The Indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau people have seen their population dwindle and their culture threatened since coming into contact with non-Native Brazilians. Though promised dominion over their own rainforest territory, they have faced illegal incursions from environmentally destructive logging and mining, and, most recently, land-grabbing invasions spurred on by right-wing politicians like President Jair Bolsonaro. With deforestation escalating as a result, the stakes have become global.
A young filmmaker meets and follows Raya, a 94-year-old Soviet war heroine who fought in the Siege of Leningrad. As Head of the World War II Disabled Veterans Club in her city, she introduces him to a vanishing generation in Israel. Her own fighting spirit and willpower are still fierce. As Raya faces the loss of her last comrades and her health deteriorates, the two become involved in a spiritual process that awakens the young woman within her; Through her eyes and dreams, they create their own reality in which time and age lose all meaning. Their growing closeness transforms a film about war and loss into a mystical story of love and friendship.
The city of Mariupolis is by the Azov sea. It is also on the river Kalmius. Most of the city’s residents, half a million according to the last census, are working for the steel factory and do fishing, for leisure or food, in between shifts. The orthodox church towers above the city and its newly build bronze domes are sitting next to it, waiting to be donned. A tent near by is sheltering a crying icon, which receives a steady flow of visitors.
What happens in the eyes of a 100-year-old filmmaker? Rolands Kalniņš, one of the great masters of Latvian cinema, sits down to have his photo taken and looks straight in the lens. Kalniņš’ life has spanned an authoritarian regime, a world war, long years under Soviet occupation and censorship, and retirement in independent Latvia. His films have been censored, destroyed, found and restored. But here, like Herz Frank once did with a child, for ten minutes we shall observe the micro-emotions of a man who has dedicated his life to film. Confronted directly by the tool of his trade, the camera. As we face Kalniņš eye to eye, we hear the sounds of his present, and the memories of his past.
In the shadow of the pandemic, a small town rallies to protect a beloved local bookstore. A landmark in Lenox, Massachusetts, The Bookstore is a magical, beatnik gem thanks to its owner Matt Tannenbaum, whose passion for stories runs deep. This portrait of The Bookstore and the family at its heart offers a journey through good times, hard times, and the stories hidden on the shelves.
The fall of 2021 marked the 50th anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof, the film Pauline Kael (The New Yorker) called "the most powerful movie musical ever made." Narrated by Jeff Goldblum, FIDDLER'S JOURNEY TO THE BIG SCREEN captures the humor and drama of director Norman Jewison's quest to recreate the lost world of Jewish life in Tsarist Russia and re-envision the beloved stage hit as a wide-screen epic. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Daniel Raim puts us in the director's chair and in Jewison's heart and mind, drawing on behind-the-scenes footage and never-before-seen stills as well as original interviews with Jewison, Topol (Tevye), composer John Williams, production designer Robert F. Boyle, film critic Kenneth Turan, lyricist Sheldon Harnick, and actresses Rosalind Harris, Michele Marsh, and Neva Small (Tevye’s daughters). The film explores how the experience of making Fiddler deepened Jewison as an artist and revived his soul.
Alexandra Henry’s documentary juxtaposes the personal experiences of three emerging Latina street artists as they navigate a male-dominated subculture to establish artistic identities within chaotic urban landscapes: Toofly, born in Ecuador and raised in Queens, NY; Fusca, a talented painter who moved to Mexico City inspired by its embrace of all things artistic; and Magrela who expresses her feelings on the complexities of being a woman through vibrant colors and radical imagery painted across São Paulo’s walls. Punctuated by historical anecdotes from such pioneering artists as Lady Pink, Nina Pandolfo and Lady Aiko, Street Heroines captures the collective outcry of female street artists from around the world.
In 1945, just days before the end of World War II, 27-year-old fighter pilot Loren Hintz was shot down over rural Italy, leaving
behind his pregnant wife and young daughter. More than 70 years later, Hintz’s grandson, Hans Wronka, leads an effort to recover his remains and finally lay them to rest. FINDING LOREN uses Hintz’s own words, vintage photographs, and archival footage to follow the sweeping trajectory of his life.
Inside the musical journey of a small town composer and a strong-willed singer/librettist who dared to spend a lifetime chasing their dreams together. A story captured on film by their daughter in Sarasota, Florida.
For Ricky Ringer, bull riding was always his life, but he could never win a championship. Twenty-five years later, Ricky continues to ride and despite warnings from his wife, mother and his ailing body, Ricky is determined to chase that elusive title or die trying.