NYC PREMEIERE A thought-provoking and candid documentary about what it means to be Black and beautiful, and the role of historical representation that the media has played in creating an image of Black women in society. Told from the perspective of women who aren’t afraid to challenge conventional beauty standards, the film is partially set […]
NYC PREMIERE Filmmakers Jerry Risius and Beth Levison celebrate the vitality of local journalism as it undergoes a crisis with this portrait of a small-town Iowa paper, The Storm Lake Times. Editor Art Cullen oversees the family-run business that was recognized with a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on dark money in corporate agriculture. “Storm […]
NYC PREMIERE Lena Mae “Mother” Perry, the backbone of her community, cooks for crowds, tends to the needy, and boy, can she sing! After 50 years leading the dynamic, down-home gospel group The Branchettes, the octogenarian powerhouse, armed with her unwavering faith, shows no signs of slowing down. Taking us inside her loving community while […]
US PREMIERE Sorious Samura is Sierra Leone’s best-known investigative journalist, making documentaries for CNN, Channel 4 and BBC and winning two Emmy awards. But he wrestles with creating stories for a white gaze. He embarks on a project with Sierra Leone playwright Charlie Haffner to create an epic work of national theatre meant to reclaim […]
NYC PREMIERE As the city’s first African American mayor, Harold Washington’s 1983 election victory signaled the dawn of a new era in Chicago. Washington’s organizing prowess galvanized a multiethnic coalition in the city, but subsequently garnered racist backlash from the political elite. A man on the vanguard of progressive politics, Washington’s untimely death was a […]
US PREMIERE Two men from opposite sides of the world come together over a shared love of action cinema. Isaac Nabwana, a director hailed as “Africa’s Tarantino,” and Alan Hofmanis, a film programmer from New York, struck a deep friendship while making films with minimal resources in the slums of Kampala. Alan sees the genius […]
US PREMIERE In 2004, director Iván Guarnizo’s mother was abducted by FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) for 603 days during its conflict with the Colombian state. Before her death, Ivan’s mother spoke fondly of one particular guerrilla, an acknowledgment he and his brother struggled to understand. Retracing paths from their mother’s journal, the brothers […]
WORLD PREMIERE An uplifting, entertaining profile of the grande dame of Cuban music, Omara Portuondo, the internationally beloved chanteuse best known in the States as a member of the famed Buena Vista Social Club. The filmmakers follow octogenarian Omara—feisty, charming, with a naughty sense of humor, and still in possession of her fantastic voice—on her […]
WORLD PREMIERE A fifty-year-old clump of grass, a sweater that once belonged to a French actress, and a forty-year-old sugar egg have become emotional treasures for the unique characters in Vincent Liota’s endearing, entertaining, and existential film. An NPR correspondent, a literary author, and a graphic designer let us in on the secret life of […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE An intimate look at the lives of the Odoriko dancers that perform in the slowly disappearing variety theaters of Japan. Nude dancers of all ages share their life stories from the unseen side of the strip clubs, in a film that reveals much more than just flesh. With glimpses from both behind […]