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- The timely story of a normal family disintegrating under financial pressure, eventually driven to the unimaginable. We witness the terrifying events unfold through daughter Judith's video camera, which subsequently becomes Exhibit A.
- On the verge of expulsion, a hapless art student must decide between life-long ambition and love when an audacious nude model makes a dangerous demand in the middle of class.
- A glue-sniffing boy and his girlfriend escape the government-controlled no-hope Aboriginal community they live in and go to the city, Alice Springs, looking for a better life.
- Against the tumultuous backdrop of Iran's 1953 CIA-backed coup d'état, the destinies of four women converge in a beautiful orchard garden, where they find independence, solace and companionship.
- Yuta, a young master at the Tsukiji Fish Market, accidentally drops his meal of mixed seafood into the Sumida River. Some time afterwards a gigantic mutated squid monster arises from the depths and begins to wreak havoc upon an awe-stricken Tokyo. Attempts by the Japan Self-Defense Forces to stop the creature prove futile. As it seems things couldn't get any worse an enormous mutant octopus monster emerges from the deep and heads into a clash of the titans with the gargantuan squid. As a last ditch effort, the government forms the "Seafood Monster Attack Team (SMAT)" and an all-new plan of attack is immediately put into action. But just as the tide appears to be turning in humanity's favor, a colossal crab monster appears, joining in the Monster Seafood Wars and plunging the world into culinary chaos.
- A moving, powerful journey deep into the oldest music in the Western world, guided by the eccentric musicologist who has dedicated his life to understanding & preserving it. An immersive sonic & visual feast that leaves the viewer feeling they've looked into a way of life that the 21st century has left behind. A call to arms for a different way of listening to music, understanding humanity and living as a community.
- The intimate bond between two identical twin brothers is challenged when one decides to transition from male to female; this is the story of their evolving relationship, and the resurrection of their family from a darker past.
- Gentrification and displacement are affecting all big cities throughout the world, but none more egregiously than my hometown of New York City. As a Native New Yorker, I am disturbed to see my beloved hometown become a haven for the wealthy when it was once a city that valued culture and community over money. Before Covid happened, the sky seemed to be the limit for corporate greed and that is when I started making this film. I chose specifically to focus on two lower-class neighborhoods that are in peril- Queens and the Lower East Side. In documenting these neighborhoods under threat, I met local activists whose lives centered around maintaining the ethos of their community. This made the film not just about a city, but about people- the everyday working person who uses every free ounce of time and energy they have to fight back against their own displacement. Thus began a three-year David vs. Goliath story which concludes during the time of Covid in which New York City is now experiencing a new chapter- a chapter that is still be written today.
- A young idealistic teacher enters her kids in a city choral competition. A victory there would not only gain funds for the school, but prove to these children of poverty how even they can afford to hope.
- Bittersweet explores the evolution of love and takes a long hard look at the underlying forces that often bring people together while just as often break them apart.
- "The End of America" details the ten steps a country takes when it slides toward fascism. It's not a "lefty" taught-to-me, but rather a historical look at trends in once-functioning democracies from modern history that are being repeated in our country today. It gives any reader (or viewer of the lecture) a much-needed history lesson and constitutional refresher. Most importantly, it puts the recent gradual loss of civil liberties in the U.S. in a historical context. The average American might not be alarmed at AT&T selling our private information to the federal executive, but when this action is seen as part of a larger series of erosions and events, a pattern emerges with unfortunate consequences that become disturbingly clear.
- The death of her estranged father forces a Manhattan doctor back to her small-town roots, where she uncovers a dark secret.
- The story of the rise and fall of David Klein, the man who invented Jelly Belly jelly beans.
- Zel is a fortune teller. She lives and works in an old house at the edge of the woods. The house is crowded with ghosts (including a priest, a bride, a mute child, some washed up vaudevillians and a noisy, sight-impaired group of musicians among others) that have been there for as long as she can remember. When a mysterious light appears in the woods the ghosts realize that they are trapped and begin to rebel. Zel is forced to come to terms with the origins of these spirits and letting go of the only family she has ever known.
- Twenty-Five miles from town, a million miles from mainstream society, a loose-knit community of radicals live in the desert, struggling to survive with little food, less water and no electricity, as they cling to their unique vision of the American dream.
- This documentary offers a glimpse into the life of an English neurosurgeon (Henry Marsh) situated in Ukraine as we are exposed to the overwhelming dilemmas he has to face and the burden he has to carry throughout his profession.
- Intertwines the lives of six young Iranians as they struggle to satisfy their private desires in the face of conservative Islamic society.
