Mavis!
“I’ve been singing for more than 60 years and I have no intention of retiring,” 75-year-old Mavis Staples tells us at the beginning of this documentary. The Chicago-born singer broke through at a young age when she and her sisters and brother formed a gospel group called The Staple Singers, managed and led by their […]
Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures
Groundbreaking, taboo flaunting, uber talented and tirelessly ambitious, Robert Mapplethorpe remains hugely influential in the world of photography. Directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato deliver a rich portrait of the artist with the help of his family, ex-lovers and audio interviews of Mapplethorpe himself before his untimely death in 1989. Ahead of his time, Mapplethorpe […]
Making a Murderer
Filmed over a 10-year period, Making a Murderer is an unprecedented real-life thriller about Steven Avery, a DNA exoneree who, while in the midst of exposing corruption in local law enforcement, finds himself the prime suspect in a grisly new crime. Set in America’s heartland, the series takes viewers inside a high-stakes criminal case where […]
Life, Animated
After years of struggle, Ron Suskind discovers that Disney animated films provide the key to connecting with his severely autistic son Owen. As Owen takes steps towards independence, he continues to find a sense of understanding and joy from his beloved Disney tales. Combining clips from Disney classics with brand-new animation that imagines Owen as […]
The Land of the Enlightened
In this seamless blend of fictional and documentary form, we experience a stunning cinematic journey into the beauty of war-tormented Afghanistan. Shot over five years on evocative 16mm footage, first-time director Pieter-Jan De Pue paints a whimsical yet haunting look at the condition of Afghanistan left for the next generation. As American soldiers prepare to […]
La Laguna
Deep in the rainforests of southern Mexico, a pair of Mayan boys run free among the relics of their ancient civilization. In their village school, however, 12-year-old Yu’uk and 8-year-old José find themselves lost in a world they can’t fully comprehend, governed by a language they can’t fully grasp. In this breathtaking coming-of-age film, Emmy-nominated […]
Kate Plays Christine
In 1974, a Sarasota, Florida newscaster Christine Chubbuck shocked morning viewers and coworkers by pulling out a gun and shooting herself in the head on the air. Forty years later, in an attempt to investigate how history has remembered her, rising film star Kate Lyn Sheil agrees to portray the journalist in a film. In […]
In Pursuit of Silence
In a modern world where we are constantly (in)voluntarily surrounded by sound, silence is the ultimate experience of sound itself. That silence is also the ultimate avant-garde innovator was proven by the composer John Cage with his now classic, almost four-and-a-half-minute long piece of music, which consisted of nothing else. But do we ever have […]
I Am Not Your Negro
Working from the text of James Baldwin’s unfinished final novel, director Raoul Peck (Moloch Tropical, Murder in Pacot) creates a stunning meditation on what it means to be Black in America. Built exclusively around Baldwin’s words, Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro delves into the complex legacy of three lives (and deaths) that permanently marked […]
How to Dance in Ohio
Finding a date, getting dressed up, and going dancing can be difficult for any teenager. For many living with autism, the idea of going to a spring formal and navigating social cues they don’t understand is even more intimidating and frightening. Alexandra Shiva’s How to Dance in Ohio follows a group of teenagers as they […]