Purple Van Man, is 8 out of 10 Cats star Sean Lock’s fantastic new DVD, recorded in front of a sold out audience at London’s Hammersmith Apollo. We all know what white van man thinks about the world we live in but it’s time to hear a different voice, the purple van man’s voice. Filled with gags, opinions, deft observations and some silly voices, this is Sean Lock doing what he does best, spouting inspired jibber jabber as he crosses the country in his purple van. He will make you laugh like a drunken horse.

What happens if you give magic mushrooms (psilocibine) to experienced Zen practitioners who have never used drugs? What does that teach us about the mystical experience of oneness with nature? Based on these questions, psychiatrist Franz Vollenweider and Zen master Vanja Palmers set up a legal science experiment in a monastery at the top of Mount Rigi in Switzerland. Exactly 50 years after the magic mushrooms were officially banned, a new story begins in what is now called the “psychedelic renaissance”. While in 2021 most studies with psychedelics mainly focus on their promising medical applications, Frans and Vanja are already going a step further. Can the combination of meditation and psilocibin help humanity get out of the mess we have created on ourselves and the planet with our neo-liberal society?

The wonders of nature are viewed from the backyards of communities across the nation.

Origin of the Species is an experimental documentary that explores the current climate of android development with a focus on human/machine relations, gender and the ethical implications of this research. The film provides an insider look into cutting edge laboratories in Japan and the USA where scientists attempt to make robots move, speak and look human. These scientists and their discoveries are contextualized with cinematic and pop culture references, to underline the mythic, comic and uncanny aspects of our aspiration to create machines that are eerily similar to ourselves.

As one art scene insider proclaims, the contemporary art world can be summed up as “rich people trying to prove how rich they are,” but is that all there is to this billion dollar industry? Well-researched and expertly constructed, Barry Avrich’s eye-opening documentary peels back the layers of the art world economy- from production to circulation, and delineates every integral player in the game of art-making, including curators, gallerists, collectors, donors, auction houses, and … artists. In the process, he unpacks the complex and surprising ecosystem that supports the art world superstars and million-dollar deals that make front-page news. Featuring extraordinary access to industry players and candid statements from prominent artists like Damien Hirst, Julian Schnabel, Taryn Simon, and Marina Abramovic, Blurred Lines collides the two narratives of the art world as both above and beholden to market forces.

Compiled over two years, an ‘on-camera oral history’ of Easy Company, told by the veterans themselves. Accompanies the mini-series Band of Brothers.

The riveting story of the first all-Black tank battalion to fight in US military history. Under General George Patten’s command, the 761st fought heroically throughout WWII and were the furthest east of all US troops in the European theater of war.

Since the beginning of her career, Sinéad O’Connor has used her powerful voice to challenge the narratives she was surrounded by while growing up in predominantly Roman Catholic Ireland. Despite her agency, depth and perspective, O’Connor’s unflinching refusal to conform means that she has often been patronized and unfairly dismissed as an attention-seeking pop star.

Retrospective documentary about the making of the horror cult classic “The Return of the Living Dead.”

Vast, wild, and remote, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is where some of the world’s greatest wildlife spectacles unfold. Situated in northeastern Alaska, this Refuge has long protected survivors of the Ice Age that still roam a frozen wilderness. Now, this icy fortress is melting due to climate change. For the caribou, musk oxen, polar bears, and Arctic foxes, the Ice Age is slipping away.

The first of two Latinas to represent Texas in Congress, Veronica Escobar, and the only African-American woman to run for city council in Austin in 2018, Natasha Harper-Madison, lead a diverse group of progressive voices across Texas as they fight decades of institutional racism and policies of discrimination along the border. The battle over immigrant rights, land seizures to build the border wall, and the troubled racial history of the state form the backdrop to a film that explores how a place once known for its reactionary politics is becoming more liberal, more diverse—and more at risk for violent conflict.

Small-town import Ryan Hamilton charms New York with folksy comic observations on big-city life, hot-air ballooning and going to Disney World alone.