- When JAMES and EMMA were 10, they buried a time capsule in his backyard before she moved away to commemorate their friendship and swore to dig it up in ten years. A decade later and James, now an American soldier in Iraq, has become a prisoner of war in Fallujah. More than anything, he wants to escape in order to see Emma again and to fulfill their promise. It's all he has left to look forward to. Captured alongside James is another American soldier, MISHA, who is also a young mother. In order to escape his state of confinement and to sustain hope, James retreats intermittently to his memories of a young Emma and his mother and only family, who died not so long ago. Meanwhile, Emma reads a letter that James wrote to her shortly before his imprisonment, reaffirming his promise to meet her. But it's uncertain whether she sees their promise and him the same way he does her. It's been ten years since they've seen each other and she shares her life with someone else now. When Misha is taken away by two Iraqi soldiers and returns unable to speak, James decides that he's the one to save her. As James stages his and Misha's escape, air strikes and gunfire from outside the walls throw the prison into a state of panic. James and Misha fight desperately to save their lives, Misha to return to her son, James to find his way back to Emma.
- In August, 1991, Estonia reclaims its independence from the USSR and brings to its national bank nearly $1 billion in gold bullion hidden in Paris for 50 years. Russian mobsters have a bold plan to hijack the gold after shutting down the capital's power at midnight. For this they need Toivo, an electrical technician. His wife is pregnant and she urges him to take the job ("$5000 buys lots of baby food"). After Toivo leaves for the plant, his wife goes into labor. Birth and blackout happen simultaneously; the baby needs an incubator, but there's no power. Jealousies within the Mob undercut the plan's smooth operation, and soon the Mob has Toivo to deal with as well.
- The '40s and '50s were a classic period in New York City nightlife, when the saloonkeeper was king and regular folks could drink with celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Jackie Gleason. In this documentary, Kristi Jacobson profiles her grandfather, the king of kings: Toots Shor of the eponymous restaurant and saloon, which was once the place to be seen in Manhattan.
- The story of "Act of Violence Upon a Young Journalist," a 1988 Uruguayan cult film created by enigmatic filmmaker Manuel Lamas.
- Blanca, a brilliant young journalist who is writing a thesis on violence, is unaware that a psychopathic killer is on her trail.
- COCAINE ANGEL captures a grinding and tragic week in the life of a weary young drug addict who is clinging to the remnants of his once hopeful existence amidst the stink, the sweat, and unforgiving heat of Jacksonville, Florida.
- Resolved to become a "somebody," a shipping clerk starts his own business knowing only that he intends either to create a product or to provide a service, and whichever one it is, he pledges, it will be good, for everyone.
- An aspiring television producer cashes in his life savings to produce the pilot to a documentary television series, only to find himself in a battle with nature, reality, and his own internal demons. Hilarious and moving in equal measure.
- Like Laurel and Hardy, Jake and Elwood, or Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo before them, Lionel and Tin are on an ill-fated but well-scripted journey into the depths of the American psyche.
- A compelling documentary about a 3-year-old girl who tries to navigate through the harsh reality of severe poverty, her teenage mother's incarceration and looming foster care.
- After his mother's death, a 12-year-old boy is sent to his father who works as a supervisor on a jermal (a fishing platform in the middle of the sea). His father is shocked, never knowing he has a son and rejects the boy as his kin.
- A documentary following a Pentecostal minister who receives a vision from God to create an epic science fiction movie based on the biblical story of Joseph, sending him and his followers on a journey of extreme faith.
- EVERYTHING STRANGE AND NEW is an intimate portrait of ordinary people and their longing for certainty in uncertain times.
- Filmmaker Therese Shechter headed to Turkey for a much-needed vacation. She also planned to interview young Turkish women for a documentary on feminism. Instead, she became fascinated with the men. And they were fascinated with her. HOW I LEARNED TO SPEAK TURKISH chronicles one woman's obsession with Turkish men. Her attempts to understand their language, culture and psyche leads to a revealing exploration of cultural clichés, the 'exotic other' and the aphrodisiac effects of a potential US visa.
- A voyage through writing, sex, spirituality, nightmares, and New York that captures the warmth and high animal spirits of singular American artist and auteur, Henry Miller, on an intimate tour of his bathroom gallery. It's a miraculous shrine of photos, drawings, and interstitial anecdotes of mad kings, philosophers, women, and friends of the author.
- The Brave And The Kind offers an intimate portrait of a normal, middle-class American family and blurs the lines of fiction and biography, by providing alternate timelines.
