Birdie

Kara Robinson Chamberlain recounts in vivid detail being taken at gun point from a friend’s front yard. Forced into in a cramped, dark storage container in her captor’s car, Kara instantly knew her life was in grave danger. In a moment she describes as a divine intervention, the 15-year-old realized she had to be her own victor and take her life back; she had to escape.

Unraveling one of the biggest environmental scandals of our time, a group of citizens in West Virginia take on a powerful corporation after they discover it has knowingly been dumping a toxic chemical — now found in the blood of 99.7% of Americans — into the local drinking water supply.

An uplifting insight into the lives of seven-year-old conjoined twins, who weren’t expected to live more than a few days. Cared for by their devoted father, the girls have defied all odds.

Charlie Brouwer, a Virginia sculpture artist, shares his experience of becoming legally blind later in his career. Unexpectedly, he finds acceptance through an unlikely muse.

Oscar, not quite a child anymore, scavenges for scrap metal for his father. He spends his life in improvised landfills among what remains of leftovers. Worlds apart, yet close-by, there is Stanley. He tidies the church in exchange for a monetised hospitality, picks fruits, herds sheep: anything that keep his foreign body busy. Oscar, the young Sicilian, and Stanley the Nigerian don’t seem to have much in common. Except for the feeling of being thrown into the world, to suffer the same refusal, the same overwhelming wave of choices imposed on them by others.

Layering real-life details with an otherworldly magic, Thanadoula recounts the story of an end-of-life doula brought to her calling through the loss of her beloved sister.

After a heartbreaking loss to Vanderbilt in the 2014 College World Series Championship game, Virginia entered the 2015 season with its sights set on making the 1,186-mile trip back to Omaha. But a host of injuries and tough losses had the Cavaliers on the verge of missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since head coach Brian O’Connor took the helm in 2004. A late-season run gave Virginia renewed hope as it relied on the strength of the program’s culture to make one of the sport’s most remarkable turnarounds en route to a CWS Championship finals rematch with Vanderbilt and the ACC’s first College World Series title since 1955.

A documentary film showcasing the ascension of the state of Virginia from its rank of 51st worst state for labor unions, to 23rd, in a matter of just three years.

A documentary about twin sisters whose beliefs have taken them on different paths. Filmmaker Zohra begins filming her twin sister Sanaa in their apartment in Brussels. When Sanaa silently turns to Islam, the religion the two sisters partially grew up with, Zohra becomes more and more consumed by capturing her sister. The inevitable transformation leads to a need to understand each other anew.

OUT OF DARKNESS: THE MINE WORKERS' STORY is a documentary by Academy Award-winning director Barbara Kopple (HARLAN COUNTY, USA). Historical film footage and photographs are integrated with first-hand accounts of UMWA history and of the Pittston strike of 1989-90.

Liron (29) and Liel (27) are inseparable. When Liel's mental health lapses, Liron starts documenting her sister's struggle. A drunk night out and hospitalization in psychiatric wards put their relationship to the test and uncovers the depth of the pain they carry. In an intimate and intrusive documentation, we are allowed a glimpse into an invisible person dealing with trauma.

Bob Childress was the founder and builder of the famous "Rock Churches" of southwest Virginia, all established between 1919 and 1954. In 2022, Buford Jessup and his family set out to visit all seven of his great uncle's churches.

Director Steve James returns to his home town of Hampton, Virginia to tell the story of how the trial of a young basketball star left a city divided.

Andrea and Krisztina Marics are 28-year-old identical twins with a teaching degree that have lived together since birth. They work together at a touring circus, doing joint artistic performances. After a long circus tour abroad, Andrea leaves the close relationship and ends their work together. She feels that she can succeed on her own. Krisztina still lives and works in the circus but struggles to find her place there without Andrea. After the winter tour, Krisztina has to decide if she stays at home with her sister or continues the life of a wanderer.

“Meet Me by the Magnolia Tree” is a student documentary on the history of Richmond’s gay community and the role cruising for sex played in places like Byrd Park, the Block, and Battle Abbey.

This Traveltalk series short visits the State of Virginia. In 1947, agriculture was the mainstay of the economy. Tobacco, molasses from cane and peanuts were the agricultural mainstays. The State capitol, Richmond, can boast the oldest legislature in the Western Hemisphere. There are many attractions including old caverns with beautiful rock displays.

“Sisters” is a deeply personal story about my journey back to my home country of Venezuela to investigate the possibility of a long lost sister.

In the bitter winter of 1978, four desperate council members from a small Virginia town hatched a daring Bigfoot hoax to save it from the brink of bankruptcy. But as the money grew, so did the greed-triggering the town's first unsolved murder.

Travel back to Victorian Britain and wander the cobbled streets of Haworth to the sites that inspired the great Brontë sisters’ classic novels.

Seraphim visits a bell foundry and learns how to cast Sevenik Sevenicius the largest bell in the world.