Movie Releases by Genre
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201.
Mugabe and the White African
July 23, 2010
Michael Campbell is one of the few hundred white farmers left in Zimbabwe since President Robert Mugabe began his violent land seizure program in 2000. Initially a policy meant to reclaim white-owned land and redistribute it to poor black Zimbabweans, it has instead been used to gift farmland to Mugabe’s supporters. Like hundreds before him, Mike has suffered years of land invasions and violence at his farm. But this genial 75-year-old grandfather with a dry sense of humor has refused to back down. In 2008, Mike took the unprecedented step of challenging Mugabe and his Land Reform program in an international court, accusing the regime of illegal racial discrimination and violations of basic human rights. Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous 2008 Zimbabwean presidential elections, "Mugabe and the White African" follows Mike and son-in-law Ben Freeth in their harrowing attempt to save their family farm and the lives and livelihoods of the 500 black workers that live and work there. (First Run Features)
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202.
Meet the Patels
September 11, 2015
Meet The Patels is a real life romantic comedy about Ravi Patel, an almost-30-year-old Indian-American who enters a love triangle between the woman of his dreams...and his parents. [Alchemy]
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203.
Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice
September 6, 2019
Linda Ronstadt is our guide through her early years of singing Mexican canciones with her family; her folk days with the Stone Poneys; and her reign as the “rock queen” of the ‘70s and early ’80s. She was a pioneer for women in the male-dominated music industry; a passionate advocate for human rights, and had a high-profile romance with California Governor Jerry Brown. Ultimately, her singing voice was stilled by illness and forced her into retirement but her music and influence remain as timeless as ever.
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204.
The Yes Men Fix the World
October 7, 2009
The Yes Men are anti-corporate pranksters who create phony Web sites to get themselves invited to high-level corporate conferences and media events - where they give hilarious, Swiftian analyses that unmask global injustice and satirize human rights abuses. They are the 21st century's answer to Timothy Leary's proselytizing for acid and Ken Kesey's busload of hipsters. The big difference is that they care less about changing minds than changing policy. But announcing, as spokespeople for Dow Chemical, that they will at last take full financial responsibility for the victims of Bhopal, they create a media sensation that embarrasses the real powers that be. And, outfitted in their wacky "SurvivaBall" getups, the Yes Men address a room full of straight-laced suits who don't think there's anything funny about going to insane lengths to assure one's personal safety in the event of any and all calamities. The Yes Men don't exactly speak truth to power. But their hearts are in the right place -- right next to their funny bones. (Shadow Distribution)
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205.
Mistaken for Strangers
March 28, 2014
In 2010, rock band The National were about to embark on the biggest tour of their career. After ten years as a band, and five critically acclaimed albums, they were finally enjoying wider recognition. Lead singer Matt Berninger invited his younger brother, Tom, to join the tour's crew. A budding horror filmmaker, Tom - who is nine years younger than Matt and listens exclusively to heavy metal - decided to bring his camera along. Tom's at sea in the world of indie rock, and living in his brother's shadow brings out the younger sibling in him - he drinks, complains, and struggles to balance his ambition with his tour responsibilities. The result is a film about brothers and about making something of your own.
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206.
Ingrid Bergman in Her Own Words
November 13, 2015
A captivating look behind the scenes of the remarkable life of a young Swedish girl who became one of the most celebrated actresses of American and World cinema.
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207.
The Great Buster: A Celebration
October 5, 2018
The Great Buster celebrates the life and career of one of America’s most influential and celebrated filmmakers and comedians, Buster Keaton, whose singular style and fertile output during the silent era created his legacy as a true cinematic visionary. [Cohen Media Group]
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208.
Screwball
March 29, 2019
Recounting the high-profile doping scandal that rocked Major League Baseball, director Billy Corben (Cocaine Cowboys) takes us into the surreal Miami underworld that provided performance-enhancing drugs to Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and other star players.
They say South Florida is a sunny place for shady people and this is certainly true of steroid peddler Anthony Bosch and his most notorious client, Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees. While Bosch's medical credentials may be lacking, his storytelling skills are first rate as he hilariously details the rise and fall of his “health clinic”, including mob connections, financial chicanery, his cocaine habit, and Rodriguez's eccentric behavior.
The documentary plays like a madcap Floridian crime comedy in the vein of Elmore Leonard or the Coen Brothers while it raises serious questions about the ethics of professional sports. Powerful interests would be happy to let this story slip from memory, but Screwball makes it unforgettable. [Greenwich Entertainment]
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209.
loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies
September 29, 2006
A documenary look at the hugely influential US indie rock band The Pixies, who revolutionized the alternative music scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
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210.
The Kid Stays in the Picture
July 26, 2002
Traces the meteoric rise, fall, and rise again of legendary Hollywood producer Robert Evans. Adapted from Mr. Evans's tell-all autobiography, the movie takes the audience on an intimate journey into the mind of this Hollywood legend. (USA Films)
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211.
Eating Animals
June 15, 2018
How much do you know about the food that’s on your plate? Based on the bestselling book by Jonathan Safran Foer and narrated by co-producer Natalie Portman, Eating Animals is an urgent, eye-opening look at the environmental, economic, and public health consequences of factory farming. Tracing the history of food production in the United States, the film charts how farming has gone from local and sustainable to a corporate Frankenstein monster that offers cheap eggs, meat, and dairy at a steep cost: the exploitation of animals; the risky use of antibiotics and hormones; and the pollution of our air, soil, and water. Spotlighting farmers who have pushed backed against industrial agriculture with more humane practices, Eating Animals offers attainable, commonsense solutions to a growing crisis while making the case that ethical farming is not only an animal rights issue but one that affects every aspect of our lives. [Sundance Selects]
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212.
