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

Hidden inside overcrowded factories around the world, countless children are forced into slave labor due to rising global demands for cheap goods. With the help of a covert network of informants, Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi and his dedicated team carry out daring raids to rescue and rehabilitate imprisoned children. Using hidden cameras and playing the role of buyers at the factory to gain access, we watch Kailash take on one of his most challenging missions to date: finding Sonu, a young boy trafficked to Delhi for work who has been missing for eight months. Now his father dreams of Sonu coming home. [Sundance]

Nasrin was secretly filmed in Iran by women and men who risked arrest to make this documentary. It is an immersive portrait of the world’s most honored human rights activist and political prisoner, attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, and of Iran’s remarkably resilient women’s rights movement. In the courts and on the streets, Nasrin has long fought for the rights of women, children, religious minorities, journalists and artists, and those facing the death penalty. In the midst of filming, Nasrin was arrested in June 2018 for representing women who were protesting Iran’s mandatory hijab law. She was sentenced to 38 years in prison, plus 148 lashes. [Kino Lorber]

From legendary French documentarian Nicolas Philibert, a captivating study of a 40-year-old orangutan — the oldest animal in the oldest zoo in the world. (Kino International)

When Rob Brown, a Native American gang leader on a remote Minnesota reservation, is sentenced to prison for a fifth time, he must confront his role in bringing violent drug culture into his beloved Ojibwe community. As Rob reckons with his past, his seventeen-year-old protégé, Kevin, dreams of the future— becoming the most powerful and feared Native gangster on the reservation. [Film Movement]

Steve 'Spaz' Williams is a pioneer in computer animation. His digital dinosaurs of Jurassic Park transformed Hollywood in 1993, but an appetite for anarchy and reckless disregard for authority may have cost him the recognition he deserved.

Becoming is an intimate look into the life of former First Lady Michelle Obama during a moment of profound change, not only for her personally but for the country she and her husband served over eight impactful years in the White House. The film offers a rare and up-close look at her life, taking viewers behind the scenes as she embarks on a 34-city tour that highlights the power of community to bridge our divides and the spirit of connection that comes when we openly and honestly share our stories.

America's 50-million strong Evangelical community is convinced that the world's future is foretold in Biblical prophecy - from the Rapture to the Battle of Armageddon. This astonishing documentary explores their world - in their homes, at conferences, and on a wide-ranging tour of Israel. By interweaving Christian, Zionist, Jewish and critical perspectives along with telling archival materials, the filmmakers probe the politically powerful - and potentially explosive - alliance between Evangelical Christians and Israel...an alliance that may set the stage for what one prominent Evangelical leader calls "World War III." (First Run Features)

This documentary is an unflinchingly candid portrait of a squad of American soldiers deployed in the doomed Iraq city of Falluja during the winter of 2004. (Rumur Releasing)

This documentary profiles legendary Hollywood screenwriter and acclaimed novelist A I 'Buzz' Bezzerides, who quickly became known as 'the King of Noir'.

In the groundbreaking and acclaimed documentary, former CIA case office Robert Baer returns to his former center of operations to trace the origins of the modern day bomber from the Iran-Iraq war to the Middle Eastern streets of today.

After the breakup of the Sex Pistols, John Lydon / John Rotten, formed Public Image Ltd (PiL)– his groundbreaking band which has lived on nearly 15 times as long as his first one. He kept the band alive ever since, through personnel and stylistic changes, fighting to constantly reinvent new ways of approaching music, while adhering to radical ideals of artistic integrity. John Lydon has not only redefined music, but also the true meaning of originality. [Abramorama]

Chuck Workman chronicles the Beat generation, focusing on the Jack Kerouac (Depp), Allen Ginsburg (Tuturro), and William S. Burroughs (Hopper).

Led by Gay Chorus Conductor Dr. Tim Seelig and joined by The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir; the tour brings a message of music, love and acceptance to communities and individuals confronting intolerance. Over 300 singers travelled from Mississippi to Tennessee through the Carolinas and over the bridge in Selma. They performed in churches, community centers and concert halls in hopes of uniting us in a time of difference. The journey also challenges Tim and other Chorus members who fled the South to confront their own fears, pain and prejudices on a journey towards reconciliation. The conversations and connections that emerge offer a glimpse of a less divided America, where the things that divide us-faith, politics, sexual identity-are set aside by the soaring power of music, humanity and a little drag.

