Join The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson on an intimate journey through his legendary career as he reminisces with Rolling Stone editor and longtime friend, Jason Fine. Featuring a new song, "Right Where I Belong," written and performed by Wilson and Jim James (My Morning Jacket), and interviews with Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Nick Jonas, Linda Perry, Jim James, Gustavo Dudamel, and Al Jardine.

Bridegroom tells the emotional journey of Shane and Tom, two young men in a loving and committed relationship that was cut tragically short by a misstep off the side of a roof. The story of what happened after this accidental death - of how people without the legal protections of marriage can find themselves completely shut out and ostracized - is poignant, enraging and opens a window onto the issue of marriage equality and human rights like no speech or lecture ever will.

More people choose to end their lives at the Golden Gate Bridge than anywhere else in the world. The Bridge offers glimpses into the darkest, and possibly most impenetrable corners of the human mind. The fates of the 24 people who died at the Golden Gate Bridge in 2004 are linked together by a 4 second fall. (IFC)

A film about the life and work of Stephen Hawking, who despite his near total paralysis is one of the great minds of all time.

This documentary is a subjective, autobiographical meditation on the allure of cigarettes and their troubling legacy for the state of North Carolina. [First Run Features]

Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds star in a tender portrait of Hollywood royalty in all its eccentricity. From the red carpet to the back alleys behind it, the documentary is about the bonds of family love, which are beautifully bitter-sweet.

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

In early November 2018, raging wildfires killed 88 residents and destroyed tens of thousands of homes in the cities of Malibu and Paradise, two very different California communities. In her new verité documentary, two-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker Lucy Walker captures the heroism and horror of that unfathomable disaster. Her character-driven exposé, Bring Your Own Brigade, also answers a question humanity can no longer afford to ignore: Why are catastrophic wildfires increasing in number and severity around the world, and can anything be done to lessen the staggering death and destruction they cause? Drawing on hundreds of hours of astonishing wildfire footage and featuring interviews with survivors, firefighters and scientists, the film reveals that short of solving global warming there are numerous, often simple steps that can be taken to not only mitigate the catastrophic devastation caused by wildfires, but restore health and balance to woodlands that have been mismanaged for far too long. But does society have what it takes to put aside short-term interests and outmoded thinking to confront a crisis that’s quite literally burning our world to the ground?

When Steve Bannon left his position as White House chief strategist less than a week after the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally in August 2017, he was already a notorious figure in Trump’s inner circle, and for bringing a far-right ideology into the highest echelons of American politics. Unconstrained by an official post — though some say he still has a direct line to the White House — he became free to peddle influence as a perceived kingmaker, turning his controversial brand of nationalism into a global movement. The Brink follows Bannon through the 2018 mid-term elections in the United States, shedding light on his efforts to mobilize and unify far-right parties in order to win seats in the May 2019 European Parliamentary elections. To maintain his power and influence, the former Goldman Sachs banker and media investor reinvents himself — as he has many times before — this time as the self-appointed leader of a global populist movement. Keen manipulator of the press and gifted self-promoter, Bannon continues to draw headlines and protests wherever he goes, feeding the powerful myth on which his survival relies.

The world knows Britney Spears: performer, artist, icon. But in the last few years, her name has been publicly tied to another, more mysterious term: conservatorship. Britney vs Spears tells the explosive story of Britney’s life and her public and private search for freedom. Featuring years-long investigative work, exclusive interviews and new documents, this Netflix feature film paints a thorough portrait of the pop star’s trajectory from girl next door to a woman trapped by fame and family and her own legal status. It shows Britney’s life without utilizing the traumatic images that have previously defined her. [Netflix]

Broadway Idiot follows Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong from a punk rock concert at Madison Square Garden to the opening of his musical American Idiot on Broadway - only ten blocks away, but worlds apart. From behind the curtain share in the crazy journey of turning the mega-hit album into a punk rock musical - and ultimately see how the world of theater transformed Billie Joe.

