In the late 1970s, celebrated director Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, The Conversation) and his cast, crew and family ventured into the dense jungles of the Philippines to begin work on what would   eventually become his masterpiece, APOCALYPSE NOW. But the journey from page to screen soon spiraled into a hellish, life-threatening nightmare that echoed the film’s narrative. Plagued with adversity, one of the most influential films ever made had one of the most notorious shoots in cinema history that few survived unscathed. Meticulously documented at the time by Eleanor Coppola (Paris Can Wait), Fax Bahr (In Living Color) and George Hickenlooper (Dogtown) revisited the footage in 1991 and filmed new interviews with cast and crew, resulting in HEARTS OF DARKNESS, a ground-breaking and intimate portrait of what went into making one of the best films ever made. One of the co-directors Fax Bahr (George Hickenlooper, Eleanor Coppola) and Film Archivist / Restoration Supervisor for American Zoetrope, James T. Mockoski join us for a spirited conversation on harrowing and rewarding ride that has been the story of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now and Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse. 

For more go to: rialtopictures.com/hearts-of-darkness

Now screening at the Film Forum (NYC) until July 17

Screening at the American Cinematheque Los Feliz (LA) July 24

About the filmmaker – In 1976, Eleanor Coppola shot behind-the-scenes footage of Apocalypse Now on 16mm. For the first time, we decided to return to all original sources and scan elements in 4K for this new release. What everyone has seen over the last 30 years has been three to four generations removed from the source elements. Additionally, we utilized the 2019 4K restoration of Apocalypse Now for this release, incorporating those elements into the documentary. For any clips pulled from Apocalypse Now and used in the documentary, we maintained the original aspect ratio of 2.40 instead of letterboxing it in a 4×3 frame. Lastly, we remastered the soundtrack and created a new 5.1 mix. The film was restored at American Zoetrope and graded at Roundabout Entertainment in Burbank, California. The director, Fax Bahr, approved the grade.” – James T. Mockoski, Film Archivist/Restoration Supervisor for American Zoetrope

About the filmmaker – James Mockoski is a seasoned producer and film archivist with extensive experience in film restoration and preservation. Currently serving as a producer at American Zoetrope, James is working on a documentary about Francis Ford Coppola’s film, Megalopolis. Previous roles include supervising restorations for the Coppola Film Library, where significant films such as The Godfather series and Apocalypse Now were restored. James has also contributed as a restoration supervisor for A24’s release of Stop Making Sense and worked as a restoration artist for Roundabout Entertainment. Early career efforts included film preservation at the UCLA Film and Television Archive and an internship at EYE Filmmuseum. James holds an M.A. in Film Studies and Archiving from the University of East Anglia and a B.A. in Film and Video from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

About the filmmaker – Fax Bahr began his career as a documentary filmmaker. Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse – co-directed with Eleanor Coppola – chronicled of the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and won numerous awards for Bahr, including a Primetime Best Director Emmy, the D.W. Griffith Award, and Best Documentary Award from the National Film Board of Canada. Next, Bahr teamed up with Adam Small to join the writing staff of In Living Color, where they created several of the show’s premier characters, including Jim Carrey’s Fire Marshal Bill. Bahr’s contributions resulted in two Emmy nominations and two NAACP Image Awards. Bahr and Small co-write and co-executive produce the pilot for the John Leguizamo sketch comedy series House of Buggin’ for Fox. They were then hired by Quincy Jones to create and executive produce the late-night sketch comedy MAD TV , which ran for 14 seasons on Fox Network. they later went on to create and show run the stop-motion series Gary & Mike for UPN. Bahr/Small then partnered up with Jeff Foxworthy to create the sketch series Blue Collar TV for the WB. In 2016, Bahr produced the feature documentary Doin’ My Drugs about activist/musician Thomas Muchimba Buttenschøn, born HIV+, and his crusade to raise awareness and wipe out AIDS in Zambia.

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Awards and Nominations:

Winner – Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming – Directing (Primetime Emmy Awards, 1992)

Winner – Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming – Picture Editing (Primetime Emmy Awards, 1992)

Nominee – Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming – Writing (Primetime Emmy Awards, 1992)

Nominee – Outstanding Informational Special (Primetime Emmy Awards, 1992)

Winner – Documentary Special (CableACE Awards, 1992)

Winner – Best Edited Documentary (American Cinema Editors, 1992)

Nominee – Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary/Actuality (Directors Guild of America, 1992)

FOUND FOOTAGE: THE MAKING OF THE PATTERSON PROJECT is a heartfelt attempt by ta very dedicated and serious first time director, Chase, to produce his first feature, a found footage movie about Bigfoot. Through the eyes of an esteemed French documentary crew, the story follows his unlikely band of misfits as they struggle to keep the production afloat on a shoestring budget. All the while, mysterious and sinister occurrences begin to unfold behind the scenes, blurring the lines between movie magic and real life. As the shoot days get longer and scarier, the filmmakers quickly learn that they’ve stepped into a very real and very terrifying found footage film of their own. The film captures the playful gritty beauty that comes with a true indie film. Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Project is a labor of love created by friends who came together with a passion for film. All that is to say, despite its green cast and crew, the film still provides solid acting, production and laugh-out-loud comedy – a testament to Max, Jacob David  and the entire production team at Dirty Shot Clean.

For more go to: Thepattersonproject.org

For more about the filmmakers go to: dirtyshotclean.com

Director’s statement – As a director, you grow accustomed to the feeling that a chaos demon is terrorizing your set. Whatever can go wrong often does, but it’s always a blessing in disguise. Because that’s when the real fun starts. I wrote Found Footage as a bloody love letter to the terrifying experience of making an independent feature film. It also dabbles in two of my favorite subgenres, mockumentary and found footage, drawing inspiration from classics like THIS IS SPINAL TAP and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. By spotlighting our soft spot for indie filmmaking and paying homage to heroes like Christopher Guest, our hope is that we made a horror movie that is so funny and endearing that even people who don’t like horror movies are compelled to watch to the bitter end.

About the filmmaker – Director / Writer / Producer.  Since co-founding the production company Dirty Shot Clean (DSC) in 2018, Max Tzannes has written and directed a number of projects, which include feature films, award winning narrative shorts, documentaries and music videos. His first feature film, Et Tu, stars Lou Diamond Phillips and Malcolm McDowell and is currently being sold by XYZ Films.

About the filmmaker – David San Miguel – Writer / Composer / Producer / Script Supervisor.   “As early as I can remember, I’ve had a deep connection with music. Growing up, my grandma and great-grandma would fill the house with song, transporting me to exciting and wondrous places with their mastery over the piano. Every time they sat down to play, I wanted nothing more than to take people on those magical, emotional, and otherwise impossible journeys they so effortlessly crafted with only their fingertips. It was in those notes I discovered what I wanted to do with my life. And the dream was set in motion. After years of dedication to the study, the practice, and a well-fed imagination, I finally found my way into that mystic realm of unparalleled story-telling. Still to this day, nothing hits home more than a perfectly crafted score. There is no greater universal language, nothing that can compel an audience in such a deeply visceral way. That’s why I make music. Composing and discovering that perfect sound is so satisfying. I sometimes can’t believe that I’m lucky enough to be a part of that magic!” – David San Miguel (dsmcomposer.com)

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67% on RottenTomatoes

“What could’ve easily been an overdone parody turns out to be a sharp, self-aware mockumentary that’s both funny and surprisingly spooky.” – Louisa Moore, Screen Zealots

“[Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Project] is a refreshing and delightful kind of chaos that we do not see every day.” – Sharai Bohannon, Horror Movie Blog

“It’s a deliciously unhinged mix that works more often than it doesn’t.” – Travis Hopson, RogerEbert.com

“Director Max Tzannes uses genre conventions in Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Project to lure you into the story. It feels both familiar and fresh, as he guides you into a filmmaking crew’s horrifying reality.” – Bee Delores, Horrorverse

“A smart, self-aware film that plays with the mockumentary format without getting lost in the gimmick. It’s funny and it’s creepy. It delivers where many have failed before.” – Alan Ng, Film Threat

UNION  follows the efforts of Chris Smalls (founding President of the Amazon Labor Union or ALU), Connor Spence (current President of the ALU) and a dedicated group of warehouse workers as they launch a grassroots union campaign at an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island. Up against one of the most powerful companies on the planet, a group of Amazon workers embark on an unprecedented campaign to unionize their warehouse in Staten Island, New York. Through intimate cinema vérité, UNION chronicles the extraordinary efforts of an unlikely group of warehouse workers as they launch a grassroots union campaign at an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island, New York. Led by the charismatic but underestimated Chris Smalls, the diverse band of workers start the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) and embark on a journey against one of the largest and most powerful companies in the world. The odds are stacked against them, as the group finds itself up against a tech industry giant with unlimited resources, without major support from national unions or politicians, and while navigating internal divisions within their own ranks. Co-directors and co-producers Brett Story and Stephen Maing join us to talk about how and why they decided to document the struggle of ALU organizers and supporters from day one, offering a gripping human drama about the fight for power and dignity in today’s globalized economic landscape.