Soar with The Blue Angels in a brand-new documentary featuring never-before-seen footage that chronicles a year with the Navy’s elite Flight Demonstration Squadron—from selection through the challenging training and demanding show season—showcasing the extraordinary teamwork, passion, and pride that fuels America’s best, the Blue Angels.

One of the world’s most beloved icons, Mickey Mouse is recognized as a symbol of joy and childhood innocence in virtually every corner of the globe. Dreamed up at a low point in Walt Disney’s burgeoning career, Mickey became an overnight sensation when he starred in the first synch-sound animated short, Steamboat Willie. Through the decades that followed, the character evolved into strikingly different versions of himself that reflect both his creator’s remarkable career and dramatic societal shifts in the nation he came to represent.

Author Colin Beavan, in research for his next book, began the No Impact Project in November 2006. A newly self-proclaimed environmentalist who could no long avoid pointing the finger at himself, Colin leaves behind his liberal complacency for a vow to make as little environmental impact as possible for one year. No more automated transportation, no more electricity, no more non-local food, no more material consumption…no problem. That is, until his espressoguzzling, retail-worshipping wife Michelle and their two year-old daughter are dragged into the fray. Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein!s film provides a front row seat into the experiment that became a national fascination and media sensation as well as an intriguing inside look at the familial strains and strengthened bonds that result from Colin's and Michelle!s struggle with their radical lifestyle change. (Oscilloscope Laboratories)

In Viaggio: The Travels of Pope Francis is a decade-long chronicling of the head of the Catholic church, from filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi (Fire at Sea, Notturno). In the first nine years of his pontificate, Pope Francis made trips to 53 countries, focusing on his most important issues: poverty, migration, environment, solidarity, and war. Composed mostly of archival footage, the documentary grants rare access to the public life of the pontifical, not only from the elevated security of a pulpit but from the more democratic grounds of unpaved streets and vast public avenues, creating a dialogue between footage of Francis' travels, images taken by Rosi himself, recent history, and the state of the world today.

This feature-length documentary delves into the experience of war through powerful images and the words of poets -- unknown and world-famous.

From a beat reporter at the Washington Post to an overnight sensation as the leader of the New Journalism movement, Tom Wolfe was at the forefront of reshaping how American stories are told. Recognizing the importance of overlooked subcultures and communities, Wolfe documented everything from rural stock car drivers to hippies in Haight Ashbury to the Apollo Astronauts, and his ability to bridge cultural and class divides while tackling stories central to American Life was unique in fiction and non-fiction. With a distinctive and oft-imitated style all his own, Wolfe’s body of work includes some of the most memorable and culturally impactful stories of the 20th century like The Right Stuff, The Bonfire of the Vanities, and A Man in Full. Radical Wolfe is a look at the man inside the famous white suit, featuring conversations and interviews with those who knew him best, including Michael Lewis, Gay Talese, Lynn Nesbit, Terry McDonell, Tom Junod, Christopher Buckley, Niall Ferguson, and Alexandra Wolfe.

In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel's brother, Nev. They had no idea that their project would lead to the most exhilarating and unsettling months of their lives. A reality thriller that is a shocking product of our times, Catfish is a riveting story of love, deception and grace within a labyrinth of online intrigue. (Rogue Pictures)

A fascinating and troubling document of the rise and fall of e-commerce, this film showcases the incredible story of Kozmo.com. (Seventh Art Releasing)

This documentary examines the life of the Australian-born fashion designer, performance artist and gay nightclub icon.

This documentary digs deeply into the meaning of marriage today. From an historical trip to the Middle Ages, to gay hippies storming the Manhattan marriage bureau in 1971, this eye-opening exploration of the embattled institution looks at rights, privilege and love as gay activists and right-wing politicos lock horns in the fight for marriage. (1049 Films)

They Call Us Monsters takes viewers behind the walls of the Compound, the facility where Los Angeles houses its most violent juvenile criminals. To their advocates, they’re kids. To the system, they’re adults. To their victims, they’re monsters.

