In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook school shooting, local priest Father Bob Weiss connects with Father Basil O’Sullivan of Dunblane, Scotland, from a community which could uniquely relate to Newtown’s trauma. Kim A. Snyder’s film explores the power of resilience through the bond forged between these two priests. Courtesy of Netflix.
NYC PREMIERE In this Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize-winning film, director Talal Derki (Return to Homs) returns to his native Syria and gains remarkably unfettered access to a radical jihadist and his family for two years. General Abu Osama raises his young sons to become Islamist fighters, but what if they just want to […]
23-year-old activist Nadia Murad has a horrifying personal story to tell. But her ability to relate it is a rare beacon of hope for her minority community of Yazidis. They were targeted by ISIS for systemic rapes and genocidal violence. As one of the few Yazidis who speaks to the Western press, Nadia carries their […]
This vital portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg traces her history from trailblazing ACLU lawyer to becoming an outspoken, dissenting liberal voice on the conservative-leaning Supreme Court. The film also portrays a moving love story between Ruth and her husband, Martin Ginsburg. He was far ahead of his time in supporting his wife’s career. As the […]
NYC PREMIERE Surrounding Ghana’s Lake Volta — the largest man-made lake on Earth — is an active child-slavery industry. Sold by desperate families and abused by fishing masters, some 20,000 children work in perilous conditions. Activists like Stephen Kwame Addo, who escaped from such a fate himself, work to rescue as many children as possible and rehabilitate […]
As reproductive rights grow more embattled, award-winning filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern (Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, The Devil Came on Horseback) trace the legacy of the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision. One surprising revelation is how much abortion rights were supported by Republicans in the 1960s. The film “reminds us […]
Director Rudy Valdez’s sister, Cindy, a married mother of three young girls, long ago left a drug-dealing ex. Despite this, she receives a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison under conspiracy charges related to his crimes. Over a period of ten years, Rudy’s camera captures the moments in his nieces’ lives that Cindy […]
This program presents two films appearing in our Short List: Shorts section recognizing some of the top documentary shorts films of the year. END GAME DIRS: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman A moving film about the passage from life to death, End Game is a portrait of the last days of those in palliative care in […]
US veterans and active-duty service members come together through a workshop led by poet Seema Reza to combat their traumatic military pasts via the written word. Sharing fears, vulnerabilities and victories, their writing becomes a tool for empowerment and healing culminating in the live performance of a collaborative poem under the direction of Jeffrey Wright. […]
NYC PREMIERE This Changes Everything gathers a who’s who of female actors and directors for a powerful call to action on elevating women’s roles in film and television, both on and off screen. Meryl Streep, Sandra Oh, Jessica Chastain, Shonda Rhimes, Reese Witherspoon, Taraji P. Henson and executive producer Geena Davis are among the many […]