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

Last Call at the Oasis presents a powerful argument for why the global water crisis will be the central issue facing our world this century. (ATO Pictures)

Director Amos Kollek takes an intimate look at his relationship with his family, focusing mostly on his strained relationship with his father, the mythical mayor of Jerusalem. Mixed in with Amos's story of family is the struggles of a prostitute he befriends.

Every year, thousands of aspiring dancers enter one of the world's most prestigious ballet competitions, the Youth America Grand Prix, where lifelong dreams are at stake. In the final round, with hundreds competing for only a handful of elite scholarships and contracts, practice and discipline are paramount, and nothing short of perfection is expected. Bess Kargman's award-winning documentary, FIRST POSITION, follows six young dancers as they prepare for a chance to enter the world of professional ballet, struggling through bloodied feet, near exhaustion and debilitating injuries, all while navigating the drama of adolescence. A showcase of awe-inspiring talent, tenacity and passion, FIRST POSITION paints a thrilling and moving portrait of the most gifted young ballet stars of tomorrow. (Sundance Selects)

While filming a documentary in Mississippi in 1965, Frank De Felitta forever changed the life of an African-American waiter and his family. In 2011, Frank's son returns to the Delta to examine the repercussions of that fateful encounter.

Inventing Our Life examines the 100 year history of Israel's kibbutz movement, one of the world's longest running and most successful experiments in pure communism. Recreating its glorious past and chronicling its recent decline, Inventing Our Life focuses on the heartbreak and hope of the modern kibbutz, as a new generation struggles to insure its survival. Can a radically socialist institution survive a new market-driven reality with its ideological integrity intact? How will this affect the lives of the tens of thousands of people who still believe in the kibbutz experiment and continue to call it home? As the film progresses, the drama shifts from Can it survive? to Yes, but at what price?

Margaret Atwood’s visionary work Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth is the basis for this riveting and poetic documentary on “debt” in its various forms—societal, personal, environmental, spiritual, criminal, and of course, economic. Filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal interweaves these (sometimes surprising) debtor/creditor relationships: two families in a years-long Albanian blood feud; the BP oil spill vs. the Earth; mistreated Florida tomato farm workers and their bosses; imprisoned media mogul Conrad Black and the U.S. justice system. (Zeitgeist Films)

Over the past decade, Mixed Martial Arts has grown from a controversial, no-holds-barred sideshow into a billion-dollar phenomenon eclipsing boxing as the dominant combat sport in the world. Fightville shows how MMA has taken hold in the American heartland, where modern-day gladiators battle in strip mall gyms and dusty rodeo arenas desperate for glory and a shot at the big time. (MPI Media Group)

The film takes audiences on a never-before-experienced journey into the lives of a mother polar bear and her twin seven-month-old cubs as they navigate the changing Arctic wilderness they call home. (Warner Bros.)

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

Chimpanzee introduces a baby chimp named Oscar and his entertaining approach to life in a remarkable story of family bonds and individual triumph. Oscar's playful curiosity and zest for discovery showcase the intelligence and ingenuity of some of the most extraordinary personalities in the animal kingdom. Working together, Oscar's chimpanzee family--including his mom and the group's savvy leader--navigates the complex territory of the forest. (Disneynature)

Technological advancement, economic development, population increase - are they signs of a thriving society? Or too much of a good thing? Based on the best-selling book A Short History of Progress, this provocative documentary explores the concept of progress in our modern world, guiding us through a sweeping but detailed survey of the major "progress traps" facing our civilization in the arenas of technology, economics, consumption, and the environment. (First Run Features)

Whores' Glory is an explicit and unflinching exposé of global prostitution. In Bangkok, Thailand, women punch a clock and wait for clients in a brightly lit glass box; in the red-light district of Faridpur, Bangladesh, a madam haggles over the price of a teenage girl; and in the border town of Reynosa, Mexico, crack-addicted women pray to a deity named Lady Death. (Kino Lorber)

The delivery of a battered suitcase to Furniko Ishioka at the Tokyo Holocaust Museum begins the true-life mystery that became the subject of Karen Levine's best-selling book Hana's Suitcase. The suitcase came from the Auschwitz Museum and had Hanna Brady's name painted on it. Larry Weinstein's masterful film follows Furniko's search to discover the details of Hana's life, which leads to the discover of her brother George in Toronto. As small children they had been sent to Thereisenstadt for being Jewish after the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939. (Menemsha Films)

Filmed with uncommon access, How to Grow a Band explores the birth and evolution of the Punch Brothers: the tensions between individual talents and group identity, between art and commerce, and between innocence and wisdom. (Shaftway Productions)

