In August 2013 a group of 7 climbers, 5 Americans and 2 Burmese climbers, traveled to northern Myanmar to make a first ascent of Southeast Asia’s disputed highest peak. All told, the climbers traveled over 270 miles on foot through some of the harshest terrain on the planet. As a country that is just recently awaking from over 50 years of military rule and relative isolation, they were offered a glimpse into a culture unaffected by the rapid pace of globalization throughout the rest of world. This film is not just a recounting of a mountaineering expedition, its a film about a country that is on the brink of rapid change, and what this might entail for the future Myanmar and its people.
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This documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin introduces us to Randy Horne, a high steel worker from the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, near Montreal. As a defender of his people’s culture and traditions, he was known as “Spudwrench” during the 1990 Oka crisis. Offering a unique look behind the barricades at one man’s impassioned defence of sacred territory, the film is both a portrait of Horne and the generations of daring Mohawk construction workers that have preceded him.
Animal Kingdom is a stunning exploration into just what makes our natural world so spectacular. An educational journey from A-Z, the film introduces junior audiences to animals from all over the world and explores the ways in which we can help to protect them. Across frozen snowy forests, under scorching African Sun, and into the darkest depths of the ocean, the film will break down why animals are the way they are and answer the simple but important questions that form the basis of our knowledge about the animal world.
The story of the Black Panthers is often told in a scatter of repackaged parts, often depicting tragic, mythic accounts of violence and criminal activity. Master documentarian Stanley Nelson goes straight to the source, weaving a treasure of rare archival footage with the voices of the people who were there: police, FBI informants, journalists, white supporters and detractors, and Black Panthers who remained loyal to the party and those who left it. An essential history, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, is a vibrant, human, living and breathing chronicle of this pivotal movement that birthed a new revolutionary culture in America.
A team of nine “rogue” scientists embark on a journey to Antarctica. Their choice of transport: a small sailboat. An intimately human account of what it means to live and work alongside one another under relentless conditions, set within the wider context of rapidly advancing global change, impending habitat destruction and the current zeitgeist of environmentalism.
The story of the cult horror empire through interviews with cast, crew, and horror icons such as Don Mancini, Brad Dourif, Jennifer Tilly, Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, John Waters, Fiona Dourif, Perrey Reeves, Gerrit Graham, David Kirschner, and dozens more.
Canyoneering is the sport of descending canyons by means of hiking, climbing, rappelling and swimming. Relatively obscure, the sport was brought to the mainstream in 2003 with the news of Aron Ralston who had severed his own arm while trapped in a canyon. Experiencing an overnight spike in popularity by the late 90s – a result of information appearing on the internet – the sport became inundated with thrill-seekers of all backgrounds and skill levels. Facing a new era of off-the-couch recreationalists, three influential participants, a canyoneering instructor, pioneer, and guidebook author each respond to a growing interest in the incredibly dangerous activity. Gorging employs the story of canyoneering to examine larger questions about the pursuit of thrills and the consequences that follow.
Essene is about daily life in a Benedictine monastery and the resolution of conflict between personal needs and the institutional and organizational priorities of the community. In the Order, where the focus of life is the relationship of individual work and worship to the community as a whole, the brethren must cope with the same issues that arise in any community: rules, work, worship, values, love, and play.
Indianapolis has one of the lowest high school graduation rates in the country. Night School follows three adult students living in the city’s more impoverished neighborhoods as they attempt to earn their diplomas while juggling other difficult responsibilities and realities. Through their stories, the filmmakers explore many issues that low-income Americans deal with, including unjust minimum wage and working conditions, arbitrary legal hindrances, and race and gender inequality.
The film is a sobering, intimate and warm account of daily life in Kabul during the silent intervals between suicide bombings. The bombings that happened, and those that will, define life for the film’s characters; a father who works as a bus driver, and two young boys whose policeman father is away due to murder threats.
At the death of her mother, Aga decides to leave her life in Germany with her partner Maja to look after her younger brother in Poland. To do this, she has to hide her love for another woman from the authorities. Closely following its protagonists, Silent Love delicately narrates their discreet struggle against a prying and viscerally homophobic society.
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The two sides of Frida Kahlo’s spirit: on one side the revolutionary, pioneering artist of contemporary feminism and on the other, the human being, victim of her tortured body and a tormented relationship.