- One day. One failed life. Jay's life of hustling on the streets finally catches up with him and a moment of truth awaits him at the toll of midnight. He spends the day trying to tie up the loose ends of his life, visiting the people who have made an impact on him, one by one, until his time is up and his crossroad stares him in the eye. He must say good-bye to the man who taught him everything he knows, the woman who used to love him, the family who felt helpless watching him choose a life of crime, and the daughter he never really knew. He has to look over his shoulder at every move as he plots to make some quick cash, pulls the trigger to survive, weasels his way out of a jam with two cops and relives the past events that landed him here. All this with a ticking clock that will settle a score with a ruthless gangster. Can he make the right decision and find redemption, making his selfish life worth something in the end by helping those he cares about? Can one day make a difference in a man's life, or is it too late? One day. One failed life.
- The Soviet Union's most famous composer took a sea voyage to America near the end of his life. This remarkable documentary is structured around his days on a Russian cruise ship in 1973. Soviet historical and propaganda footage form a visual counterpoint to a world-weary narration. Ample quotations from Shostakovich's writings give a window on his life story, which also spans twentieth century musical and world history. Unusual footage from his musical works, such as the operas The Nose and Lady Macbeth, are highlights in an elliptical and experimental tour-de-force.
- Simultaneously funny and dark, this documentary follows Jon Hyrns, a porter aboard a refurbished 1930s luxury train. Passengers on the Seattle to L.A. trip know him as "Johnny Berlin" - the man responsible for making their beds and cleaning their toilets. We get to know him differently - as a middle-aged, struggling writer with a workaday job and as many dreams as he has beds to clean. Boyishly charming and with many stories to tell, Johnny takes us on a trip through his life. He's a true wanderer, a man without a home base, whose only plan is to spend his savings on a trip to Cambodia to write his long-gestating novel. The film is ultimately an intimate, offbeat, and humorous portrait of mid-life crisis presented as a traveling monologue.
- A day in the life of Sharon as she struggles with a recent divorce and a current perception problem.
- According to estimates around 200,000 people lost their lives in the 50-year Colombian civil war. Another 25,000 were kidnapped, many are still considered missing. When the peace deal between the government and the FARC rebels was made in November 2016, guns were banned from the conflict. But the country's population have since faced the almost impossible task of having to agree on a common past. "The Shape of Now" illuminates this strenuous process and thus Colombia's leaden present from very different perspectives.
- "A Summer in the Cage" is filmmaker Ben Selkow's feature-length documentary chronicling his friend Sam's battle with manic-depressive illness, also known as bipolar disorder. The film follows Sam for seven years as he suffers delusional manic episodes, battles paralyzing depressions, and tries to escape the legacy of his bipolar father who committed suicide when Sam was eight years old. By showing the difficult emotional impact of being bipolar on Sam, his family, all those who care about him and the filmmaker, "A Summer in the Cage" hopes to put a human face on an illness that affects millions of American families. But as this dramatic story unfolds and heads to an explosive standoff, it also becomes a unique tale about friendship and the ethical responsibilities of a documentary filmmaker.
- Raised as Americans in inner city projects near Seattle, three young Cambodian refugees each made a rash decision as a teenager that irrevocably shaped their destiny. Years later, facing deportation back to Cambodia, they find themselves caught between a tragic past and an uncertain future by a system that doesn't offer any second chances. A PBS Indies / Global Voices selection.
- A granddaughter travels to Mississippi to help her 70 year-old grandmother put her live back together after loosing her home to Huricane Katrina.
- Faith Weinstein endures the worst day of her young life in the discomfort of her living room, on the couch. Parent's divorce imminent, job is lost, girlfriend cheated and is dumping her, sister is a druggie, her mind begins to slip away. Building blocks of a dark place. No escape.
- A bedeviled lawyer must stop a dysfunctional family's absurd feud over a macabre heirloom.
- Shortly after Hurricane Katrina, filmmakers Lucia Small and Ed Pincus embark upon a sixty-day road trip traveling from their native New England to Louisiana. On their journey they encounter those displaced by the disaster. The film elegantly tackles the difficult issues of race, class and civic responsibility in the United States today.
- JOHNNY BERLIN PART 2: NOTES FROM THE DUMPSTER, picks up where JOHNNY BERLIN left off, right after Johnny's tour of duty as a porter aboard a luxury train ended. We find Johnny lying in a hotel room bed, talking about how he gambled away almost all of the money he had saved for his trip while working on the train, and thus ended up destitute in Phnom Penh where he had visions of leaping off of a bridge into the Mekong River.
- On August 29, 2005 sixteen people, seven dogs and eight cats found themselves stranded by rising flood waters in mid-city New Orleans. Over the next seven days they must survive the worst natural disaster in American History and figure out how to get themselves and the animals safely out of a devastated city under martial law.
- Joe Pacheco, Curator of the Brooklyn Independent Cinema Series, has selected 10 stellar short films for this DVD compilation. They have all played at major festivals and won important awards but, most importantly, they have played at Pacheco's Brooklyn screening series.
- Three friends discover friendship in the age of end times.