Just days before Bernard Madoff captured headlines as the largest ponzi schemer in U.S. history, Marc Dreier, a prominent Manhattan attorney, was arrested for orchestrating a massive fraud scheme that netted over 700 Million Dollars from hedge funds. Brazen forgeries and impersonations branded the white collar crime spree remarkable. “Unraveled” is set in the “purgatory” of house arrest, an upper East Side penthouse, where the Court has ordered Dreier confined until his sentencing day. The film weaves Dreier’s struggle to prepare for the possibility of life imprisonment with first-person flashbacks, which reveal his audacious path of destruction. Destroyed by his own hubris, Dreier attempts to grasp his tragic unraveling. With unprecedented access, “Unraveled” exposes a mastermind of criminal deception. (Go Digital)

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

Player Hating: A Love Story is a feature length documentary film that delves deeply and intimately into the lives of some of society’s forgotten citizens whose desperate attempts to flee their challenged existences grow harder each day. Thirty minutes from downtown Manhattan lies a forgotten community — Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY --- where death and destruction are as constant as breathing and represent an oppressed demographic that can be found in every major city in the United States. (Film Fatale, Inc.)

This film will explore an untold chapter in Japanese American history and the values of “Peace”. It describes how the MIS contributed to America’s victory and to Japan’s recovery after the World War II ended. (MIS FILM Partners)

Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope - a film by Morgan Spurlock explores the amazing cultural phenomenon by following the lives of five attendees as they descend upon the ultimate geek mecca at San Diego Comic-Con 2010: Eric, an aspiring illustrator, is hoping to impress publishers and land a job; Holly, costume and creature designer, hopes her creations will win the big prize; Chuck, a long-time comic book dealer, is looking for a big sale to pay off his debts; Skip, longtime amateur illustrator wants to be discovered at this year's event; James, a young fan, hopes his girlfriend will accept a dramatic proposal. One on one interviews with Comic-Con veterans who have turned their passions into professions include Stan Lee, Joss Whedon, Frank Miller, Kevin Smith, Matt Groening, Seth Rogen, Eli Roth and others are shared throughout the film along with up close and up front coverage of all the panels, parades, photos, costumes, crowds and camaraderie that make up one of the largest fan gatherings in the U.S. (Wrekin Hill Entertainment)

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

What might lead an innocent man to confess to something he didn’t do? When Adrian Thomas walked into the Troy, New York police station and waived his Miranda rights, he didn’t know he was being video-recorded. His four-month-old baby lay brain-dead in a pediatric ICU. The doctors believed it was “shaken baby” abuse, and Adrian Thomas became the main suspect. And so began a psychological battle: the detectives repeatedly lied to – and manipulated – their suspect. And they reassured Adrian Thomas that if he told them what happened, the police would view it as an accident, without jail time. For the next several hours, the detectives used an array of powerful psychological techniques to ramp up the pressure and eventually extracted a confession. (Submarine Entertainment)

Bully follows five kids and families over the course of a school year. Stories include two families who have lost children to suicide and a mother awaiting the fate of her 14-year-old daughter who has been incarcerated after bringing a gun on her school bus. With an intimate glimpse into homes, classrooms, cafeterias and principals’ offices, the film offers insight into the often cruel world of the lives of bullied children. As teachers, administrators, kids and parents struggle to find answers, Bully examines the dire consequences of bullying through the testimony of strong and courageous youth. Through the power of their stories, the film aims to be a catalyst for change in the way we deal with bullying as parents, teachers, children and society as a whole. (The Weinstein Company)

Jon Shenk’s The Island President is the story of President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, a man confronting a problem greater than any other world leader has ever faced—the literal survival of his country and everyone in it. After bringing democracy to the Maldives after thirty years of despotic rule, Nasheed is now faced with an even greater challenge: as one of the most low-lying countries in the world, a rise of three feet in sea level would submerge the 1200 islands of the Maldives enough to make them uninhabitable. (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

All In: The Poker Movie tells the exciting story of poker's renaissance in the first decade of the new millennium, from a game once played only by grandparents and teenagers unable to get a date on Friday night to a nationally televised sport played by millions, and watched by millions more. An activity so hip that even Matt Damon, George Clooney, and Leonardo DiCaprio have a regular game. Played in casinos, basements, on line, in college dorms or at charity events, poker is everywhere. The films explains the "tipping story" to the events and people that came together to make poker so popular that you could see it being played on twelve television networks a week. (4th Row Films)

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

On March 11, 2011, Japan’s Tohoku coastal region was destroyed by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and devastating tsunami that followed. Pray for Japan takes place in the devastated region of Ishinomaki, Miyagi – the largest coastal city in Tohoku with a population of over 160,000 people. Filmmaker Stu Levy – an American living in Japan - filmed the tsunami aftermath during his trips to Tohoku as a volunteer and over a period of 6 weeks, captured over 50 hours of footage. (AMC Theatres)

