US PREMIERE Sometimes you come across a documentary whose the description you have to reread just to make sure it’s all real. Mads Brügger’s latest sounds latest sounds like a John le Carré novel—but this is a true story of a multinational geopolitical plot dotted with greed, impostors, drugs, and weapons. Filmed in secrecy for […]
NEW YORK CITY PREMIERE The Devil’s Drivers has the white-knuckle suspense of a 1970s car-chase thriller, while also immersing us in life in the occupied territory of Palestine’s West Bank. Filmed over eight years, the drivers Hamouda and his cousin Ismail smuggle Palestinian workers by car into Israel where labor is in high demand. If […]
NYC PREMIERE From belly dancing to synchronized swimming and golf: everything that a pensioner’s heart desires is offered at The Villages, the world’s largest retirement community. Valerie Blankenbyl’s enthralling and amusing portrait of the fastest growing “town” in the US—soon to be four times the size of Manhattan—explores its complexities and contradictions while shedding light […]
NYC PREMIERE Despite the cruelty of living under Belgium’s oppressive regime in the colonial era, the Congolese maintained their sense of pride and self-expression, most notably in the form of the Congolese rumba, a blend of sounds from Cuba and the Congo’s unique musical traditions. Director Alain Brain showcases an impressive slate of musicians from […]
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 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 […]
NYC PREMIERE Winner of the SXSW Audience Award, Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America delivers a potent immersion into history through the perspective of former ACLU attorney Jeffery Robinson—a dynamic speaker who makes history vivid through his interviews, travels, and personal stories. Filmmaking sisters Sarah and Emily Kunstler previously directed William Kunstler: […]
US PREMIERE An experimental portrait of Ilhan Mimaroglu, the legendary Turkish pioneer of electronic music who passed away in 2012. Through a multilayered structure that mirrors Ilhan Mimaroglu’s music, the film also tells the story of his vibrant wife Güngör, who migrated to the USA from Turkey in the early 1960s and became an activist […]
NYC PREMIERE In her feature directorial debut, Chris J. Russo presents a perceptive exploration into the lives and work of six women who are the backbone of the cannabis community in California. Their accomplishments and battles reveal a new industry that remains in flux, as it tackles preserving the past while simultaneously establishing its own […]
WORLD PREMIERE Why are healthcare costs so high in the United States? Part of the problem lies with the business of hospitals, even those running as nonprofits. InHospitable follows patients and activists as they band together to fight a multi-billion dollar nonprofit hospital system in Pittsburgh that limits vital care for vulnerable patients. Filmmaker Sandra […]