Women share their innermost secrets and intimate experiences inside an Estonian smoke sauna. Cleansing their bodies and baring their souls, they embrace the healing power of sisterhood.

To Rock or Stock? Sneakerheads will do almost anything to get their hands on a unique pair of kicks, going to such extreme lengths as hiding in trash cans to score a pair of Retro Jordan 11s to camping for days in sub zero temperatures for the latest Nike Foamposites. How did sneakers become as prized as collectable art? From the shores of Cali to the congested streets of Tokyo, Sneakerheadz examines the cultural influence of sneaker collecting around the world and delves into a subculture whose proud members don’t just want to admire art, they want to wear it.

A feature film documentary about the history, culture and lifestyle of snowboarding. (Red Sky Pictures)

Half a century into their marriage, Chicago artists Jackie and Don Seiden approach the fragility of their elderly lives in their own distinct ways. Jackie, notorious for her unbound energy, is constantly on the move, inspired to create works of art while also maintaining the couple’s multistory, eccentric Victorian house. Don steadily sketches in his notebook while facing alarming interruptions to his health. Filmmaker Daniel Hymanson immersed himself with the Seidens, on-and-off for five years, capturing the hardships of aging as well as a view into enduring companionship, in this charming character study.

A black-humored cliffhanger of romance, guerrilla science and the redefinition of time, So Much So Fast unfolds like a nonfiction novel. Stephen Heywood finds out he has ALS. His brother Jamie becomes obsessed with finding a cure. And the woman who's falling in love with Stephen has a decision to make. (Balcony Releasing)

Soaked in Bleach reveals the events behind Kurt Cobain's death as seen through the eyes of Tom Grant, the private investigator that was hired by Courtney Love in 1994 to track down her missing husband only days before his deceased body was found at their Seattle home. Cobain's death was ruled a suicide by the police (a reported self-inflicted gunshot wound), but doubts have circulated for twenty years as to the legitimacy of this ruling, especially due to the work of Mr. Grant, a former L.A. County Sheriff's detective, who did his own investigation and determined there was significant empirical and circumstantial evidence to conclude that foul play could very well have occurred. The film develops as a narrative mystery with cinematic re-creations, interviews with key experts and witnesses and the examination of official artifacts from the 1994 case. [Emerging Pictures]

The full title of this film (Sobibor, Oct. 14, 1943, 4 p.m.) refers to the place, month, day, year and hour of the only successful uprising in a Nazi extermination camp.

Technology wizards have masterminded a new form of capitalism, and humanity is now the raw resource feeding the machine. Powerful, hidden artificial intelligence tasked with hijacking our attention is tearing apart social norms, jeopardizing truth and democracy, and putting civilization on a programmed path toward self-destruction. Set in the dark underbelly of Silicon Valley, The Social Dilemma fuses investigative documentary with enlightening narrative drama—think An Inconvenient Truth meets The Matrix. Expert testimony from tech whistle-blowers exposes our disturbing predicament: the services Big Tech provides—search engines, networks, instant information, et cetera—are merely the candy that lures us to bite. Once we’re hooked and coming back for more, the real commodity they sell is their prowess to influence and manipulate us.

Political activist Boniface "Softie" Mwangi runs for office in a regional Kenyan election, which puts pressure on his young family and his convictions.

Notoriously camera-shy, Sol Lewitt refused awards and rarely granted interviews, yet in Chris Teerink’s sensitive cinematic portrait, the pioneering conceptual American artist comes alive. [Icarus Films]

Behind the gates of a palm tree-lined fantasyland, four residents of America's largest retirement community, The Villages, FL, strive to find solace and meaning.

11-year-old Yula lives in one of the most desolate places on Earth: the Svalka, the biggest junkyard in Europe, 20 km outside the center of Moscow. Surrounded by barbed wire and guards, the area is closely monitored to keep intruders out. But in the junkyard lives a group of people in a small, lawless society. These people make up Yula’s closest family; here she lives her life, and from here her future springs.

