Solitary: Inside Red Onion State Prison
Located on an Appalachian mountaintop in Wise County, Va., Red Onion State Prison is a “supermax” facility built to house individual inmates in 8’x10’ solitary-confinement cells, 23 hours a day, for months, years and sometimes decades. Directed by Kristi Jacobson, Solitary: Inside Red Onion State Prison explores life on both sides of the bars, raising […]
Stranger in Paradise
‘Stranger in Paradise’ is a controversial role play in three acts about a controversial topic: the refugee crisis. The scene is a classroom in Sicily, the students are real refugees hoping to get asylum. In the role of a teacher is an actor who alternates between right-wing conservative, humanist and genuine ‘realpolitik’ approaches to whether […]
Step
In Step, her joyous, pulsating portrait of the “Lethal Ladies” step dancing team of the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women, director Amanda Lipitz documents the team’s high-stakes senior year of high school in inner-city Baltimore. As each girl strives individually to become the first in her family to attend college, they simultaneously work hard […]
Risk
Laura Poitras returns with her most personal and intimate film to date. Filmed over six years, RISK is a complex and volatile character study that collides with a high stakes election year and it’s controversial aftermath. Cornered in a tiny building for half a decade, Julian Assange is undeterred even as the legal jeopardy he […]
The Reagan Show
A Republican president takes office at the height of his Hollywood-powered, camera-ready fame. He governs with lenses constantly flashing, and claims that he’s just the public face in front of real policy-makers and dangerous global threats. That’s the story of America’s 40th president, Ronald Reagan. The movie star, known for playing cowboys and gun-toting heroes, […]
Rat Film
Rats, the most under-loved rodents on the planet, live in the shadows, mostly confined to cages, sewers, and trash cans. What does the ghettoization of rats tell us about our own species? In his feature-film debut, director Theo Anthony creates a sweeping map of Baltimore through this denigrated animal. An eerie, futuristic narrator guides you […]
The Rabbit Hunt
In the Florida Everglades rabbit hunting is considered a rite of passage for young men. “The Rabbit Hunt” follows seventeen year old Chris and his family as they hunt in the fields of the largest industrial sugar farms in the US. Rabbit hunting has long been a rite of passage for young men growing-up in […]
Quest
Filmed over the course of ten years, Quest is a thoughtful and nuanced observation of the Rainey family—led by father Christopher (“Quest”) and mother Christine (“Ma”). From the start, first-time filmmaker Jonathan Olshefski captures tender images of this family’s love: Ma braids her husband’s and daughter PJ’s hair, joking and laughing; Quest brings PJ to […]
Polonaise
In the small, central Polish town of Aleksandrow Kujawski, the director of the local culture centre announces a competition. The theme…a creative presentation of your personal patriotic attitude. Entrants are free to demonstrate their creativity in whatever form they like; in song, recitation or gesture, by giving a speech or staging their piece. But entrants […]
Plastic China
Yi Jie’s uneducated parents left the area where they grew up, looking for work. They now sort and recycle plastic waste from Europe, the United States and other parts of Asia. The family literally lives among mountains of plastic and the disgusting stench from incinerators. Nevertheless, the children always manage to find hidden treasures: a […]