Distant Constellation introduces us to the colorful residents of a Turkish retirement home, a community made up of pranksters, historians, artists and would-be Casanovas.

On August 29, 2021, a nationally televised high school football game between top-ranked IMG Academy and unknown Bishop Sycamore High School ended with multiple injuries on the field and a 58-0 blowout win for IMG Academy. The fiasco ignited a media circus as fans and audiences questioned the legitimacy of the Bishop Sycamore program and its head coach, Roy Johnson. Revealing one of the most intriguing sagas in the world of high school sports in years, BS High explores the lucrative and cut-throat world of football prep programs, where careers and reputations can be made, and the dreams and well-being of young athletes hang in the balance. With unparalleled access to Johnson, BS High tracks the origins of a fabricated high school that grew from the determined imagination of a self-described “honest liar,” a man with an inimitable storytelling style but with a lack of academic credentials and seemingly no football coaching experience. At turns charmingly avuncular and menacingly unrepentant, Johnson’s pursuit of the spotlight stands in contrast to the stories of the many lives he impacted, as he dashed the hopes of his teenage wards, left their reputations in ruins, and swindled their families. BS High shines a light on the intense competition for football glory, the lack of accountability for wide scale fraud, and the devastation that one man’s pathology can leave in its wake.

In the secluded ambiance of hotel rooms, Dario Argento crafted his greatest cinematic creations, seeking solace from the outside world to delve into his nightmares. Now, he finds himself in a hotel room to return to the very setting that ignited his creative fervor to conclude his latest script and participate in an intimate interview, all while being followed by a film crew documenting his life for a movie about his illustrious career.

This documentary offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade. (Lily Films)

This documentary we looks deep inside the world of one of the most prolific, talented, and outrageous New York theater artists of the last two decades, beloved playwright, actor, novelist, drag artist, and leading lady, Charles Busch. (Two Lions Productions)

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)

Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation explores the cultural and political impact of some of the greatest singer-songwriters of the 60s and 70s.

In the mid-1970s, Twisted Sister claimed glitter rock for their own, cross-dressing their way to headlining every club within 100 miles of New York City, from New Jersey bowling alleys to Long Island beach bars. With gigs six nights a week, they were the most successful live bar band of suburban New York, selling out 5,000-seat shows fueled by their no-holds-barred stage presence and aggressive metal setlists. But by the early ‘80s, they found themselves balancing on a double-edged sword, hugely popular with local audiences but without a national following – or a record deal – to speak of. When Twisted Sister finally got their big break in 1983, they’d go on to become one of the biggest glam rock bands of the decade, their over-the-top live shows drawing sell-out crowds and their music videos defining an early MTV network. To anyone who knew the hard-fought battle they’d won to get there, the band that killed disco was no overnight success. [Music Box Films]

From Taylor Swift, the Kardashians, and the Menendez brothers – to presidents, world leaders, the famous and the infamous – everybody talked to Barbara Walters! Now, experience the raw and deeply personal new documentary on her incredible life.

A cinematic essay in defense of remembering, The Royal Road offers up a primer on the Spanish colonization of California and the Mexican American War alongside intimate reflections on nostalgia, butch identity, the pursuit of unavailable women and Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo - all against a contemplative backdrop of 16mm urban California landscapes, and featuring a voiceover cameo by Tony Kushner.

Spinning Plates is a documentary about three extraordinary restaurants and the incredible people who make them what they are. A cutting-edge restaurant named the seventh-best in the world whose chef must battle a life-threatening obstacle to pursue his passion. A 150-year-old family restaurant still standing only because of the unbreakable bond with its community. A fledgling Mexican restaurant whose owners are risking everything just to survive and provide for their young daughter. Their unforgettable stories of family, legacy, passion and survival come together to reveal how meaningful food can be, and the power it has to connect us to one another.