Ice-T takes us on an intimate journey into the heart and soul of hip-hop with the legends of rap music. This performance documentary goes beyond the stardom and the bling, to explore what goes on inside the minds, and erupts from the lips, of the grandmasters of rap. Recognized as the godfather of Gangsta rap, Ice-T is granted unparalleled access to the personal lives of the masters of this artform that he credits for saving his life. Interspersed with the performer’s insightful, touching, and often funny revelations are classic raps, freestyle rhymes, and never before heard a cappellas straight from the mouths of the creators. What emerges is a better understanding of, and a tribute to, an original American art form that brought poetry to a new generation. (Indomina Releasing)

This documentary profiles the legendary Crispus Attucks Tigers with first hand accounts from players, coaches, and community members.

Of the roughly 80,000 girls who have been adopted from China since 1989—a decade after China implemented its One Child Policy—the film intimately follows four teenagers: Haley, Jenna, Ann, and Fang. These four wise-beyond-their-years, yet typical American teens, reveal a heartbreaking sense of self-awareness as they attempt to answer the uniquely human question, “Who am I?” They meet and bond with other adoptees, some journey back to China to reconnect with the culture, and some reach out to the orphaned girls left behind. In their own ways, all attempt to make sense of their complex identities. Issues of belonging, race, and gender are brought to life through these articulate subjects, who approach life with honesty and open hearts. (Ladylike Films)

Four sommeliers attempt to pass the prestigious Master Sommelier exam, a test with one of the lowest pass rates in the world.

As a young man, American Louis Sarno heard a song on the radio that gripped his imagination. He followed the mysterious sounds all the way to the Central African rainforest and found their source with the Bayaka Pygmies, a tribe of hunters and gatherers. He never left. Today, twenty-five years later, Louis Sarno has recorded more than 1,000 hours of unique Bayaka music. He is a fully accepted member of the Bayaka society and has a 13-year-old son, Samedi. Once, when Samedi was a baby, he became seriously ill and Louis feared for his life. He held his son in his arms through a frightful night and made him a promise: “If you get through this, one day I’ll show you the world I come from.” Now the time has come to fulfill his promise, and Louis travels with Samedi from the African rainforest to another jungle, one of concrete, glass, and asphalt: New York City. Together, they meet Louis’ family and old friends, including his closest friend from college, Jim Jarmusch. Carried by the contrasts between rainforest and urban America, with a fascinating soundtrack and peaceful, loving imagery, Louis‘ and Samedi‘s stories are interwoven to form a touching portrait of an extraordinary man and his son.

Song of Lahore follows Sachal Studios musicians from their hometown in Pakistan to New York City as they rehearse and take the stage for a truly moving concert performance with The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, after receiving a personal invitation to perform from Wynton Marsalis. [Broad Green Pictures]

A documentary of a Led Zeppelin tour mixed with live concert footage, a unique fantasy, and interviews with the band members. And yes, there's some violin bow mixed in.

A majestic visual symphony for the big screen. The filmmaker’s father is our guide, bringing us through Norway’s most scenic valley. He grew up where generations have lived alongside nature to survive. The sounds of the earth harmonize in this breathtaking journey.

Songwriter is an intimate and personal look into the writing process of one of the world’s leading artists – Ed Sheeran. Songwriter details the creation of Ed’s third studio album Divide and gives an authentic insight into Ed’s life through never before seen home videos. Witness firsthand the creativity, from the very first chord to the finishing touch – as the sounds become the songs. [Abramorama]

Mardi Gras, drag balls and politics–where else could these elements come together but in New Orleans? Interweaving archival footage and contemporary interviews, The Sons of Tennessee Williams charts the evolution of the gay Mardi Gras krewe scene over the decades, illuminating the ways in which its emergence was a seminal factor in the cause of gay liberation in the South. (First Run Features)

In 2017, The New York Times published an article in which five women accused comedian Louis C.K. of sexual harassment. Nine months later, he returned to the stage and went on to win a Grammy in 2021. Sorry/Not Sorry examines the cultural fixation with Louis C.K. and his comeback while revealing the backlash faced by the women who spoke up about his behavior.