The most important, ambitious and comprehensive film ever made about America's most celebrated indigenous art form, Broadway tells the stories of our theatrical legends, how they came to New York, and how they created this legendary century in American theatre. (Second Act Productions)

From director Andrew Rossi comes a portrait of writer and performer Okwui Okpokwasili and her acclaimed one-woman show, Bronx Gothic. Rooted in memories of her childhood, Okwui – who’s worked with conceptual artists like Ralph Lemon and Julie Taymor – fuses dance, song, drama and comedy to create a mesmerizing space in which audiences can engage with a story about two 12-year-old black girls coming of age in the 1980s. With intimate vérité access to Okwui and her audiences off the stage, Bronx Gothic allows for unparalleled insight into her creative process as well as the complex social issues embodied in it. [Grasshopper Film]

Brooklyn Castle tells the stories of five members of the chess team at a below-the-poverty-line inner city junior high school that has won more national championships than any other in the country. The film follows the challenges these kids face in their personal lives as well as on the chessboard, and is as much about the sting of their losses as it is about the anticipation of their victories. Ironically, the biggest obstacle thrust upon them arises not from other competitors but from recessionary budget cuts to all the extracurricular activities at their school. BROOKLYN CASTLE shows how these kids’ dedication to chess magnifies their belief in what is possible for their lives. After all, if they can master the world’s most difficult game, what can’t they do? (Producers Distribution Agency)

This documentary by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky details the murder trial of Delbert Ward. Delbert's of a family of 4 brothers (the other 3 being Roscoe, Lyman and William - Bill, for short), working as semi-literate farmers, and living together in isolation in a ramshackle shack, until William's death. The subsequent police investigation and medical examiner's autopsy suggested Bill may not have died from natural causes, and Delbert was arrested on charges of second-degree murder. Under questioning by police, Delbert appears to have waived his rights and signed a confession, but, it seems he might not have been competent, and was coerced into doing so. The film explores possible motives for the crime, from mercy-killing (Bill was ill at the time), to progressively more outré hypotheses. It also shows how residents of the rural community of Munnsville, NY rallied to the support of one of their own (residents previously considered the Wards as social outcasts), against what they felt were intrusive 'big-city' police and a district attorney involved in an election, who might've used the death to help bolster his candidacy.

Brothers at War is an intimate portrait of an American family during a turbulent time.  Jake Rademacher sets out to understand the experience, sacrifice, and motivation of his two brothers serving in Iraq. The film follows Jake’s exploits as he risks everything—including his life—to tell his brothers’ story.  Often humorous, but sometimes downright lethal, Brothers at War is a remarkable journey where Jake embeds with four combat units in Iraq. Unprecedented access to U.S. and Iraqi combat units take him behind the camouflage curtain with secret reconnaissance troops on the Syrian border, into sniper "Hide Sites" in the Sunni Triangle, through raging machine gun battles with the Iraqi Army.  Ultimately, the film follows his brothers home where separations and life-threatening work ripple through their parents, siblings, wives and children.  Brothers at War provides a rare look at the bonds and service of our soldiers on the frontlines and the profound effects their service has on the loved ones they leave behind. (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

For the eight young men in the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, “brotherhood” is literal: they’re all sons of anti-establishment jazz legend, Phil Cohran. Cohran and their mothers raised them together on Chicago’s South Side on a strict diet of jazz, funk and Black Consciousness. Family band practice began at 6 AM. Now grown, as they raise eight brass horns to the sky, they make music that is at once indescribably joyful, unremittingly exciting, and undeniably together. But as the brothers try to make their own way in the wide world—while playing in the streets of New York City, collaborating with Mos Def, or wowing a jazz festival—they find the values their father bred into them constantly tested. They must decide whether his principles really are their own.

Go behind the music as Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band record together live for the first time since Born In The U.S.A. in this intimate documentary that captures reflections on love, loss, and the way music has shaped Bruce Springsteen’s life.

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.

