A special behind-the-scenes look at the making of the audiobook edition of "d'ILLUSION: The Houdini Musical" and how it did its part in helping keep theater and the arts alive during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 WNBA season pivoted into a bubble site in Bradenton, Florida – where 144 players across 12 teams convened to face the rigors of an unrelenting schedule and finish their battle for a championship; all while just as dedicated to amplify social activism in response to the injustices that gripped that same summer. A documentary from ESPN Films.
The history of New York’s Meatpacking District, told from the perspective of transgender sex workers who lived and worked there. Filmmaker Kristen Lovell, who walked “The Stroll” for a decade, reunites her community to recount the violence, policing, homelessness, and gentrification they overcame to build a movement for transgender rights.
Kelet is a twentysomething black trans woman, whose greatest dream is to be on the cover of Vogue magazine. For the Finnish-born and Manchester-raised Kelet, such models as Naomi Campbell and Iman served as role models giving her strength – and during the darkest times, kept her alive. After coming out, then 19-year-old Kelet was cut off from her family and she moved back to Finland on her own.
“To me films are an imaginary world where emotion comes into play.” YOO Teo traveled to Belgium to make his movie but he ended up being locked down due to COVID-19. This film is about his 15-days of quarantine in Antwerp Hotel fighting for his movie and loneliness. He also depicted his most personal story. This is the debut film of YOO Teo both as the star and the director.
Hacking at Leaves documents artist and hazmat-suit aficionado Johannes Grenzfurthner as he attempts to come to terms with the United States' colonial past, Navajo tribal history, and the hacker movement. The story hones in on a small tinker space in Durango, Colorado, that made significant contributions to worldwide COVID relief efforts. But things go awry when Uncle Sam interferes with the film's production.
In this film, Laerte conjugates the body in the feminine, and scrutinizes concepts and prejudices. Not in search of an identity, but in search of un-identities. Laerte creates and sends creatures to face reality in the fictional world of comic strips as a vanguard of the self. And, on the streets, the one who becomes the fiction of a real character. Laerte, of all the bodies, and of none, complicates all binaries. In following Laerte, this documentary chooses to clothe the nudity beyond the skin we inhabit.
In Córdoba, far from the Argentine capital, the end of a military regime promises a spring that is all too brief. “La Delpi” is the only survivor of a group of friends who are transgender women and drag-queens, who began to die of aids in the late 80s. In a Catholic and conservative city, the Grupo Kalas made their weapons and trenches out of improvised dresses and lip-syncing. Today the images of unique and unknown footage are not only a farewell letter, but a manifesto to friendship.
Ancla
A reflection on the relationship between science, politics and the media. And on how we as humans tend to look for scapegoats and screaming narratives.
Alma is a trans woman who was born in Santa Rosa, a small town in the province of Córdoba, Argentina. Before making the decision to change her gender, she served in the police forces of her province, married twice and had four children. At the age of 36, she decided to travel to the city of Buenos Aires to begin her transformation and gender reassignment process, thus fulfilling her desire to live her identity freely.
A batch of mushy sourdough. Two radioactive lizards. Three cans of Campbell’s tomato soup. When COVID-19 lockdowns began in 2020, people around the world began reporting more vivid dreams.
Danish documentary about the relationship between Queen Magrethe II and the prime ministers.
As Cirque du Soleil reboots its flagship production, O, more than a year after an abrupt shutdown, performers and crew members face uncertainty as they work to return to their world-class standards in time for the (re)opening night in Las Vegas. With unfettered access, filmmaker Dawn Porter captures the dramatic journey of the world's most famous circus act on its way back from the brink.
The hospitality industry is the artistic heartbeat of New York. Thousands of artists, musicians, and actors flock to Queens to work in the service industry to supplement their dreams. In March of 2020 these dreamers put their lives on hold, self- isolating and sacrificing their income as Queens became the global epicenter of COVID-19. LAST CALL follows two local bars and frontline workers in a tale of two sacrifices that saved not only the lives of thousands but also the future of New York.
Ricardo was once Sara, a homeless HIV positive transvestite, living in the underbelly of Manhattan. Today he is a churchgoing, married man, "saved" by a Dallas ministry. He has renounced his homosexuality, but is his conversion complete? Susana Aiken and Carlos Aparicio offer an intimate look at Ricardo's transformation.
Vikken is transgender. He’s about to take hormones for the first time. He records his voice that will disappear, and summons the figures of the past from all over the world for an intimate dialogue with himself.
One neighborhood in New York City, March 2020: the coronavirus is spreading rapidly, the federal government is clueless, and life seems increasingly surreal. A month later, the city has become an epicenter of the pandemic as the death rate spirals upwards. Then the racial justice protests erupt... Strange Days Diary NYC is an intimate account of living through a disruptive, frightening, yet inspiring time.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, two college students set out to make a revolutionary television show. The pilot episode was uncovered and presented alongside exclusive interviews with the cast and crew.
March 2020. Fabrizio, a photographer and filmmaker who lives in Luxembourg, returns to his family in central Italy after his father has suffered a heart attack. It’s the beginning of the pandemic, the country is in lockdown. An intimate diary and an ode to filial love in the face of the most trying circumstances a son can face. A tale of the soul and personal hardship in the context of a broader collective tragedy.