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

Relive the music, fashion, and spirit of the 1980s via the incredible saga of the rise, fall, and comeback of New Wave legends Spandau Ballet. From the streets of working class London to the top of the pop charts, Spandau Ballet conquered the airwaves in the 80s with international hits like “True” and “Gold.” But the behind-the-scenes story was just as compelling, as the band overcame ego clashes and a bitter breakup to reunite triumphantly for their current tour. Featuring never-before-seen home movies, archival footage, and interviews with the band, Soul Boys of the Western World is a captivating chronicle of the rollercoaster ride of fame and an awesomely retro time capsule of the sounds and styles of an unforgettable decade. [IFC Films]

From deep behind enemy lines, a hidden chapter of American military history is uncovered, prompting the question of whether reckoning with the past can bring peace to those who lived it. The Vietnam War’s first Black special operations team reunites to tell their story.

In 1974, the most celebrated American R&B acts of the time came together with the most renowned musical groups in Africa for a 12-hour, three-night long concert held in Kinshasa, Zaire. The dream-child of Hugh Masekela and Stewart Levine, this music festival became a reality when they convinced boxing promoter Don King to combine the event with “The Rumble in the Jungle,” the epic fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, previously chronicled in the Academy Award-winning documentary When We Were Kings. (Sony Classics)

Takes viewers inside the seldom seen world of the deaf to witness a painful family struggle over a controversial medical technology called the cochlear implant. (Next Wave Films)

Dave Grohl directs this documentary about the legendary, but now defunct, analog recording studio in Van Nuys, California.

The late jazz saxophonist Frank Morgan's tale of redemption from drug addict, conman and convict to beloved elder statesman of jazz

Soundtrack for a Revolution tells the story of the American civil rights movement through its powerful music -the freedom songs protesters sang on picket lines, in mass meetings, in paddy wagons, and in jail cells as they fought for justice and equality. (Louverture Films)

In 1960, United Nations: the Global South ignites a political earthquake, musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach crash the Security Council, Nikita Khrushchev bangs his shoe denouncing America’s color bar, while the U.S. dispatches jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to the Congo to deflect attention from its first African post-colonial coup.

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

The Source Family were the darlings of the Sunset Strip until their communal living, outsider ideals and spiritual leader, Father Yod's 13 wives became an issue with local authorities. They fled to Hawaii, leading to their dramatic demise.

In January 2009, Oliver Stone travelled to Venezuela to interview President Hugo Chavez, and examine the way Chavez has been portrayed in the U.S. media. Was Chavez really the “anti-American” force the media claimed he was? Once the journey began, however, Stone and his crew found themselves going beyond Venezuela to several other countries, and interviewing seven Presidents in the region, telling a larger and even more compelling story. In casual conversation, Stone sits down with Presidents Chavez, Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and ex-President Nestor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raul Castro (Cuba). (Good Apple Productions)

Against the backdrop of rural Georgia, this documentary is a portrait of Robert Eads, a transgender female-to-male dealing with ovarian cancer.

A documentary about 19-year-old Irish boxer Francis Barrett who as a member of the "Travellers" a small, rootless, and often poor subclass of caravaners derisively known as "Irish Gypsies," is determined to gain respect for himself and his family by training and representing Ireland in the 1996 Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta.

After being wrongfully convicted of gang-raping two little girls during the Satanic Panic witchhunt era of the 80s and 90s, four Latina lesbians fight against mythology, homophobia, and prosecutorial fervor in their struggle for exoneration in this riveting true crime tale.

Laika, a stray dog picked up by the Soviet space program on the streets of Moscow, became the first living being to orbit the earth when she was launched into space on Sputnik 2. Although Laika would not survive the journey, directors Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter trace the persistence of her memory and legacy into the present day. As the capsule containing Laika re-entered Earth’s orbit and began to burn up, the narrator announces “What had been a Moscow street dog had become a ghost.” The ghost Laika lives on in the present-day strays of Space Dogs. Photographed at ground level with wandering, hypnotic camera movements, the strays are seen navigating the urban environs of modern Moscow. In hewing closely to the dog’s point of view, the city is rendered as a strange, alien environment. Pulsating music from buildings and unidentified passerby take on an unfamiliar quality as the dogs explore this strange new world. [Icarus Films]

