In the depths of a Maine winter, an end-of-life doula prepares her clients for death while grappling with her own uncertainties about loss and mourning.
Filmed over a decade and set in the American West, Dryland traces a young man's quest for victory in a rambunctious contest, while battling to preserve a threatened way of life. Josh Knodel and best friend Matt Miller strive to win the Lind Combine Demolition Derby, save their town, and preserve the legacy of their families' Eastern Washington wheat farms.
A journey in sound through the unusual life and career of jazz legend Charles Lloyd. Lloyd's own voice, and those who worked with him over the last five decades help us discover and better understand this enigmatic man and his spiritual pursuit through music.
The story of a little loggerhead turtle, as she follows in the path of her ancestors on one of the most extraordinary journeys in the natural world. Born on a beach in Florida, she rides the Gulf Stream up towards the Arctic and ultimately swims around the entire North Atlantic across to Africa and back to the beach where she was born. But the odds are stacked against her; just one in ten thousand turtles survive the journey.
The inside story of the last days of a General Motors plant in Moraine, Ohio, as lived by the people who worked the line.
Brooklyn, 4 July 2004. Jenny Perlin spends her entire Independence Day filming her neighbourhood supermarket. Although the front of the building is dilapidated and the sign is so old you can barely read it, this shop has everything a larger supermarket has, "and sometimes even more," according to its proud owner Mr. Leem. He and his brother work 14-hour days in the supermarket. In an off-screen interview, he tells about the shop's history and about his favourite music: Johnny Cash and Najwa Karam. Every two hours, Perlin grabbed her 16 mm Bolex camera to shoot two and a half minutes of film (the time it takes for the spool to unwind). This "arbitrary" style of filmmaking emphasises not the action, but the rhythm. The beauty of the shop is not in the extraordinary events taking place there, but in the fixed patterns of plodding and rummaging.
The evolution of the zombie from its roots in Haitian voodoo to its coveted role as the world's most popular monster: from being a clumsy corpse to becoming a cannibal killer and the main agent of every infectious pandemic, the zombie has come a long way in seventy years. A look at the rising tide of zombie culture examining why something so dead has so much life in viewers' nightmares and at the box office.
Tree planting is one of the most physically and mentally demanding jobs in Canada. Working long days in the baking sun of desolate clear cuts, you can expect rain storms and snow covered tents: that's tree planting in Northern Alberta. In this documentary, veteran planters share their experiences as they struggle through each day of what has become the longest and most difficult season ever!
Following a year in Cadance and Amanda's gender transition, this intimate documentary charts not only their personal transformation but the building of a life and community together in regional New South Wales.
"The Trials of Darryl Hunt" is a feature documentary about a brutal rape/murder case and a wrongly convicted man, Darryl Hunt, who spent nearly twenty years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Both a social justice story and a personally driven narrative, the film chronicles this capital case from 1984 through 2004. With exclusive footage from two decades, the film frames the judicial and emotional response to a chilling crime - and the implications that reverberate from Hunt's conviction - against a backdrop of class and racial bias in the South and in the American criminal justice system.
A documentary that follows a new piece of legislation on its way to Capitol Hill. The Internet Community Port Act, also known as CP80 or Community Port 80, asks that adult content be placed on separate channels (ports) on the Internet so that parents can keep it out of their homes and schools. What ensues is a ferocious debate between parents, pornographers, doctors, technologists, addicts, business owners and children. But one voice is missing: our political leaders.
Amy Johnson was the first woman to fly solo from Great Britain to Australia. Mulvey and Wollen’s experimental documentary combines newsreel footage of the aviator’s arrival, dramatic recreations of events from her life and contemporary discussions by feminist groups on the subject of heroism in this most unconventional biopic.
A very short story about nature, wildlife and woodpeckers
The award-winning documentary film Justice for My Sister takes an intimate look at violence against women in Guatemala by chronicling the three-year journey of Rebeca as she tries to hold her sister's killer accountable. The film serves as the centerpiece of a transnational campaign to promote healthy relationships and denounce gender-based violence and femicide/feminicide.
Hidden deep within the Pony Pasture Rapids Park of Richmond, Virginia there lives a creature whose ancestors span back a half a billion years. This short film explores the life history of an ancient species, Fairy Shrimp, that survive in harsh habitats here and around the world.
Salvar Tenerife shows, like never before, the overexploitation to which the island of Tenerife is submitted. It receives more than 6 million tourists a year and has a population of 930000 inhabitants. These figures are born from the terrible way in which the island has been managed during the last decades and currently. An infinite and untenable growth which is threatening more than ever the natural spaces and biodiversity from Tenerife, more and more deteriorated each day. This documentary seeks to boost a change towards real sustainable development, so we can have a future in which we live alongside nature and we can keep enjoying Tenerife (and the rest of the Canary Islands) in their wild and natural state.
Research is underway at Virginia Commonwealth University to uncover the secrets of a charismatic, endangered species, the Atlantic sturgeon. This short documentary follows Dr. Matt Balazik as he discovers, for the first time, the sturgeon migration using acoustic transmitter tags.
Based on the Nicaraguan poet Ernesto Cardenal's tribute to Norma Jeane Mortenson, these Cuban filmmakers link the actresses' overdose/suicide to patriarchy, exploitation, and many of the ills of the twentieth century.
Ahead of Weronika, an outstanding graduate of Warsaw Ballet School, lies the prospect of an international career. It turns out that talent, dedication and hard work are not always a guarantee to success. Sometimes one bad moment wipes out all the plans. However, Weronika isn't one to give up easily.
Largely due to censorship, many films, especially documentaries and independent films, can't be released in China. But underground cinema clubs are making independent films accessible to Chinese audience despite the all the risks.