At a pivotal moment for gender equality in Hollywood, successful women directors tell the stories of their art, lives and careers. Having endured a long history of systemic discrimination, women filmmakers may be getting the first glimpse of a future that values their voices equally.
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This revealing portrait of comedian, activist, pop-culture icon and thought leader Dick Gregory documents his many personal reinventions throughout the decades, from celebrity to civil rights hero and beyond, while hearing from the incredible entertainers who have been inspired by his blueprint.
Most people know the lasting legacy of Harry Belafonte, the entertainer. This film unearths his significant contribution to and his leadership in the civil rights movement in America and to social justice globally.
Ella Fitzgerald was a 15-year-old street kid when she won a talent contest in 1934 at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. Within months she was a star. Over the next six decades, her sublime voice would transform the tragedies of her own life and the troubles of her times into joy. JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS retraces this extraordinary journey.
A dream home turned into a nightmare after a life-changing paranormal experience. The homeowner, Alice Jackson, refuses to spend another night at her house unless someone proves to her what she experienced has a natural explanation. Directors’ Steve Gonsalves and Kendall Whelpton headed to Mississippi with their camera crew to document the real-life effects of a homeowner’s mission to get her house back from this terrifying nightmare. The approach was much like a detective chasing down leads and connecting the dots. With a no stone left unturned mindset, utilizing real scientific data via physicists, field experts and deep accurate research. The filmmakers were also adamant their film crew be very experienced in the field of paranormal research because of the sensitive nature of this case. The directors hand selected each film crew member not only for their respective production expertise but also for their dedication to the documentation of real paranormal research.
A keen observation of a sun-dappled and still-watered swamp, Uncertain contemplates a frequently overlooked and enigmatic town whose lake, and only real source of income, comes under threat from an aquatic nuisance of the botanical variety. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a site so-named, there is a lack of consensus about the Texas town’s origin: whether the result of a surveyor’s confusion when marking an early map, or steamboat captains’ belief that docking there was an unknowable, impossible task, an auspicious beginning is offered for the unsettled and yearning inhabitants.
Raising Bertie is a longitudinal documentary feature following three young African American boys over the course of six years as they grow into adulthood in Bertie County, a rural African American-led community in Eastern North Carolina. Through the intimate portrayal of these boys, this powerful vérité film offers a rare in-depth look at the issues facing America’s rural youth and the complex relationships between generational poverty, educational equity, and race. The evocative result is an experience that encourages us to recognize the value and complexity in lives all too often ignored.
It has launched both purity balls and porn franchises, defines a young woman’s morality-but has no medical definition. Enter the magical world of virginity, where a white wedding dress can restore a woman’s innocence and replacement hymens can be purchased online. Filmmaker Therese Shechter uses her own path out of virginity to explore why our sex-crazed society cherishes this so-called precious gift. Along the way, we meet sex educators, virginity auctioneers, abstinence advocates, and young men and women who bare their tales of doing it-or not doing it. “How To Lose Your Virginity” uncovers the myths and misogyny surrounding a rite of passage that many obsesses about but few truly understand.
It’s the 1980s and the world of professional surfing is a circus of fluorescent colors, peroxide hair and radical male egos. “Girls Can’t Surf” follows the journey of a band of renegade surfers who took on the male-dominated professional surfing world to achieve equality and change the sport forever. Featuring surfing greats Jodie Cooper, Frieda Zamba, Pauline Menczer, Lisa Andersen, Pam Burridge, Wendy Botha, Layne Beachley and more, “Girls Can’t Surf” is a wild ride of clashing personalities, sexism, adventure and heartbreak, with each woman fighting against the odds to make their dreams of competing a reality.
Follow Mike Birbiglia from Providence, R.I. to Washington, D.C. as he builds jokes based on personal truths, mixing comedy with revelations and anecdotes from family and his fellow comedians.
Making a Killing: Guns, Greed, and The NRA tells the stories of how guns, and the billions made off of them, affect the lives of everyday Americans. It features personal stories from people across the country who have been affected by gun violence, including survivors and victims’ families. The film exposes how the powerful gun companies and the NRA are resisting responsible legislation for the sake of profit – and thereby putting people in danger.
The cold war, the space race, and NASA’s moon landing are landmark events that defined an era. But they are also fodder for conspiracy theories.
In Houston, We Have a Problem! filmmaker Žiga Virc adds new material to the discussion on both fronts. This intriguing docu-fiction explores the myth of the secret multi-billion-dollar deal behind America’s purchase of Yugoslavia’s clandestine space program in the early 1960s.
Documentary about the psychotherapist Irvin D. Yalom.