In December 2005, Daniel McGowan was arrested by Federal agents in a nationwide sweep of radical environmentalists involved with the Earth Liberation Front-- a group the FBI has called America’s “number one domestic terrorism threat.” For years, the ELF—operating in separate anonymous cells without any central leadership—had launched spectacular arsons against dozens of businesses they accused of destroying the environment: timber companies, SUV dealerships, wild horse slaughterhouses, and a $12 million ski lodge at Vail, Colorado. With the arrest of Daniel and thirteen others, the government had cracked what was probably the largest ELF cell in America and brought down the group responsible for the very first ELF arsons in this country. If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front tells the remarkable story of the rise and fall of this ELF cell, by focusing on the transformation and radicalization of one of its members. Part coming-of-age tale, part cops-and-robbers thriller, the film interweaves a verite chronicle of Daniel on house arrest as he faces life in prison, with a dramatic recounting of the events that led to his involvement with the group. And along the way it asks hard questions about environmentalism, activism, and the way we define terrorism. Drawing from striking archival footage -- much of it never before seen -- and intimate interviews with ELF members, and with the prosecutor and detective who were chasing them, If a Tree Falls explores the tumultuous period from 1995 until early 2001 when environmentalists were clashing with timber companies and law enforcement, and the word “terrorism” had not yet been altered by 9/11. (Oscilloscope Laboratories)

This documentary examines America's tumultuous electoral process through the eyes of diverse politicians, activists, and voters. (IFC Films)

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

In 1968 a young college drop-out named George A. Romero directed Night of the Living Dead, a low budget horror film that shocked the world, became an icon of the counterculture, and spawned a zombie industry worth billions of dollars that continues to this day. Birth of the Living Dead shows how Romero gathered an unlikely team of Pittsburghers -- policemen, iron workers, teachers, ad-men, housewives and a roller-rink owner -- to shoot a revolutionary guerrilla style film that went on to become a cinematic landmark, offering a profound insight into how our society worked in a singular time in American history. [First Run Features]

This documentary chronicles the creation of the extraordinary outdoor production of Puccini's opera "Turandot" in the Forbidden City of Beijing.

This film documents the life and times of Howard Zinn, the historian, activist and author of the best selling classic A People's History of the United States. (First Run Features)

Documentary on filmmaking in Iran since the 1979 revolution.

Favela Rising documents a man and a movement, a city divided and a favela (Brazilian squatter settlement) united. Haunted by the murders of his family and many of his friends, Anderson Sá is a former drug-trafficker who turns social revolutionary in Rio de Janeiro’s most feared slum. Through hip-hop music, the rhythms of the street, and Afro-Brazilian dance he rallies his community to counteract the violent oppression enforced by teenage drug armies and sustained by corrupt police. (ThinkFilm)

This documentary explores the treatment of prisoners under the East German Secret Police.

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)

Charlie Victor Romeo is a performance documentary derived entirely from the "Black Box" transcripts of six major real-life airline emergencies.

Altina Schinasi (1907 - 1999) was a paradox. Simultaneously seductive and reserved, her sheltered upbringing was in sharp contrast to the bold sexuality of her artwork, and she created a fashion sensation in the 1930s with her design for Harlequin eyeglasses. Altina is an affecting, provocative, and richly informative documentary about an American trendsetter-a woman before her time.

Smiling Through the Apocalypse - Esquire in the Sixties traces the life of legendary Esquire Magazine Editor Harold Hayes. Twenty-five years after his father's passing, Hayes’ son Tom takes the viewer on a journey to understand how his father’s magazine became a galvanizing force in American culture, and the voice of an era.

In 1944, Soviet forces occupied Lithuania for a second time in less than five years. This time the youth of the nation chose to fight back and formed a guerrilla army of partisans called the Forest Brothers. Among them was a charismatic leader named Juozas Luksa who joined the resistance with his three brothers. Having realized that the pen was mightier than the sword Luksa risked his life to escape to Paris in 1948 to spread the word of the partisan struggle. In Paris, Luksa quickly joined up with Western intelligence agencies, wrote a memoir and met the love of his life: Nijole. Shortly after their wedding, Luksa, was air-dropped back into Soviet Lithuania by the CIA to help liberate his country. The Invisible Front tells the story of Lithuanian resistance, Luksa and Nijole through the use of Luksa’s writings and his love letters to Nijole.

Drone is a documentary about the covert CIA drone war. Through voices on both sides of this new technology, Drone reveals crucial information about the drone war in Pakistan and offers unique insights into the nature of drone warfare.