For more go to: unionthefilm.com

Monday, June 23, 2025 at 10pm ET on PBS Television;

Streaming Available on PBS App Until August 31, 2025

About the filmmaker – Stephen Maing is an Emmy-award winning filmmaker based in New York. His feature documentary CRIME + PUNISHMENT, which he directed, filmed and edited, won a Special Jury Award at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, an Emmy Award for Outstanding Social Issue Documentary and was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary. His previous films, HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE, which he directed, filmed and edited over five years, and THE SURRENDER, have screened internationally and were released on POV and Field of Vision, respectively. Maing is a 2021 United States Artists Fellow, Sundance Institute Fellow, NBC Original Voices Fellow, John Jay/Harry Frank Guggenheim Reporting Fellow and a recipient of the IDA’s prestigious Courage Under Fire Award shared with the whistleblowers of the NYPD12. He is a frequent visiting artist and educator based in Ridgewood, Queens.

About the filmmaker – Brett Story is an award-winning director, producer and writer whose work pushes the formal boundaries of political cinema. Her films have screened in theaters and festivals internationally, including at Sundance, CPH-DOX, and SXSW. She is the director of the feature films THE PRISON IN TWELVE LANDSCAPES (2016) and THE HOTTEST AUGUST (2019), and the author of Up against one of the most powerful companies on the the book PRISON LAND (2019). THE HOTTEST AUGUST was a New York planet, a group of Amazon workers embark on an Times Critics’ Pick and was called one of the best documentary films of 2019 unprecedented campaign to unionize their warehouse in by Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair, among others. Brett has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Sundance Institute, and was named one of Variety’s 10 Documentary Filmmakers to Watch. In 2020 she was nominated for a Cinema Eye Award for Best Director. She holds a PhD in geography and is currently an assistant professor of Cinema at the University of Toronto. 

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88% on Rotten Tomatoes

“Captures both the pain and the power of people at the base of a global infrastructure.” – Isaac Feldberg, ROGEREBERT.COM

“Undeniably political in its focus while being artful and observational in its approach… Simmers like a present-day techno-thriller.” – Alison Willmore, VULTURE

“A document of solidarity, in which the scandal of the gig-economy model registers on a human scale.” – Doreen St. Félix, THE NEW YORKER

“A story of complicated people power.” – Chase DiBenedetto, MASHABLE

“An indelible portrait of the modern American labor struggle.” – Ben Travers & Anne Thompson, INDIEWIRE

“Stylistically haunting, politically urgent, and guided by its subjects’ journeys rather than a predetermined structure.” – Alison Willmore, VULTURE

“From the rousing leader dismissed for leading a walkout to the activists handing out free burgers, pizza and weed, an inspiring new documentary charts the long, hard fight to create the delivery giant’s first union.” – Heather Stewart, THE GUARDIAN

“Grapples with what it means to tell an underdog story without a satisfying ending.” – Ella Fanger, THE NATION

“As much a portrait of a struggle as it is a win.” – David Fear, ROLLING STONE

PRIME MINISTER begins in August 2017 with the dramatic the lead-up to national elections. Jacinda Ardern unexpectedly became New Zealand’s opposition party leader. She had just turned 37. Two frenetic  months later, she becomes Prime Minister. Just before the final vote was in, she discovered she was pregnant. She would become only the second head of state in history to give birth while in office. Ardern quickly became one of the most recognizable leaders in the world. A series of crises – the Christchurch massacre, pandemic lockdowns, and disinformation-fueled protests outside Parliament – would test that leadership and the feminine touch she brought to it. She resigned from office in January 2023, shocking her supporters and critics alike. Going behind the scenes of her administration and her private life, PRIME MINISTER follows Jacinda for seven years as she is catapulted to the top of New Zealand politics, becomes a feminist political icon, resigns suddenly from office and continues to champion the fight against isolationism, fear, and the distortion of truth. Intimate home footage shot by her husband and audio interviews that Jacinda did while in office give us unparalleled access. Along with in-depth contemporaneous interviews, these form the emotional backbone of the story, giving viewers an unfiltered window into her years in power. Co-directors Michelle Walshe (CHASING GREAT) and Lindsay Utz (BILLIE EILISH: THE WORLD’S A LITTLE BLURRY) to talk about the treasure trove of footage shot by Jacinda’s husband Clarke Gayford, gaining access to Jacinda and the people in her life and what leadership looks like in a world where women are in charge.   

For more go to: primeministerdoc.com

About the filmmaker – Michelle Walshe is an accomplished director who began her career in prime-time television before moving to documentary filmmaking to tell stories that resonate deeply with audiences. In 2008, she co-founded Dark Doris, known for projects like HOT POTATO: THE STORY OF THE WIGGLES – where she served as Executive Producer – and GIRL ON THE BRIDGE, a powerful exploration of the mental health crisis. In 2016, Walshe directed CHASING GREAT, New Zealand’s highest-grossing documentary of all time, breaking box office records and earning critical acclaim. She also directed the scripted comedy series SHORT POPPIES with Rhys Darby, showcasing her versatility in storytelling. A passionate advocate for female empowerment, Walshe creates films that inspire positive impact for both people and the planet. She was nominated for Best Documentary Director at the New Zealand Film Awards and remains dedicated to creating and enabling meaningful films and projects that drive social change 

About the filmmaker – Lindsay Utz is an award-winning filmmaker who has worked on some of the most high-profile documentaries of the last decade, including editing the 2020 Academy Award winner AMERICAN FACTORY. PRIME MINISTER is her feature directorial debut. Her other editing credits include MARTHA (2024), CIVIL (2022), the Oscar-shortlisted BILLIE EILISH: THE WORLD’S A LITTLE BLURRY (2021), MISS AMERICANA (2020), QUEST (2017), IN COUNTRY (2014), and BULLY (2011). QUEST, one of four films she has premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, was nominated for both Emmy and Peabody Awards, and won the Cinema Eye Honors Award for Outstanding Achievement in Editing. She has been nominated for every major editing award in her field, including Primetime Emmy nominations for her work on both AMERICAN FACTORY and BILLIE EILISH: THE WORLD’S A LITTLE BLURRY. In 2023 she produced the first documentary out of Ben Affleck’s newly-formed company Artists Equity, which premiered at number one on Amazon Prime in February 2024. She is currently building her own company, Win Win Pictures, which has multiple projects at various stages of production and development. Her work has screened at major festivals around the world, and has been included in prestigious archives such as the MoMA film library and The Criterion Collection. She is a member of the Documentary branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and American Cinema Editors. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two daughters. 

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96% on RottenTomatoes

“World leaders have rarely been captured with as much intimacy.” – Siddhant Adlakha, Variety

“In politics as in documentary filmmaking, access is everything — and “Prime Minister” directors Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz get extraordinary access and use it to create a fascinating, emotional portrait of … Jacinda Ardern.” – Sean P. Means, The Movie Cricket

““Prime Minister” reminds us, the role that the internet and sharply ideological news sources play in our lives shifted dramatically in just the years Ardern was in office.” – Alissa Wilkinson, New York Times

“Even if you’ve sworn off politics and vowed to shun the callousness of nihilistic senators such as Joni Ernst, you’ll want to do yourself the favor of sharing 90 minutes with one of the world’s most remarkable women.” – Al Alexander, Movies Thru the Spectrum

“timelier than anyone might have expected” – Caryn James, The Hollywood Reporter

Strap up for Director Rex Miller’s head first dive into the turmoil and chaos that has been the life of  Harley Flanagan! WIRED FOR CHAOS looks back on the founder of the pioneering band Cro-Mags and a legend of the NYC Hardcore scene, Harley Flanagan is a punk rock icon who has battled chaos, defied the odds, and come out the other side. But while his career has been a no-holds-barred ride, WIRED FOR CHAOS isn’t just about the music, it’s about a man forged in fire – a survivor of neglect, sexual abuse, drugs, violence and PTSD – who’s  lived to tell the tale.  Raised by a Warhol Factory “it” girl, Harley was thrown into the Lower East Side’s underground scene in the ’70s. Left to fend for himself, by his teens, he was squatting in Alphabet City, stealing food, dodging gangs, and living in a world that he describes as “some serious Lord of the Flies shit.” But, as his life descended into a hellish day-to-day, he was simultaneously becoming a punk rock legend: at the age of 11, he was drumming at CBGBs and Max’s Kansas City with his aunt’s band, the Stimulators. Sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll weren’t a choice – they were survival. Harley Flanagan: Wired for Chaos dives deep into Harley’s past, but it’s not just war stories. It’s about what happens after. Friends like Flea, Henry Rollins, Roger Miret, Keith Morris, Michael Imperioli, Matt Sera, Jocko Willink, and the late Anthony Bourdain reveal the man behind the legend – confronting demons, raising a family, and sharing the knowledge of his experience to help others. Harley Flanagan didn’t just live hardcore – he is hardcore. Wired for Chaos is his story – loud, unfiltered, and real as hell.

For more go to: wiredforchaos.com

About the filmmaker – Filmmaker Rex Miller’s documentary career spans more than twenty five years and has yielded countless awards, including two Peabody Awards, Several Emmys and two Oscar shortlists (as Cinematographer), and two distinct nominations for an Emmy for Cinematography. He recently directed (with Sam Pollard) the film Citizen Ashe (CNN Films), which premiered at Telluride and won Best Documentary at both the 2022 Critics Choice and Grierson Awards and was nominated for a Sports Emmy for Best Feature Doc. Miller was a frequent collaborator of Nancy Buirski’s, shooting six of her movies before her untimely death in 2023. His work has aired on Netflix, American Masters/PBS, American Experience, Starz, ESPN, Hulu, Apple TV and played many high profiles festivals including Sun dance, Tribeca, Telluride, Venice, New York Film Festival, London Film festival, SxSW and DOCNYC.

