Woman on Fire (2016)

Denial (2016)

Every day our changing climate pushes us closer to an environmental catastrophe, but for most the problem is easy to ignore. David Hallquist, a Vermont utility executive, has made it his mission to take on one of the largest contributors of this global crisis-our electric grid. But when his son Derek tries to tell his father's story, the film is soon derailed by a staggering family secret, one that forces Derek and David to turn their attention toward a much more personal struggle, one that can no longer be ignored. - Written by Aaron Woolf

Notre-Dame: Our Lady of Paris (2020)

This ABC documentary special provides a detailed look into the disastrous fire that ravaged Paris' revered Notre-Dame Cathedral in 2019. Firsthand accounts of firefighters, clergy, local officials and those who were inside the cathedral on April 15, 2019, as well as harrowing footage from within the inferno, tell the story of the fire watched around the world.

Dark Days (2000)

A cinematic portrait of the homeless population who live permanently in the underground tunnels of New York City.

Mad Hot Ballroom (2005)

Eleven-year-old New York City public school kids journey into the world of ballroom dancing and reveal pieces of themselves and their world along the way. Told from their candid, sometimes humorous perspectives, these kids are transformed, from reluctant participants to determined competitors, from typical urban kids to "ladies and gentlemen," on their way to try to compete in the final citywide competition.

The Rise & Fall of Penn Station (2004)

In 1910, the Pennsylvania Railroad successfully accomplished the enormous engineering feat of building tunnels under New York City's Hudson and East Rivers, connecting the railroad to New York and New England, knitting together the entire eastern half of the United States. The tunnels terminated in what was one of the greatest architectural achievements of its time, Pennsylvania Station. Penn Station covered nearly eight acres, extended two city blocks, and housed one of the largest public spaces in the world. But just 53 years after the station’s opening, the monumental building that was supposed to last forever, to herald and represent the American Empire, was slated to be destroyed.

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.

Weegee's New York (1948)

The best known, "Weegee's New York" (1948), presents a surprisingly lyrical view of the city without a hint of crime or murder. Already this film gives evidence, here very restrained, of Weegee's interest in technical tricks: blur, speeded up or slowed-down film, a lens that makes the city's streets curve as if cars are driving over a rainbow. - The New York Times

Roaches' Lullaby (1972)

A humorous short documentary which features interviews with three zealous New York City roach-haters who demonstrate their own extermination techniques and recount - in hilarious detail - their own personal experiences with cockroaches. Includes an original musical composition lamenting the presence of this pesty insect in urban life

Body: Its Autobiography (2020)

A documentary that shows a body in social and family isolation, but the distance is not caused by the coronavirus, but by being a transvestite. Renata Carvalho is a character of herself, her voice tells us the historicity/transcestrality of her body and the structural transphobia.

Uncle Gloria: One Helluva Ride! (2016)

A documentary about the macho owner of an auto wrecking company in Florida who goes into hiding from the law as a woman setting off a bizarre journey of self discovery. Undergoing a risky sex change operation, Gloria becomes a dominatrix, a transgender activist and finds a gender-bending love all while trying to reconcile with her dysfunctional family.

Paperboy Love Prince for Mayor! (2023)

A documentary following the 2021 campaign of Paperboy Love Prince, a rapper and activist, for Mayor of New York

Quiet Storm: The Ron Artest Story (2019)

In the world of professional sports, no American athlete ever came back from a mental health disorder....until Ron Artest, now known to the world as Metta World Peace.

Two Spirits (2009)

Fred Martinez was a Navajo youth slain at the age of 16 by a man who bragged to his friends that he 'bug-smashed a fag'. But Fred was part of an honored Navajo tradition - the 'nadleeh', or 'two-spirit', who possesses a balance of masculine and feminine traits.

Not Bad at All (NaN)

Every weekend for six years, Jessica takes a bus from NYC, where she lives and works as a set decorator, to Boston, her hometown, where she cares for her dad, Aloysius, who is 87 and has advanced Alzheimer's disease.

Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train a Comin' (2013)

An account of the short life of genius musician Jimi Hendrix (1942-70), probably the most talented and influential guitarist of the twentieth century: his humble beginnings in Seattle, his time in New York, his rise to fame in swinging London… Live fast, love hard, die young.

Visible: Transgender Youth Stories (2020)

Two teenagers seek the fullness of their identities with time on top and normality against it. First hand testimony of transgender kids and the support of their family.

Pestilent City (1967)

Pestilent City covers Manhattan from South to North, from Times Square to Harlem, finding along the way ever more poverty, violence, rage and tragic drunkenness.

The Fall of Cannonsville (2023)

Throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s the communities of Cannonsville, Granton, Rock Rift, Rock Royal, Johnny Brook and Beerston, NY were destroyed to make way for the Cannonsville Reservoir. The reservoir would serve as the last piece of New York City’s growing water infrastructure in a battle of upstate versus downstate. 60 years after vacating or moving their homes, former residents gather at their annual town reunion to reflect and reminisce on their memories and the collective trauma that they share.

Glory Daze: The Life and Times of Michael Alig (2015)

A review of the wild New York City nightlife of the 90s. The cast of characters who made up the infamous Club Kids speak candidly about that era, culminating with Alig's release from incarceration.

The Mona Lisa Curse (2008)

The Mona Lisa Curse is a Grierson award-winning polemic documentary by art critic Robert Hughes that examines how the world's most famous painting came to influence the art world. With his trademark style, Hughes explores how museums, the production of art and the way we experience it have radically changed in the last 50 years, telling the story of the rise of contemporary art and looking back over a life spent talking and writing about the art he loves, and loathes. In these postmodern days it has been said that there is no more passé a vocation than that of the professional art critic. Perceived as the gate keeper for opinions regarding art and culture, the art critic has supposedly been rendered obsolete by an ever expanding pluralism in the art world, where all practices and disciplines are purported to be equal and valid. Robert Hughes, however, is one art critic who has delivered a message that must not be ignored.