What happens when the world’s most acclaimed restaurant picks up and moves halfway across the world? Named for just one of the many surprising dishes that René Redzepi serves at his esteemed Copenhagen foodie destination Noma (named “World’s Best Restaurant” in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014), Ants on a Shrimp follows the superstar chef and his team as they relocate to Japan to set up a five-week pop-up in Tokyo. But creating an all-new, fourteen-course menu foraged from local sources in an unfamiliar country presents unforeseen challenges–and may be a make-or-break moment for the risk-taking Redzepi’s career. This cross-cultural culinary odyssey is both a behind-the-scenes look at a food world visionary and a mouthwatering showcase for some of the most adventurous cuisine on the planet. [IFC Films]

The subversive masterpieces of Russian-Ukrainian writer Isaac Babel challenged the reality of life under rising totalitarianism, and led to his arrest and execution in 1940. In Finding Babel, Andrei Malaev-Babel confronts complex traces of a turbulent history that echo in his grandfather's writing and in the conflicts of today's Ukraine and Russia. Babel's fiction is woven into Andrei's search with ethereal animation that puts the viewer, like Babel's readers, between fantasy and reality.

A look at the life and work of Italian cinematographer, Carlo di Palma.

Home to the nation's largest Latino immigrant population, East Los Angeles sits squarely in the crossfire of debate about American identity. Yet every November, this community comes together for a distinctly American event, drawing 25,000 proud locals to one of the country's fiercest high school football rivalry games: The East L.A. Classic. The All-Americans follows four students seeking glory on the field, while grappling with personal obstacles and striving to make sense of their community's place in today's America.

Paul J. Adams III landed a job as guidance counselor at Providence St. Mel, an all-black parochial school on Chicago’s notorious drug-ridden, gang-ruled West Side. A year after his arrival, Adams became principal and set an important goal: To turn Providence St. Mel into a first rank college preparatory school, and its African-American student body into a corps of driven, disciplined, high achieving students. That was over 30 years ago. Since then, 100% of Providence St. Mel graduates have been accepted to college, half of them to first tier and Ivy League colleges and universities. The road from failing inner city school to a pre-K-through-12 educational system that produces graduates who attend Ivy League colleges and universities was not a smooth one. The Providence Effect traces the school’s development from a struggling shoe-string budget dream into a school and a method of teaching that produces not only inspired students, but parents, teachers and administrators dedicated to settling for nothing less than the highest expectations. (Slowhand Cinema Releasing)

Award-winning singer/songwriter Harry Chapin (“Taxi” and “Cats in the Cradle”) spent his fame and fortune chasing a dream to end world hunger and poverty, and in the process inspired, changed, and saved the lives of millions of people.

Under the loving but firm guidance of an old fan turned director and cultural diplomat and to the surprise of a whole world, the ex-Yugoslavian cult band Laibach becomes the first foreign rock group ever to perform in the fortress state of North Korea. Confronting strict ideology and cultural differences, the band struggles to get their songs through the needle's eye of censorship before they can be unleashed on an audience never before exposed to alternative rock'n'roll. Meanwhile, propaganda loudspeakers are being set up at the border between the two Koreas and a countdown to war is announced. The hills are alive...with the sound of music.

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)

Documentary producer/director Joseph Lovett focuses his lens on the unbridled sexual passion and exploration that marked the twelve years from Stonewall (1969) to the first reported cases of AIDS (1981). (Lovett Productions)

Al Pacino takes us on a journey as he unravels and re-interprets Oscar Wilde's once banned and most controversial work Salomé, a scintillating tale of lust, greed and one woman's scorn.

This is a tribute to an artist whose songs told the story of Italy at a time of rapid social and cultural change. Thanks to the testimony of the singer's manager and friend Tobia Righi, and an effective and original use of archive material, Pietro Marcello retraces the life of Lucio Dalla, making him a spotlight through which Marcello sheds light on a country that rose from the ruins of the Second World War to sever its roots with peasant culture and move towards a future of factories, consumerism and mass car production. Not handsome or dashing like the other singers of his generation, Lucio Dalla embodied a different role model that was closer to ordinary people. For here was an artist capable of transposing the poetry of Roversi, who provided the lyrics for some of Dalla's most beautiful songs, into a musical arrangement that spoke to everyone. The director of Martin Eden returns to the documentary form with a film that pays tribute not only to a great singer but also to a notion of a people that has vanished with him.

