The radical honesty of the books by young adult fiction pioneer Judy Blume changed the way millions of readers understood themselves, their sexuality, and what it meant to grow up, but also led to critical battles against book banning and censorship.
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When it seems that all the stories about World War II have already been told, a new one is often found. Marthe Cohn is a French Jew, whose life resembles a real-world blockbuster. During the war, she took the cover name Chichinette, became a spy, and gathered intel that helped organize an important military operation. Chichinette suffered many losses during the war, having been born in a Jewish family in a small industrial town close to the border between France and Germany. Now Marthe is 98 years old. Despite her age, she is savvy in modern technology and loves traveling the globe – she is often invited to go abroad and tell the story of her military achievements.
The story behind the epic Queen single.
Documentary on the Japanese boxer Unchain Kaji, who retired from the ring at the age of 30 with an eye injury and a losing record. He then tries to start a new life as a civilian.
Enraged at the slaughter of Murron, his new bride and childhood love, Scottish warrior William Wallace slays a platoon of the local English lord’s soldiers. This leads the village to revolt and, eventually, the entire country to rise up against English rule.
The true story of how Dave Fishwick, a working class man and self-made millionaire, fought to set up a community bank so that he could help the local businesses of Burnley not only survive, but thrive. In his bid to help his beloved community, he has to take on the elitist financial institutions of London and fight to receive the first, new banking license to be issued in over 100 years.
The danger is palpable as intrepid young filmmaker Nanfu Wang follows maverick activist Ye Haiyan (a.k.a Hooligan Sparrow) and her band of colleagues to Hainan Province in southern China to protest the case of six elementary school girls who were sexually abused by their principal. Marked as enemies of the state, the activists are under constant government surveillance and face interrogation, harassment, and imprisonment. Sparrow, who gained notoriety with her advocacy work for sex workers’ rights, continues to champion girls’ and women’s rights and arms herself with the power and reach of social media.
Having faithfully served his South Melbourne parish for nearly four decades, the cantankerous, controversial Catholic provocateur affectionately called Father Bob is well known and loved, as much for his incorrigible media savvy and battles with Church hierarchy as for his staunch advocacy on behalf of the disadvantaged and disenfranchised. In Bob We Trust goes behind the scenes with Bob, documenting his everyday trials during one of the most turbulent times in his career: his forced retirement and eviction from the church he called home for 38 years.
Amid shifting times, two women kept their decades-long love a secret. But coming out later in life comes with its own set of challenges.
Experiential cinema in its purest form, GUNDA chronicles the unfiltered lives of a mother pig, a flock of chickens, and a herd of cows with masterful intimacy. Using stark, transcendent black and white cinematography and the farm’s ambient soundtrack, Master director Victor Kossakowsky invites the audience to slow down and experience life as his subjects do, taking in their world with a magical patience and an other worldly perspective. GUNDA asks us to meditate on the mystery of animal consciousness, and reckon with the role humanity plays in it. Executive produced by Joaquin Phoenix.
In 1984, American heavy metal band Twisted Sister became a global sensation. For 30 years, they been synonymous with hairspray, women’s clothing and tasteless album covers. Until now. Ten years ago, director Andrew Horn was granted access to the archives of Twisted Sister founder Jay French and in We are Twisted fucking Sister he explores the decade that preceded their breakthrough.
On April 18th, 2017, Larry Bassett refused to pay federal income taxes on over $1 Million, becoming the top tax resister in US history. In his defiance, he wrote letters to U.S. government agencies and representatives, announcing that his conscience will not allow him to pay for the US war machine. He knows that breaking the law will bring retribution from the government, and he accepts the consequences of his actions. In fact, he’s begging for their retaliation as his family and neighbors worry about his safety.
A 3D feature film about Sir Edmund Hillary’s monumental and historical ascent of Mt. Everest in 1953 – an event that stunned the world and defined a nation.