After closing the border to Palestinian workers, Israeli authorities sought to fill gaps in the job market by encouraging emigrant workers from other parts of the world. Among those who answered the call were Filipinos in various stages of gender transition. These individuals who see themselves in a female persona, shunned by their families and communities at home, build new lives in Israel as caregivers for elderly, orthodox Jewish men, many of whom come to look upon them as substitute children. On their nights off, the workers perform as a drag queen ensemble, "Paper Dolls," in Tel Aviv nightclubs. Although the troupe's members enjoy Israel's liberal atmosphere, they are still outsiders and are always treated as such. Tomer Heymann's moving documentary explores the role of immigrant worker in Western culture, and delves into the lives of societal outcasts seeking freedom and acceptance, however tenuous. (Strand Releasing)

Buck, a richly textured and visually stunning film, follows Brannaman from his abusive childhood to his phenomenally successful approach to horses. A real-life “horse-whisperer”, he eschews the violence of his upbringing and teaches people to communicate with their horses through leadership and sensitivity, not punishment. Buck possesses near magical abilities as he dramatically transforms horses – and people – with his understanding, compassion and respect. In this film, the animal-human relationship becomes a metaphor for facing the daily challenges of life. A truly American story about an unsung hero, BUCK is about an ordinary man who has made an extraordinary life despite tremendous odds. (Sundance Selects)

In this poignant and carefully composed portrait of six service dogs and their owners, renowned documentary filmmaker Heddy Honigmann explores the close bond between animal and human. Honigmann questions the owners in her characteristic way — respectfully and with genuine concern rooted in a deep trust — about what the animals mean to them. Buddy is an ode to the fighting spirit of the main characters and a loving portrait of the deep bond between man and dog. [Grasshopper Film]

This ground-breaking documentary, inspired by the album, includes appearances by legendary performers Ry & Joaquim Cooder, Ibrahim Ferrer, Ruben Gonzáles, Eliades Ochoa, Omara Portuondo, Compay Segundo and many other renowned Cuban Musicians. (Artisan Entertainment)

The musicians of the Buena Vista Social Club exposed the world to Cuba's vibrant culture with their landmark 1997 album. Now, against the backdrop of Cuba’s captivating musical history, hear the band’s story as they reflect on their remarkable careers and the extraordinary circumstances that brought them together.

The story of two eight-year-old Thai girls seeking their country’s national Muay Thai championship and a cash prize that could change their families’ lives forever. [Buffalo Girls]

With global food shortages on the horizon, forward-thinking chefs, environmentalists and food scientists are turning toward an unexpected source of protein: insects. Bugs is an artful and thoughtful new documentary that provides a perfect entry point to insect cuisine. For three years, a cast of charming and brave food adventurers from the Nordic Food Lab traveled the world—from Europe to Australia, Mexico, Kenya, Japan and beyond—to learn what some of the two billion people who already eat insects had to say. Filmmaker Andreas Johnsen followed them as they foraged, farmed, cooked and tasted everything from revered termite queens and desert-delicacy honey ants to venomous giant hornets and long-horned grasshoppers. Throughout the team’s experiences, some hard questions started to emerge. If industrially produced insects become the norm, will they be as delicious and as beneficial as the ones in diverse, resilient ecosystems and cuisines around the world? And who will actually benefit as edible insects are scaled up? Equal parts travelogue, nature documentary, food porn and political treatise, Bugs is a beautifully shot film that makes a convincing argument for the inherent flavor of insects and raises unexpected and important questions about the future of our food culture along the way. [Kino Lorber]

Bugs!, a large-format 3-D adventure short, follows the life cycles of a mantis and a butterfly, from their birth to their inevitable encounter in the rainforests of Southeast Asia, where predator meets its prey.

The first comprehensive documentary on author Charles Bukowski, one of those rare writers whose work created a myth of epic proportions around its creator. (Magnolia Pictures)

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)

A look at the life and work of New York power broker Roy Cohn.

Bradford Movie Makers is one of the oldest amateur filmmaking clubs in the world. Once a thriving community, these days the membership is dwindling and the group struggle to keep the wolf from the door.

Chris Burdern guaranteed his place in art history in 1971 with a period of often dangerous and at times stomach-churning performances. After having himself shot, locked up in a locker for five days, electrocuted, and crucified on the back of a VW bug, Burden reinvented himself as the creator of truly mesmerizing installations and sculptures, from a suspended gigantic flywheel that seemingly spins on its own, to an assemblage of antique streetlights rewired for solar energy and illuminated outside the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In BURDEN, Timothy Marrinan and Richard Dewey look at the artist’s works and private life with an innovative mix of still-potent videos of his 70s performances, personal videos and audio recordings, friends fellow students and colleagues, critics’ comments and latter day footage at his Topanga Canyon studio, all peppered with his thoughts and musings through the years. [Magnolia Pictures]

A documentary following German auteur Werner Herzog as he deals with difficult actors, bad weather and getting a boat over a mountain, all in an effort to make his film Fitzcarraldo (1982).

