One of Us

A Life Apart: Hasidism in America, is the first in-depth documentary about a distinctive, traditional Eastern European religious community. In an historic migration after World War II, Hasidism found it's most vital center in America. Both challenging and embracing American values, Hasidim seek those things which many Americans find most precious: family, community, and a close relationship to God. Integrating critical and analytical scholarship with a portrait of the daily life, beliefs, and history of contemporary Hasidic Jews in New York City, the film focuses on the conflicts, burdens, and rewards of the Hasidic way of life.

Set in the Hasidic enclave of Borough Park, Brooklyn, "93Queen" follows a group of tenacious Hasidic women who are smashing the patriarchy in their community by creating the first all-female volunteer ambulance corps in New York City. With unprecedented-and insider-access, "93Queen" offers up a unique portrayal of a group of religious women who are taking matters into their own hands to change their own community from within.

"City of Joel" is documentary - with unprecedented access - to a 1.1 square mile shtetl in the suburbs that is home to 22,000 members of an one of the most insular and orthodox Hasidic sects. We follow the battles they are waging to survive. Just 50 miles north of New York City, the Satmar sect has built Kiryas Joel as a religious haven where they can be fruitful, multiply and follow the 613 rules of the Talmud. But with some of the highest rates of marriage, birth and religious observance in the country, they have been almost too successful. Developers have come up with a plan to double the size of the village to keep up with this growth, but their neighbors fight back because they believe it will harm the environment and tilt the balance of political power.

Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (1698-1760), known as the Ba'al Shem Tov ("Master of the Good Name"), is one of the most beloved and celebrated, yet elusive, figures in Jewish history. Today, Jews worldwide – and even non-Jews – revere him as the founder of the Hasidic movement, a 18th-century offshoot of Judaism that promotes a mystical interpretation of the Bible, and as a model of piety and spirituality. The documentary A FIRE IN THE FOREST explores the life and legacy of the Ba'al Shem Tov through interviews with religious leaders and scholars, and on-location footage. The title derives from a tale about rabbis finding a hidden fire in the forest where they could appeal to God for help and have their prayers answered.

Stamford Hill in North London is home to a community of 30,000 Hasidic Jews. Aiming to preserve a way of life they had in eighteenth century Poland and living strictly according to over 600 Biblical commandments brings them into conflict with modern life. They have embraced one aspect fully though, the Volvo Estate car.

Conservative Rabbi Marc Soloway invites us on his personal journey to modern day Ukraine to visit the graves of the Hasidic Masters as he tries to establish a connection with the famous names that have so long occupied a place in his imagination.

Everyday life in the Waks household is a logistical challenge of monumental proportions. There are two minibuses to move the family around and the kitchen in its suburban Melbourne home has five ovens for kosher cooking. The family follows an orthodox form of Judaism. School, work, synagogue and socialising all take place within a tight-knit Jewish community.

Mendy is a young Brookyln Hasid who leaves the strict rules of his insular and repressive community to join his childhood friend, Yankel, who is living securlary in Manhattan. Mendy's struggle to integrate his faith and traditions with the modern world are influenced by his growing friendship with Bianca, Yankel's free spirited Brazilian roommate.

When their high school drama department falls victim to budget cuts, two teachers from the Bronx find an unlikely solution to their money problems: yaniv, a little-known card game with a thriving underground gambling scene in the Hasidic Jewish community.

Shmuel, a Hasidic cantor in Upstate New York and distraught at the untimely death of his wife, struggles to find religious solace, while secretly obsessing over how her body will decay. As a clandestine partnership develops with Albert, a local community college biology professor, the two embark on a darkly comic and increasingly literal undertaking into the underworld.

After impulsively shaving off his beard and sidelocks, a young Hasidic man experiences a nightmarish transformation that leads him right back to where he started. Over the course of one painful night, Eli Eisenstein will come to realize that it’s much easier to shave your beard than to shed who you are.

Documentary profile paying homage to the world’s most performed living composer, Sir Karl Jenkins, who turned 80 in 2024. His work has touched the hearts of millions globally, transcending traditional genre boundaries. The film incorporates footage from throughout his career to give a complete insight into the many influences on his music: from the Methodist hymn-singing of his Welsh chapel upbringing to his recent commission of a saxophone concerto for Jess Gillam, which is being performed at this year’s BBC Proms.

In 1939 a young Romanian woman met a soldier. Love blossomed, but the man was sent to the front. They continued to write passionate letters to each another, but when she had to move they lost contact. She was never able to forget him. Will they ever meet again?

At the Limit is a documentary about extreme climbing. In this sports documentary, Pepe Danquart shows brothers Thomas and Alexander Huber climbing in Patagonia and on the granite rock "El Capitan" in Yosemite Valley (USA). A key part of the film is their attempt at a speed ascent of the 1,000-meter-high route "The Nose," in which the two athletes aim to break the then speed record of 2:48:30 hours, set by Hans Florine and Yuji Hirayama in September 2002.

The crowd is the focus of this documentary, which presents historical scenes of the Brazilian Championship. Irreverent and poetic, the movie pays homage to the spectacle provided by football.

EXO Planet #3 – The EXO'rDIUM was the third tour of South Korean-Chinese boy band EXO. This is a recording of the concert date of July 24th, 2016 at Seoul in the enclosure Olympic Park Gymnastics Stadium (better known as Olympic Gymnastics Arena and Olympic Gymnastics Hall).

Step into the world of the original Mad Max movie and take a rare behind the scenes look at the making of this groundbreaking film.

Catherine Deneuve, la discrète : Des « Demoiselles de Rochefort » à « Indochine »

The Implementation of the new security law in 2020 marked a major historical shift for the people of Hong Kong. This 2-year process brought on the reality which was not expected to have materialized until 2046. This harsh, unexpected acceleration fueled feelings of anxiety and distress. The fear of prosecution mixed with the impulse for self-censorship, the desire to leave wrestled with a sense of loss. Room 404 is an essayistic response to the documentary Room 525 shot by the same artists during the art residency in Hong Kong back in 2019 while the social unrest was growing.

A detailed and deeply personal exploration into genocide and how something this atrocious happened, and continues to happen again and again - even in modern times. First-time filmmaker, Paul Bachow, travels around the world and taps into a vast knowledge base of historians, psychology practitioners, and data derived from countless interviews with experts from around the world.