battle, they pummeled out policy and personal insult—their explosive exchanges devolving into vitriolic name-calling. Live and unscripted, they kept viewers riveted. Ratings for ABC News skyrocketed. And a new era in public discourse was born. [Magnolia Pictures]
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I Am Chris FarleyJuly 31, 2015 |
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CountingJuly 31, 2015In fifteen linked chapters shot in locations ranging from Moscow to New York to Istanbul, Counting merges city symphony, diary film, and personal/political essay to create a vivid portrait of contemporary life. Perhaps the most personal of Cohen's films, Counting measures street life, light and time, noting not only surveillance and overdevelopment but resistance and its phantoms as manifested in music, animals and everyday magic. [Cinema Guild]
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That Sugar FilmJuly 31, 2015Damon Gameau embarks on a unique experiment to document the effects of a high sugar diet on a healthy body, consuming only foods that are commonly perceived as ‘healthy’. Through this entertaining and informative journey, Damon highlights some of the issues that plague the sugar industry, and where sugar lurks on supermarket shelves. That Sugar Film will forever change the way you think about ‘healthy’ food. [Samuel Goldwyn Films]
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A LEGO BrickumentaryJuly 31, 2015A LEGO BRICKUMENTARY delves into the extraordinary impact of the LEGO brick and the innovative uses of for it that has sprung up all over the world. The narrative will take us to art galleries full of LEGO creations, introduce us to Master Builders making movies, into the world of LEGO therapy, and bring us along to meet AFOLS (Adult Fans of LEGO), each with amazing stories to tell. A LEGO BRICKUMENTARY explores the essential nature of human creativity and the ways we seek to build and understand our world. [RADiUS-TWC]
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Listen to Me MarlonJuly 29, 2015With exclusive access to personal archive, this is the definitive Marlon Brando cinema documentary. Charting his exceptional career as an actor and extraordinary life away from the stage and screen, the film will fully explore the complexities of the man by telling the story uniquely from Marlon’s perspective. [Showtime]
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Horse MoneyJuly 24, 2015 |
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A Gay Girl in Damascus: The Amina ProfileJuly 24, 2015Amina Arraf, an attractive Syrian-American revolutionary, is having an online affair with Sandra Bagaria, a young, brilliant and well-informed Montreal professional. Amina then launches her provocatively named blog, A Gay Girl in Damascus. As the Syrian uprising gains momentum, the blog acquires a huge following. But it’s Amina’s subsequent abduction—carried out in broad daylight in downtown Damascus, allegedly by the Syrian secret police—that sparks an international movement to save her from torture, rape or even death. Set against the tumultuous backdrop of a divided nation being drawn into civil war, this tale of virtual relationships in the era of online data takes on international dimensions. What starts as a love story becomes a story about an unprecedented media and sociological hoax, infotainment, deceit and betrayal.
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The Outrageous Sophie TuckerJuly 24, 2015Discover the rags to riches story of The Outrageous Sophie Tucker, an iconic superstar who ruled the worlds of vaudeville, Broadway, radio, television, and Hollywood throughout the 20th century. Before Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Bette Midler, Marilyn Monroe, and Mae West, Sophie Tucker was the first woman to infatuate her audiences with a bold, bawdy and brassy style unlike any other.
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The Look of SilenceJuly 17, 2015The Look of Silence is Joshua Oppenheimer's powerful companion piece to the Oscar®-nominated The Act of Killing. Through Oppenheimer's footage of perpetrators of the 1965 Indonesian genocide, a family of survivors discovers how their son was murdered, as well as the identities of the killers. The documentary focuses on the youngest son, an optometrist named Adi, who decides to break the suffocating spell of submission and terror by doing something unimaginable in a society where the murderers remain in power: he confronts the men who killed his brother and, while testing their eyesight, asks them to accept responsibility for their actions.
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Steak (R)evolutionJuly 17, 2015A global pursuit (with layovers in Japan, Argentina, Brazil, France, Spain, the U.S. and other countries) for the best steak in the world, Steak (R)evolution features exclusive conversations with chefs, farmers, butchers, steakhouse owners, journalists and experts about the many variables that affect the quality of our meat. [Kino Lorber]
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Famous NathanJuly 17, 2015 |
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TwinstersJuly 17, 2015In February 2013, Anaïs Bordier, a French fashion student living in London, stumbled upon a YouTube video featuring Samantha Futerman, an actress in Los Angeles, and was struck by their uncanny resemblance. After discovering they were born on the same day in Busan, Korea and both put up for adoption, Anaïs reached out to Samantha via Facebook. In Twinsters, we follow Samantha and Anaïs’ journey into sisterhood, witnessing everything from their first meeting, to their first trip back to Korea where their separation took place.