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

While 100,000 people (including 1,000s of Buddhist monks) took to the streets to protest the country's repressive regime that has held them hostage for over 40 years, foreign news crews were banned to enter and the Internet was shut down. The Democratic Voice of Burma, a collective of 30 anonymous and underground video journalists (VJs) recorded these historic and dramatic events on handycams and smuggled the footage out of the country, where it was broadcast worldwide via satellite. Risking torture and life imprisonment, the VJs vividly document the brutal clashes with the military and undercover police – even after they themselves become targets of the authorities. (Oscilloscope Laboratories)

Burn is a look at firefighting as you’ve never seen it before. Detroit is burning. With vast stretches of forsaken buildings left as kindling, the highest arson rate in the country, and a budget crisis of epic proportions, this action-packed documentary takes us to the heart of a once-roaring industrial mecca to meet the men and women charged with saving a city that many have written off as dead. But BURN isn’t just about Detroit firefighters. It’s about all national first responders, whose budgets and pensions are on the chopping block. It’s about the people you hope will make it to your house when there’s a fire. (Area23a)

A documentary look at the annual Burning Man arts festival in Northern Nevada.

Burt's Buzz looks at the world of Burt Shavitz— a reclusive beekeeper who reluctantly became one of the world’s most recognizable brand identities.

Burzynski is the story of a medical doctor and Ph.D biochemist named Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski who won the largest, and possibly the most convoluted and intriguing legal battle against the Food & Drug Administration in American history. (Burzynski Movie)

In the summer of 2000, in Rio de Janeiro, a 21-year-old hijacked a commuter bus and held its passengers hostage. The police were flummoxed as local TV crews arrived en masse to cover the headline-grabbing events as they unfolded. BUS 174 balances this potentially sensationalistic material with accounts by the police, the victims, the witnesses and friends and family of the hijacker. (Film Forum)

This documentary examines the relationship between George W. Bush and Karl Rove, one of his closest advisors.

Birth is a miracle, a rite of passage, a natural part of life. But birth is also big business. Compelled to explore the subject after the delivery of her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to question the way American women have babies. Epstein gains access to several pregnant New York City women as they weigh their options. Some of these women are or will become clients of Cara Muhlhahn, a charismatic midwife who, between birth events, shares both memories and footage of her own birth experience. Footage of women having babies punctuates The Business of Being Born. Each experience is unique; all are equally beautiful and equally surprising. Giving birth is clearly the most physically challenging event these women have ever gone through, but it is also the most emotionally rewarding. Along the way, Epstein conducts interviews with a number of obstetricians, experts and advocates about the history, culture and economics of childbirth. The film’s fundamental question: should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potential medical emergency? As Epstein uncovers some surprising answers, her own pregnancy adds a very personal dimension to The Business of Being Born, a must-see movie for anyone even thinking about having a baby. (Red Envelope Entertainment)

During the winter of 1975 in Hawaii, surfing was shaken to its core. A group of young surfers from Australia and South Africa sacrificed everything and put it all on the line to create a sport, a culture, and an industry that is today worth billions of dollars and has captured the imagination of the world. With a radical new approach and a brash colonial attitude, these surfers crashed headlong into a culture that was not ready for revolution. Surfing was never to be the same again. (Screen Media Films)

This documentary details the dramatic struggle between Julia "Butterfly" Hill and the Pacific Lumber company over the stripping of vast sections of forest in Northern California.

At first glance, it is not obvious that Abbie Evans lives with a life-threatening skin disease. She is a typical teenager: moody, rebellious, irreverent, and is also strikingly beautiful. But her life is the antithesis of normal. Abbie grew up in hospitals, cared for by her protective mother and father. She then came into her own in honky tonks, selling merchandise for her father’s band. But just like any other 18 year-old, Abbie yearns for a life of her own. [Indican Pictures]

Chronicles the journeys of broadcasters, educators and filmmakers who believed television could inspire a lifelong love of reading.