Pressure Cooker
May 27, 2009
Three seniors at Philadelphia's Frankford High School find an unlikely champion in the kitchen of Wilma Stephenson. A legend in the school system, Mrs. Stephenson's hilariously blunt boot-camp method of teaching Culinary Arts is validated by years of scholarship success. (Non Sequitur Productions)
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213.
Ayurveda: Art of Being
July 17, 2002
Pan Nalin's Documentary on Ayurveda, revealing how the revitalised holistic discipline, based on the most ancient of techniques, can be applied in this age of nuclear power, the internet and instant everything. (Kino International)
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214.
The Island President
March 28, 2012
Jon Shenk’s The Island President is the story of President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, a man confronting a problem greater than any other world leader has ever faced—the literal survival of his country and everyone in it. After bringing democracy to the Maldives after thirty years of despotic rule, Nasheed is now faced with an even greater challenge: as one of the most low-lying countries in the world, a rise of three feet in sea level would submerge the 1200 islands of the Maldives enough to make them uninhabitable. (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
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215.
Detropia
September 7, 2012
Detroit's story has encapsulated the iconic narrative of America over the last century - the Great Migration of African Americans escaping Jim Crow; the rise of manufacturing and the middle class; the love affair with automobiles; the flowering of the American dream; and now... the collapse of the economy and the fading American mythos. With its vivid, painterly palette and haunting score, "Detropia" sculpts a dreamlike collage of a grand city teetering on the brink of dissolution. These soulful pragmatists and stalwart philosophers strive to make ends meet and make sense of it all, refusing to abandon hope or resistance. Their grit and pluck embody the spirit of the Motor City as it struggles to survive postindustrial America and begins to envision a radically different future. (Loki Films)
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216.
The Cockettes
June 28, 2002
This documentary chronicles the rise and fall of the legendary San Francisco theatrical troupe, a group of flamboyant hippies who decked themselves in gender-bending drag and tons of glitter.
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217.
Standing in the Shadows of Motown
November 15, 2002
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)
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218.
OT: Our Town
August 15, 2003
At Dominquez High School in Compton, California, basketball is valued above all else. The school has not staged a play in over twenty years. With no budget and no stage, English teacher Catherine Borek attempts to mount a theatrical production of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town," in an effort to make a change. In the process she takes her fledgling students on a journey of self-discovery. (Film Movement)
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219.
A/k/a Tommy Chong
June 14, 2006
Filmmaker Josh Gilbert follows the tragic and absurd journey of legendary counter-culture comedian Tommy Chong who in 2003 was indicted in an internet drug paraphernalia sting and wound up serving nine months in federal prison. (ThinkFilm)
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220.
Sacco and Vanzetti
March 30, 2007
This documentary tells the story of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrant anarchists who were accused of a murder in 1920, and executed in Boston in 1927 after a notoriously prejudiced trial. It is the first major documentary film about this landmark story. (Willow Pond Films)
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221.
Kimjongilia
March 19, 2010
N.C. Heikin's unblinking indictment of life in North Korea under the dictatorship of Kim Jong Il. This searing examination of the communist dictatorship established by Kim Il-sung and continued today by his son Kim Jong-il dispels the illusion of a Worker's Paradise peddled by the North Korean government and exposes the injustice, tragedy and famine that has prevailed over the past forty years. (Lorber Films)
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222.
Antarctica: A Year on Ice
November 28, 2014
Antarctica: A Year on Ice is a visually stunning journey to the end of the world with the hardy and devoted people who live there year-round. The research stations scattered throughout the continent host a close-knit international population of scientists, technicians and craftsmen. Isolated from the rest of the world, enduring months of unending darkness followed by periods when the sun never sets, Antarctic residents experience firsthand the beauty and brutality of the most severe environment on Earth. Capturing epic battles against hellacious storms, quiet reveries of nature's grandeur, and everyday moments of work and laughter, this unique documentary shows a steadfast community thriving in a land few humans have experienced. [Music Box Films]
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223.
Grey Gardens
September 27, 1975
An old mother and her middle-aged daughter, the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy, live their eccentric lives in a filthy, decaying mansion in East Hampton.
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224.
Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire
May 18, 2005
Shake Hands With The Devil is the most powerful documentary produced about the Rwandan genocide. Unflinching. Gut-wrenching. Challenging. Hard-hitting. (White Pine Pictures)
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225.
Steep
December 21, 2007
Steep is a feature documentary about bold adventure, exquisite athleticism, and the pursuit of a perfect moment on skis. It is the story of big-mountain skiing, a sport that barely existed 35 years ago. It started in the 1970s in the mountains above Chamonix, France, where skiers began to attempt ski descents so extreme that they appeared almost suicidal. Men such as Anselme Baud and Patrick Vallençant were inspired by the challenge of skiing where no one thought to ski before. Now, two generations later, some of the world's greatest skiers pursue a sport where the prize is not winning, but simply experiencing the exhilaration of skiing and exploring big, wild, remote mountains. (Sony Pictures Classics)
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226.
Bittersweet Motel
August 25, 2000
Todd Phillips direct this documentary look at Phish, following the Vermont-based band on several concert tours.
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227.
This Old Cub
July 23, 2004
This documentary profiles former All-Star third baseman, broadcaster and Chicago Cubs legend Ron Santo and his lifelong battle with diabetes. (Emerging Pictures)
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228.
Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land
January 28, 2005
This documentary provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Media Education Foundation)
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229.