One of the world's greatest living painters, the German artist Gerhard Richter has spent over half a century experimenting with a tremendous range of techniques and ideas, addressing historical crises and mass media representation alongside explorations of chance procedures. The first glimpse inside his studio in decades, Gerhard Richter Painting is exactly that: a thrilling document of the 79-year-old's creative process, juxtaposed with rare archival footage and intimate conversations with his critics and collaborators. (Kino Lorber)

Jiro Dreams of Sushi is the story of 85 year-old Jiro Ono, considered by many to be the world’s greatest sushi chef. He is the proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant inauspiciously located in a Tokyo subway station. Despite its humble appearances, it is the first restaurant of its kind to be awarded a prestigious 3 star Michelin review, and sushi lovers from around the globe make repeated pilgrimage, calling months in advance and shelling out top dollar for a coveted seat at Jiro’s sushi bar. For most of his life, Jiro has been mastering the art of making sushi, but even at his age he sees himself still striving for perfection, working from sunrise to well beyond sunset to taste every piece of fish; meticulously train his employees; and carefully mold and finesse the impeccable presentation of each sushi creation. At the heart of this story is Jiro’s relationship with his eldest son Yoshikazu, the worthy heir to Jiro’s legacy, who is unable to live up to his full potential in his father’s shadow. (Magnolia Pictures)

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

Shakespeare High is a documentary about a socio-economic cross-section of teens in Southern California that study Shakespeare to compete in a drama Festival run by the many hundred-strong volunteer teacher organization: DTASC (Drama Teachers Association of Southern California). The film focuses primarily on under-served teens, highlighting the life-changing effect that this activity and competition have for them. It underscores the necessity of an arts curriculum and its effectiveness in saving lives and keeping young people engaged and in school. (The Cinema Guild)

Prima ballerina Geraldine, photographer Kees, and their two boys, Christiaan and Louis, left Holland in 1980 to take up residence at the Convento São Francisco de Mértola. Strategically situated at the convergence of two rivers in southeastern Portugal, this vacant monastery was left decaying for centuries until the Zwanikken family arrived and transformed it with their eccentric and earthy endeavors. In the airy studio converted from the estate's chapel, son Christiaan builds kinetic sculptures from discarded electronics and the skulls and bones of deceased wildlife. Combining the family's home movies with his own observant photography, filmmaker Jarred Alterman casts these fantastical creatures as supporting characters in the film, as they literally move across the landscape, animating the ancient grounds. (Factory 25)

The film studies the storied and tumultuous life of heavy metal legend Bobby Liebling and features the music of Liebling’s band Pentagram. (9.14 Pictures)

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

This clandestine documentary, shot partially on an iPhone and smuggled into France in a cake for a last-minute submission to Cannes, depicts the day-to-day life of acclaimed director Jafar Panahi during his house arrest in his Tehran apartment. While appealing his sentence – six years in prison and a 20 year ban from filmmaking – Panahi is seen talking to his family and lawyer on the phone, discussing his plight with Mirtahmasb and reflecting on the meaning of the art of filmmaking. (Palisades Tartan)

A high society wedding, a boxing club, a beauty salon, a school for survivors of the civil war: these are a few of the many places in Uganda discovered in Kimi Takesue’s feature documentary, Where Are You Taking Me. Employing an observational style, this documentary reveals multifaceted portraits of Ugandans in both public and private spaces. The film travels through Uganda, roaming the vibrant streets of Kampala and the rural quiet of the North, to reveal a diverse society where global popular culture finds expression alongside enduring Ugandan traditions. Throughout the journey, Where Are You Taking Me compels us to consider the complex interplay between the observer and the observed, and challenges our notions of both the familiar and exotic. (Lane Street Pictures)

Puttin's Kiss portrays contemporary life in Russia through the story of Masha, a 19 year-old girl who is a member of Nashi, a political youth organization connected with the Kremlin. Extremely ambitious, the young Masha quickly rises to the top of Nashi, but begins to question her involvement when a dissident journalist whom she has befriended is savagely attacked. (Kino Lorber)

The sea is forgotten until disaster strikes. But perhaps the biggest seagoing disaster is the global supply chain, which - maybe in a more fundamental way than financial speculation- leads the world economy to the abyss. The film follows container cargo aboard ships, barges, trains and trucks, listening to workers, engineers, planners, politicians, and those marginalized by the global transport system. We visit displaced farmers and villagers in Holland and Belgium, underpaid truck drivers in Los Angeles, seafarers aboard mega-ships shuttling between Asia and Europe, and factory workers in China, whose low wages are the fragile key to the whole puzzle. And in Bilbao, we discover the most sophisticated expression of the belief that the maritime economy, and the sea itself, is somehow obsolete. A range of materials is used: descriptive documentary, interviews, archive stills and footage, clips from old movies. The result is an essayistic, visual documentary about one of the most important processes that affects us today. The Forgotten Space is based on Sekula's massive long-term project Fish Story, seeking to understand and describe the contemporary maritime world in relation to the complex symbolic legacy of the sea. (Doc.Eye Film)