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TATAMI follows Iranian female judoka Leila (Arienne Mandi) and her coach Maryam (Zar Amir), who travel to the World Judo Championships, intent on bringing home Iran’s first gold medal. Midway through the Championships, they receive a chilling ultimatum from the Islamic Republic: Leila must fake an injury and lose, or be branded a traitor. With her own safety and her family’s  freedom on the line, Leila faces an impossible choice: submit to the Iranian regime, as her coach Maryam implores her to do, or fight on for the gold. TATAMI is the first feature film to be co-directed by an Iranian and an Israeli filmmaker. Co-directed by Guy Nattiv (Academy Award-Winner for Skin) and Zar Amir (Cannes Film Festival Best Actress-Winner for Holy Spider), join us to talk about their collaboration behind and in front of the camera, ratcheting up the razor-edge relationship between the Leila and Maryam, providing  Arienne Mandi with the support that helped her galvanizing and spectacular performance, as well as pulling together all the elements of a compelling sports drama with dire consequences of heavy handed international menace hanging over lives of their families.

For more go to: xyzfilms.com/tatami

Opening in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Royal on June 20

Opening at the Laemmle Glendale on June 27

Venice Film Festival – World Premiere

Tokyo Film Festival – Best Actress & Special Jury Award

Munich Film Festival – Best Film

Camerimage Film Festival – Best Debut Cinematography & Audience Award

About the filmmaker – Co-director, Co-writer Guy Nattiv is best known for directing, co-writing and producing SKIN, where he won the 2019 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short. Guy went on to write and direct the feature version, also titled SKIN, which starred Jamie Bell and won the Fipresci Critics Prize at the Toronto Film Festival in 2019. The film was acquired by A24. Most recently he co-directed and co-wrote TATAMI, a historic collaboration between Israeli and Iranian filmmakers, which had its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival in 2023 to significant acclaim. The film won two prizes at the Tokyo Film Festival, Best Film at the Munich Festival, and two prizes at Camerimage in Poland. Guy is set next to direct HARMONIA, based on the true story of his grandmother’s involvement with an all-women’s cult. It stars Carrie Coon, Bella Ramsey and Lily James, and will be shot summer 2025. Guy lives in Los Angeles where he runs New Native Pictures with his wife and partner, Jaime Ray Newman.

About the filmmaker –  Co-director, and co-lead actor (Maryam Ghanbari)  Zar Amir is an Iranian-French actress, producer, and director. She rose to international prominence for her performance as journalist Arezoo Rahimi in the crime thriller HOLY SPIDER (2022), for which she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and Robert Award for Best Actress, among other honors. In 2023, she starred in SHAYDA, which won the Audience Award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics. Amir also stars in READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN (2025), which won both the Audience Award and a Special Jury Prize at the Rome International Film Festival. Her latest feature, TATAMI, which she both stars in and co-directed alongside Guy Nattiv, premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, where it received the Brian Award. The film also received a Special Jury Prize at the Tokyo Film Festival, where Amir also earned the Best Actress award. Amir founded her production company, Alambic Productions, in 2019. Their latest project, LILI, a video game made in collaboration with iNK Stories and the Royal Shakespeare Company, will premiere in competition as part of the 2025 Festival de Cannes Immersive lineup. The video game is a neo-noir reimagining of Lady Macbeth’s story set in contemporary Iran, with Amir playing the titular Lili.

About the lead actor – Arienne Mandi (Leila Hosseini) is an American actress with Latin and Middle Eastern roots. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she is well recognized for her portrayal of Leila in “Tatami,” an Iranian judoka who fights literally and figuratively for her right to freedom. The film is directed by Oscar winner Guy Nattiv & Zar Amir Ebrahimi. After an award winning debut at the Venice Film Festival, the film received raves internationally & opens in the states this summer. Arienne also portrays Noor, a series regular on Netflix blockbuster action thriller “The Night Agent.” Next up you can catch her opposite Jon Hamm in S2 of Apple TV+ “Your Friends & Neighbors.”

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90% on RottenTomatoes

“Despite its urgent political engagement, “Tatami” never forgets to be a gripping watch.” – Catherine Bray, Variety

“Vibrantly helmed and performed, with co-director and Cannes best actress winner Zar Amir Ebrahimi playing one of the leads, the film is a win both behind and in front of the camera.” – Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter

“At its heart, Tatami is about the willingness to stand up to coercion no matter the cost, to break cyclical patterns of control in which dreams have been and continue to be savagely broken.” – Paul Risker, PopMatters

“A unique collaboration between an Iranian and an Israeli filmmaker, it transforms an initially straightforward scenario into an increasingly tense, involving drama.” – Allan Hunter, Screen International

“This sports film has the feel of a political thriller. Women face real danger by bucking oppression in a country run by zealots. Should be seen by all who do not understand why the separation of Church and State is vital for humankind” – April Neale, AWFJ.org

Co-directors Matthew O’Neill and Perri Peltz’s powerful documentary THE LAST TWINS tells the extraordinary story of Erno (Zvi) Spiegel, an unsung hero who risked everything to protect the most vulnerable in Auschwitz – dozens of young boys, many of them twins, targeted by Josef Mengele for brutal medical experimentation. Through courage, compassion, and ingenuity, Spiegel shielded these children from unimaginable harm. When liberation came, he didn’t stop—he led the boys on a harrowing journey across Europe, ultimately bringing  them home. Through first-hand testimony and exclusive archival material, THE LAST TWINS brings to life the voices of those who survived because of Spiegel’s defiance . His acts of humanity didn’t just save lives—they created a legacy. Today, the  children he protected have families of their own, with descendants who are researchers, advocates, lawyers, and musicians, living all over the world. Award-winning filmmaker Matthew O’Neill (Perri Peltz) Spiegel’s daughter, Dr. Judith Richter join us for a compelling conversation on the incredible story and surpassing courage of Erno and scores of others who helped Erno bring so many of the twins into a world beyond the horrors of the death camp and how their story continues to inspire humanitarians around the world.

For more go to: abramorama.com/film/thelasttwins

For more go to: thelasttwinsfilm.com

Filmmaker’s statement – “Erno Spiegel’s story reminds us that even in the darkest places, there are people who choose to act with courage and compassion” explains co-director Perri Peltz. “The Last Twins” is a tribute to one man’s quiet defiance and the children whose lives—and legacies—he helped preserve.” Co-director Matthew O’Neill continues, “We are at a critical point in history – a moment when memories of the Holocaust are fading, and the resurgent tide of antisemitism and bigotry now coursing through our world makes remembering more imperative than ever. As the number of firsthand accounts dwindles, there’s an urgency to illuminate one of humanity’s greatest atrocities with Erno’s story of hope and heroism.” 

About the filmmaker – Matthew O’Neill is an Emmy® Award winning, and Academy Award® nominated documentary filmmaker and journalist. He most recently directed Can’t Look Away: The Case Against Social Media for Bloomberg Originals, Surveilled for HBO and created the Emmy® winning HBO documentary news series AXIOS on HBO with Perri Peltz. Matthew and Perri also directed the 2019 HBO documentary Alternate Endings: Six New Ways to Die in America. Matthew has been making non-fiction films with Downtown Community Television Center, Inc, (DCTV) in NYC’s Chinatown for the last 25 years. His earlier projects for HBO, ESPN, Disney+, Netflix and FRONTLINE have focused on everything from the Egyptian Revolution to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the American criminal justice system, and the School of American Ballet. His filmmaking has taken him to more than 50 different countries for films including Baghdad ER, In Tahrir Square and Wartorn. He has received two Academy Award nominations for Redemption and China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province and has been recognized with two Columbia DuPont Awards, a Peabody Award, an Overseas Press Club Award, five Emmy Awards and a Director’s Guild Award nomination.

About the filmmaker – Perri Peltz is an Emmy® award winning documentary filmmaker, journalist, and public health advocate. Most recently, Perri directed Can’t Look Away: The Case Against Social Media, for Bloomberg Originals, Surveilled for HBO and created the Emmy® winning documentary news series AXIOS on HBO with Matthew O’Neill. Perri and Matthew also directed and produced the 2019 HBO Documentary, Alternate Endings: Six New Ways to Die in America. Previously, Perri directed the HBO documentaries, Warning: This Drug May Kill You, about the opioid addiction epidemic and Risky Drinking, about alcohol use disorder. She co-directed A Conversation About Growing Up Black as part of the “Conversation on Race” series for The New York Times Op-Docs, and other films include HBO’s Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro, Sr. and Prison Dogs. Perri hosts “The Perri Peltz Show” with Matthew O’Neill on SiriusXM Radio and has a Doctorate in Public Health from Columbia University. She was previously an award-winning broadcast journalist for NBC, ABC, and CNN.

