The untold story about how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and an all-star team of civil rights activists took to basketball courts to rally young voters while winning hearts of communities, and how their strategy has echoed in contemporary politics.
A film that immerses its audience in subjective states of consciousness they might experience when they die, imagining what they can see and think and hear in a seamless but fragmentary flow of poetic images, words and music. The viewer undertakes a journey into their own interior world of dreams and projections in which time and space, and cause and effect logic, are turned on their heads. Text Messages from the Universe is inspired by The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a text which guides souls on their journey of 49 days through the 'Bardo', or intermediate state, between dying and rebirth.
From the creators of 31 Minutos, here comes the story of a rock that didn't want to grow up...
Con Traje y Sin Zapatos
This raw, gutsy portrait of New York's Chinatown captures the early days of an emerging consciousness in the community. We see a Chinatown rarely depicted, a vibrant community whose young and old join forces to protest police brutality and hostile real estate developers. With bold strokes, it paints an overview of the community and its history, from the early laborers driving spikes into the transcontinental railroad to the garment workers of today.
Out of Office is the story of a scrappy group of office workers in Wisconsin who managed to pull off a major victory for workers’ rights. Upon their contract’s expiration, the workers activated their dormant union and fought back against their employer - a massive financial services provider making record profits. Their fight dragged out for over 600 days and included the first strike in the company’s almost 100-year history, which was the largest labor action in Wisconsin for over ten years. A rank-and-file member of the union documented the entire struggle, and the documentary includes emotional interviews with key members of the fight.
The extraordinary story of the Melbourne community campaign that put a stop to the $18billion East Wast toll road link.
Fernanda Pivano: A Farewell to Beat
A procession from Artists' Campaign to repeal the 8th Amendment of the Republic of Ireland.
Inspired by the poetry of Robert Frost, this short primarily aims to capture the dynamic nature of the world around us; the ego and the id; the past and the present; everything that has, as of yet, diluted the course of life as we know it.
Once described by the press as "one of the most controversial figures on the Australian art scene", avant-garde poet and playwright Christopher Barnett achieved a level of notoriety in the Melbourne underground theatre scene during the ‘70s and ‘80s, before self-exiling to France. He remains there today, running an experimental theatre lab working with the marginalised and underprivileged, applauded by the establishment (including former French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault) and faithful to his belief that art can change the world. These Heathen Dreams is an intimate portrait of Barnett's life and revolutionary philosophy. Combining archival footage dating back to the ‘60s with contemporary observational documentation and text from Barnett's writings, it is a poignant and inspiring study of the power of both art and political activism.
This documentary takes the viewer on a deeply personal journey into the everyday lives of families struggling to fight Goliath. From a family business owner in the Midwest to a preacher in California, from workers in Florida to a poet in Mexico, dozens of film crews on three continents bring the intensely personal stories of an assault on families and American values.
The film is a controversy on democracy. Is our society really democratic? Can everyone be part of it? Or is the act of being part in democracy dependent to the access on technology, progression or any resources of information, as philosophers like Paul Virilio or Jean Baudrillard already claimed?
Moscow, Russia, December 2016. Edward Snowden, Larry Lessig and Birgitta Jónsdóttir meet for the first time in a secret place. Apparently, Russia is interfering in the US presidential elections while it mourns the death of its ambassador to Turkey. Snowden carefully chooses his interviews, so nobody really knows something about him. As the world prepares for Christmas, they gather to discuss the only issue that matters, their common struggle: how to save democracy.
Kang Aries and Kang Oca are two cultural observers of Kujang who try to provide a justification perspective on the Kujang Philosophy made by one of the blacksmiths named Abah Jajang, where the general public often considers that Kujang is a sharp weapon. The two of them "Kang Aris & Kang Oca" entered the realm of the trial to defend the essence of Kujang, so as not to be considered misunderstood by the general public.
Sol de Mayo
McDonald's loved weaponising UK libel laws to suppress criticism. Major media organisations crumbled and apologised. In the longest trial in English legal history, the 'McLibel Two' (gardener Helen Steel and postman Dave Morris) represented themselves against the fast food giant's £10 million legal team. Every aspect of business was cross-examined: junk food and McJobs, animal cruelty, environmental damage and advertising to children. McDonald's tries every trick in the book against the courageous duo: legal manoeuvres, a visit from Ronald McDonald, top executives flying to London for secret settlement negotiations. Even spies. Seven years later, in February 2005, the marathon legal battle finally concluded at the European Court of Human Rights. And the result took everyone by surprise - especially the British Government. McLibel is not just about hamburgers. It's about the importance of freedom of speech now that multinational corporations are more powerful than countries.
Denim' is a poetic short film by writer, poet and performer Siana Bangura, exploring gentrification and social cleansing in South East London. Through a personal trip down memory lane, visiting the places that moulded her, we learn what happens when the city changes and leaves those who built it behind. Travelling through Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Elephant & Castle, Walworth Road, Peckham, Brixton and of course Shoreditch, 'Denim' is both a personal tale and a wider social commentary.
Award-winning director Yoav Shamir (Defamation, Checkpoint) sets out on an entertaining and insightful international quest, exploring the notion of heroism through a multi-faceted lens. From ordinary heroes to freedom fighters, primates to humans, behavioral scientists to geneticists, even Ayn Rand to Raelians, Shamir leaves no stone unturned, and along the way unveils the fundamental truths of human nature.
Exploration of the ordinary lives led by women of different classes—a college professor, an unmarried woman, and a seasoned drama artist. They unveil the societal intricacies woven into their social backgrounds, with typical evening talks besides them. Gripping tales of yore immersed in the metaphorical embrace of their surroundings, their familial shelters are emblematic of resilience and protection, where profound truths lie hidden within the depths of the commonplace.