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

Film legend Sidney Lumet (1924-2011) tells his own story in a never-before-seen interview shot in 2008. With candor, humor and grace, Lumet reveals what matters to him as an artist and as a human being.

Years after leaving her Palestinian village to pursue an acting career in France, Hiam Abbass returns home with her daughter, in this intimate documentary about four generations of women and their shared legacy of separation.

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

California Typewriter launches us into the bittersweet moment when a beloved technology, the typewriter, faces extinction. Delivering a thought-provoking view on the changing dynamic between humans and machines, director Doug Nichol explores the mythology attached to the classic typewriter, as cultural historians, collectors and various celebrity obsessives (including Tom Hanks, John Mayer, David McCullough, and Sam Shepard) celebrate the typewriter both as object and means of summoning the creative spirit. The film culminates in the movingly documented struggle of California Typewriter, one of the last standing repair shops in America dedicated to keeping the aging machines clicking.

Call + Response is a first of its kind feature documentary film that reveals the world’s 27 million dirtiest secrets: there are more slaves today than ever before in human history. Call + Response goes deep undercover where slavery is thriving from the child brothels of Cambodia to the slave brick kilns of rural India to reveal that in 2007, Slave Traders made more money than Google, Nike and Starbucks combined. Luminaries on the issue and many other prominent political and cultural figures offer first hand account of this 21st century trade. Performances from Grammy-winning and critically acclaimed artists move this chilling information into inspiration for stopping it. Music is part of the movement against human slavery. Dr. Cornel West connects the music of the American slave fields to the popular music we listen to today, and offers this connection as a rallying cry for the modern abolitionist movement currently brewing. (Fair Trade Pictures)

This deeply personal portrait of acclaimed New York–based artist Ida Applebroog was shot with mischievous reverence by her filmmaker daughter, Beth B. Born in the Bronx to Orthodox Jewish émigrés from Poland, Applebroog, now in her 80s, looks back at how she expressed herself through decades of drawings and paintings, as well as her private journals. With her daughter’s encouragement, she investigates the stranger that is her former self, a woman who found psychological and sexual liberation through art. As Beth B finds a deeper understanding of her mother as a human being, Applebroog shares a newfound appreciation for her own provocative work. [MoMA Doc Fortnight]

When Jennifer Laude, a Filipina transwoman, is brutally murdered by a U.S. Marine, three women intimately invested in the case--an activist attorney, a transgender journalist and Jennifer's mother)--galvanize a political uprising, pursuing justice and taking on hardened histories of US imperialism.

In Uganda, a new bill threatens to make homosexuality punishable by death. David Kato - Uganda's first openly gay man - and his fellow activists work against the clock to defeat the legislation while combating vicious persecution in their daily lives. But no one, not even the filmmakers, is prepared for the brutal murder that shakes the movement to its core and sends shock waves around the world.

Barry Crimmins is pissed. His hellfire brand of comedy has rained verbal lightning bolts on American audiences and politicians for decades, yet you've probably never heard of him. But once you've experienced Bobcat Goldthwait's brilliant character portrait of him and heard Crimmins's secret, you will never forget him. From his unmistakable bullish frame came a scathingly ribald stand-up style that took early audiences by force. Through stark, smart observation and judo-like turns of phrase, Crimmins's rapid-fire comedy was a war on ignorance and complacency in '80s America at the height of an ill-considered foreign policy. Crimmins discusses another side of his character, revealing in detail a dark and painful past that inspired his life-changing campaign of activism in the hope of saving others from a similar experience. Interviews with comics like Margaret Cho and Marc Maron illustrate Crimmins's love affair with comedy and his role in discovering and supporting the development of many of today's stars.

This documentary features a behind-the-scenes look into the music of many of the premier contemporary Latin musicians.