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Do I Sound Gay?July 10, 2015Is there such a thing as a "gay voice"? Why do some people "sound gay" but not others? Why are gay voices a mainstay of pop culture—but also a trigger for anti-gay harassment? The feature documentary Do I Sound Gay? explores these questions and more and includes revealing interviews with Margaret Cho, Tim Gunn, Don Lemon, Dan Savage, David Sedaris and George Takei.
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Tap WorldJuly 10, 2015 |
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Cartel LandJuly 3, 2015In the Mexican state of Michoacán, Dr. Jose Mireles, a small-town physician known as "El Doctor," leads the Autodefensas, a citizen uprising against the violent Knights Templar drug cartel that has wreaked havoc on the region for years. Meanwhile, in Arizona's Altar Valley – a narrow, 52-mile-long desert corridor known as Cocaine Alley – Tim "Nailer" Foley, an American veteran, heads a small paramilitary group called Arizona Border Recon, whose goal is to stop Mexico’s drug wars from seeping across our border.
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Stray DogJuly 3, 2015 |
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AmyJuly 3, 2015Amy tells the story of six-time Grammy-winner Amy Winehouse – in her own words. A once-in-a-generation talent, Amy Winehouse was a musician that captured the world’s attention. A pure jazz artist in the most authentic sense – she wrote and sung from the heart using her musical gifts to analyze her own problems. The combination of her raw honesty and supreme talent resulted in some of the most unique and adored songs of the modern era. Her huge success, however, resulted in relentless and invasive media attention which coupled with Amy’s troubled relationships and precarious lifestyle saw her life tragically begin to unravel. Amy Winehouse died from alcohol poisoning in July 2011 at the age of 27. [A24]
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Mala MalaJuly 1, 2015 |
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A Poem Is a Naked PersonJuly 1, 2015 |
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A Murder in the ParkJune 26, 2015With his execution just 48 hours away, Anthony Porter’s life was saved by a Northwestern University journalism class. Their re-investigation of the crime for which he was convicted—a double homicide in a Chicago park—led to the discovery of the real killer, Alstory Simon, whose confession exonerated Porter. If it all sounds too good to be true, it’s because, as compellingly argued here, Porter actually is guilty, Simon is an innocent man and both are just pawns in a much larger plan.
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Batkid BeginsJune 26, 2015On one day, in one city, the world comes together to grant one 5-year-old cancer patient his wish. The documentary Batkid Begins looks at the “why” of this flash phenomenon. Why did the intense outpouring of spontaneous support for a child reverberate around the world and become one of the biggest “good news stories” ever?
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Fresh DressedJune 26, 2015Fresh Dressed chronicles the history of Hip-Hop | Urban fashion and its rise from southern cotton plantations to the gangs of 1970s in the South Bronx, to corporate America, and everywhere in-between. Supported by rich archival materials and in depth interviews with individuals crucial to the evolution of a way of life--and the outsiders who studied and admired them--Fresh Dressed goes to the core of where style was born on the black and brown side of town.
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What Happened, Miss Simone?June 24, 2015A classically trained musical genius, chart-topping chanteuse, and Black Power icon, Nina Simone is one of the most influential, beloved, provocative, and least understood artists of our time. On stage, she was known for utterly free, rapturous performances, earning her the epithet "High Priestess of Soul." But amid the violent, day-to-day fight for civil rights, she struggled to reconcile artistic ambition with her fierce devotion to a movement.
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Rubble KingsJune 19, 2015From 1968 to 1975, gangs ruled New York City. Beyond the idealistic hopes of the civil rights movement lay a unfocused rage. Neither law enforcement nor social agency could end the escalating bloodshed. Peace came only through the most unlikely and courageous of events that would change the world for generations to come by giving birth to hip-hop culture. Rubble Kings chronicles life during this era of gang rule, tells the story of how a few extraordinary, forgotten people did the impossible, and how their actions impacted New York City and the world over.
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The Wanted 18June 19, 2015Through a clever mix of stop motion animation and interviews, The Wanted 18 recreates an astonishing true story: the Israeli army's pursuit of 18 cows, whose independent milk production on a Palestinian collective farm was declared "a threat to the national security of the state of Israel." In response to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, a group of people from the town of Beit Sahour decide to buy 18 cows and produce their own milk as a co-operative. Their venture is so successful that the collective farm becomes a landmark, and the cows local celebrities- until the Israeli army takes note and declares that the farm is an illegal security threat. Consequently, the dairy is forced to go underground, the cows continuing to produce their "Intifada milk" with the Israeli army in relentless pursuit. [Kino Lorber]
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3 1/2 Minutes, 10 BulletsJune 19, 2015Black Friday 2012, the day after Thanksgiving November 2012, four boys in a red SUV pull into a gas station after spending time at the mall buying sneakers and talking to girls. With music blaring, one boy exits the car and enters the store, a quick stop for a soda and a pack of gum. A man and a woman pull up next to the boys in the station, making a stop for a bottle of wine. The woman enters the store and an argument breaks out when the driver of the second car asks the boys to turn the music down. 3 1/2 minutes and ten bullets later, one of the boys is dead.
