Mixing present-day interviews with previously unheard recordings, this true-crime series examines serial killer David Berkowitz's mark on 1970s New York.
Struggling writer Michael Coleman finds his life turned upside down when his Western novel’s outlaw Eli West and crooked sheriff Morgan Ambrose escape the page, forcing him to wrangle his own creations while racing against a deadline.
A short documentary film that explores the history of how military technology and atomic testing became entangled in contemporary surfing amongst the beaches of the San Diego area. Using vérité footage and animation, the film follows Shuuluk, a Kumeyaay surfer, who interacts daily with the resulting effects and complexities of occupation on his land and in his sport, and reclaims it as a practice of joy, play, and connection.
Under the staunch rule of Odd Fellows Academy, two students navigate friendship, truth & identity in a world where all forms of art and creativity are banned.
Celestine (Florida Storm) captures the sky over rural Florida. Hearkening to the turpentine industry - a brutal system where work began before sunrise and ended after sunset - the film contemplates moments of rest under a starry expanse.
Ree Ree, a 43-year-old social worker and single mother of three, pursues her lifelong dream of being a rapper despite backlash from her fierce teenage daughter, Destiny. Over the course of a long day, Ree Ree tries to win her daughter over before she steps up to the mic in front of her community.
A resentful teenager is forced to babysit her turtle-obsessed half-brother; meanwhile, he dives into a vivid fantasy world where he is a sea turtle and she is a tortoise.
A grieving mother receives a mysterious phone call from her deceased son, but their heartfelt reunion takes a dark turn when he asks her to fulfill a difficult request.
In the heart of the Mississippi Delta, Dr. Foluso Fakorede is fighting to save lives. Set in America’s Diabetes Belt and epicenter of the amputation epidemic, Bloodlines, Mississippi examines a medical system that is stacked against the Delta’s most vulnerable residents.
When a trans Latinx mermaid defies her mother’s warnings, she is forced to confront the violent legacies of colonialism, environmental destruction and the danger of being desired in the human world. The BlackStar Philadelphia Filmmaker Lab is presented with support from Independence Public Media Foundation, William Penn Foundation, and Wyncote Foundation. This project has been supported by The Philadelphia Independent Media Fund administered by Scribe Video Center with funds provided by the Independence Public Media Foundation and the Wyncote Foundation.
Dante is a lonely, middle-aged, gay man in 1991. He came out later in life, so he missed out on the experience of being young and queer, along with all the love and lust that comes with it. When he finally works up the courage to make up for lost time, he is rejected and condemned. At his most desperate, Dante hears laughter echoing within a gay nightclub gloryhole. As he nears the fluid-drenched stall door, he quickly finds himself transported to the lair of a demon, who is ready to offer him eternal youth and beauty. Although Dante seeks more than just sex, he nervously accepts this unrefusable offer. It doesn’t take long for the demon to reveal the strings attached–to keep his new body, he must kill his hookups every full moon, “when the gays are their most feral.” It turns out Dante is pretty good at being a killer, that is until he falls in love with one of his victims.
For filmmaker Armando Capó, the southeastern Cuban town of Gibara is a place of ghosts, haunted by his lost youth, a bustling past that cannot be recovered — and the skeleton of a whale. THE LAND OF THE WHALE is a beautiful meditation on craft, beauty, aging, the transmission of knowledge, and what it means to be an artist.