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Reviews:

“The documentary features some archival footage, but its power lies in the vivid, heartfelt interviews with the surviving twins and Richter and her husband.” – Nell Minow, RogerEbert.com

“Here, heroism is presented less as a feat of preternatural bravery than a series of choices made by someone who simply refused to give up his humanity.” – Beatrice Loayza, New York Times

“A profoundly moving and engrossing documentary.” – Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru

 “An important addition to evidence of Jewish resistance and rescue during the Holocaust. Tightly edits together stories of the surviving twins chronologically through very specific interviews how Erno ‘Zvi’ Spiegel protected their lives from Auschwitz on.” – Nora Lee Mandel, Maven’s Nest

UnBROKEN is the miraculous true story of the seven Weber siblings, ages 6-18, who evaded certain capture and death, and ultimately escaped Nazi Germany relying solely on their youthful bravado and the kindness of strangers, following their mother’s incarceration and murder at Auschwitz. After being hidden in a laundry hut by a benevolent German farmer, the children spent two years on their own in war torn Germany. Emboldened by their father’s mandate that they ‘always stay together,’ the children used their own cunning instincts to fight through hunger, loneliness, rape, bombings and fear. Climactically separated from their father, the siblings are forced to declare themselves as orphans in order to escape to a new life in America. Unbeknownst to them, this salvation would become what would finally tear them apart, not to be reunited for another 40 years. Filmmaker Beth Lane, daughter of the youngest Weber sibling, embarks on a quest to retrace their steps, seeking answers to long-held questions about her family’s survival. The film examines the journey of the Weber family as told through conversations with living siblings – now in their eighties and nineties – while Beth and her crew road trip across Germany, following the courageous, tumultuous, and harrowing path taken by her family over seventy years ago.  UnBroken director, producer and writer Beth Lane joins us to talk about her feature directorial debut, that is both a professional milestone and her emotionally charged personal quest to immortalize the incredible story of the Weber siblings’ survival as the only family of seven Jewish siblings living in Nazi Germany known to have survived and emigrated together.

For more go to: UnBroken/greenwichentertainment.com

For more go to: bethlane.com/unbroken

About the filmmaker – Beth Lane is the award-winning director, executive producer and writer of the feature documentary film, UnBroken. An actress, singer and dancer, she is a second- generation Holocaust survivor. Beth’s driving force has always been to create spaces to exercise our collective capacity for empathy through storytelling, design and meditation. Building bridges for a better future is paramount to her work. A keynote speaker, she has curated and served on panels nationwide & hosted over 40 episodes of a weekly Instagram Live on-camera podcast, Banter with Beth. The World Premiere of UnBroken was awarded Best Documentary Feature Film for Beth’s directorial debut in Indianapolis at The 23rd Heartland International Film Festival in 2023, which took place on October 8th, 2023, one day after the terrorist organization Hamas attacked Israel in the worst genocide against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. UnBroken has continued to win Audience Choice Awards at the River Run Int’l Film Festival, Julien Dubuque Int’l Film Festival and The Berkshire Int’l Film Festival. Beth also received the Best First Time Filmmaker Award at Hot Springs Int’l Women’s Film Festival and the Madelyn’s Choice Award at the Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival in 2024 as well as the Runner-Up Audience Choice Best Doc at Orcas Island Film Festival. For more go to: bethlane.com/unbroken & Beth Lane’s bio.site

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100% on RottenTomatoes

“UnBroken is a quietly powerful documentary film; intimate in scale, universal in message. Beth Lane’s documentary is a moving tribute not just to her family, but to every story still waiting to be told.” – Romey Norton, Film Focus Online

“UnBroken offers us hope even as it asks the most confronting of questions in light of troubling times: Would you hide me?” – Nelson Aspen, Entertainment Critic and Reviewer

“Beth Lane’s UnBroken is remarkably powerful; it touches the soul. ” – Michael Berenbaum Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies, American Jewish University

“UnBroken is a film about overcoming one’s own hardships and helping others to overcome theirs.” – Erik Reeds, Spectrum Culture

“Captivating, illuminating and genuinely heartfelt.” – Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru

“UnBroken isn’t just a film about humanity’s resilience; it’s about drawing attention to the types of people we can all become—the people we wish we were..” – Parker Whitmore, Film Threat

From the acclaimed director of Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, Where’s My Roy Cohn? and Citizen Jane: Battle for the City, comes his latest illuminating portrait NOBU. Nobu examines the life of culinary legend Nobuyuki Matsuhisa and his thriving luxury brand empire, offering an intimate portrait of a man who has redefined global gastronomy. Like Tyrnauer’s breakthrough film Valentino: The Last Emperor, this cinema verité documentary captures a master at the apex of his influence, poised between reflection and innovation. We shadow the peripatetic Nobu as he navigates the expansion of his culinary kingdom, a delicate dance of creativity and commerce performed alongside his business partners Robert De Niro and Meir Teper. Nobu has achieved the seemingly impossible: scaling a bespoke dining experience to global proportions while maintaining an uncompromising standard of excellence. These culinary revelations are interwoven with Nobu’s tumultuous personal saga—a history of resilience in the face of staggering adversity. By age 30, Nobu’s life lay in ruins; yet from this nadir, he summoned the strength to rebuild, crafting a legacy that now spans over 50 restaurants and counting. Featuring intimate conversations with famed chef and restaurateur Nobu Matsuhisa and appearances by Wolfgang Puck, Robert De Niro, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Ruth Reichl, Cindy Crawford, Rande Gerber, and more. Director Matt Tyrnauer joins us to talk about getting to know Nobuyuki Matsuhisa and the he has created.

NOBU will open exclusively in New York at the Angelika Film Center on June 27th followed by its national rollout beginning July 4th.

About the filmmaker – Matt Tyrnauer is an award-winning writer, journalist, and director whose films include Valentino: The Last Emperor, which was short-listed for an Academy Award for best documentary feature; the multi-part, Emmy-nominated seriesVictoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons, about the man behind the commercial empire; Where’s My Roy Cohn?, about the Svengali behind Joseph McCarthy and Donald Trump; Studio 54, about the famed New York City nightclub that became a cultural phenomenon; Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, about the secret history of sex in Hollywood in the pre-Stonewall era; and Citizen Jane: Battle for the City. His latest projects include The Reagans a four-part documentary series for Showtime that re-examines Reagans’ America and the impact of their politics, policies and beliefs on our society today, and the documentary series Home, for Apple. Tyrnauer’s upcoming projects include feature documentaries on James Carville, a series on disgraced crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried, and the dramatic adaptation of Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood with Fox Searchlight, written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. As a journalist, Tyrnauer has written for Vanity Fair, where he was editor-at-large and special correspondent. His work has also appeared in other publications including GQ, The New York Times, Architectural Digest, L’Uomo Vogue, and Numero. 

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Director Karla Murthy’s THE GAS STATION ATTENDANT documentary lovingly conveys the story of her father H.N. Shantha Murthy, life story. Beginning with his decision to escape the extreme poverty of his Indian village by running away. He travelled throughout India country in search of work, holding onto the belief that one day his life would change. It did, following a serendipitous encounter with a Texan couple. With a sponsored visa, he travelled to the US, but his American Dream was not to be fulfilled.  Murthy’s film weaves together home videos and phone conversations recorded during her father’s stint as a gas station attendant, while also reflecting on her own identity as a first-generation American. What emerges is an intimate love letter – a meditation on a complicated father-daughter relationship and a poignant tribute to the immigrant working class. As Murthy recounts, “I had heard the stories of my father’s journey to America throughout  my childhood. They had become our  family folklore, a fairytale rags to riches story that ended with his arrival to the States to live happily ever after. But when my dad and I recorded those same stories while he was working at a gas station, they revealed a deeper truth.” Director / Producer / Editor Karla Murthy joins us for a conversation on her own childhood, being raised in a mixed family, the death of her mom, spending time with her dad, and how hearing her father’s voice in these recorded phone calls, has impacted her perception of him and her own life. 

For more go to: thegasstationattendant.com 

Sheffield DOCFEST 2025  

June 19 , 2025 Curzon Theater 6:15pm – BOOK TICKETS

June 21, 2025 The Light 3:30pm  – BOOK TICKETS

The Gas Station Attendant is a co-production of Greene Fort Productions LLC and the Independent Television Service (ITVS), Firelight Media and the Center for Asian American Media in association with PBS, with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

About the filmmaker – Karla Murthy is a director and Emmy-nominated producer. She began her career working for the veteran journalist Bill Moyers and has been a producer, shooter and correspondent for several news programs on PBS.  Her award-winning work was described in the Columbia Journalism Review as “compelling, informative and compassionate.” Her directorial debut, the feature documentary The Place That Makes Us  won Best of the Festival at Arlington Film Festival, Best Feature at Better Cities Festival and Emerging Documentary Filmmaker at Woods Hole Film Festival, and screened at the United Nations World Cities Day Event. The film had its national broadcast premiere on the WORLD Channel/PBS series America ReFramed.  Most recently, she directed and edited the short film  Love, Jamie about a transgender artist incarcerated in Texas which premiered at OUTFEST LA and won the Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding Documentary Short and was called “one of the best short documentaries” by Texas Monthly. The film is now streaming on PBS American Masters. Karla is of Filipino and South Asian descent. She studied classical piano at the High School for Performing and Visual Arts in Houston and graduated from Oberlin College with a degree in Religion and Computer Science.  Her work has been supported by Women Make Movies, the New York State Council of the Arts, Vital Projects Fund, the Firelight Media Residency at Slough Farm on Martha’s Vineyard, and the Yaddo artist residency.