The Price of Sugar
September 28, 2007
The Price of Sugar follows a charismatic Spanish priest, Father Christopher Hartley, as he organizes some of this hemisphere's poorest people to challenge powerful interests profiting from their work. When he arrives in the Dominican Republic, he's warned against entering the sugar plantations where most of his parishioners live. Breaking a centuries-old taboo, he discovers shocking examples of modern-day slavery intrinsic to the global sugar trade. (Uncommon Productions)
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230.
Severe Clear
March 12, 2010
Severe Clear is based on the memoir by First Lieutenant Mike Scotti as well as video footage shot by him and other members of 1st Battalion, 4th Marines on the outset of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. (Sirk Productions)
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231.
And Everything Is Going Fine
December 10, 2010
And Everything Is Going Fine provides an intimate portrait of master monologist Spalding Gray, as described by his most critical, irreverent and insightful biographer: Spalding Gray. Director Steven Soderbergh, who collaborated with Gray on Gray’s Anatomy (1996), has sifted through rare and revealing footage to construct a riveting final monologue. There are glimpses of Gray’s father, and of his son Forrest (who provides soaring music for the end credits), but mostly this is an inspired one-man show, a bittersweet display of Spalding’s playful and embattled intelligence, his gift for tracking universal truths by looking himself squarely in the eye.(IFC Films)
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232.
Lemmy
January 28, 2011
In 2007 filmmakers Greg Olliver and Wes Orshoski formed a partnership to produce and direct “Lemmy”, the highly acclaimed epic rock & roll adventure doc about Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister. Born from the fire of “Lemmy”, Damage Case Films & Distribution is a production company dedicated to creating high quality, music-driven films, and a distribution company dedicated to bringing these works directly to the fan and audiences that deserve them. (Damage Case Films & Distribution)
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233.
Paul Williams Still Alive
June 8, 2012
He won Grammys and an Academy Award; wrote many #1 songs from Barbra Streisand's "Evergreen" to the Carpenter's "We've Only Just Begun" as well as Kermit the Frog's biggest hit, "The Rainbow Connection"; starred in a Brian DePalma movie; put out his own hit records and albums; was a guest on The Tonight Show fifty times; and is the president of ASCAP... and you might not have heard of him. In the 1970's, Paul Williams was the singer / actor / songwriter that emotional, alienated teenage boys all over the world wanted to be, a sex symbol before MTV, when sex symbols could be 5"2 and sing songs about loneliness with the Muppets. One of those boys was Steve Kessler, a chubby kid from Queens. Thirty years later, Kessler discovered something amazing: Paul Williams didn't die. And no one had ever tried to make a documentary about him. A wistful musical journey that will re-introduce a new generation to Williams' soulful classics, "Paul Williams: Still Alive" is the self-narrated story of Stephen Kessler's lifelong obsession with the former superstar-and what happens when the nostalgic filmmaker finally catches up with him. (Abramorama Films)
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234.
Mifune: The Last Samurai
November 25, 2016
Mifune: The Last Samurai explores the accidental movie career of Toshiro Mifune, one of the true giants of world cinema. Mifune made 16 remarkable films with director Akira Kurosawa during the Golden Age of Japanese Cinema, including Rashomon, Seven Samurai and Yojimbo. Together they thrilled audiences and influenced filmmaking around the world, providing direct inspiration for not only The Magnificent Seven and Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood’s breakthrough, A Fistful of Dollars, but also George Lucas’ Star Wars.
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235.
Chavela
October 4, 2017
Through its lyrical structure, Chavela will take viewers on an evocative, thought-provoking journey through the iconoclastic life of game-changing artist Chavela Vargas. Centered around never before-seen interview footage of Chavela shot 20 years before her death in 2012, and guided by the stories in Chavela's songs, and the myths and tales others have told about her - as well as those she spread about herself - the film weaves an arresting portrait of a woman who dared to dress, speak, sing, and dream her unique life into being.
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236.
Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story
April 28, 2017
Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story chronicles the romantic and creative partnership of storyboard artist Harold Michelson and his wife, film researcher Lillian Michelson—a talented couple once considered “the heart of Hollywood.” Harold and Lillian worked on hundreds of iconic films during Hollywood’s golden age including The Ten Commandments, The Apartment, The Birds, Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, The Graduate, Rosemary’s Baby, Fiddler On The Roof, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Scarface, Full Metal Jacket and more. Although the couple was responsible for some of Hollywood’s most iconic examples of visual storytelling, their contributions remain largely uncredited. Through an engaging mix of love letters, film clips and candid conversations with Harold and Lillian, Danny DeVito, Mel Brooks, Francis Coppola and others, this heartfelt documentary chronicles their remarkable relationship and two extraordinary careers spanning six decades of movie-making history.
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237.
The Departure
October 13, 2017
Ittetsu Nemoto, a former punk-turned- Buddhist-priest in Japan, has made a career out of helping suicidal people find reasons to live. But this work has come increasingly at the cost of his own family and health, as he refuses to draw lines between those he counsels and himself. The Departure captures Nemoto at a crossroads, when his growing self-destructive tendencies lead him to confront the same question his patients ask him: what makes life worth living?
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238.
The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52
July 9, 2021
The Loneliest Whale is a cinematic quest to find the “52 Hertz Whale,” which scientists believe has spent its entire life in solitude calling out at a frequency that is different from any other whale. As the film embarks on this engrossing journey, audiences will explore what this whale’s lonely plight can teach us — not just about our changing relationship to the oceans, but to each other.
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239.
Convergence: Courage in a Crisis
October 12, 2021
While Covid-19 exacerbates vulnerabilities across the world, unsung heroes in all levels of society help the tide turn toward a brighter future.