A perennial whipping boy, in recent decades Manassas had gone so far as to sell their home games to the highest bidder, but that all changed in the spring of 2004 when Bill Courtney, a former high school football coach turned lumber salesman, volunteered to lend a hand. When he arrived, the team consisted of 17 players, some timeworn equipment and a patch of grass masquerading as a practice field. Focusing more on winning young men than football games, the football program nevertheless began resurrecting itself and, in 2009, features the most talented team Manassas has ever fielded; a team that seems poised to end the playoff jinx that has plagued the school since time immemorial. (The Weinstein Company)

What if you could harness the power of the free market to solve the problems of poverty, hunger, and inequality? To some, it sounds impossible. But Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus is doing exactly that. Bonsai People celebrates Yunus’ extraordinary humanitarian work, which started by lending $27 to 42 people out of his own pocket and has now grown to helping 1 out of every 1,000 people on Earth. Yunus has created a mirror image of conventional banking—loan small not big, loan to women not men, loan rural not urban, loan to the poor not the rich. But he didn’t stop there. Whenever he sees a problem he starts a business, in a mix between business and social work, which he terms “social business.” Yunus tackles some of the world’s most vexing problems from healthcare to education to alternative energy and demonstrates to the world that complex problems sometimes do have simple solutions. A free market with a social conscience—-Microcredit is just the tip of the iceberg! (Hummingbird Pictures)

Wind power… It’s green... It’s good... It reduces our dependency on foreign oil. But does it? Or, is it merely a highly profitable financial scam for the many wind energy developers looking to erect industrial wind turbines in a town near you? Laura Israel’s documentary, Windfall, looks at both sides of wind energy development when the residents of a rural upstate New York town consider going green. (First Run Features)

Splinters is the first feature-length documentary film about the evolution of indigenous surfing in the developing nation of Papua New Guinea. In the 1980s an intrepid Australian pilot left behind a surfboard in the seaside village of Vanimo. Twenty years on, surfing is not only a pillar of village life but also a means to prestige. With no access to economic or educational advancement, let alone running water and power, village life is hermetic. A spot on the Papua New Guinea national surfing team is the way to see the wider world; the only way.(SnagFilms)

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

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

A glowing, prismatic portrait of the rise and fall of America's first celebrity designer—Halston—the man who was synonymous with fashion in the 1970s, and became the emperor of NYC nightlife. Interviews with friends and witnesses (including Liza Minnelli, Diane Von Furstenberg, André Leon Talley, Anjelica Huston, Bob Colacello, and Billy Joel, among others) round out this glittering evocation of the man who defined the most beautiful and decadent era of recent memory. (Tribeca Film)

It began as a housing marvel. Built in 1956, Pruitt-Igoe was heralded as the model public housing project of the future, "the poor man's penthouse." Two decades later, it ended in rubble - its razing an iconic event that the architectural theorist Charles Jencks famously called the death of modernism. The footage and images of its implosion have helped to perpetuate a myth of failure, a failure that has been used to critique Modernist architecture, attack public assistance programs, and stigmatize public housing residents. The Pruitt-Igoe Myth seeks to set the historical record straight. To examine the interests involved in Pruitt-Igoe's creation. To re-evaluate the rumors and the stigma. To implode the myth. (First Run Features)

Inside Paris’s Crazy Horse cabaret – the most famous nude dance show in the world. Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman explores one of the most mythic and colorful places dedicated to women, the Crazy Horse – a legendary Parisian cabaret club, founded in 1951 by Alain Bernardin. Over the years it has become the Parisian nightlife ‘must’ for visitors, ranking alongside the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. Wiseman’s impeccable eye finds the Crazy Horse a uniquely French showcase, with an emphasis on elegance, perfectionism and a grueling schedule (2 shows a night and 3 on Saturdays, 7 days a week). The film shows us the rehearsals for and the unveiling of the brand new show – Désir – created by the renowned French choreographer Phillippe Decoufle. (Zipporah Films)

Fake It So Real dives head-first into the world of independent pro wrestling. Filmed over a single week leading up to a big show, the film follows a ragtag group of wrestlers in North Carolina, exploring what happens when the over-the-top theatrics of the wrestling ring collide with the realities of the working-class South. Gabriel is the rookie trying make it to the Big Time and be a part of this family of tough guys. Jeff is the leader who may miss his first show in ten years, due to an unexpected and debilitating injury. J-Prep, Zane, Pitt, Solar and the rest of the crew each face obstacles on their way to the big show. They aren’t paid for their passion, but they treat wrestling like any artist treats his work. This is a film about doing something real. (4th Row Films)