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Sally Ride became the first American woman to blast off into space, but beneath her unflappable composure, she carried a secret. Sally’s life partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, reveals their hidden romance and the sacrifices that accompanied her 27 years together with Sally, telling the full story of this complicated and iconic astronaut for the first time. In addition to Tam O’ Shaughnessy, SALLY features acclaimed tennis star and groundbreaking advocate for women and LGBTQ+ rights, Billie Jean King, as well as celebrated astronauts from Sally Ride’s NASA class of 1978: Kathy Sullivan, Anna Fisher, John Fabian and Steve Hawley, who is Sally’s ex-husband. Additional participants include Sally’s sister Bear Ride and mother Joyce Ride, along with journalist and Sally’s friend, Lynn Sherr. SALLY premiered  at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival  where it won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. To quote SALLY director Cristina Costantini, “I can’t recall the exact moment that Sally Ride, the first American woman to go to space, first captured my imagination, but I know that I’ve been obsessed with her story from a very young age.” Director and Producer Cristina Costantini joins us to talk about life and the times that Sally Ride had to navigate, whether it be the ultra alpha male culture of NASA or an American public not ready to hear that the first American women in space was not “All American” and the impact those challenges had on Sally and her relationship with Tam and the people she loved.

For more go to: nationalgeographic.com

Premieres on National Geographic Channel Monday, June 16th at:   9:00pm ET / 8:00pm CT / 9:00pm PT

Streams on Disney+ and Hulu Tuesday, June 17th

About the filmmaker – Director, Producer and Writer Cristina Costantini returns to Sundance this January with her third feature documentary, SALLY, based on the life of Sally Ride. She was previously at the 2018 Sundance Festival with her debut film “Science Fair” about the competitive world of high school science fairs (co-directed with Darren Foster) and the 2020 Sundance Festival with “Mucho Mucho Amor” (co-directed with Kareem Tabsch). “Science Fair” won the Festival Favorite Award at Sundance and was acquired by National Geographic Documentary Films. After it captured the hearts and minds of viewers at festivals across the world, it went on to win an Emmy, spawn a spin-off series, and inspire future generations of scientists. “Mucho Mucho Amor” was purchased by Netflix at the festival in 2020 and went on to nominations from the News & Documentary Emmys as well as being honored as Best Documentary of the Year by the Imagen Foundation Awards and the Latino Entertainment Journalist Association Film Awards. SALLY marks a full circle moment for the director as she considered herself a science nerd as a kid and has idolized Sally Ride her entire life, even painting a mural on the wall of her elementary school in Sally’s honor. Costantini got her start as an award-winning investigative journalist, covering detention centers, immigration, and the opioid crisis. She has received numerous awards from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists for her work, as well as a DuPont Award and several Emmy nominations. Born and raised in Wisconsin, Costantini is a graduate of Yale University. She now lives in Los Angeles with her husband Alfie, daughter Penny, and elderly pug dog Harriet. 

About the filmmaker – Film participant and Executive Producer Dr. Tam O’Shaughnessy is an educator, writer and former professional tennis player who joined with her life partner, trailblazing astronaut Sally Ride, to cofound the science education company Sally Ride Science. Growing up in Southern California, Tam competed in junior tennis under the coaching and mentorship of Billie Jean King, then a rising star. Tam was 12 when she met Sally at a tournament, and they became fast friends. Tam played tennis professionally from 1971 to 1974, on the first-ever women’s pro tour, competing at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and ranking as high as No. 52 in the world. Tam reconnected with her girlhood friend Sally, then in the spotlight as America’s first woman in space. The two began a romantic relationship that lasted 27 years until Sally’s death from pancreatic cancer in 2012. After Sally retired from NASA, she and Tam moved back to California, where Sally became a physics professor at the University of California San Diego. In 2001, Tam and Sally teamed up with three colleagues to start Sally Ride Science. Their goal was to create innovative programs and publications to spark the interest of girls and boys of all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and to inspire them to envision themselves as scientists and engineers. Sally Ride Science carries on its mission as a nonprofit based at UC San Diego, with Tam serving as executive director. In 2026, Sally Ride Science will celebrate its 25th anniversary. Tam has written 14 books for young readers, including “The Third Planet,” co-written with Sally, which won the 1995 American Institute of Physics Children’s Science Writing Award, and “Sally Ride: A Photo-biography of America’s Pioneering Woman in Space,” which was nominated for the 2015 Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature. 

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79% on RottenTomatoes

“We need to recognize Ride as one of the great Americans of the 20th century. Sally is a step in the right direction.” – Alan French, Sunshine State Cineplex

“At its core “Sally” skillfully weaves together a love story of space, women and equality while dispelling myths around sexuality, skill and what can happen when you just hire the best person for the job.” – Carla Renata, The Curvy Film Critic

“An inspiring tale of a woman breaking one of the tallest glass ceilings for her field but feels immensely tragic.” – Monica Castillo, RogerEbert.com

“While Ride and O’ Shaughnessy never wed, [her] candor here marries a spectacular professional saga with the personal love story convincingly.” – Lisa Kennedy, Variety

“The documentary includes eye-opening interviews with family members and former astronauts and archival video of Ride herself, to create an engaging, socially relevant portrait of an American heroine and of the culture.” – Caryn James, The Hollywood Reporter

Filmed over lead actor Mel Glickman’s real-life first year taking Testosterone, T is a fictionalized, never-before-seen journey of transmasculine discovery, authentically portraying the moving struggles and joys encountered in friendships, family, and romantic relationships. After being out as non-binary for four years, Em decides to take charge of their body and life and begin Testosterone therapy. Their fiancé Spencer reacts badly – though he is bisexual, he can’t imagine coming out to his family and publicly dating someone who isn’t a woman. Em leaves him, gets their prescription, and does their first Testosterone shot with their friend Rose, a trans woman navigating how to get back onstage after quitting music when she transitioned. Em starts dating Ana, a non-binary performance artist who shows Em how to let loose – and inspires a sexual awakening in Em. But when Ana stops taking her bipolar medication, she starts acting erratically – and Em falls back into the comfort of their relationship with Spencer. Throughout the film, Em grows into themself, all while balancing their romantic relationships, friendships, and how to tell their loving but conflicted mother who they truly are. Director Lane Michael Stanley joins us for a conversation on how the story of Em came to about, working with Mel Glickman, and bringing in a solid supporting cast to bring this story to life.

For more go to: danceswithfilms.com/t-the-movie

Or

Tthemovie.com

2025 DWF: LA Screening Details

June 19-29, 2025 TCL Chinese 6 Theatres

Friday, June 20, 7:15pm, TCL Chinese 6 Theatres (World Premiere)

About the filmmaker – Writer / Director (he/they) Lane Michael Stanley (he/they) is a transgender writer and director making community-embedded work around queerness, healing, grief, recovery, restorative justice, and housing insecurity. Lane’s award-winning short and feature films have played festivals including Austin, Outfest, Sidewalk, and American Dance Festival. Lane’s plays have been presented at 20 theaters including The Barter Theatre, Island City Stage, and Kitchen Dog Theatre. Lane’s writing has appeared/is forthcoming in Electric Literature, The Rumpus, Foglifter, Brevity, The Ana, #EnbyLife, and HowlRound; they are an alum of the Tin House, Kenyon, PEN America, and Lambda Literary writing workshops. Lane has shared his community-embedded work in soup kitchens, shelters, addiction treatment centers, meditation gardens, and San Quentin State Prison. He was the NEA-funded 2023-2024 Resident Artist with Mission First Housing Group and coLAB Arts, and is the 2024-2025 Artist-in-Residence with Pathway Home of Los Angeles County. Lane has won awards from the Film Fund, Baltimore City Paper, and Creative Baltimore Fund; received film grants from Art with Impact, Queen Anne’s County Cultural Arts Division, Maryland State Arts Council, and Austin Cultural Arts Division; been commissioned by Dance Camera West and Ground Floor Theatre; and holds an MFA in Directing from the University of Texas at Austin. For more go to: lanemichaelstanley.com

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Reviews:

“An intimate and groundbreaking exploration of gender transition.”— The Hollywood Times

“An intimate, funny, heartbreaking, and achingly real film about one person finally inhabiting the body they feel they should be in.” — Killer Movie Reviews

“Groundbreaking… a powerful and deeply personal film.”— Distract

Debuting at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival, THIS LAND cracks open the untold story of Ganienkeh, a Mohawk community fighting to regain its traditional culture. In 1974 a group of Mohawk Indians occupied a defunct girls camp in New York’s Adirondack mountains and established a community they called Ganienkeh. Aiming to practice a more traditional lifestyle, and asserting aboriginal title to the land, they stayed for three years, having occasional violent clashes with the local residents. In 1977 they negotiated a (somewhat complicated) land swap with the State, and agreed to move to a permanent home near Plattsburgh, New York, where they remain today. Ganienkeh is one of the only examples of an indigenous people successfully reclaiming land from the United States, but it may not be the last. Director   Mike Bradley stops by to talk about This Land’s premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival, his initial surprise, as a life long New Yorker, at having never heard of this remarkable story, and how lucky he was to find the people who helped him tell the story of Ganienkeh, the Mohawks and THIS LAND.

For more go to: thislandfilm.mov

About the director – Mike Bradley is a Rochester, New York-based director and cinematographer specializing in nonfiction film, including documentary and branded content. He began his career as an independent documentary photographer for clients like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal covering issues including mental health, politics, and the American healthcare system.  He is the founder of the production company Big Slide Creative, which was established in 2018. Through its 1% for the Planet membership, Big Slide donates at least one percent of its annual revenue to environmental organizations.