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240.
Hell House
November 15, 2002
This documentary profiles a Pentecostal church in Texas that uses a Halloween haunted house, complete with fire and brimstone, to scare teenagers about issues such as AIDS, abortion and school shootings.
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241.
Chain Camera
June 22, 2001
Ten students at John Marshall High School in Los Angeles were given video cameras to film their lives. There were no limitations on what they could shoot. After one week, the cameras were given to ten new students, who filmed their lives for a week, then handed the cameras on. Like chain letters, these cameras were passed from student to student for an entire year. (FilmNoir Post Productions)
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242.
The Unforeseen
February 29, 2008
Executive produced by Terrence Malick and Robert Redford, this 2008 Independent Spirit Award winning-documentary tells the story of a Texas real estate developer who enjoys meteoric success until an environmental movement and the S&L crisis threaten to undo his plans. In an era of rising home foreclosures, failing financial institutions and profound uncertainty about the future, this film prompts viewers to both reexamine the American Dream as well as their own definitions of what it means to truly grow. [The Cinema Guild]
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243.
Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him?)
September 10, 2010
A wildly entertaining, star-studded documentary about The Beatles’s favorite American musician, Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)? is a vibrant and definitive portrait of one of the most talented singer-songwriters in pop music history. Directed by Emmy and Grammy nominee John Scheinfeld (The U.S. Vs. John Lennon), the film combines compelling interviews with Nilsson’s family, friends and colleagues — including Brian Wilson, Randy Newman, Robin Williams, Micky Dolenz and Yoko Ono — with rare and never-before-seen archival footage, home movies, and excerpts from a recently discovered oral autobiography. The film delves deeply into Nilsson’s artistic process, his spirited relationship with John Lennon, and the additions that haunted him in and outside the studio — as well as the peace he found as a devoted husband and father. (Lorber Films)
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244.
Miss Sharon Jones!
July 29, 2016
On the eve of the release of her new album, internationally recognized soul singer Sharon Jones was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Tour dates were cancelled, the album pushed back and Sharon entered into a fight for her life and career. Miss Sharon Jones! intimately follows this intense and courageous year in Sharon’s life.
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245.
Obit
April 26, 2017
It's a shame no one wants to talk to them at parties, because obituary writers are a surprisingly funny bunch. Ten hours before newspapers hit neighborhood doorsteps—and these days, ten minutes before news hits the web—an obit writer is racing against deadline to sum up a long and newsworthy life in under 1000 words. The details of these lives are then deposited into the cultural memory amid the daily beat of war, politics, and football scores. Obit. is the first documentary to explore the world of these writers and their subjects, focusing on the legendary team at The New York Times, who approach their daily work with journalistic rigor and narrative flair. Going beyond the byline and into the minds of those chronicling life after death on the freshly inked front lines of history, the film invites some of the most essential questions we ask ourselves about life, memory, and the inevitable passage of time. What do we choose to remember? What never dies? [Kino Lorber]
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246.
Escapes
July 26, 2017
Escapes blazes a wild path through mid-20th-century Hollywood via the experiences of Hampton Fancher – flamenco dancer, actor, and the unlikely producer and screenwriter of the landmark sci-fi classic Blade Runner. A consummate raconteur, Fancher recounts episodes from his remarkable life — romantic misadventures with silver-screen stars, wayward acts of chivalry, jealousy, and friendship — matched with a parallel world of film and TV footage wherein Fancher plays cowboys, killers, fops, cads, and the occasional hero. Equal parts dense and fleet, Escapes shows how one man’s personal journey can unexpectedly shape a medium’s future.
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247.
Human Nature
March 13, 2020
A breakthrough called CRISPR has given us unprecedented control over the basic building blocks of life. It opens the door to curing diseases, reshaping the biosphere, and designing our own children. Human Nature is a provocative exploration of CRISPR’s far-reaching implications, through the eyes of the scientists who discovered it, the families it’s affecting, and the bioengineers who are testing its limits. How will this new power change our relationship with nature? What will it mean for human evolution? To begin to answer these questions we must look back billions of years and peer into an uncertain future.
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248.
GameStop: Rise of the Players
January 28, 2022
In January 2021, the brick-and-mortar video game retailer GameStop had been the top story on everynews network in the country. Its stock had risen over 2500% amidst a wild flurry of volatility, despite nonew news coming out of the company. The run was fueled by an epic “short squeeze” on a handful ofbillion-dollar hedge fund behemoths, netting online investors millions and costing the hedge fundstens-of-billions of dollars in the process. But this wasn’t just a run on a stock. This was a battle that hasbeen brewing for years. It’s a David and Goliath story of a band of contrarians who bucked conventionalwisdom to bet on themselves, their own research, and a business that Wall Street had given up on.
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249.
Gaga: Five Foot Two
September 22, 2017
This documentary goes behind the scenes with pop provocateur Lady Gaga as she releases a bold new album and prepares for her Super Bowl halftime show.
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250.
This Is It
October 28, 2009
Michael Jackson's This Is It will offer Jackson fans and music lovers worldwide a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the performer as he developed, created and rehearsed for his sold-out concerts that would have taken place beginning this summer in London's O2 Arena. Chronicling the months from April through June, 2009, the film is produced with the full support of the Estate of Michael Jackson and drawn from more than one hundred hours of behind-the-scenes footage, featuring Jackson rehearsing a number of his songs for the show. Audiences will be given a privileged and private look at Jackson as he has never been seen before. In raw and candid detail, "Michael Jackson's This Is It" captures the singer, dancer, filmmaker, architect, creative genius and great artist at work as he creates and perfects his final show. (Sony Pictures)
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251.