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The Yes Men Are RevoltingJune 12, 2015For the last 20 years, notorious activists the Yes Men have staged outrageous and hilarious hoaxes to draw international attention to corporate crimes against humanity and the environment. Armed with nothing but thrift-store suits and a lack of shame, these iconoclastic revolutionaries lie their way into business events and government functions to expose the dangers of letting greed run our world. In their third cinematic outing (after The Yes Men and The Yes Men Fix the World), they are now well into their 40s, and their mid-life crises are threatening to drive them out of activism forever – even as they prepare to take on the biggest challenge they’ve ever faced: climate change.
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Live From New York!June 12, 2015Saturday Night Live has been reflecting and influencing the American Story for 40 years. Live From New York! explores the show’s early years, an experiment from a young Lorne Michaels and his cast of unknowns, and follows its evolution into a comedy institution. The film looks at SNL as a living time capsule, encompassing decades of American politics, media, tragedy, and popular culture with an irreverent edge.
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The WolfpackJune 12, 2015Locked away from society in an apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Angulo brothers learn about the outside world through the films that they watch. Nicknamed the Wolfpack, the brothers spend their childhood re-enacting their favorite films using elaborate homemade props and costumes. With no friends and living on welfare, they feed their curiosity, creativity, and imagination with film, which allows them to escape from their feelings of isolation and loneliness. Everything changes when one of the brothers escapes, and the power dynamics in the house are transformed. The Wolfpack must learn how to integrate into society without disbanding the brotherhood. [Magnolia Pictures]
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Soaked in BleachJune 11, 2015Soaked in Bleach reveals the events behind Kurt Cobain's death as seen through the eyes of Tom Grant, the private investigator that was hired by Courtney Love in 1994 to track down her missing husband only days before his deceased body was found at their Seattle home. Cobain's death was ruled a suicide by the police (a reported self-inflicted gunshot wound), but doubts have circulated for twenty years as to the legitimacy of this ruling, especially due to the work of Mr. Grant, a former L.A. County Sheriff's detective, who did his own investigation and determined there was significant empirical and circumstantial evidence to conclude that foul play could very well have occurred. The film develops as a narrative mystery with cinematic re-creations, interviews with key experts and witnesses and the examination of official artifacts from the 1994 case. [Emerging Pictures]
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An Open SecretJune 5, 2015 |
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The NightmareJune 5, 2015From Rodney Ascher, the director of Room 237, comes a documentary-horror film exploring the phenomenon of Sleep Paralysis through the eyes of eight very different people. These people (and a surprisingly large number of others) often find themselves trapped between the sleeping and waking worlds, totally unable to move but aware of their surroundings while being subject to frequently disturbing sights and sounds. A strange element to these visions is that despite the fact that they know nothing of one another, (and had never heard of sleep paralysis before it happened to them), many see similar ghostly ‘shadow men.’ This is one of many reasons many people insist this is more than just a sleep disorder. [Gravitas Ventures]
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Every Last ChildJune 3, 2015Parents and health care workers are caught in the cross-hairs of violence and politics as they attempt to protect their children from Polio in Pakistan. Once on the brink of eradication, the disease has again become a global threat - with Pakistan at its epicenter. Will these everyday heroes succeed and end Polio in our lifetime, or will another young generation be at risk?
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The True CostMay 29, 2015 |
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Seeds of TimeMay 22, 2015A perfect storm is brewing as agriculture pioneer Cary Fowler races against time to protect the future of our food. Seed banks around the world are crumbling, crop failures are producing starvation and rioting, and the accelerating effects of climate change are affecting farmers globally. Communities of indigenous Peruvian farmers are already suffering those effects, as they try desperately to save over 1,500 varieties of native potato in their fields. But with little time to waste, both Fowler and the farmers embark on passionate and personal journeys that may save the one resource we cannot live without: our seeds.
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Something Better to ComeMay 22, 201511-year-old Yula lives in one of the most desolate places on Earth: the Svalka, the biggest junkyard in Europe, 20 km outside the center of Moscow. Surrounded by barbed wire and guards, the area is closely monitored to keep intruders out. But in the junkyard lives a group of people in a small, lawless society. These people make up Yula’s closest family; here she lives her life, and from here her future springs.