A 1950's Howard Hughes employee-confidante, George Van Tassel, uses alien guidance and Nikola Tesla's ideas to build a time machine -- The Integratron. Is he deluded, or could it actually work? As waves of devotees join him in the California desert, the FBI gets involved fearing insurrection and possibly more. Nearing completion, Van Tassel's tale and the Integratron meet an unexpected end: the "workings" of the dome finally emerge. The unusual story is told by historians, astronomers and current residents of Joshua Tree, including the stewards of the Integratron, the Karl Sisters, and a galaxy of believers and skeptics alike.

In the early-morning hours of Sunday, August 22, 1971, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and Attorney General John Mitchell announced that FBI agents had arrested 20 antiwar activists in and near a draft board office in Camden, New Jersey. Five days later, Mitchell made public the indictment of these individuals and included eight others who were linked to the break-in. The major charges against the group were conspiracy to remove and destroy files from the draft board, FBI office, and the Army Intelligence office; destruction of government property and interfering with the Selective Service system. If convicted, some of the indicted faced up to 47 years in federal prison. The men and women arrested that summer of ’71 in Camden called themselves “America’s conscience.” The government called them the Camden 28. The surprise arrest and unorthodox trial of the Camden 28 is a story of friendship and betrayal played out against the backdrop of one of the most turbulent periods in recent American history. (ECC Media)

Jack Cardiff’s career spanned an incredible nine of moving picture’s first ten decades and his work behind the camera altered the look of films forever through his use of Technicolor photography. Craig McCall’s passionate film about the legendary cinematographer reveals a unique figure in British and international cinema. (Strand Releasing)

A boxing match in Brooklyn; life in postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina; the daily routine of a Nigerian midwife; an intimate family moment at home: these scenes and others are woven into Cameraperson, a tapestry of footage collected over the twenty-five-year career of documentary cinematographer Kirsten Johnson. Through a series of episodic juxtapositions, Johnson explores the relationships between image makers and their subjects, the tension between the objectivity and intervention of the camera, and the complex interaction of unfiltered reality and crafted narrative. A hybrid work that combines documentary, autobiography, and ethical inquiry, Cameraperson is both a moving glimpse into one filmmaker’s personal journey and a thoughtful examination of what it means to train a camera on the world. [Janus Films]

Shin Dong-Huyk was born on November 19, 1983 as a political prisoner in a North Korean re-education camp. He was a child of two prisoners who had been married by order of the wardens. He spent his entire childhood and youth in Camp 14, a death camp. He was forced to labor since he was six years old and suffered from hunger, beatings and torture, always at the mercy of the wardens. He knew nothing about the world outside the barbed-wire fences. At the age of 23, with the help of an older prisoner, he managed to escape. For months he traveled through North Korea and China and finally to South Korea, where he encountered a world completely strange to him.

This documentary follows the 2004 Missouri Democratic primary to replace retiring 28-year veteran and former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt. It is told from inside the campaign of Jeff Smith, a 29-year old part-time political science instructor at Washington University. The film offers an unvarnished look at the inside of what national pundits called one of 2004's surprising campaigns. And the film asks if it is still possible in America for voters excited by a person's ideas and ability to get involved in the political process and elect a candidate who has not sold out, or bought into the existing political establishment. (At Risk Films)

In the age of social media, nearly every day brings a new eruption of outrage. While people have always found something to be offended by, their ability to organize a groundswell of opposition to-and public censure of-their offender has never been more powerful. Today we're all one clumsy joke away from public ruin. Can We Take A Joke? offers a thought-provoking and wry exploration of outrage culture through the lens of stand-up comedy, with notables like Gilbert Gottfried, Penn Jillette, Lisa Lampanelli, and Adam Carolla detailing its stifling impact on comedy and the exchange of ideas. What will future will be like if we can't learn how to take a joke?

Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters is a feature documentary that traces the history and legacy of one of the most important works of art to come out of the age of AIDS - Bill T. Jones' tour de force ballet "D-Man in the Waters". In 1989, "D-Man in the Waters" gave physical manifestation to the fear, anger, grief, and hope for salvation that the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company felt as they were embattled by the AIDS pandemic. As a group of young dancers reconstructs the dance, they learn about this oft forgotten history and deepen their understanding of the power of art in a time of plague. Bill T. Jones is arguably the most socially, politically and emotionally compelling choreographer alive today. Thirty years ago, he embedded motifs of risk and sacrifice, love, loss and resurrection in the choreography for "D-Man in the Waters". Through an extraordinary series of interviews, archival material, and uniquely powerful cinematography of movement, this 90-minute, lyrical documentary uses the story of this dance to illustrate the triumph of the human spirit in art and in the community. Today, by learning the dance, a new generation reinvigorates the spirit of a community fighting to survive.