Patrick Keiller’s latest sees his shadowy, somewhat eccentric titular researcher embark on another tour of ‘sites of scientific and historical interest’ in and around Oxford. A decade after his earlier trips around London and England, film cans and writings are discovered suggesting that Robinson – though is that his real name? – resumed his investigations upon release from prison. Keen to cure the world of ‘a great malady’ (symptoms include the banking crisis, global warming, war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the transfer of British land to obscure owners), Robinson sought – or so we’re told by an ex-lover of the now deceased narrator of the first two films – to communicate with ‘non-human intelligences’ determined to preserve life on Earth… Keiller’s witty, revealing script weaves together philosophy, the arts, history, politics, economics, science, agriculture, architecture and much else, even as surreal, mysterious and beautiful images, imbued with a deep love of the natural world, remind us of what’s at risk. Timely indeed. (BFI Homepage)

Groundbreaking singer, actor and activist Harry Belafonte rose to fame in the U.S. in spite of segregation, and crossed over into mainstream America on his way to international stardom. His hit 1956 album "Calypso" made him the first artist in industry history to sell over a million LPs, and spawned the smash single "Banana Boat (Day-O)." Though recognized with Grammy, Tony and Emmy awards, Belafonte was blacklisted, harassed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), spied on by the CIA and FBI, and threatened by the Klan, state troopers and Las Vegas mafia bosses. Distilled from more than 700 hours of interviews, eyewitness accounts, movie clips, excerpts from FBI files, and news and rare archival film footage and stills, some of which has never been seen before, Sing Your Song reveals Belafonte as a tenacious hands-on activist who worked intimately with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., mobilized celebrities for social justice, participated in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa and took action to counter gang violence, prisons and the incarceration of youth. (HBO Films)

Firmly ensconced in the geeky pantheon of computer legends since high school, Richard Garriott can afford to pursue his dreams - even the wildly improbable ones. For instance, following in his astronaut father's footsteps. NASA won't take you because of bad eyes? No problem! Pioneer your own private space industry and buy a $30 million seat on a Russian Soyuz. Richly funny and invigorating, Man on a Mission tags along with Richard on his years-long quest to be the second Garriott into space. And maybe come back. (First Run Features)

On May 5, 1993, the bodies of three eight-year-old boys were found next to a muddy creek in the wooded Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Arkansas. A month later, three teenagers, Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley, were arrested, accused and convicted of brutally raping, mutilating and killing the boys. Following trials fraught with innuendoes of satanic worship, emotionally charged statements and allegations of coerced confessions, the defendants were convicted, despite a lack of physical evidence linking them to the crime. (HBO Documentary Films)

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

A Juarez hit man speaks: he has killed hundreds of people, is an expert in torture and kidnapping, and for many years was a commander of the state police in Chihuahua. He even received some training from the FBI. He has lived in Juárez and has moved freely throughout Mexico and the US. At the moment, there is a contract on his life of $250,000 and he lives as a fugitive, though he is still free and has never been charged with a crime in any country. The film takes place in a motel room on the US / Mexico border. The sicario is highly intelligent, very articulate and all too believable. The film stems from Charles Bowden’s essay The Sicario published in 2009 in Harper’s Magazine. (Doc & Film International)

In his exhilarating new film, German master Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire, The Buena Vista Social Club) shoots in 3D to capture the brilliantly inventive dance world of legendary choreographer Pina Bausch. Wenders had conceived with Bausch a dance film like none seen before, one which would take the fullest advantage yet of new 3D technology to put the viewer deep inside Bausch’s playful, thrillingly unpredictable pieces. After her untimely death in 2009, Wenders continued with the project, turning it into the most exciting tribute he could imagine. Sensual and visually stunning, PINA uses 3D to remarkable effect, taking the audience into Bausch’s work in her imaginative sets (a gliding monorail, a bare stage covered with chairs, a towering man-made waterfall) and powerfully rendering the beauty and sheer physicality of the dances and dancers of her Tanztheater Wuppertal ensemble. (Sundance Selects)

Sleepless Nights Stories originated from readings of the One Thousand and One Nights. But unlike the Arabian tales, these stories are all from real life, though at times they too wander into somewhere else, beyond the everyday routine reality. (Jonas Mekas Films)

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

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

On April 22, 2010 the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig sank into the Gulf of Mexico creating the worst oil spill in history. Until the oil well was killed on September 19th, 205 million gallons of crude oil and over 1.8 millions gallons of chemical dispersant spread into the sea. By exposing the root causes of the spill, filmmakers Josh and Rebecca Tickell uncover a vast network of corruption. The Big Fix is a damning indictment of a system of government led by a powerful oligarchy that puts the pursuit of profit over all other human and environmental needs. (Green Planet Productions)

