The Devil's Playground is a fascinating and moving documentary about a little-known aspect of Amish life. Amish are not permitted to join the church until their late teens, and have to do so of their own volition. The film explores Rumspringa, wherein young Amish are given the opportunity to explore the "English" way of life.
Born in Evin (2019)
Follows filmmaker and actress, Maryam Zaree, on her quest to find out the violent circumstances surrounding her birth inside one of the most notorious political prisons in the world.
OG: The Harry Jumonji Story (2017)
'OG' is a film about a legendary, Brazilian born, NYC skateboarder, Harry Jumonji. In the course of telling his story, through his triumphs and travails, Jumonji emerges in this portrait as an adolescent innocent, much like skateboarding itself. He is irrepressible, manically energetic and ultimately, pure. He has a transcendent presence, well beyond charm or charisma, of such unalloyed joy that nothing he does is unforgiveable. This is fortunate because, as a drug addict, unsurprisingly, he lies, cheats and steals. Harry is rendered as the poet, the sprite, the artist and the street saint he is.
American Teen (2008)
A documentary on seniors at a high school in a small Indiana town and their various cliques.
Peter and Ben (2007)
As a young man, Peter visited the rolling lush green hills of a remote and hidden valley in Wales and chose to stay there permanently. Self-sufficient and alone, Peter was content. Then he met Ben. Peter found Ben, an orphaned newborn lamb, abandoned in a ditch. Now Ben has matured into a full-grown wooly sheep with ambitions to move into Peter's house with him. Peter, however, has other ideas. Peter and Ben is a touching and quirky story of how two "black-sheep" form an unusual and enduring bond.
Behind the Scenes at Daria (2000)
Hosted by Janeane Garafalo, this made-for-TV documentary treats animation fans to a behind-the-scenes look at the making of DARIA, the spin-off from BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD about an intelligent teenage girl surround by a world full of idiots. Features various interviews with the cast and crew of the series who share insights into what goes into making an episode.
Inés María Mendoza: la palabra como destino (2013)
The life and work of this visionary woman who carried out a valuable social, educational, and conservation work unprecedented in the history of Puerto Rico.
Nepal Forever (2012)
This film features two Russian communist politicians. Being committed Leninists; both of them have served several terms as city council members. Their horizons are broad, but what concerns them the most is the future of global communism. At one point, by decree of fate, their booming activities begin to expand far beyond the boundaries of their native St. Petersburg and the Russian Federation. However, the future of global communism remains unclear. What remains clear is the fact that in the modern world the tail still wags the dog. A documentary comedy.
Germans & Jews - Eine neue Perspektive (2016)
Following Germany's transformation as a society from the Holocaust to becoming the moral leader of Europe as the country embraces hundreds of thousands of refugees.
John Ware Reclaimed (2020)
Filmmaker Cheryl Foggo re-examines the story of John Ware, the Black cowboy who settled in Alberta, Canada, prior to the turn of the 20th century.
Julia (2013)
Julia is a young transgender woman who left her home country of Lithuania. Now living in Germany, she walks the streets of Berlin, working as a prostitute to survive. This documentary revisits Julia over a ten-year period of her life.
To Singapore, with Love (2013)
Tan Pin Pin employs a strictly external perspective for this portrait of her hometown, the tropical economic powerhouse of Singapore, interviewing political exiles in London, Thailand and Malaysia, who are to this day unable to return home.
Biker Women (1996)
A fresh take on the outlaw spirit, focusing on a road trip by four motorcyclists who forge deep friendships over nearly 3,000 miles. Zeros in on four California women who get to know one another while traveling to and from Sturgis, South Dakota, for the world’s largest biker gathering, an annual event since 1938. The rally is a heady brew of races, partying, and exhibitionism under the Great Plains sun. The central quartet have come to Sturgis not merely to revel but to work: Among them are two journalists (Cris Sommer-Simmons, cofounder-founder of Harley Women magazine; and Jamie Elvidge, who specializes in test-riding bikes), a singer-songwriter (Gevin Fax) and a photographer (Gail DeMarco). Combines footage of the women’s trip and post-travel interviews.
The Fabulous Ice Age (2013)
For decades, American touring ice shows dominated family entertainment with their dazzling production and variety acts. This documentary honors them through interviews and archival footage, and depicts one skater's quest to keep this history alive.
The Police Tapes (1977)
The Police Tapes is a 1977 documentary about a New York City police precinct in the South Bronx. The original ran ninety minutes and was produced for public television; a one-hour version later aired on ABC. Filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond spent three months in 1976 riding along with patrol officers in the 44th Precinct of the South Bronx, which had the highest crime rate in New York City at that time. They produced about 40 hours of videotape that they edited into a 90-minute documentary.
Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth (2013)
The compelling story of an extraordinary woman's journey from her birth in a paper thin shack in the cotton fields of Georgia to her recognition as a key writer of the twentieth Century.Walker made history as the first black woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for her groundbreaking novel, The Color Purple.
It’s Not My Memory of It: Three Recollected Documents (2003)
“It’s not my memory of it” is a documentary about secrecy, memory, and documents. A former CIA source recounts his disappearance through shredded classified documents that were painstakingly reassembled by radical fundamentalist students in Iran in 1979 following the takeover of the U.S embassy. A CIA film—recorded in 1974 but unacknowledged until 1992—documents the burial at sea of six Soviet sailors, in a ceremony which collapses Cold War antagonisms in a moment of death and honor. A single photograph pertaining to a publicly acknowledged but top secret U.S. missile strike in Yemen in 2002 is the source of a reflection on the role of images in the dynamic of knowing and not knowing.
Ethnographic Films (1929)
These documentary sketches were made when the famed novelist was an anthropology student seeking to preserve a record of African American life in the rural South. Includes Children's games and baptism - Miami, Aug. 1929; Children's games and man with ax - April 1928; Children dancing and girl rocking on porch - Jan/Feb 1929; Baseball crowd and boy dancing capers Jan/Feb 1929.
Mr. X (2014)
The image of a mysterious, solitary filmmaker - a cineaste maudit - who flees from both the media and the public, is unrelentingly bound to the figure of Leos Carax, in France. Elsewhere, the real focus is on his films and he is considered to be an icon of world cinema. Mr.X dives into the poetic and visionary world of an artist who was already a cult figure from his very first film. Punctuated by interviews and unseen footage, this documentary is most of all a fine-tuned exploration of the poetic and visionary world of Leos Carax, alias "Mr.X".
The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (2013)
Follows the behind-the-scenes work of Studio Ghibli, focusing on the notable figures Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki.
Bevel Up (2015)
Bevel Up is an educational film designed to give students and instructors access to the experience of health care practitioners who work with the drug-using population of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Produced by the same street nurses who work with these users on a daily basis, the film contains invaluable knowledge that can't be found in nursing schools and teaching hospitals.