Katy Chevigny and Ross Kauffman’s breathtaking film chronicles the dangerous but life- affirming work performed by the Human Rights Watch Emergency Team, or E-Team, a compelling group of intrepid investigators willing to enter hostile territories to document crimes against humanity that might otherwise go unreported. Allowing outside filmmakers to follow them for the first time, […]
In early 2013, Oscar®-nominated director Laura Poitras started receiving encrypted e-mails from someone identifying himself as “citizen four,” who was ready to blow the whistle on the massive covert surveillance programs run by the NSA and other intelligence agencies. That June, she and reporter Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong for the first of many […]
NYC PREMIERE Imagine a This American Life episode devoted to a real-world Twin Peaks, and you might approximate the stranger-than-fiction story of small-town Chadron, Nebraska. Guided by the idiosyncrasies of author Poe Ballantine, Dave Jannetta explores the intriguing mystery behind math professor Steven Haataja, a loner who vanished without a trace soon after coming to […]
Robert Drew, who died this year, led a company of trailblazers in observational documentary. One of the most striking films from this era is The Chair, which follows the attorney Louis Nizer as he attempts to save the prisoner Paul Crump from the electric chair. Drew was joined by Richard Leacock, Gregory Shuker, DA Pennebaker […]
WORLD PREMIERE With his execution just 48 hours away, Anthony Porter’s life was saved by a Northwestern University journalism class. Their re-investigation of the crime for which he was convicted—a double homicide in a Chicago park—led to the discovery of the real killer, Alstory Simon, whose confession exonerated Porter. If it all sounds too […]
WORLD PREMIERE After David Ourlicht was stopped and searched by the NYPD for no discernible reason, he filed a class-action suit against the City of New York, alleging racial profiling in the police department’s stop-and-frisk policy. Following the charismatic young man over three years as he awaits the trial, Spencer Wolff reveals how David has […]
NYC PREMIERE For Michael Dowd, being a police officer wasn’t a calling, it was just a job— and, assigned to the 75th Precinct in crime-ridden East New York, not an easy or lucrative one. Seizing the opportunity to profit, he stole money from drug dealers, eventually recruiting his partner into an expanding criminal ring. Their […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE Confronting a bankrupt, decaying city and the dashed hopes of the civil rights generation, African-American and Latino teenagers violently took over the streets of 1970s New York. The South Bronx became a war zone ruled by gangs like the Savage Skulls and the Ghetto Brothers. Hypnotic archival footage and present-day interviews with […]
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE At the age of 25, Angel Cordero, an innocent man, was arrested and convicted of attempted murder following a stabbing in the Bronx. Viko Nikci follows him as he is released from prison after thirteen years into a new world of smartphones and social media. Readjusting to life on the outside, Angel has […]
NYC PREMIERE In 1979, teenager Mark DeFriest received a four-year prison sentence for stealing his own tools. After countless outrageous jailbreak attempts—many humorously recounted here through animated sequences—he’s still incarcerated and will be until 2084. Shortly after his confinement began, Mark’s mental competency was questioned, but the opinion of Dr. Robert Berland, a single dissenting […]