Kenny Chesney, the biggest ticket-seller of this century in any musical genre, has wrapped his latest concert tour, the Sun City Carnival. This spring, Sony Pictures Releasing's special programming division, The Hot Ticket, will take audiences for another ride. For a limited engagement beginning in April 2010 in movie theaters nationwide, Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D, will give fans the chance to live the fun, the friends, the songs and the moments that make Kenny Chesney the must-see concert experience to kickoff the summer season. (Sony Pictures)

A filmmaker puts out a casting call for young adults, aged 15 to 23. The director wants to make a film about growing up in her home country, Georgia, and find commonalities across social and ethnic lines. She travels through cities and villages interviewing the candidates who responded and filming their daily lives. The boys and girls who responded to the call are radically different from one another, as are their personal reasons for auditioning. Some want be movie stars and see the film as a means to that end; others want to tell their personal story. One girl wants to call to account the mother who abandoned her; one boy wants to share the experience of caring for his handicapped family members; another wants to clear the name of a brother, currently serving a jail sentence. Together, their tales weave a kaleidoscopic tapestry of war, love, wealth and poverty, creating an extraordinarily complex vision of a modern society that still echoes with its Soviet past.

Maybe it took somebody with no investment in the sexual-culture wars of the 1980s, like 24-year-old filmmaker Daryl Wein, to rediscover a lightning-rod figure like safe-sex pioneer Richard Berkowitz and present him without prejudice. A one-time S/M hustler, Berkowitz and his friend Michael Callen, supported by controversial AIDS researcher Joseph Sonnabend, began urging gay men to avoid unprotected sex as early as 1982 -- and were treated as pariahs by the mainstream gay community. Berkowitz is a fascinating, prickly, decidedly unsaintly character, and Wein's film provides a fascinating and crucial slice of traumatic sexual history that's all but invisible to younger generations. (Regent Releasing)

When conductor Gustavo Dudamel’s international tours are disrupted by deadly protests across his native Venezuela, one of the world’s greatest and most beloved musicians faces the challenge of a lifetime —one that will deepen his commitment to the mentor who changed his life, upend relationships with friends and musicians he’s led since his teens, and test his belief in art’s transformative capacity.

Giancarlo Granda, former pool attendant at the Fontainebleau Hotel, shares the intimate details of his 7-year relationship with a charming older woman, Becki Falwell, and her husband, the Evangelical Trump stalwart Jerry Falwell Jr.

Throw Down Your Heart follows American banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck on his journey to Africa to explore the little known African roots of the banjo and record an album. It’s a boundary-breaking musical adventure that celebrates the beauty and complexity of Africa – an Africa that is very different from what is often seen in the media today. (Argot Pictures)

Mr. Touchable is the true-life story of Harlem's notorious Nicky Barnes, a junkie turned multimillionaire drug lord, which takes its audience deep inside the heroin industry of the 1970s. The most powerful black drug kingpin in New York City history, Barnes came from humble beginnings to make himself and his comrades rich beyond their wildest dreams, ultimately reaching national infamy in 1977 when the New York Times put him on the front cover of its magazine with the headline "Mr. Untouchable." Soon after, it all came crumbling down, and facing a life sentence without parole, Barnes started naming names. With the firsthand testimony from "the black Godfather" himself, this documentary tells an epic story of business, excess, greed, and revenge. (Magnolia)

In an invisible territory at the margins of society lives a wounded community who face the threat of being forgotten by political institutions and having their rights as citizens trampled. Disarmed veterans, taciturn adolescents, drug addicts trying to escape addiction through love; ex-special forces soldiers still at war with the world; floundering young women and future mothers; and old people who have not lost their desire to live. Through this hidden pocket of humanity, renowned documentarian Roberto Minervini opens a window to the abyss of today's America. [Film Movement]

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)

