This fascinating documentary is based around the Japanese wrestling organisation Gaea’s rural training camp, and traces, in the main, the careers of four hopefuls. In charge are two magnificent specimens, the butch champion Chigusa Nagaya, still venting her hurt at the hands of her army father as she tries to whip her surrogate daughters through the pain and commitment barriers; and her sophisticated and slightly menacing Chairman. It’s a gruelling, physical film, as you would expect, but the makers don’t make heavy weather of it. And it certainly disposes of any idea that the game is faked.
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“Finding Joseph I” is a feature documentary chronicling the eccentric life and struggles of punk rock reggae singer, Paul “HR” Hudson, a.k.a. Joseph I, the legendary lead singer from Bad Brains.
Behind the gas masks of Hong Kong’s democracy movement, the often very young activists are just as diverse as the youths of the rest of the world. But they share a demand for democracy and freedom. They have the will and the courage to fight – and they can see that things are going in the wrong direction in the small island city, which officially has autonomy under China but is now tightening its grip and demanding that ‘troublemakers’ be put away or silenced. Amid the violent protests, we meet a 21-year-old student, a teenage couple and a new father.
The Invisible Vegan is a 90-minute independent documentary that explores the problem of unhealthy dietary patterns in the African-American community, foregrounding the health and wellness possibilities enabled by plant-based vegan diets and lifestyle choices.
‘Her Name Is Chef’ is a documentary film by Pete Ferriero that spotlights six bad-ass, inspiring, sheroes of the kitchen. Each share their triumphs in cutting through the clichés of the restaurant industry, and explore how they broke down the doors to ‘earn’ the title of Chef. Host Leia Gaccione sits down with Elizabeth Falkner, Fatima Ali, Hillary Sterling, Esther Choi, Juliet Masters, and Caroline Schiff. They open up their hearts and minds to the world, leaving no stone unturned.
An attempt to re-contextualize the European migrant crisis and ongoing hostilities in Syria, through eyewitness and participant testimony. Children and parents recount the revolution, civil war, air strikes, atrocities and ongoing humanitarian aid crises, in a portrait of recent history and the consequences of violence.
True to their name, Slave to Sirens — the first and only all-woman thrash metal band in the Middle East — are utterly magnetic. Amid a backdrop of political unrest and the heartbreaking unraveling of Beirut, five bandmates form a beacon of expression, resistance, and independence. Director Rita Baghdadi follows founders and guitarists Lilas Mayassi and Shery Bechara as their tenderness, and sometimes bitterness, for one another grows in ways both unexpected and deeply moving. Joined by vocalist Maya Khairallah, bassist Alma Doumani, and drummer Tatyana Boughaba, these women negotiate their emotional journeys through young adulthood in tumultuous circumstances with grace, raw passion, and a ferocious commitment to their art. Their grit is tested as they grapple with the complexities of friendship, sexuality, and the destruction around them.
Les Blank’s first feature-length documentary captures music and other events at Leon Russell’s Oklahoma recording studio during a three-year period (1972-1974).
History of Jerusalem
Many people think of Space as a quiet and desolate vacuum of emptiness, but new evidence reveals that space is rife with activity beyond our comprehension. Just as we sent Voyager and Pioneer probes beyond our solar system, Aliens have probes of their own that may have arrived as early as the 1600’s. While Tesla was the first to successfully communicate with neighboring worlds using radio waves, we have received recent signals from intelligent sources. In 1989, Russian Space Probe Phobos 2 photographed a UFO on the surface of Mars just prior to losing contact. Scientists have determined that the craft was real and of a thin elliptical shape over 20 miles in length. We are not alone in outer space and while the Aliens may be initiating contact, they could also be here already.
Craig Ferguson unleashes his trademark stream-of-consciousness comedy before a sold-out crowd, riffing on fatherhood, Helen of Troy and shark penises. His show’s not safe for kids — or the easily offended.
During the brutal invasion of China in 1937 by Imperial Japanese forces, tens of thousands of civilians and prisoners of war are murdered and women raped in what is known simply as “The Rape of Nanking.” This docudrama is a stirring account of a small band of courageous American missionaries who choose to stay in Nanking to try and protect a quarter million vulnerable Chinese civilians who are trapped in a city ruled by a savage, out of control army. Their stories are brought vividly to life through actual real-time letters and diaries as they bear witness to one of the worst wartime atrocities in history.
