Tells the inspiring story of how six iconic African American female entertainers – Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson and Pam Grier – challenged an entertainment industry deeply complicit in perpetuating racist stereotypes, and transformed themselves and their audiences in the process.
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Mexico became one of the deadliest conflict zones in the world in 2017, second only to Syria. In 2008, the Mexican government sent the army to Chihuahua on the Mexico-Texas border to fight drug traffickers. What seemed like an attempt to control the cartels turned into state-sponsored disappearances and the murder of journalists, human rights activists and civilians. The survivors and those threatened by the conflict pushed at the unwelcoming border of the United States, hoping for asylum. With stunning visual poetry, director Marcela Arteaga weaves together a record of their memories told over the backdrop of the once-vibrant landscape of the Juarez Valley. She also highlights the extraordinary work of Carlos Spector, an immigration lawyer born in El Paso, Texas, who fights to obtain political asylum for those Mexicans fleeing violence.
When 17-year-old Lennon Lacy is found hanging from a swing set in rural North Carolina in 2014, his mother's search for justice and reconciliation begins while the trauma of more than a century of lynching African Americans bleeds into the present.
Three working-class teenage girls in a port city in Bangladesh escape daily hardships and stifling family lives by riding waves on their surfboards and grabbing hold of the fleeting and thrilling sense of freedom that brings.
Longinotto's documentary is about Brenda Myers-Powell, who fights against sexual exploitation and supports prostitutes in Chicago. Brenda knows what she is talking about: her own story, involving teenage prostitution and a life of violence and abuse, is in stark contrast to her dauntless energy and optimism.
The Dilemma of Desire explores the work of four women who are shattering myths and lies that women are being told about their sexual desire and their bodies. Coined by artist Sophia Wallace, “Cliteracy” is the understanding that the clitoris is fundamental to the female orgasm. Through her art, Wallace is changing culture. Dr. Stacey Dutton, a neuroscientist, studies the biology of the clitoris; Dr. Lisa Diamond is dismantling outdated notions about women’s arousal; and Ti Chang, an industrial designer, creates elegant vibrators for women. Providing the embodiment of their work are the real life stories of Umnia, Becca, Jasmine, Sunny, and Coriama.
Far from the horrors at the US border, one family seeks safety and heals from the past, while bearing the weight of an uncertain future. PAPER CHILDREN goes beyond the headlines to the subtle, intimate reality of four siblings who fled gang violence in Honduras to face the terrifying, labyrinth-like US asylum process. The film begins where most immigrant stories hope to end-with a family who has been reunited-but for how long remains to be seen.
My Favorite Neoconservative offers a rare glimpse of intimate Washington politics through a unique father-daughter relationship. The main character is the filmmaker’s father, Edward Luttwak, who makes a living as a military strategist. He devised the air campaign of the first Iraq War; his life was threatened on the nightly news by the notorious terrorist, Abu Nidal. The film tells a father-daughter story with a massive military and political twist.