“A fly-on-the-wall minimalist style with archival news stories and news pictures, personal interviews and photogenic, bucolic settings result in seductive irresistible story telling. The Land belongs in that filmmaking genre with films – short or long – that can inspire audiences literally or figuratively to rise up from their seats and …” – Gregg W. Morris, The Word

Fresh off its 2025 Tribeca Film Festival premiere Songs of Black Folk, a new musical tradition, brings together the largest gathering of black musical talent on a single stage in the Pacific Northwest, marking a new era for black artists in the PNW, on the meaningful backdrop of Juneteenth. Led by Ramon Bryant Braxton and Rev. Dr. Leslie Braxton, this extraordinary performance group establishes a new tradition, inspiring audiences and the next generation of Black artists. Inspired by this mission, we created a film to capture and celebrate black talent in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Ensuring their stories live beyond a single performance. The film captures a vibrant, often-overlooked community and commemorates a pivotal chapter in American history. As Artistic Director Ramón Bryant Braxton says, “I want these artists and audiences to be able to walk with their heads held high.” With this film we celebrate and bring greater awareness to their extraordinary ambition, talent and musical power. Co-directors Justin Emeka and Haley Watson join us to talk about getting to know Ramon Bryant Braxton and Rev. Dr. Leslie Braxton, capturing the power of these concert performances, what the Juneteenth celebration and the importance of showcasing black artistry and black artist in the Pacific Northwest.

For more go to: haleylwatson.com/songs-of-black-folk

For more go to: justinemeka.com/songs-of-black-folk

About the filmmaker – Director Haley Watson is known for films exploring human experience. Her storytelling prowess was exemplified when she pitched the original story for the Oscar-winner The Queen of Basketball. Watson’s journey to directing was through the camera department and includes recognition from AFI and ASC. In June 2024 she debuted the short documentary she directed, Motorcycle Mary,  at Tribeca Film Festival. The film was executive produced by Lewis Hamilton and double Academy Award winning Breakwater Studios. The film was acquired by ESPN’s 30 for 30 series. She now Premiers Songs of Black Folk for her second consecutive world premiere at Tribeca.  For more go to: haleylwatson.com

About the filmmaker – Justin Emeka is an award-winning filmmaker from the Pacific Northwest with over 25 years of experience as a theater director.  He is especially known for blending classical works with Black cultural expression. In 2022, he received a prestigious TV/Film Directing Fellowship from the Drama League of New York, expanding his creative vision into screen storytelling. His first two original short films, BIOLOGICAL and Six Winters Gone Still, have screened at festivals around the world, earning acclaim for their poetic visual language and emotional depth. Emeka brings a unique voice shaped by his background in theater, Capoeira Angola, and a lifelong commitment to telling stories that center Black resilience and beauty. He is a member of the Executive Board for the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SDC).  Emeka is also a tenured professor of Theater and Africana Studies at Oberlin College, where he teaches directing, acting, and Capoeira. For more go to: justinemeka.com

In the documentary, AMERICAN CATS: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE CUDDLY, comedian Amy Hoggart (Full Frontal with Samantha Bee) dives deep into the controversial world of cat declawing in the United States. On the surface, it appears as a simple, harmless surgery for the convenience of pet owners, but as Hoggart digs deeper, a disturbing nationwide conspiracy unfolds. Through interviews with veterinarians, activists, and pet owners, the documentary unveils a powerful industry lobby that not only promotes but profits from this inhumane procedure. As Hoggart navigates the maze of misinformation, she discovers the profound physical and psychological effects declawing has on our feline friends. AMERICAN CATS: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE CUDDLY is a thought-provoking exposé that challenges the ethical implications of our choices and calls for a nationwide reflection on our treatment of animals. And also lots of jokes and cute kittens. Director Todd Bieber and film subject Dr. Jennifer Conrad stop by to talk about the history of declawing, the enormous sums of money made from this procedure, the effort being made by Dr. Conrad’s PAWS project to end this cruelty, enlisting Amy Hoggart to be the charming and effective inquisitor, holding declawing advocates own paws to the fire.

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For more go to: pawproject.org/americancatsmovie

About the filmmaker – Todd Bieber is a Peabody Winner and Emmy Nominee who has spent 20 years making documentaries. Recent highlights include being embedded with a militia in Georgia for the Comedy Central special, “Jordan Klepper Solves Guns”; directing the comedy improv tribute, “Thank You, Del: The Story of the Del Close Marathon”; and following the adrenaline-fueled steps of bank robbers in Beirut for The New York Times. In addition to being a Producer/Director for “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” and “The Opposition” with Jordan Klepper, Todd served as Creative Resident at Viceland when the network launched, Creative Director of UCB Comedy when it was still cool, and Writer/Footage Coordinator for The Onion when the footage was coordinated most impressively. 

About the Subject – Dr. Jennifer Conrad has cared for wildlife on six continents for over two decades. Dr. Conrad has participated in many programs to protect and improve the lives of wild animals. She has traveled to Namibia to de-horn rhinos, making them unattractive targets for slaughter by poachers who prize the horns for ornamental uses. While in Africa, she worked with the Cheetah Conservation Fund, collecting information to help fortify the dwindling numbers of this species. In Nepal, Dr. Conrad treated endangered Asian elephants, and in the Galapagos Islands, she joined government scientists treating a threatened population of sea lions. Dr. Conrad is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine and is a member of the American Veterinary Medicine Association (AVMA), the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians (AAZV), and the European Association of Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarians (EAZWV). Currently, Dr. Conrad’s professional responsibilities are divided between working with nonprofit wildlife sanctuaries for unwanted and abused animals in southern California and administering her own company, Vet to the (Real) Stars, which provides humane veterinary care to animals appearing in television and movies. Dr. Conrad founded the Paw Project, which rehabilitates big cats, such as lions, tigers, cougars and jaguars maimed by declawing. Actually an amputation of the last bone in the cat’s toe, declawing often cripples these magnificent creatures, both from the pain caused by the bone fragments left behind, and from the progressively debilitating arthritis produced by abnormal stress on other joints as the cats try to avoid walking on their painful, amputated toes.

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In this powerful, intimate and illuminating documentary film from co-directors Edivan Guajajara, Chelsea Green and Rob Grobman, a epic battle is taking place. A battle that will have a tremendous impact of the sustainability of our planet. This struggle is taking place in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest. WE ARE GUARDIANS follows the indigenous forest guardians that stand at the frontlines of the fight to  protect their ancestral lands from relentless invasions and deforestation. As more and more people illegally invade their lands each year, devastating centuries-old forests for resources and fast profits, these small groups of guardians risk everything to  protect their forest and way of life. Now, as the health of the entire Amazon teeters at the edge, will Brazil and the world take notice? WE ARE GUARDIANS is produced by Academy Award-winner Fisher Stevens’ Highly Flammable, along with executive produced by the critically acclaimed film and television production company, Appian Way (Leonardo DiCaprio’s company).  Co-directors Chelsea Green and Rob Grobman (Edivan Guajajara) join us for a conversation regarding the dedication of the indigenous people’s defending the forest, how they gained the trust and access to many of the people looking to strip the Amazon Rainforest of its timber, oil and other valuable natural resources as well as working with Academy Award winning Producer Fisher Stevens (The Cove).

For more go to: weareguardiansfilm.com

For screenings, go to: weareguardiansfilm.com/screenings

Screenings: On Friday, June 6 at the 7:30 PM screening, an opening night post-film conversation with co-directors Edivan Guajajara, Chelsea Greene, Rob Grossman and film subject / Forest Guardian Puyr Tembe at the Laemmle Monica Film Center, 1332 2nd St, Santa Monica

WE ARE GUARDIANS has already been honored with numerous accolades, including the Cinema for Peace Green Film Award, the Jackson Wild Impact Award, Best Documentary at the UK’s Raindance Film Festival, and the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Mostra São Paulo International Film Festival. We Are Guardians world-premiered at Hot Docs in Toronto.

About the filmmaker – Director, Producer, and Cinematographer Edivan Guajajara is from the Zutiwa village, located in Arariboia Indigenous Land (Maranhão, Brazil) and one of the creators of the communication network Mídia Índia. As an activist and filmmaker, he creates photography and documentaries centering indigenous peoples’ perspectives, showcasing their struggle of land protection and defense of Mother Earth. As a designer and video editor, he uses his gift to create art pieces that give visibility to the ongoing fight of the Brazilian indigenous peoples, a people who have resisted for 521 years. “Film has given us the opportunity to show our culture and our resistance. Today we have our own way of communicating and spreading our works so that people can know our true history and strengthen our struggle. My greatest inspiration as an indigenous is showing our reality and telling that we are also capable of being what we want to be, and showing to the world how much we indigenous peoples are important to the survival of our planet”. For more go to: edivanguajajara.com 

About the filmmaker – Director, Producer, Cinematographer and Editor Chelsea Greene is a documentary filmmaker, impact producer, and multidisciplinary visual artist whose work explores the intersection of environmental justice, Indigenous leadership, and wildlife conservation. Raised in the forests of Vermont, Chelsea has spent over 15 years traveling the globe working on documentaries, television series, and short-form content, as well as creating photography, graphic design, and visual art that amplifies stories from the frontlines of ecological and cultural resilience. Her cinematography and editing work has been featured on platforms including Netflix, PBS, NBC, and Nat Geo WILD, bringing global attention to urgent issues. Early in her career, she contributed to the award-winning documentary Borneo’s Vanishing Tribes, which spotlighted the Dayak people’s resistance to palm oil-driven deforestation in Southeast Asia. Chelsea made her feature directorial debut with We Are Guardians, a film that follows Indigenous forest defenders in the Brazilian Amazon. The project represents a milestone in her career—blending immersive storytelling with a bold impact campaign focused on forest protection, Indigenous rights, and climate action. In recent years, Chelsea has stepped into the role of impact producer, driven by a desire to crack the code of how films can not only inform but inspire and mobilize real-world change. Whether behind the camera, in the editing suite, or building campaigns, her work is rooted in a deep belief in the power of storytelling to heal, connect, and transform.