In A Space Program, internationally acclaimed artist Tom Sachs takes us on an intricately handmade journey to the red planet, providing audiences with an intimate, first person look into his studio and methods. The film is both a piece of art in its own right and a recording of Sachs’ historic piece, Space Program 2.0: MARS, which opened at New York’s Park Avenue Armory in 2012. For Space Program 2.0: MARS, Sachs and his team built an entire space program from scratch. They were guided by the philosophy of bricolage: creating and constructing from available yet limited resources. They ultimately sent two female astronauts to Mars in search of the answer to humankind’s ultimate question... are we alone? [Zeitgeist Films]

The Space Race weaves together the stories of Black astronauts seeking to break the bonds of social injustice to reach for the stars

In this first-ever IMAX 3D space film, audiences will travel 220 miles above Earth at 17,500 mph to experience the making of the International Space Station -- the greatest engineering feat since landing a man on the Moon. (IMAX Corporation)

Spaceship Earth is the true, stranger-than-fiction, adventure of eight visionaries who in 1991 spent two years quarantined inside of a self-engineered replica of Earth’s ecosystem called BIOSPHERE 2. The experiment was a worldwide phenomenon, chronicling daily existence in the face of life threatening ecological disaster and a growing criticism that it was nothing more than a cult. The bizarre story is both a cautionary tale and a hopeful lesson of how a small group of dreamers can potentially reimagine anew world. [Neon]

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

How can one rock band be successful, underrated, hugely influential, and criminally overlooked all at the same time? Edgar Wright’s debut documentary The Sparks Brothers, which features commentary from celebrity fans Flea, Jane Wiedlin, Beck, Jack Antonoff, Jason Schwartzman, Neil Gaiman, and more, takes audiences on a musical odyssey through five weird and wonderful decades with brothers/bandmates Ron and Russell Mael celebrating the inspiring legacy of Sparks: your favorite band’s favorite band.

Paola di Florio's documentary focuses on her childhood friend and premiere violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg's performing style and volatile personality from her traumatic childhood through her rise to stardom.

Eyal Silvan's documentary of the 1961 trial of former SS official Adolf Eichmann, cut from 350 hours of footage, details how three Isreali judges had to determine over the course of eight months the extent to which Eichmann (known as the "specialist" for his transportation of the Reich's Jewish population) could be held legally responsible for the deaths of millions.

Modern farms are struggling to keep a secret. Most of the animals used for food in the United States are raised in giant, bizarre factories, hidden deep in remote areas of the countryside. Speciesism: The Movie director Mark Devries set out to investigate. The documentary takes viewers on a sometimes funny, sometimes frightening adventure, crawling through the bushes that hide these factories, flying in airplanes above their toxic manure lagoons, and coming face-to-face with their owners. But this is just the beginning. In 1975, a young writer published a book arguing that no justifications exist for considering humans more important than members of other species. It slowly began to gain attention. Today, a quickly growing number of prominent individuals and political activists are adopting its conclusions. They have termed the assumption of human superiority speciesism. And, as a result, they rank these animal factories among the greatest evils in our history. Speciesism: The Movie brings viewers face-to-face with the leaders of this developing movement, and, for the first time ever on film, fully examines the purpose of what they are setting out to do.

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.

How did a man in charge of 12 million slaves become "the good Nazi"? A cautionary tale about Albert Speer's 1971 attempt to whitewash his past with a Hollywood adaptation of his bestselling wartime memoir, "Inside the Third Reich".

A Spell to Ward off the Darkness follows an unnamed character through three disparate moments in his life: as one member of a 15-person collective on a small Estonian island, alone in the wilderness of Northern Finland, and as the singer and guitarist of a black metal band in Norway.

This documentary presents the intense, true-life experience of the National Spelling Bee as seen through the eyes of eight driven, young spellers. (ThinkFilm)

Spelling the Dream explores the near two decade trend of Indian American students dominating the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Since 1999, 19 out of the 23 winners have been of South-Asian descent, including the last 11 in a row. Over the course of a year leading up to the 2017 Scripps Bee, "Breaking the Bee" follows four Indian-American children of different ages to learn about their family life, witness them train, explore the ups and downs of chasing a dream, and offer a candid look at what it really takes to become the best. These students are not against each other. They are against the dictionary. Come the national finals, who will be the winner standing on stage as confetti rains down, and how long will this trend last?