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Sunshine SupermanMay 22, 2015 |
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Our Man in TehranMay 15, 2015Our Man In Tehran is an in-depth, intimate exploration of the true story behind Ben Affleck’s Oscar-winning film Argo. In this gripping new documentary, the story of the “Canadian Caper” is told by the man who knows it best: Ken Taylor, Canada’s former ambassador to Iran, who hid the six Americans in his official residence and obtained the counterfeit documents that allowed them to make their dramatic escape from Tehran. Based on Robert Wright’s book, the film uncovers new information and adds valuable context, including an historical overview of Iran, interviews with the rescued Americans, former Prime Minister Joe Clark, ex-CIA officer Tony Mendez, and many others. [First Run Features]
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Dark Star: HR Giger's WorldMay 15, 2015 |
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(Dis)Honesty: The Truth About LiesMay 15, 2015(Dis)Honesty – The Truth About Lies is a documentary feature film that explores the human tendency to be dishonest. Inspired by the work of behavioral economist Dan Ariely, the film interweaves personal stories, expert opinions, behavioral experiments, and archival footage to reveal how and why people lie.
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One Cut, One LifeMay 13, 2015When seminal documentarian Ed Pincus, considered the father of first person non-fiction film, is diagnosed with a terminal illness, he and collaborator Lucia Small team up to make one last film, much to the chagrin of Jane, Ed’s wife of 50 years. Told from two filmmakers’ points of view, One Cut, One Life challenges the form of first person documentary. Ed and Lucia’s unique approach to filming offers a vulnerability and intimacy rarely seen in non- fiction, questioning whether some things might be too private to be made public. The film is an intense, raw, and sometimes humorous exploration of the human condition which invites the viewer to contemplate for themselves what is important, not only at the end of life, but also during. [First Run Features]
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Forbidden FilmsMay 13, 20151,200 feature films were made in Germany’s Third Reich. According to experts, some 100 of these were blatant Nazi propaganda. Nearly seventy years after the end of the Nazi regime, more than 40 of these films remain under lock and key. Director Felix Moeller (Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Süss) interviews German film historians, archivists and filmgoers in an investigation of the power, and potential danger, of cinema when used for ideological purposes. Utilizing clips from the films and recorded discussions from public screenings (permitted in Germany in educational contexts) in Munich, Berlin, Paris and Jerusalem, Moeller shows how contentious these 70-year-old films remain, and how propaganda can retain its punch when presented to audiences susceptible to manipulation. [Zeitgeist Films]
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The Seven FiveMay 7, 2015Meet the dirtiest cop in New York City history. In the 1980s, Michael Dowd patrolled the mean streets of one of the toughest precincts in Brooklyn. He also headed a ruthless criminal network that stole money and drugs, ultimately resulting in the city’s biggest ever corruption scandal. In this explosive true crime saga, Dowd tells all as he relives his days as a mobster with a badge. [IFC Films]
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I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney StoryMay 6, 2015For 45 years, Caroll Spinney has been beloved by generations of children as the man behind Sesame Street's Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch - and at 80 years old, he has no intention of stopping. A loving portrait of the man in the yellow suit, I Am Big Bird features extraordinary footage of Spinney's earliest collaborations with Jim Henson as it traces his journey from bullied child to childhood icon. And as the yellow feathers give way to grey hair, it is the man, not the puppet, who will steal your heart. [Tribeca Film]
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Soul Boys of the Western WorldApril 29, 2015Relive the music, fashion, and spirit of the 1980s via the incredible saga of the rise, fall, and comeback of New Wave legends Spandau Ballet. From the streets of working class London to the top of the pop charts, Spandau Ballet conquered the airwaves in the 80s with international hits like “True” and “Gold.” But the behind-the-scenes story was just as compelling, as the band overcame ego clashes and a bitter breakup to reunite triumphantly for their current tour. Featuring never-before-seen home movies, archival footage, and interviews with the band, Soul Boys of the Western World is a captivating chronicle of the rollercoaster ride of fame and an awesomely retro time capsule of the sounds and styles of an unforgettable decade. [IFC Films]
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IrisApril 29, 2015Iris pairs legendary 87-year-old documentarian Albert Maysles with Iris Apfel, the quick-witted, flamboyantly dressed 93-year-old style maven who has had an outsized presence on the New York fashion scene for decades. More than a fashion film, the documentary is a story about creativity and how a soaring free spirit continues to inspire. IRIS portrays a singular woman whose enthusiasm for fashion, art and people are life's sustenance and reminds us that dressing, and indeed life, is nothing but an experiment. Despite the abundance of glamour in her current life, she continues to embrace the values and work ethic established during a middle-class Queens upbringing during the Great Depression. [Magnolia Pictures]
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Kurt Cobain: Montage of HeckApril 24, 2015 |
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The Longest Game
- Runtime: 69 min
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Voyage of Time: Life's Journey
- Runtime: 90 min
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The Dead and the Others
- Runtime: 114 min






































































