Based on the memoir One Train Later by guitarist Andy Summers, Can’t Stand Losing You tells of the rise of The Police. From chance encounters with Copeland and Sting, through the band’s break up, Summers shares photos and memories as they prepare for their long-anticipated 2007 Reunion Tour.

The Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi is seen as a paradise of leisure and pristine natural beauty, but these escapist fantasies obscure the colonial displacement, hyper-exploitation of workers and destructive environmental extraction that have actually shaped life on the island for the last 250 years. Cane Fire critically examines the island’s history — and the various strategies by which Hollywood has represented it—through four generations of director Anthony Banua-Simon’s family, who first immigrated to Kauaʻi from the Philippines to work on the sugar plantations. Assembled from a diverse array of sources—from Banua-Simon’s observational footage, to amateur YouTube travelogues, to epic Hollywood dance sequences — Cane Fire offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of the economic and cultural forces that have cast Indigenous and working-class residents as "extras" in their own story. [Cinema Guild]

Caniba reflects on the discomfiting significance of cannibalistic desire in human existence through the prism of one Japanese man, Issei Sagawa, and his mysterious relationship with his brother, Jun Sagawa. As a 32-year-old student at the Sorbonne in Paris, Issei Sagawa was arrested on June 13, 1981 when spotted emptying two bloody suitcases containing the remains of his Dutch classmate, Renée Hartevelt. Two days earlier, Mr. Sagawa had killed Hartevelt and began eating her. Declared legally insane, he returned to Japan. He has been a free man ever since. Ostracized from society, he has made his living off his crime by writing novels, drawing manga, appearing in innumerable documentaries and sexploitation films in which he reenacts his crime, and even becoming a food critic. [Grasshoper Film]

In New York City, as elsewhere in the United States, thousands of men and women collect discarded cans and bottles for their nickel deposit. From the time garbage bags appear on sidewalks, to the time the bottles and cans are cashed in at redemption centers and supermarkets the “canners” are at work—often for a good part of the day and night. Redemption centers are few and far between. Supermarkets are often uncooperative, so several must be visited. Canners often need to walk miles to unload their gleanings.

The tradition of Eastern European Jewish cantorial music is alive and well in modern America in no small part thanks to the efforts of Brooklyn-born Cantor Jacob Mendelson. "Jackie," as he is affectionately called by everyone, explores the American roots of "hazzanut"( Jewish liturgical music) while taking us on a musical voyage that spans the Atlantic, originating in his birthplace of Boro Park, Brooklyn and reaching all the way to Jerusalem. (Ergo Media)

Based on the international bestseller by economist Thomas Piketty, this documentary is an eye-opening journey through wealth and power, a film that breaks the popular assumption that the accumulation of capital runs hand in hand with social progress, and shines a new light on today’s growing inequalities. Traveling through time, the film assembles accessible pop-culture references coupled with interviews of some of the world’s most influential experts delivering an insightful and empowering journey through the past and into our future. [Kino Lorber]

Capitalism: A Love Story explores the root causes of the global economic meltdown and takes a comical look at the corporate and political shenanigans that culminated in what Moore has described as the biggest robbery in the history of this country--the massive transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to private financial institutions. (Overture Films)

Answered Prayers was meant to be Truman Capote’s greatest masterpiece, an epic portrait of New York’s glittering jet-set society. Instead, it sparked his downfall. Through never-before-heard audio archives and interviews with Capote’s friends and enemies, The Capote Tapes reveals the rise and fall of America’s most iconic gay writer.

The Friedmans are a seemingly typical, upper-middle-class Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with shocking and horrible crimes.