Once upon a time, villagers in a tiny hill town in Tuscany came up with a remarkable way to confront their issues: they turned their lives into a play. Every summer, their piazza became their stage and residents of all ages played a part – the role of themselves. Monticchiello’s annual tradition has attracted worldwide attention and kept the town together for 50 years, but with an aging population and a future generation more interested in Facebook than farming, the town’s 50th–anniversary performance just might be its last. Spettacolo tells the story of Teatro Povero di Monticchiello, interweaving episodes from its past with its modern-day process as the villagers turn a series of devastating blows into a new play about the end of their world. [Grasshopper Film]

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.

Over the last two decades, a rise in physical attacks and verbal assaults on Jews has been recorded in many countries across Europe. At the same time an increasingly fractured world has exposed deep political, social, and racial division, especially in France. Spiral is the story of how a cycle of fear, hatred, and violence has taken hold. In portraying the resurgence of anti-Semitism in France and in the wider world, the film trains its gaze on individuals, witnesses on all sides of the conflicts that have fueled this escalation. [Cohen Media Group]

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)

What does it mean for our collective future when we are too divided to address the challenges we face as a nation? SPLIT: A Deeper Divide is the riveting investigation into the partisanship paralyzing our politics, going beyond the bitter rancor to reveal the truth of why our country is more polarized and our politics more gridlocked than at any other time in recent memory. Through unparalleled access to the most insightful and recognizable names analyzing politics and society, the documentary unpacks the partisan wedges that have been driven ever deeper into our national fabric and the devastating impact these have had on our democracy. The film moves beyond the headlines of conservatives vs. liberals to the deeper questions of why: Why have we become two Americas? What are the forces - social, cultural, economic, political - that divide our nation so deeply? (Feature Presentations Releasing)

Fifteen years after the Tony-winning Broadway run of Spring Awakening, the original cast and creative team reunite for a spectacular, one-night only reunion concert to benefit The Actors Fund. Chronicling their whirlwind journey back to the stage, the film follows the players as they reconnect and rediscover the beauty and timelessness of the hit musical.

Fifty years ago, at the height of the Cold War, the USSR launched Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit Earth, bringing America to its knees in awe--then fear. Initially thrilling as a marvel of science, Sputnik was soon viewed by America as a weapon of mass destruction. Narrated by Liev Schreiber with expert use of archival footage, Sputnik Mania explores the fast-moving series of events that brought the world's superpowers to the brink of nuclear war and tells the story of two ex-generals whose private agreement prevented World War III. (Balcony Releasing)

In this first ever feature-length documentary about the enigmatic Morris "Moe" Berg, award-winning filmmaker Aviva Kempner again focuses her camera on a little-known Jewish hero. From the streets of Newark to five major league teams during baseball's Golden Age to his secret life spying for the OSS during WWII, Berg's improbable story is told with rare historical footage and revealing interviews with family and an All-Star roster from the worlds of history, sports and spycraft.

A group of Egyptian revolutionaries battle leaders and regimes, risking their lives to build a new society of conscience.

In 1979, the US Customs Service reported that 87% of all marijuana seizures in the US were made in the South Florida area. Due to the region's 5,000 miles of coast and coastal waterways and close proximity to the Caribbean and Latin America, South Florida was a pot smuggler's paradise. In sharp contrast to the brazenly violent cocaine cowboys of the 1980's, Miami's marijuana smugglers were cooler, calmer, and for the most part, nonviolent. Square Grouper paints a vivid portrait of Miami's pot smuggling culture in the 1970s and 1980s through three of the city's most colorful stories. (Magnolia Pictures)