The documentary, Under Control, unfolds a panorama of atomic energy in Germany. Its broad perspective reveals the real challenges and enormous efforts that nuclear power demands from humankind. The control over the nuclear fission process is not depicted chronologically but rather as a prism of places and sites that not only refracts the stations of the German atomic age but also reflects beyond the current situation. The examination of a technology once synonymous with progress also touches on elements of the history of civilization. (Credo Films)

In a small village near Paris, 14-year-old boys and girls enter the training center for future lads and jockeys. For these young pupils, the transition between the family environment and this new world is brutal. Though sharing the world of teenagers – flirting, cell phones and PlayStation – they enter a world where the comfort of the horses comes before that of the human. This documentary film tells the story of Steve, Florian and Flavien during their first year of apprenticeship. It leads to Flavien’s first race, which officially puts him in the restricted world of jockeys. (Music Box Films)

The 2008 presidential elections in Ghana, West Africa, serve as a backdrop for this feature documentary that looks behind-the-scenes at the complex, political machinery of a third world democracy struggling to legitimize itself to its first world contemporaries. At stake in this race are the fates of two political parties that will do almost anything to win. Director Jarreth Merz follows the key players for almost three months to provide an unprecedented insider’s view of the political, economic and social forces at work in Ghana. He builds suspense by taking the viewer down the back roads of the nation to capture each unexpected twist and turn in a contest that is always exciting and never predictable. Throughout the film, Merz depicts the pride and humanity of the larger-than-life politicians, party operatives and citizens who battle for the soul of their country. (Urban Republic)

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

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

A documentary on the transformation of Mikhail Khodorkovsky - from a perfect socialist to a perfect capitalist and finally, in a Siberian prison, becoming a perfect martyr. Khodorkovky - the richest Russian, challenges President Putin. A fight of the titans begins. Putin warns him. But Khodorkovsky comes back to Russia - knowing that he will be imprisoned, once he returns. Why didn't Khodorkovsky stay in Exile with a couple of billions? Why did he come back? Why did he do that? A personal journey to Khodorkovsky. (LALA Film)

Chogyam Trungpa, renowned Tibetan Buddhist leader, shattered notions about how an enlightened teacher should behave when he renounced his monk's vows & eloped with a sixteen year-old aristocrat. Twenty years after his death, Trungpa's name still evokes admiration and outrage. What made him tick? And just what is enlightenment, anyway? (Crazy Wisdom Productions)

When facing even the most dire of situations, the strength of the human spirit prevails.

A documentary explores the views on undocumented immigration held by the inhabitants of Laredo, Texas.

The Allies called him Garbo. The Nazis dubbed him Alaric. Both sides in World War II were sure Juan Pujol Garcia was their man. In reality, Pujol was a double agent - and his final allegiance was to the Allies. From the relative comfort of Lisbon, Garbo fed false information to the Nazis and fabricated a network of phantom agents across Europe. Although he never fired a single shot, Garbo helped to save thousands of lives, most notably by misinforming the Germans about the timing and location of the Normandy D-Day invasion. In his inexhaustible imagination he even went so far as to secure death benefits from the Nazis for an imaginary agent's nonexistent widow. (First Run Features)

The husband-and-wife team of Charles and Ray Eames are widely regarded as America’s most important designers. Perhaps best remembered for their mid-century plywood and fiberglass furniture, the Eames Office also created a mind-bending variety of other products, from splints for wounded military during World War II, to photography, interiors, multi-media exhibits, graphics, games, films and toys. But their personal lives and influence on significant events in American life – from the development of modernism, to the rise of the computer age – has been less widely understood. Narrated by James Franco, Eames: The Architect and the Painter is the first film since their death dedicated to these creative geniuses and their work. (First Run Features)

The Greater Good looks behind the fear, hype and politics that have polarized the vaccine debate in America today. The film re-frames the emotionally charged issue and offers, for the first time, the opportunity for a rational and scientific discussion on how to create a safer and more effective vaccine program. (BNP Pictures)