Carbon Nation is a feature length documentary about climate change SOLUTIONS. Even if you doubt the severity of the impact of climate change or just don't buy it at all, this is a compelling and relevant film that illustrates how SOLUTIONS to climate change also address other social, economic and national security issues. Carbon Nation is an optimistic discovery of what people are already doing, what we as a nation could be doing and what the world needs to do to prevent (or slow down) the impending climate crisis. We already have the technology to combat most of the worst-case scenarios of climate change, and it is very good business as well. We meet a host of entertaining and endearing characters along the way, including entrepreneurs, visionaries, scientists, business, and the everyday man, all making a difference and working towards solving climate change. (Earth School Educational Foundation)

A best-selling author for 30 years, Carlos Castaneda inspired millions to break free from social dogma, fueling controversy over his work's authenticity and assertions of perceiving non-ordinary reality. Genius, guru, cult leader or fraud? No one really knows. Over three years in the making, this shocking expose explores Castaneda's mythic impact and controversial teachings. Candid interviews backed with dazzling experimental footage offer and intense visual and intellectual experience. (Indican Pictures)

Five days in the life of fabled Greenwich Village guitar store Carmine Street Guitars.

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)

Against the backdrop of the 1964 Republican Convention, a San Francisco cocktail waitress became one of the city’s most popular entertainers after making her debut as America’s first topless dancer. Carol Doda Topless at the Condor tells the story of the fresh-faced girl next door who defied convention and the law by gyrating atop a white baby grand piano and turning a North Beach nightclub into the city’s second-most-popular tourist attraction after the Golden Gate Bridge. Meanwhile, Doda’s very public use of silicone to enhance her breasts launched a new industry. Directors Marlo McKenzie and Jonathan Parker share an unprecedented look at Doda’s life and legacy, as well as a behind-the-scenes tour of the vibrant, sometimes outrageous and always entertaining world of North Beach.

The Cartel shows us our educational system like we've never seen it before. Behind every dropout factory, we discover, lurks a powerful, entrenched, and self-serving cartel. But The Cartel doesn't just describe the problem. Balancing local storylines against interviews with education experts such as Clint Bolick (former president of Alliance for School Choice), Gerard Robinson (president of Black Alliance for Educational Options), and Chester Finn (president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute), The Cartel explores what dedicated parents, committed teachers, clear-eyed officials, and tireless reformers are doing to make our schools better for our kids. (Moving Picture Institute)

In the Mexican state of Michoacán, Dr. Jose Mireles, a small-town physician known as "El Doctor," leads the Autodefensas, a citizen uprising against the violent Knights Templar drug cartel that has wreaked havoc on the region for years. Meanwhile, in Arizona's Altar Valley – a narrow, 52-mile-long desert corridor known as Cocaine Alley – Tim "Nailer" Foley, an American veteran, heads a small paramilitary group called Arizona Border Recon, whose goal is to stop Mexico’s drug wars from seeping across our border.

The Case Against 8 takes a riveting, inside look at the groundbreaking Supreme Court case that overturned Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage. Five years in the making, with exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the powerhouse legal team of Ted Olson and David Boies, who previously faced off as opposing counsel in Bush v. Gore, along with the four plaintiffs in the suit, the film provides a definitive account of the battle that effectively ended marriage discrimination in California.

This portrait of Washington super lobbyist Jack Abramoff—from his early years as a gung-ho member of the GOP political machine to his final reckoning as a disgraced, imprisoned pariah—confirms the adage that truth is indeed stranger than fiction. A tale of international intrigue with Indian casinos, Russian spies, Chinese sweatshops, and a mob-style killing in Miami, this is the story of the way money corrupts our political process. Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney once again wields the tools of his trade with the skill of a master. Following the ongoing indictments of federal officials and exposing favor trading in our nation's capital, Gibney illuminates the way our politicians' desperate need to get elected—and the millions of dollars it costs—may be undermining the basic principles of American democracy. Infuriating, yet undeniably fun to watch, Casino Jack is a saga of greed and corruption with a cynical villain audiences will love to hate. (Magnolia Pictures)

After 26 years of spinning dives and flying uppercuts in the ring, Cassandro, the star of the gender-bending cross-dressing Mexican wrestlers known as the Exoticos, is far from retiring. But with dozens of broken bones and metal pins in his body, he must now reinvent himself.

A lyrical, feature documentary that explores the captivating experience of casting actors. (Kino International)