In 1964 two young men meet for the first time during a drugs bust at a house in Cambridge and after everyone else runs for the hills to avoid the police they are the only two people left to face the music. As a result of fate bringing them together, Aubrey ('Po') Powell and Storm Thorgerson become life-long friends and creative partners. Syd Barrett was one of those who escaped the police that day and it was he who went on to form Pink Floyd - a piece of serendipity that was to have a profound affect on all of them for the rest of their lives. Syd, Po and Storm went on to share a flat in London during the hippie Summer of Love in 1967, and by '68 Po and Storm had formed the fledgling art house Hipgnosis (named incidentally by Barrett) - a photo-design company for album sleeves. By chance one of the first covers they create is Pink Floyd's 'A Saucerful of Secrets' and the rest - as they say - is history. Hipgnosis went on to design every Pink Floyd album sleeve (except The Wall and Final Cut) including arguably the most iconic album cover of all time 'Dark Side of The Moon'. Other rock n' roll bands who graced their studio during the next 15 years - the halcyon days of Vinyl - included Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, AC/DC, Paul McCartney, T.Rex, ELO, 10cc, Black Sabbath, Peter Frampton, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and many more, becoming London's most fashionable album design studio ever.

Follow the tender but appropriately irreverent account of the life and career of Robert Downey, Sr., the fearless and visionary American director who set the standard for countercultural comedy in the 1960s and 1960s.

A group of interns during a nine month apprenticeship at one of the best restaurants in the world, Mugaritz. While the restaurant's notorious avant-garde cuisine and creative working environment elevates these young hopefuls to think outside the confines of a kitchen; ultimately, not everyone can handle the heat.

Nestled into the Catskill mountains, Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center serves as a summertime haven for aspiring teenage actors, singers, and dancers. Directed by Alexandra Shiva, this documentary explores the unique experience that Stagedoor offers and examines how important it is for young people to feel they belong, even if that feeling only comes around once a year.

This documentary is a fascinating portrait of the spouse of Russia's most notorious dictator.

Oscar-winning director Roger Ross Williams brings Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s best-selling book Stamped From the Beginning to life, using vivid animations and leading female scholars to explore the history of anti-Black racist ideas. [Netflix]

Tracing his life from his upbringing in New York as Stanley Lieber to the rise of Marvel Comics, Stan Lee tells the story of Stan Lee’s life, career, and legacy using his own words and personal archival material. [Tribeca Festival]

Is it possible for a photograph to change the world? Photographs taken by soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison changed the war in Iraq and changed America's image of itself. Yet, a central mystery remains. Did the notorious Abu Ghraib photographs constitute evidence of systematic abuse by the American military, or were they documenting the aberrant behavior of a few "bad apples"? We set out to examine the context of these photographs. Why were they taken? What was happening outside the frame? We talked directly to the soldiers who took the photographs and who were in the photographs. Who are these people? What were they thinking? Over two years of investigation, we amassed a million and a half words of interview transcript, thousands of pages of unredacted reports, and hundreds of photographs. The story of Abu Ghraib is still shrouded in moral ambiguity, but it is clear what happened there. The Abu Ghraib photographs serve as both an expose and a coverup. An expose, because the photographs offer us a glimpse of the horror of Abu Ghraib; and a coverup because they convinced journalists and readers they had seen everything, that there was no need to look further. In recent news reports, we have learned about the destruction of the Abu Zubaydah interrogation tapes. A coverup. It has been front page news. But the coverup at Abu Ghraib involved thousands of prisoners and hundreds of soldiers. We are still learning about the extent of it. Many journalists have asked about "the smoking gun" of Abu Ghraib. It is the wrong question. As Philip Gourevitch has commented, Abu Ghraib is the smoking gun. The underlying question that we still have not resolved, four years after the scandal: how could American values become so compromised that Abu Ghraib-and the subsequent coverup-could happen? (Sony Picture Classics)

A shattering documentary on the lives of two hostile teenagers in an upstate town who react to their dead-end environment and social ostracism with a frenzied, narcotized downward spiral. (Two Boots Pioneer Theater)

This documentary and performance film tells the Funk Brothers' saga through archival footage and still photos, narration, interviews, re-creation scenes, 20 Motown master tracks, and twelve new live performances of Motown classics with the Funk Brothers backing up Chaka Khan, Ben Harper, Bootsy Collins, Montell Jordan, Meshell Ndegeocello, Joan Osborne, and Gerald Levert. (Artisan Entertainment)