Stories We Tell
May 10, 2013
Director Sarah Polley looks into her past and excavates layers of myth and memory to find the elusive truth at the core of a family of storytellers.
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252.
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
March 9, 2012
Jiro Dreams of Sushi is the story of 85 year-old Jiro Ono, considered by many to be the world’s greatest sushi chef. He is the proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant inauspiciously located in a Tokyo subway station. Despite its humble appearances, it is the first restaurant of its kind to be awarded a prestigious 3 star Michelin review, and sushi lovers from around the globe make repeated pilgrimage, calling months in advance and shelling out top dollar for a coveted seat at Jiro’s sushi bar. For most of his life, Jiro has been mastering the art of making sushi, but even at his age he sees himself still striving for perfection, working from sunrise to well beyond sunset to taste every piece of fish; meticulously train his employees; and carefully mold and finesse the impeccable presentation of each sushi creation. At the heart of this story is Jiro’s relationship with his eldest son Yoshikazu, the worthy heir to Jiro’s legacy, who is unable to live up to his full potential in his father’s shadow. (Magnolia Pictures)
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253.
Sound City
January 31, 2013
Dave Grohl directs this documentary about the legendary, but now defunct, analog recording studio in Van Nuys, California.
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254.
Last Days in Vietnam
September 5, 2014
During the chaotic final days of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as South Vietnamese resistance crumbles. The United States has only a skeleton crew of diplomats and military operatives still in the country. As Communist victory becomes inevitable and the U.S. readies to withdraw, some Americans begin to consider the certain imprisonment and possible death of their South Vietnamese allies, co-workers, and friends. Meanwhile, the prospect of an official evacuation of South Vietnamese becomes terminally delayed by Congressional gridlock and the inexplicably optimistic U.S. Ambassador. With the clock ticking and the city under fire, a number of heroic Americans take matters into their own hands, engaging in unsanctioned and often makeshift operations in a desperate effort to save as many South Vietnamese lives as possible.
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255.
Pearl Jam Twenty
September 20, 2011
Pearl Jam Twenty chronicles the years leading up to the band’s formation, the chaos that ensued soon-after their rise to megastardom, their step back from center stage, and the creation of a trusted circle that would surround them—giving way to a work culture that would sustain them. Told in big themes and bold colors with blistering sound, the film is carved from over 1200 hours of rarely-seen and never-before seen footage spanning the band’s career. Pearl Jam twenty is the definitive portrait of Pearl Jam: part concert film, part intimate insider –hang, part testimonial to the power of music and uncompromising artists. (Vinyl Films)
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256.
What Happened, Miss Simone?
June 24, 2015
A classically trained musical genius, chart-topping chanteuse, and Black Power icon, Nina Simone is one of the most influential, beloved, provocative, and least understood artists of our time. On stage, she was known for utterly free, rapturous performances, earning her the epithet "High Priestess of Soul." But amid the violent, day-to-day fight for civil rights, she struggled to reconcile artistic ambition with her fierce devotion to a movement.
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257.
Tyson
April 24, 2009
Tyson is acclaimed indie director James Toback's stylistically inventive portrait of a mesmerizing Mike Tyson. Toback allows Tyson to reveal himself without inhibition and with eloquence and a pervasive vulnerability. Through a mixture of original interviews and archival footage and photographs, a
startlingly complex, fully-rounded human being emerges. The film ranges from Tyson’s earliest memories of growing up on the mean streets of Brooklyn through his entry into the world of boxing, to his roller coaster ride in the fun house of worldwide fame and fortunes won and lost. It is the story of a legendary and uniquely controversial international athletic icon, a figure conjuring radical questions of race and class. In its depiction of a man rising from the most debased circumstances to unlimited heights, destroyed by his own hubris, Tyson emerges as a modern day version of classic Greek tragedy. (Sony Classics)
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258.
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
June 11, 2010
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work takes the audience on a year long ride with legendary comedian Joan Rivers in her 76th year of life. Peeling away the mask of an iconic comedian and exposing the struggles, sacrifices and joy of living life as a ground breaking female performer. The film is an emotionally surprising and revealing portrait of one the most hilarious and long-standing career women ever in the business. (IFC Films)
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259.
Collapse
November 6, 2009
Meet Michael Ruppert, a different kind of American. A former Los Angeles police officer turned independent reporter, he predicted the current financial crisis in his self-published newsletter, From the Wilderness, at a time when most of Wall Street and Washington analysts were still in denial. Director Chris Smith has shown an affinity for outsiders in films like American Movie and The Yes Men. In Collapse, he departs stylistically form his past documentaries by interviewing Ruppert in a format that recalls that work of Errol Morris and Spalding Gray. (Vitagraph Films)
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260.
Best of Enemies
July 31, 2015
In the summer of 1968, television news changed forever. Dead last in the ratings, ABC hired two towering public intellectuals to debate each other during the Democratic and Republican national conventions. William F. Buckley Jr. was a leading light of the new conservative movement. A Democrat and cousin to Jackie Onassis, Gore Vidal was a leftist novelist and polemicist. Armed with deep-seated distrust and enmity, Vidal and Buckley believed each other’s political ideologies were dangerous for America. Like rounds in a heavyweight battle, they pummeled out policy and personal insult—their explosive exchanges devolving into vitriolic name-calling. Live and unscripted, they kept viewers riveted. Ratings for ABC News skyrocketed. And a new era in public discourse was born. [Magnolia Pictures]
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261.
Unrest
September 22, 2017
When Harvard Ph.D. student Jennifer Brea is struck down by a fever that leaves her bedridden, she sets out on a virtual journey to document her story as she fights a disease that medicine forgot.