Dzi Croquettes: A Brazilian groundbreaking theater group that through talent, dance, political satire, and humor confronted the Brazilian violent dictatorship—the AI-5, the most infamous Institutional Act that overruled the Nation's Constitution; allowing unlimited power to the President and finally closing the Congress. Founded by American Lennie Dale-- “a rebel too good to be part of a Broadway chorus line”, according to choreographer Ron Lewis-- and Brazilian artist-thinker Wagner Ribeiro, this hypnotically sensual 13-member Dzi Croquettes group took Brazil and Europe by storm, attracted Liza Minnelli who became their godmother of sorts, and brought celebrity hype with front-row fans including Mick Jagger, Omar Sharif, Jeanne Moreau, Catherine Deneuve, Marisa Berenson, and Maurice Béjart, among others. Not a word could be found about Dzi Croquettes group until directors Raphael Alvarez and Tatiana Issa—raised since 3 years of age within the group because of her father’s work as set designer—unraveled around the world lost footage, as well as put together within Brazil’s political and musical context of the time, famous Brazilian artists who manifest their passionate testimonies about the group’s transformational influence over them. (TRIA Productions)

In his fascinating exploration of a triple homicide case in Conroe, Texas, master filmmaker Werner Herzog probes the human psyche to explore why people kill—and why a state kills. In intimate conversations with those involved, including 28-year-old death row inmate Michael Perry, Herzog achieves what he describes as “a gaze into the abyss of the human soul.” Herzog’s inquiries also extend to the families of the victims and perpetrators as well as a state executioner and pastor who’ve been with death row prisoners as they’ve taken their final breaths. As he’s so often done before, Herzog’s investigation unveils layers of humanity, making an enlightening trip out of ominous territory. (IFC Films)

The Love We Make, a film directed by Albert Maysles and Bradley Kaplan, follows Paul McCartney as he journeys through the streets of New York City in the aftermath of the World Trade Centre’s destruction. Chronicling the planning and performance of “The Concert for New York City,” the benefit concert that took place less than six weeks after the attacks, the film also features performances and backstage moments with other performers and actors including David Bowie, Steve Buscemi, Eric Clapton, President Bill Clinton, Sheryl Crow, Leonardo DiCaprio, Harrison Ford, Mick Jagger, Jay Z, Billy Joel, Elton John, Stella McCartney and Keith Richards. (Eagle Rock Entertainment)

Following one man’s personal quest to defend what he believes to be his inalienable rights, BARBERSHOP PUNK examines the critical issues surrounding the future of the American Internet and what it takes to challenge the status quo. Contemplating the future of the American Internet and the inalienable rights under review, the film features discussions with Ian MacKaye, Damian Kulash of OK Go, Henry Rollins, Janeane Garofalo, EFF’s John Perry Barlow, U.S. Congressman Chip Pickering, Congressman Marsha Blackburn, Free Form DJ Jim Ladd, Clinton White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry, Michelle Combs of the Christian Coalition, Songwriters Guild President Rick Carnes, NARAL’s Ted Miller, lobbyist Jack Burkman, and FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, among others. (Evil Twin Productions)

Not since Paganini had there been such a magician on the violin. In this revealing documentary about the legendary musician we see vintage filmed performance clips of Jascha Heifetz and learn that he was the first truly modern violin virtuoso, the man about whom Itzhak Perlman said, “When I spoke with him, I thought, ‘I can’t believe I’m talking with God’.” This insightful film portrays an artist for whom only perfection would do, a musical wunderkind who went on to set the standards for nearly a century. We get to know Jascha Heifetz through home movies and personal family photos taken from 1903-1987, a prestigious concert artist so well known in popular culture, his name became shorthand for greatness, for everyone from Jack Benny to The Muppets to Woody Allen. This unique program includes interviews with the great violinists of his generation, and from many of his former students, telling how Heifetz was a legendary but mysterious figure whose story embodies the dual nature of artistic genius: the paradox of how a mortal man lives with immortal gifts - gifts he must honor, but which extract a life long price. (Kultur International Films)

Only two journalists were killed in World War I. Sixty-three journalists were killed in World War II. In the last two decades almost a journalist a week has been killed, with the dead numbering in the thousands. The conclusions are obvious. Journalism in times of war has become an increasingly lethal endeavor - and extremely traumatic – as journalists are now viewed as natural targets by combatants; subject to kidnapping, torture and even beheadings. With journalists facing these new realities, UNDER FIRE weaves together combat footage and first-hand accounts by the journalists who were there to reveal what they see, think and feel as they confront the physical danger and savagery of war. (MercuryMedia International)

Pianomania takes the viewer along on a humorous journey into the secret world of sounds, and accompanies Stefan Knüpfer at his unusual job with world famous pianists like Lang Lang, Alfred Brendel, Rudolf Buchbinder and Pierre-Laurent Aimand, among others. To find the right instrument with the necessary qualities, compatible with the vision of the virtuoso, to tune it to perfection and finally to get it on the stage, needs nerves of steel, boundless passion, and the extraordinary competence in translating words into sounds. (First Run Features)

A biographical study of legendary actress Charlotte Rampling, told through her own conversations with some of her closest friends and collaborators, including Peter Lindbergh, Paul Auster, and Juergen Teller. Intercut with footage from some of Rampling's most celebrated films — this deeply personal "self-portrait through others" is a revealing look at one of our most iconic screen stars. [Kino Lorber]