Starless Dreams plunges us into the lives of young teenage girls sharing temporary quarters at a juvenile detention center on the outskirts of Tehran. Director Mehrdad Oskouei, one of Iran’s most prominent filmmakers, spent seven years securing access to this all-female facility. As the New Year approaches, the girls bond, and reveal—with playfully disarming honesty—the circumstances and acts that resulted in their incarceration. They have killed their father, robbed a bank, or were arrested for carrying 651 grams of cocaine. Outside the prison walls, danger is everywhere, even within their own families. [Cinema Guild]

Acclaimed documentary team Chris Hegedus, D A Pennebaker and newcomer Jehane Noujaim take a behind-the-scenes look at the volatile start-up phenomenon, chronicling the turbulent development of govWorks.com, an award-winning Internet site that facilitates interaction between local government, citizens and businesses. (Artisan Entertainment)

Starving the Beast examines the on-going power struggle on college campuses across the nation as political and market-oriented forces push to disrupt and reform America's public universities. The film documents a philosophical shift that seeks to reframe public higher education as a "value proposition" to be borne by the beneficiary of a college degree rather than as a "public good" for society. Financial winners and losers emerge in a struggle poised to profoundly change public higher education. The film focuses on dramas playing out at the University of Wisconsin, University of Virginia, University of North Carolina, Louisiana State University, University of Texas and Texas A&M.

In 2009, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad launched a plan to demonstrate that his people were deserving of statehood, inspiring them to change their destiny and seek UN membership. Since then, they’ve made remarkable progress, but the political quagmire threatens to destroy the most promising opportunity for peace in years. [Participant Media]

2018 marks the centenary of Nelson Mandela's birth. He seized center stage during a historic trial in 1963 and 1964. But there were eight others who, like him, faced the death sentence. They too were subjected to pitiless cross-examinations. To a man they stood firm and turned the tables on the state: South Africa's apartheid regime was in the dock. Recently recovered archival recordings of those hearings transport us back into the thick of the courtroom battles.

Moscow, March 1953: in the days following the death of Joseph Stalin, countless citizens flooded the Red Square to mourn their leader’s loss and witness his burial. Though the procession was captured in detail by hundreds of cameramen, their footage has remained largely unseen until now.

In this documentary, the spectacular beauty of Peru is juxtaposed with the disturbing revelations of that nation's Truth Commission detailing a 20-year reign of terror. (Film Forum)

This observational film provides a rare glimpse into North Korea, one of the world’s least known societies. The film following two young gymnasts, 13 year old Pak Hyon Sun and 11 year old Kim Song Yun, and their families for over eight months in the lead up to the Mass Games -- involving a cast of thousands in a choreographed socialist realism spectacular -- the biggest and most elaborate human performance on earth. (Kino International)

Melissa Lucio was the first Hispanic woman sentenced to death in Texas. For ten years she has been awaiting her fate, and now faces her last appeal.

In the summer of 2013, a train designed as a kinetic light sculpture by Doug Aitken traveled from New York City to San Francisco over 24 days. Rolling into ten stations on the route, the train set in motion a series of happenings, each unique to its location and mix of creative participants. A high speed roadtrip through modern creativity, Station to Station is a revolutionary feature comprising 62 one-minute films highlighting an exciting and eclectic mix of artists, musicians, writers, places and perspectives. [Submarine Deluxe]

A global pursuit (with layovers in Japan, Argentina, Brazil, France, Spain, the U.S. and other countries) for the best steak in the world, Steak (R)evolution features exclusive conversations with chefs, farmers, butchers, steakhouse owners, journalists and experts about the many variables that affect the quality of our meat. [Kino Lorber]

It's 1943, and Holland is under Nazi occupation. At a birthday party in Amsterdam, Jack, an unassuming accountant, meets Ina, a 20-year-old beauty from a wealthy family who instantly steals his heart. But Jack's pursuit of love will be complicated; he is poor and married to Manja, a flirtatious and mercurial spouse. When the Jews are being deported, husband, wife, and lover find themselves at the same concentration camp, living in the same barracks. When Jack's wife objects to the "girlfriend" in spite of their unhappy marriage, Jack and Ina resort to writing secret love letters, which sustain them throughout the horrible circumstances of the war. Steal a Pencil for Me is a compelling documentary feature film by Academy Award nominee Michele Ohayon about the power of love and the ability of humankind to rise above unimaginable suffering. (Seventh Art Releasing)