About the filmmaker – Director, Executive Producer, Cinematographer and Editor Rob Grobman grew up in New Hampshire, in the foothills of the White Mountains. His work as a filmmaker has mostly focused on the environment and the inspiring people who’ve dedicated their lives to its protection. In 2011 he graduated Johns Hopkins University with a BA in Film and Media Studies. While in Baltimore, he worked as an editor with filmmaker and auteur Michael H. Shamberg on his autobiographical documentary series, P.S. BEIRUT about the Lebanese Civil War. From 2016 to 2019 he was a core leader and driving creative force at Heartisan Films. In 2018, he made his directorial debut with the documentary, GORILLA GIRL. Focused on a female pioneer in the field of wildlife rehabilitation and primate sign language research, the film was incredibly well received and won numerous awards including Award of Excellence for a Documentary Feature from Impact Docs and Outstanding Achievement in Documentary from IndieX Festival. In 2019, Rob began work on WE ARE GUARDIANS, a feature length documentary about the Indigenous forest guardians of the Brazilian Amazon and their fight to keep the forest standing. He shot, edited, and directed the film with Edivan Guajajara and Chelsea Greene. Produced by Academy Award winning filmmaker Fisher Stevens, Zak Kilberg, and Maura Anderson, WE ARE GUARDIANS made its world premiere at Hot Docs International in May of 2023 and has since garnered numerous awards in its prolific festival run including ‘Best Documentary’ at Raindance Film Festival,  the ‘Audience Award’ at São Paulo International Film Festival, and the ‘Green Film Award’ at Cinema for Peace in Berlin, Germany. Rob now lives in the Siskiyou Mountains of Southern Oregon.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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Reviews:

“A thoughtful, if emotionally frustrating documentary…films like this rightly celebrate those looking to save us all.” (4/5) – Victoria Luxford, D Movies

Emmy Award-winning director Andrew Goldberg’s latest documentary WHITE WITH FEAR sheds light on the decades-long strategy of politicians and media outlets to amplify racial divisions and white victimization narratives for power and profit. Told by the operatives in the rooms where it happened, WHITE WITH FEAR is an explosive deep dive into the decades-lo ng quest by America’s conservative political machine to amass power by  exploiting racial fault lines and stoking narratives of White victimization.  Described by critics as “riveting,” and “absolutely required viewing,” and in the tradition of past classic  documentary exposes such as Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Inside Job, White With Fear uncovers the real-world consequences of manipulative tactics that seek to demonize immigrants, spread Islamophobia, and deploy a cynical and strategic campaign of racist rhetoric with real world effects. WHITE WITH FEAR is a potent journalistic undertaking that unearths the hidden political playbook and key operatives  behind these efforts. With revealing first-person access to figures like Hillary Clinton, Steve Bannon, Rep. Jamie Raskin, former Fox News reporter Carl Cameron, The Lincoln Project co-founder Stuart Stevens, and other leading experts, WHITE WITH FEAR offers an urgent and eye-opening look at how racial bigotry is weaponized to undermine democracy. Director and producer Andrew Goldberg (Proud To Serve: The Men and Women of the US Army) joins us for a conversation on the state of the American “experiment” in democracy, and how we might find a way to forge a more “perfect union”.

For more go to: whitewithfear.com

To watch go to: WhitewithFear

About the filmmaker – An Emmy-Award-winning investigative producer, Andrew Goldberg has directed 14 prime-time documentary specials for PBS/public television, and both long and short-form segments for outlets like CBS News Sunday Morning, ABC News, Live From Lincoln Center, and National Public Radio. His work includes The Armenian Genocide, Jerusalem: Center of the World, They Came to America, Proud To Serve: The Men and Women of the US Army, In addition to many other national PBS films including A Yiddish World Remembered (2002, Emmy Award Winner), Out in America (2010), The Iranian Americans (2012) and others, Goldberg has written and produced for Good Morning America, NOW With David Brancaccio,and National Public Radio’s All Things Considered with Robert Siegel. He was previously a regular contributor to CBS News Sunday Morning’s Nature segment, and Live From Lincoln Center. In 2015 he recently completed an interview series for the permanent collection of the NMAJH Museum in Philadelphia. His work has been licensed to countless major networks in virtually every country in Europe, the Middle East, North and South America and Asia. Goldberg’s work has been supported by more than 50 foundations around the world including FORD Foundation, The Koret Foundation, The Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Skirball Foundation, and Goldman Sachs Gives. He has also received major funding from PBS and American Public Television. Andrew been honored with some 20 major awards including the EMMY, five CINE Golden Eagles, 10 Telly Awards, a NY Festivals Worldmedal, The Genesis Award (Guest of Honor), The St. Vartan’s Award, The Joachim and Anne Humanitarian Award and numerous others. Andrew holds a BA in History from Northwestern University, and an MBA from The Graduate School of Business at The University of Chicago. He lives and works in New York City with his wife and three children. For more go to: somuchfilm.com

About the filmmaker – Diana Robinson started her journalism career covering multiple presidential campaigns in Pennsylvania, the swing state to end all swing states, and had a front-row seat to the rise of the Tea Party, the backlash to Obama, and the post-industrial economic depression that drove voters away from moderation and towards Trumpism. Her work has been supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Ford Foundation, and many others. This is her third feature film. For more go to: whitewithfear.com

SOCIAL MEDIA

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92% on RottenTomatoes

“Goldberg doesn’t speculate, but provides enough glimpses into the country’s troubled history to worry even those who know little of it from elsewhere.” – Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film

“Remarkable, & remarkably sad, overview of the exploitation of white person fear to sway the electorate. I wonder if the message will get to the folks who most need it, those being played by the media and political factions that seek power and money only.” – Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

“White With Fear is alarming without being alarmist, and I’m guessing few on either side will argue with its messages about the state of American politics today.” – Steven Prokopy, Third Coast Review

“Clear-sighted and well-organized, Andrew Goldberg’s probe into the arson job that is America’s current political system examines the flames that stoked the fire.” – Kat Sachs, Chicago Reader

“Likely to be of the greatest educational use to the people least likely to see it, White With Fear may not tell you much that you didn’t already know. Still, it’s a solid primer in how “dog-whistle politics” have invaded our mainstream.” – Dennis Harvey, 48 Hills

Awarded by the Academy and the Festival de Cannes, a staple of Spike & Mike’s Festival of Animation programs, guest couch gag contributor on The Simpsons, and a fiercely independent artist, one-man industry Bill Plympton is the American underground animator par excellence, his meticulously hand-drawn style, with its fluid,  distending line and voluptuous figures, one of the most immediately recognizable in the business. The legend himself will be at the Metrograph Theatre on Sunday, June 1st for two programs of his features and shorts—and will be whipping up sketches on the spot for any audience members who want to take home a little piece of cartooning history.

Titles include Cheatin’, Footprints, Hot Dog, I Married a Strange Person!, Push Comes to Shove, and Santa the Fascist Years. The Films of Bill Plympton arrives on Metrograph At Home on June 1 with an exclusive new interview with Plympton.

Bill Plympton in person for special introductions. Following each screening, in lieu of a Q&A, Plympton will be hand-drawing original works in the Metrograph Lobby for interested members of the audience.