At a time when American teens lag far behind other countries in math and science, WHIZ KIDS is a coming-of-age documentary that tells the story of three remarkably different yet equally passionate 17-year-old scientists who vie to compete in the nation's oldest, most prestigious science competition. Win or lose, these ‘whiz kids’ raise questions about class, courage, personal sacrifice, success and failure, and in the process, learn as much about themselves as they do about science. (Shadow Distribution)

A World Not Ours is an intimate, humorous, portrait of three generations of exile in the refugee camp of Ain el-Helweh, in southern Lebanon. Based on a wealth of personal recordings, family archives, and historical footage, the film is a sensitive and illuminating study of belonging, friendship, and family. Filmed over more than 20 years by multiple generations of the same family, it is more than just a family portrait; it is an attempt to record what is being forgotten, and mark what should not be erased from collective memory.

The Speed Sisters are the first all-woman race car driving team in the Middle East. Grabbing headlines and turning heads at improvised tracks across the West Bank, these five women have sped their way into the heart of the gritty, male-dominated Palestinian street car-racing scene.

Zanskar is the last remaining original Tibetan Buddhist society with a continuous untainted lineage dating back thousands of years. In nearby Tibet and Ladakh, in Sikkim, Bhutan, and Nepal, traditional Tibetan Buddhist culture is either dead already or dying. The horror of Chinese government design in Tibet is being matched by the destruction of global economics elsewhere. Zanskar, ringed by high Himalayan mountains in northwest India, one of the most remote places on the planet, has been safe until now. But that’s changing. In 3-5 years a road connecting Padum, the heart of Zanskar, with Leh, the heart of neighboring Ladakh, will be finished. The route which previously took up to two days by car will take only 4-5 hours. As economic growth descends on Zanskar it will bring with it an end to this unbroken Buddhist social tradition. Will the native language, culture, and religious practice be able to survive? (Warrior Films)

My Brooklyn is a documentary about Director Kelly Anderson’s personal journey, as a Brooklyn “gentrifier,” to understand the forces reshaping her neighborhood along lines of race and class.

In a country where eligible men greatly outnumber women, three perpetual bachelors join an intensive seven-day dating camp led by one of China’s most sought-after dating coaches in what may be their last-ditch effort to find love.

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

Mark and Erik have been together for ten years, and they've decided it's time to have kids. But they don't want to adopt. Is there a woman out there willing to serve as a surrogate mother and help them realize their dream? Paternal Instinct chronicles two years in the life of these New Yorkers on their journey to become fathers. (HBO/Cinemax)

This documentary is the true, astonishing story of what King Leopold II did in the Congo. (ArtMattan Productions)

The drug war casts a dark shadow on the lives of a Mexican nun, a U.S. Federal agent and a former drug smuggler who wrestle with the far-reaching repercussions on both sides of the border. [Participant Media]

Scott Walker: 30 Century Man is the new documentary feature about one of the most influential and enigmatic figures in rock history. Director Steven Kijak explores Walker's music and career, from his early days as a jobbing bass player on the Sunset Strip, to heartthrob mega-stardom in Britain’s swinging 60’s pop scene, and finally to his transformation into a composer of true genius; an uncompromising musician working at the peak of his powers who has hidden from fame. The filmmakers were granted unprecedented access to Scott and his musical process, the first time the famously reclusive artist has allowed this level of contact with a film crew in over 20 years. (Plexifilm)

Ever since Venus and Serena Williams started playing in tennis tournaments, they've provoked strong reactions - from awe and admiration to suspicion and resentment. They've been winning championships for over a decade, pushing the limits of longevity in such a demanding sport. How long can they last? In Venus & Serena, we gain unprecedented access into their lives during the most intimidating year of their career. Over the course of 2011, Venus grappled with an energy-sapping autoimmune disease while Serena battled back from a life-threatening pulmonary embolism. Neither Venus nor Serena let their adversities hold them back. They drew their greatest strength from each other. [Magnolia Pictures]

Switzerland is presently the only country in the world where suicide assistance is legal. Exit: The Right to Die profiles that nation's EXIT organization, which for over twenty years has provided volunteers who counsel and accompany the terminally-ill and severely handicapped towards a death of their choice. (First Run / Icarus Films)