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262.
Deep Water
August 24, 2007
Deep Water is the stunning true story of the fateful voyage of Donald Crowhurst, an amateur yachtsman who entered the most daring nautical challenge ever: the very first solo, nonstop, round-the-world boat race. (IFC Films)
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263.
Get Me Roger Stone
May 12, 2017
After the 2016 election, people all over the world woke up to find that Donald J. Trump, New York real estate billionaire and reality TV star, succeeded in pulling off one of the greatest political upsets in history to become the 45th President of the United States. One man who wasn’t shocked – political consultant Roger Stone. A longtime Trump confidante and advisor, Stone said he always knew his celebrity pal was “prime political horse flesh.” Get Me Roger Stone traces the monumental impact that Stone, the youngest person called before the Watergate grand jury and a self-described “dirty trickster”, has made on modern GOP history — connecting Nixon, Roy Cohn and Reagan with SuperPACs, lobbying, the 2000 election, all the way to the nation’s first reality star President. A master of creating controversy and manipulating the media, Stone’s career is a window into the last 50 years of politics that led to this pivotal moment in history. The Netflix original documentary chronicles the high-living, low-down, self-proclaimed agent provocateur and the seismic changes he’s wrought in a political system.
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264.
The Painter and the Thief
May 22, 2020
Desperate for answers about the theft of her 2 paintings, a Czech artist seeks out and befriends the career criminal who stole them. After inviting her thief to sit for a portrait, the two form an improbable relationship and an inextricable bond that will forever link these lonely souls.
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265.
Into the Inferno
October 28, 2016
Werner Herzog and volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer travel the globe and visit volcanoes in Indonesia, Ethiopia and even North Korea in an attempt to understand man's relationship with one of nature's most violent wonders. [Netflix]
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266.
The Fearless Freaks
May 27, 2005
This documentary offers an intimate look at one of today's most acclaimed alternative rock groups, The Flaming Lips. (Shout! Factory)
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267.
Night Will Fall
November 21, 2014
Researchers discover film footage from World War II that turns out to be a lost documentary shot by Alfred Hitchcock and Sidney Bernstein in 1945 about German concentration camps.
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268.
Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself
January 22, 2021
Storyteller and Conceptual Magician Derek DelGaudio attempts to understand the illusory nature of identity and answer the deceptively simple question 'Who am I?'
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269.
The Rescue
October 8, 2021
The Rescue chronicles the enthralling, against-all-odds story that transfixed the world in 2018: the daring rescue of twelve boys and their coach from deep inside a flooded cave in Northern Thailand.
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270.
14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible
November 29, 2021
Fearless Nepali mountaineer Nimsdai Purja embarks on a seemingly impossible quest to summit all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks in seven months. [Netflix]
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271.
Short Cut to Nirvana: Kumbh Mela
January 14, 2005
This documentary examines the Kumbh Mela, the oldest, greatest, most fascinating festival on Earth.
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272.
Saint of 9/11
September 6, 2006
In an enduring photograph of September 11, a team of rescue workers carry a Franciscan
priest's body from the World Trade Center. The world came to know Father Mychal Judge, Chaplain, FDNY, in death as a symbol of courage and sacrifice. Saint of 9/11 presents the turbulent, restless, spiritual and remarkable journey of Father Mychal Judge. (IFC Films)
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273.
78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene
October 13, 2017
The screeching strings, the plunging knife, the slow zoom out from a lifeless eyeball: in 1960, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho changed film history forever with its taboo-shattering shower scene. With 78 camera set-ups and 52 edits over the course of 3 minutes, Psycho redefined screen violence, set the stage for decades of slasher films to come, and introduced a new element of danger to the moviegoing experience. Aided by a roster of filmmakers, critics, and fans—including Guillermo del Toro, Bret Easton Ellis, Jamie Lee Curtis, Eli Roth, and Peter Bogdanovich—director Alexandre O. Philippe pulls back the curtain on the making and influence of this cinematic game changer, breaking it down frame by frame and unpacking Hitchcock’s dense web of allusions and double meanings. [IFC Midnight]
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274.
Path of Blood
July 13, 2018
Path of Blood depicts Islamist terrorism, as it has never been seen before. Drawn from a hoard of jihadi home-movie footage that was captured by Saudi security services, this is the story of Muslim terrorists targeting Muslim civilians and brought to justice by Muslim security agents. It is a stark reminder that all who are touched by terrorism are victimized by it. A powerful and sometimes shocking cinematic experience, Path of Blood reveals how brainwashed youths, fueled by idealism and the misguided pursuit of adventure, can descend into madness and carnage. The raw, unvarnished footage, to which the filmmakers negotiated exclusive access, captures young thrill-seekers at a jihadi “boot camp” deep in the Saudi desert, having signed on to overthrow the Saudi government. They plot to detonate car bombs in downtown Riyadh, become embroiled in a game of cat-and-mouse with government forces and, as their plans unravel, resort to ever more brutal tactics. Adopting a strictly objective approach, the film doesn’t editorialize and contains no interviews or “talking heads” commentary. The home video footage was shot by the terrorists themselves, allowing viewers to see them in all their complexity, while compelling audiences to draw their own conclusions.
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275.
All That Breathes
October 21, 2022
In one of the world’s most populated cities, two brothers — Nadeem and Saud — devote their lives to the quixotic effort of protecting the black kite, a majestic bird of prey essential to the ecosystem of New Delhi that has been falling from the sky at alarming rates. Amid environmental toxicity and social unrest, the ‘kite brothers’ spend day and night caring for the creatures in their makeshift avian basement hospital.