Dragonslayer documents the transgressions of a lost skate punk falling in love in the stagnant suburbs of Fullerton, California in the aftermath of Americaʼs economic collapse. Taking the viewer through a golden SoCal haze of broken homes, abandoned swimming pools and stray glimpses of unusual beauty, Dragonslayer captures the life and times of Josh “Skreech” Sandoval, a local skate legend and new father, as his endless summer finally collides with the future. Set to the alternately roaring and dreamy soundtrack of bands from the indie labels Mexican Summer and Kemado Records—-including Best Coast, Bipolar Bear, Children, Dungen, Eddy Current and the Suppression Ring, Golden Triangle, Jacuzzi Boys, Little Girls, Real Estate, The Soft Pack, Saviours, as well as DEATH and Thee Oh Sees-—Dragonslayer is a punkrock manifesto to youth, love and learning to survive after the decline of western civilization. (Drag City)

This revealing and touching film asks what happens when a generation's ultimate anti-authoritarians – punk rockers – become society's ultimate authorities – dads. With a large chorus of punk rock's leading men - Blink-182's Mark Hoppus, Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea, Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath - The Other F Word follows Jim Lindberg, a 20-year veteran of the skate punk band Pennywise, on his hysterical and moving journey from belting his band's anthem ”F--k Authority,” to embracing his ultimately authoritarian role in mid-life: fatherhood. (Oscilloscope Pictures)

Filmed over twenty years by acclaimed documentarian Jennifer Fox, My Reincarnation chronicles the epic story of the high Tibetan Buddhist Master, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, and his western-born son, Yeshi. The film follows Namkhai Norbu’s rise to greatness as a Buddhist teacher in the West, while his son, Yeshi, recognized at birth as the reincarnation of a famous spiritual master, breaks away from his father’s tradition to embrace the modern world. Can the father convince his son to keep the family's threatened spiritual legacy alive? Never before has a high Tibetan Master allowed such complete access to his private life and it is doubtful that another ever will. With her signature intimate entry to both family and icons including the Dalai Lama, Fox expertly distills a decades-long drama into a universal story about love, transformation, and destiny. [Long Shot Factory]

Beloved by children of all ages around the world, Elmo is an international icon. Few people know his creator, Kevin Clash, who dreamed of working with his idol, master puppeteer Jim Henson. Displaying his creativity and talent at a young age, Kevin ultimately found a home on Sesame Street. Narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, this documentary includes rare archival footage, interviews with Frank Oz, Rosie O’Donnell, Cheryl Henson, Joan Ganz Cooney and others and offers a behind-the-scenes look at Sesame Street and the Jim Henson Workshop. (Submarine Entertainment)

In 2006, as many as 5,000 modern electric cars were destroyed by the major car companies that built them. Today, less than 5 years later, the electric car is back… with a vengeance. In Revenge of the Electric Car, director Chris Paine takes his film crew behind the closed doors of Nissan, GM, the Silicon Valley start-up Tesla Motors, and an independent car converter named Greg “Gadget” Abbott to find the story of the global resurgence of electric cars. Without using a single drop of foreign oil, this new generation of automobiles is America’s future: fast, furious, and cleaner than ever. With almost every major car maker now jumping to produce new electric models, Revenge of the Electric Car follows the race to be the first, the best, and to win the hearts and minds of the public around the world. We watch as these cars are developed from a concept into a working product, and see the car makers themselves struggle with the economy, the press, each other, and the car buying public. (Area 23a)

From a basketball academy in West Africa to the high-pressure world of American prep schools, Elevate documents the extraordinary personal journeys of four particularly tall West African teenagers with big hearts, open minds, and NBA dreams. The Seeds Academy in Dakar, Senegal, sits on a small plot of land leased from the government. There, the best young basketball players from across West Africa gather to take part in a strenuous program of academics and athletic training. For those who stand out, the potential reward is huge: full scholarships to the top prep schools in the United States, where the right combination of skill and dedication will earn them a great education, pave the way to college, and open the door to basketball at the NCAA level… and maybe even a shot at the NBA. Elevate follows four young men who make the cut, receive scholarships, and head off to the USA. Filmed over four years and across two continents, Elevate documents the daunting challenges they face, from the alienation that comes with being a seven foot tall Muslim at a Christian prep school (in an American culture rife with African stereotypes) to mastering English, adapting to aggressive American-style basketball… and navigating the vagaries of high school, girls, and drivers ed. A heartwarming documentary that inspires without preaching, Elevate challenges the audience’s conception of Africa, America, and athletes–while putting a smile on their face at the same time. (Variance Films)