Direct cinema pioneer Frederick Wiseman takes an in-depth look at the preeminent American university during a fall semester that saw a vigorous debate taking place over tuition hikes, budget cuts, and the future of higher education in the United States.
School Life (2017)
John and Amanda teach Latin, English and guitar at a fantastical stately home-turned-school. Nearly 50-year careers are drawing to a close for the pair who have become legends with the mantra: “Reading! ’Rithmetic! Rock ’n’ roll!” But for pupil and teacher alike, leaving is the hardest lesson.
Freakonomics (2010)
Some of the world's most innovative documentary filmmakers will explore the hidden side of everything.
Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story (2020)
Exploring the rise and fall of the groundbreaking animated series Ren & Stimpy and its controversial creator, John Kricfalusi, through archival footage, show artwork and interviews with the artists, actors and executives behind the show.
Rebuilding Paradise (2020)
On November 8, 2018, a spark flew in the Sierra Nevada foothills, igniting the most destructive wildfire in California history and decimating the town of Paradise. Unfolding during the year after the fire, this is the story of the Paradise community as they begin to rebuild their lives.
Joanne (2017)
Joanne is a model, a teacher, a fighter, a chameleon. But when her private semi-nude photos went public, this woman of many talents came to be simply known as 'the topless teacher'. Together with her former student, artist Simon Fujiwara, she seeks to reclaim her image through social media and branding tactics. Shifting between advertisement and portraiture, this meta-narrative on identity manages to infuse playfulness in its layered commentary on who you are and how you're seen.
Blindsight (2006)
Six blind Tibetan teenagers climb the Lhakpa-Ri peak of Mount Everest, led by seven-summit blind mountain-climber Erik Weihenmayer.
Permission to Exist (2020)
In just sixty years, South Korea went from being one of the poorest countries on the Asian continent to having the 12th largest economy in the entire world. Every year, it is measured that Korean students have some of the highest test scores and a higher rate of acceptance into Ivy League schools compared to all other nations. But on the flip side, South Korea also has one of the highest suicide rates in the developed world, the highest gender pay gap of all developed countries, and the highest plastic surgery rate per capita. Always expected to receive top scores and constantly bombarded by media and messages that seem to demand nothing short of visual “perfection,” how do these individuals come to accept and learn to love themselves as they are?
Breaking Vegas (2004)
Documentary tracing the attempts of a team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Institue students to become rich playing blackjack at casinos throughout the United States and the attempts of the casinos' management to thwart them.
Flood in the Desert (2022)
Explore the 1928 collapse of the St. Francis Dam, the second deadliest disaster in California history. A colossal engineering and human failure, the dam was built by William Mulholland, a self-taught engineer who ensured the growth of Los Angeles by bringing the city water via aqueduct. The catastrophe killed more than 400 people and destroyed millions of dollars of property.
Frenchy Dreams of Hashish (2022)
A feature-length documentary that captures the passion of famous hashishin, Frenchy Cannoli, and his pursuit of quality hashish within the context of a changing legal landscape in California's cannabis industry.
How Weed Won the West (2010)
While California is going bankrupt, one business is booming. "How Weed Won the West" is the story of the growing medical cannabis / marijuana industry in the greater Los Angeles area, with over 700 dispensaries doling out the buds. As a treatment for a wide range of conditions, cannabis is quickly proving itself as a healthier natural alternative to many prescription drugs.
Cal State Long Beach, CA, January 2020 (2021)
A wordless portrait of sculptor Jessica Jackson Hutchins shows us the artist in the process of transforming clay into uncanny forms.
Berkeley in the Sixties (1990)
A documentary about militant student political activity at the University of California, Berkeley in the 1960s.
Frontier University Dreams (2005)
Pioneering the harsh landscape of Nebraska was difficult enough in 1869. Pioneering a new university was almost beyond reason. What was a university? Who should go? What should be taught? There were no guidebooks. No road maps. They were building a university out of little more than hopes and dreams.
Near Light (2023)
A young man, convicted murderer, has a chance of redemption when he enters the best Italian university of economics, going back and forth from prison to university every day.
The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
Harvey Milk was an outspoken human rights activist and one of the first openly gay U.S. politicians elected to public office; even after his assassination in 1978, he continues to inspire disenfranchised people around the world.
Riding Giants (2004)
Riding Giants is story about big wave surfers who have become heroes and legends in their sport. Directed by the skateboard guru Stacy Peralta.
Harmonium in California (1980)
Through concerts and interviews, folk-progressive group Harmonium takes Quebec culture to California. This documentary full of colour and sound, filmed in California in 1978, recounts the ups and downs of the journey of the Quebec musical group Harmonium, who came to feel the pulse of Americans and see if culture, their culture, can succeed in crossing borders.
Wild Window: Bejeweled Fishes (2016)
Bejeweled Fishes captures the spectacular beauty of the myriad fishes inhabiting coral reefs of the Tropical and Eastern Pacific. This Wild Window was captured in the Maldives Islands, Fiji, the Philippines, Mexico, California, and Indonesia.
The 9 Lives of Barbara Dane (2023)
For decades, Barbara Dane lent her stellar singing voice to social-justice movements in the Bay Area and beyond, garnering an impressive FBI file along the way. Deeply respected by fellow luminaries in folk, blues and jazz, Dane built a far-reaching legacy with music, activism, and love. As Maureen Gosling’s celebratory portrait reveals, early solidarity with those suffering racial and economic injustice sparked Dane’s passion to use her talent to sustain marginalized people. Rather than chase stardom, she followed her own maternal instincts to root herself and her family among generations of activist performers. Bonnie Raitt, Jane Fonda and other notables attest to Dane’s unique way of shaping and being shaped by tumultuous social revolutions from the 1950s on. Nearing 90, Dane triumphantly tours with piano virtuoso Tammy Hall to celebrate a life of staying awake and connected, true to her ideals. One star among many illuminates so much.