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276.
Rising Phoenix
August 26, 2020
Rising Phoenix tells the extraordinary story of the Paralympic Games. From the rubble of World War II to the third biggest sporting event on the planet, the Paralympics sparked a global movement which continues to change the way the world thinks about disability, diversity & human potential.
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277.
Chris & Don. A Love Story
June 13, 2008
Chris & Don: A Love Story is the true-life story of the passionate three-decade relationship between British writer Christopher Isherwood and American portrait painter Don Bachardy, thirty years his junior. From Isherwood’s Kit-Kat-Club years in Weimar-era Germany (the inspiration for his most famous work) to the couple’s first meeting on the sun-kissed beaches of 1950s Malibu, their against-all-odds saga is brought to dazzling life by a treasure trove of multimedia. Bachardy’s contemporary reminiscences (in the Santa Monica home he shared with Isherwood until his death in 1986) artfully interact with archival footage, rare home movies (with glimpses of glitterati pals W.H. Auden, Igor Stravinsky and Tennessee Williams), reenactments, and, most sweetly, whimsical animations based on the cat-and-horse cartoons the pair used in their personal correspondence. With Isherwood’s status as an out-and-proud gay maverick, and Bachardy’s eventual artistic triumph away from the considerable shadow of his life partner, Chris & Don: A Love Story is above all a joyful celebration of a most extraordinary couple. (Zeitgeist Films)
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278.
Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion
September 19, 2003
A sweeping and compelling look at the struggle of the Tibetan people for freedom over the course of more than five decades. (Artistic License Films)
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279.
Strike a Pose
January 18, 2017
In 1990, seven young male dancers - 6 gay, 1 straight - joined Madonna on her most controversial tour. On stage and in the iconic film Truth or Dare they showed the world how to express yourself. Now, 25 years later, they reveal the truth about life during and after the tour. Strike a Pose is a dramatic tale about overcoming shame and finding the courage to be who you are.
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280.
Roll Red Roll
March 22, 2019
At a pre-season football party in small-town Steubenville, Ohio, a heinous crime took place: the assault of a teenage girl by members of the beloved high school football team. What transpired would garner national attention and result in the sentencing of two key offenders. But it was the disturbing social media evidence uncovered online by crime blogger Alex Goddard that provoked the most powerful questions about the case, and about the collusion of teen bystanders, teachers, parents and coaches to protect the assailants and discredit the victim. As it painstakingly reconstructs the night of the crime and its aftermath, Roll Red Roll uncovers the engrained rape culture at the heart of the incident, acting as a cautionary tale about what can happen when teenage social media bullying runs rampant and adults look the other way. The film unflinchingly asks: “why didn’t anyone stop it?”
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281.
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul
June 9, 2006
A European musician and composer sets out to capture the musical diversity of Istanbul. (Strand Releasing)
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282.
Until the Light Takes Us
December 4, 2009
Until The Light Takes Us tells the story of black metal. Part music scene and part cultural uprising, black metal rose to worldwide notoriety in the mid-nineties when a rash of suicides, murders, and church burnings accompanied the explosive artistic growth and output of a music scene that would forever redefine what heavy metal is and what it stands for to other musicians, artists and music fans worldwide. Until The Light Takes Us goes behind the highly sensationalized media reports of "Satanists
running amok in Europe" to examine the complex and largely misunderstood principles and beliefs that
led to this rebellion against both Christianity and modern culture. To capture this on film, directors Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell moved to Norway and lived with the musicians for several years, building relationships that allowed them to create a surprisingly intimate portrait of this violent, but ultimately misunderstood, movement. The result is a poignant, moving story that’s as much about the idea that reality is composed of whatever the most people believe, regardless of what’s actually true, as it is about a music scene that blazed a path of murder and arson across the northern sky. (Variance Film)
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283.
The Other Dream Team
September 28, 2012
After leading the USSR to a gold medal (and victory over the U.S.A.) at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Sarunas Marciulionis and Arvydas Sabonis were poster boys for their oppressor’s sports machine. Four year later, after the fall of the Soviet Union, they emerged as symbols of democracy, helping their country break free from the shackles of Communism, and willing newly independent Lithuania to the medal stand at the Barcelona Olympics. The Other Dream Team documents the Lithuanians’ experiences behind the Iron Curtain for 50 years, where elite athletes were subjected to brutalities of Communist rule. As they hid from KGB agents and feared for their lives, Lithuania’s basketball stars always shared a common goal - to utilize their athletic gifts to help free their country. (The Film Arcade)
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284.
All Things Must Pass
October 16, 2015
Established in 1960, Tower Records was once a retail powerhouse with two hundred stores, in thirty countries, on five continents. From humble beginnings in a small-town drugstore, Tower Records eventually became the heart and soul of the music world, and a powerful force in the music industry. In 1999, Tower Records made $1 billion. In 2006, the company filed for bankruptcy. What went wrong? Everyone thinks they know what killed Tower Records: The Internet. But that's not the story.
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285.
The Ivory Game
November 4, 2016
Wildlife activists in take on poachers in an effort to end illegal ivory trade in Africa.
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286.
The Reason I Jump
January 8, 2021
Based on the best-selling book by Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump is an immersive cinematic exploration of neurodiversity through the experiences of nonspeaking autistic people from around the world. The film blends Higashida's revelatory insights into autism, written when he was just 13, with intimate portraits of five remarkable young people. It opens a window for audiences into an intense and overwhelming, but often joyful, sensory universe.
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287.
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
October 20, 2006
This documentary tells the story of the people who followed Jim Jones from Indiana, to California, and finally to the remote jungles of Guyana, South America, in a misbegotten quest to build an ideal society. (Seventh Art Releasing)
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288.
The Betrayal - Nerakhoon
November 21, 2008
Shot over the course of 23 years, Thavi narrates his own story as a child surviving the Vietnam war and then as a young man struggling to overcome the hardships of immigrant life, an experience shared with his mother in war. Breathtaking and compelling, renowned cinematographer Ellen Kuras’s film is a poetic, deeply personal film, a powerfully eloquent tribute of what it means to be in exile, of the far-reaching consequences of war, and of the resilient bonds of family. Thavisouk’s unforgettable journey reminds us of the strength necessary to survive and of the human spirit’s inspiring capacity to adapt, rebuild, and forgive. [Celluloid Dreams]
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289.
Life and Debt
June 16, 2001
An unapologetic look at the "new world order" from the point of view of Jamaican workers, farmers, and government and policy officials who see the reality of globalization from the ground up. (Human Rights Watch International)
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290.
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
August 23, 2019
Miles Davis: Horn player, bandleader, innovator. Miles Davis was a singular force of nature, the very embodiment of cool. The central theme of his life, and of this film is Davis' restless determination to break boundaries and live life on his own terms. This documentary feature explores archival photos and home movies shot by Miles and his colleagues, his manuscripts and Miles' original paintings, to explore the man behind the music.
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291.
The Devil Came on Horseback
July 25, 2007
The Devil Came on Horseback exposes the tragedy taking place in Darfur as seen through the eyes of an American witness who has since returned to the US to take action to stop it. Using the exclusive photographs and first hand testimony of former U.S. Marine Captain Briahn Steidle, The Devil Come on Horseback takes the viewer on an emotionally charged journey into the heart of Darfur, Sudan, where an Arab run government is systematically executing a plan to rid the province of it's black African citizens. As an official military observer, Steidle had access to parts of the country that no journalist could penetrate. He was unprepared for what he would witness and experience, including being fired upon, taken hostage, and being unable to intervene to save the lives of young children. Ultimately frustrated by the inaction of the international community, Steidle resigned and returned to the US to expose the images and stories of lives systematically destroyed. (Break Thru Films)
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292.
The Real Dirt on Farmer John
January 20, 2006
The epic tale of a maverick Midwestern farmer. An outcast in his community, Farmer John transforms his world amidst a failing economy,vicious rumors, and violence. By melding the traditions of family farming
with the power of art and free expression,this quintessentially American story heralds a resurrection of farming in America. (Slow Hand Releasing)
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293.
Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film
September 1, 2006
Ric Burns's 4-hour, epic Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film, is a portrait of one of the 20th century's most influential, controversial, and paradoxically mystifying artists. (FilmForum)
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294.
Dark Money
July 13, 2018
Dark Money, a political thriller, examines one of the greatest present threats to American democracy: the influence of untraceable corporate money on our elections and elected officials. The film takes viewers to Montana—a frontline in the fight to preserve fair elections nationwide—to follow an intrepid local journalist working to expose the real-life impacts of the US Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. Through this gripping story, Dark Money uncovers the shocking and vital truth of how American elections are bought and sold.
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295.
Instant Dreams
April 19, 2019
When Polaroid announced the end of instant film in 2008, the last still working factory was bought by a small group of enthusiasts. Among them is the retired scientist Stephen Herchen who previously collaborated with the inventor of Polaroid and is still trying to unravel the secret of the lost chemical formula.
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296.
Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme
July 16, 2004
Explosively tracing the story of a group of underground hip-hop MCs & DJs from the early 1980's to the present day, Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme is a documentary that explores the world of improvisational rap and the previously unexamined dimensions of hip-hop as a spiritual and community based art form. (Organic Films)
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297.
Casino Jack and the United States of Money
May 7, 2010
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)
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298.
Craigslist Joe
August 3, 2012
Twenty-nine-year-old Joseph Garner cut himself off from everyone he knew and everything he owned, to embark on a bold adventure. Armed with only a laptop, cell phone, toothbrush, and the clothes on his back – alongside the hope that community was not gone but just had shifted – Joe lived for a month looking for alms in America’s new town square: Craigslist. For 31 December days and nights, everything in his life would come from the Craigslist website. From transportation to food, from shelter to companionship, Joe would depend on the generosity of people who had never seen him and whose sole connection to him was a giant virtual swap meet. Would America help Joe? Could he survive with nothing, apart from the goodwill of others? Through his explorations, Joe gained insights into our collective psyche, and took the pulse of an anxious nation teetering on a knife’s edge of hope and uncertainty. Joe encountered a diversity of unique stories that reveal the layered mosaic of our national identity. He observes some of the most challenging issues facing our country today – from new economic realities to the continued reconstruction of New Orleans to the effect of America’s presence in Iraq. His experiences raise profound questions about who we are as a society and where we are headed, leaving you to draw your own conclusions. (CLJ Films)
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299.
For No Good Reason
April 25, 2014
Made over the course of fifteen years, For No Good Reason explores the connection between art and life through the eyes of Ralph Steadman, the last of the original Gonzo visionaries. Insightful, humorous, and visually stunning, this is a study in honesty, friendship, and the ambition that drives an artist.
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300.
Rich Hill
August 1, 2014
Rich Hill intimately chronicles the turbulent lives of three boys living in an impoverished Midwestern town and the fragile family bonds that sustain them.
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Coming Soon
-
The Longest Game
- Runtime: 69 min
-
Voyage of Time: Life's Journey
- Runtime: 90 min
-
The Dead and the Others
- Runtime: 114 min
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