For more go to: metrograph.com/bill-plympton/Metrograph

For more go to: plymptoons.com

At the Metrograph Theatre

7 Ludlow Street, New York City

Sunday June 1 at 5:15 PM

I MARRIED A STRANGE PERSON! – 1997, 75 min, DCP

HOT DOG – 2008, 6 min, DCP

SANTA THE FASCIST YEARS – 2008, 4 min, DCP

At the Metrograph Theatre

7 Ludlow Street, New York City

Sunday June 1 at 7:30 PM

CHEATIN’ – 2013, 756 min, DCP

PUSH COMES TO SHOVE  – 1991, 6 min, DCP

FOOTPRINTS – 2014, 4 min, DCP

About the filmmaker – Born in Portland, Oregon to Don and Wilda Plympton, he grew up in a large family of three girls and three boys. For the six children it was often far too wet to play outside. Plympton credits Oregon’s rainy climate for nurturing his drawing skills and imagination. In 1968, he moved to New York City and began a year of study at the School of Visual Arts. Making the Big Apple his home, Plympton served 15 years as an illustrator and cartoonist. Between toting his portfolio and catching cheap matinees, he designed the magazines: Cineaste, Filmmakers Newsletter, and Film Society Review. His illustrations have graced the pages of The New York Times, Vogue, House Beautiful, The Village Voice, Screw, and Vanity Fair. His cartoons appeared in such magazines as Viva, Penthouse, Rolling Stone, National Lampoon, and Glamour. In 1975, in The Soho Weekly News, he began “Plympton,” a political cartoon strip. By 1981, it was syndicated in over twenty papers by Universal Press Syndicate. in 1983 that he was approached to animate a film. The Android Sister Valeria Wasilewski asked Plympton to direct and animate a film she was producing of Jules Feiffer’s song, “Boomtown.”I mmediately following the completion of “Boomtown,” he began his own animated film, “Drawing Lesson # 2.” For his next project he contacted Maureen McElheron, an old friend with whom he had performed in a Country Western Band (he played pedal steel guitar), and she agreed to score “Your Face.” Due to budgetary considerations, she also sang. Her voice, eerily decelerated to sound more masculine, combined with a fantastically contorting visage helped garner the film a 1988 Oscar nomination for best animated short. After a string of highly successful short films (“One of Those Days,” “How to Kiss,” “25 Ways to Quit Smoking,” and “Plymptoons”), he began thinking about making a feature film. What came to be called THE TUNE was financed entirely by the animator himself. Sections of the feature were released as short films to help generate funds for production. These include “The Wiseman” and “Push Comes to Shove,” the latter of which won the 1991 Prix du Jury at the Cannes Film Festival. With money from his short film prizes and commercial work, he was able to complete THE TUNE. After personally drawing and coloring 30,000 cels for THE TUNE, Plympton moved to live-action feature, J. LYLE, a wacky, surreal comedy about a sleazy lawyer who meets a magical talking dog that changes his life. Plympton’s second live-action feature, GUNS ON THE CLACKAMAS, a behind-the-scenes look at an imaginary disastrous Western, was shot in Oregon and New York. In 1996. Bill Plympton completed WALT CURTIS, PECKERNECK POET. In 1998, Bill returned to animation with I MARRIED A STRANGE PERSON. Bill’s next animated feature, MUTANT ALIENS, the story of a stranded astronaut returning to Earth after 20 years in space. It won the Grand Prix in Annecy 2001 and was released in theatres in 2002. It has played all over the world to huge audiences. Bill’s feature film, HAIR HIGH, is a gothic ’50s high-school comedy about a love-triangle that goes terribly bad. Bill’s short film GUARD DOG has been a hit at film festivals and it brought Bill his second Oscar nomination in January 2005. Two equally successful sequels soon followed, “Guide Dog” in 2006 and “Hot Dog” in 2008. His feature film, IDIOTS AND ANGELS, was completed in 2008. The film features the music of Tom Waits, Pink Martini, Nicole Renaud and Maureen McElheron, and no dialogue. After the release several successful short films, such as THE COW WHO WANTED TO BE A HAMBURGER, SUMMER BUMMER and DRUNKER THAN A SKUNK. But eventually his plans returned to feature-length animation, and he started work on CHEATIN’, the story of two lovers, Jake and Ella, who encounter jealousy and insecurity after their perfect courtship. CHEATIN‘ may also be the first animated feature partially funded on Kickstarter, with loyal Plympton fans kicking in over $100,000 needed to finish it. Bill latest work includes HITLER’S FOLLY, a mock-umentary about Adolf Hitler’s love of animation and REVENGEANCE, written by animator Jim Lujan.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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Director and co-writer Hala Matar’s bold take on a story of revenge catapults her ELECTRA into something much more interesting and accomplished than anyone could have expected. The story marinates in timeless allure of Rome, where “journalist” Dylan (Daryl Wein) and his companion, photographer Lucy (Abigail Cowen), find themselves weaving through the historic streets on assignment. Their journalistic pursuits lead them to an enthralling interview with the charismatic but flailing musician Milo (Jack Farthing). Charmed by their company, Milo extends an invitation for a weekend escape to his girlfriend Francesca’s (Maria Bakalova) opuent palazzo nestled in the verdant Italian countryside. Beneath their professional veneer, Dylan and Lucy harbor a clandestine motive: a meticulously orchestrated plan to abscond with a mythical unicorn painting, a prized treasure Milo once bestowed upon Francesca. Director and co-writer Hala Matar joins us for a conversation on pulling together a superb cast of brilliant performance from her cast, backing into the grand palazzo, the“perfect” location, where she and Michael Alden Lloyd shot Electra and how she and her creative team worked to find the perfect tone and pace for ELECTRA.

Watch ELECTRA

About the filmmaker – Hala Matar is a Bahraini American director based in LA. Electra is her feature film debut. She has directed films for Vice, Nowness and for fashion brands including Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Moncler, Kenzo, Vivienne Westwood and Diesel. She made music videos for Interpol, The Voidz, and Poolside. She has worked with a variety of A list talents such as: Kristen Stewart, Chloe Sevigny, Johnny Knoxville, Suki Waterhouse and Matthew Gray Gubler. Her work has been featured in Rolling Stones, Pitchfork, Vogue, NME, Spin, NME, W Magazine, Nylon, CNN and Harpers Arabia. 

DIrector’s Statement – My journey as a filmmaker is rooted in a profound passion for weaving tales that delve into the realm of dreams and contest reality. Driven by a quest to transcend the boundaries traditionally set by Middle Eastern cinema, I find myself drawn to the unconventional and the enigmatic, much like the works that hallmark the French New Wave and Italian Cinema. This drive became deeply personal after experiencing the death of a loved one—a difficult crossroads that profoundly shaped my artistic expression. Their memory served as the impetus for my film, offering a vessel through which I navigated the complex seas of grief and trauma but done in a lighthearted way. I have always had a soft spot for fun, dramatic thrillers, most notably Alfred Hitchcock. As the first Arab female filmmaker from Bahrain to helm a feature film, I approached this endeavor with a profound sense of humility and duty, keenly aware of the singularity of my stance. I endeavored to craft a narrative that challenges the cultural tapestry of my upbringing. The decision to film in Italy was pivotal, as Fellini’s films and Rome’s liberating ambiance are my greatest inspirations. Collaborating with such a talented team, whose zeal and support have been invigorating, has been an extraordinary journey. As we anticipate sharing our work with a global audience, it is my heartfelt aspiration that it strikes a chord with viewers and enriches the tapestry of diverse narratives in the world of film. – Hala Mater 

SOCIAL MEDIA

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Reviews:

“From its title sequence to its languid eying of the palazzo’s suggestive artworks, “Electra” declares its affinity for visual (and sonic) swagger.” – Lisa Kennedy, New York Times

“The film itself shimmers with a kind of free-floating hilarity, and the team’s sense of creativity and pleasure is catching.” – Sheila O’Malley, RogerEbert.com

In this emotionally wrenching feature documentary, Between the Mountain and the Sky, director Jeremy Power Regimbal explores the life a Maggie Doyne, a selfless young woman who has radically change the lives of hundreds of orphaned children in a land she barely knew. After graduating high school in 2005, Maggie Doyne embarked on a gap year from her university studies, to visit Nepal, While there she met Tope, a now grown Nepalese orphan, caring for orphaned children. United in purpose, Maggie and Tope pooled resources to  establish a children’s home, women’s empowerment program, and school in Nepal. Years later, their relentless efforts led to being honored as the 2015 CNN HERO OF THE YEAR. But days after the award ceremony, Maggie, by then guardian to over fifty Nepalese children, faces an unimaginable loss, plunging the family into disbelief and despair. After a chance encounter amidst her grief, Maggie allows a filmmaker into her life to document herself, her family, and soon enough, their falling in love. “Between the Mountain and the Sky” explores resilience, love’s impact in loss, and a family’s enduring strength to find hope in the darkest times. Director Jeremy Power Regimbal (In Their Skin) joins us for a conversation on how he came to know about the work Maggie Doyne was doing, the power of love, and the many different ways his own life has changed since meeting Maggie and Tope.

For more go to: betweenthemountainandthesky.com

To watch go to: showandtell.betweenthemountain

Host a screening: betweenthemountainandthesky.com

Support Maggie’s work at: blinknow.org

Meet Maggie Doyne and the filmmakers Saturday, May 31 for the 4:20 PM screening at the Laemmle Monica Film Center

About the filmmaker – Jeremy Power Regimbal is an award-winning filmmaker and photographer whose work spans feature films, documentaries, and advertising. In his early 20s, he founded The Lab Magazine, a globally distributed publication featuring in-depth conversations with cultural icons like Willem Dafoe, Sam Rockwell, Wes Anderson, Marina Abramović, and Noam Chomsky. At 27, Jeremy made his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed thriller In Their Skin, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was theatrically distributed by IFC. His documentary-style commercial work for brands such as MasterCard, Nike, and Chevrolet has earned praise from AdWeek, Creativity, and Adage, along with a YDA nomination at the Cannes Lions Festival. Over the past decade, Jeremy has immersed himself in Nepal, directing Between The Mountain and The Sky, an intimate documentary produced by the Emmy-winning Duplass Brothers. The film has screened at 23 festivals worldwide, winning 29 awards—including the Audience Award at MountainFilm Telluride—and is slated for theatrical release in Spring 2025. Through his production company, MPWR CONTENT, Jeremy combines his passion for storytelling with a commitment to social impact. He creates compelling films and photography for charities and nonprofits, amplifying their missions and catalyzing meaningful change in communities around the globe. For more go to: jeremypowerregimbal.com

About the subject – Maggie Doyne’s story begins in Mendham Borough, New Jersey with parents Steve and Nancy Doyne and two sisters, Kate and Libby. After she was born, her father quit his job as the manager of a natural food store to be a stay-at-home dad, while her mother worked in real estate. Maggie attended West Morris Mendham High School. In 2005, following her high school graduation, Maggie took a “gap year” to travel with the organization LeapNow. At age 18, Maggie set off with a backpack to see the world.  During that trip, she spent time volunteering at a children’s home in northern India. While there, Maggie became friends with a refugee from Nepal and during a cease-fire in the Nepalese Civil War, went with her to visit her home village. After visiting Nepal’s poverty-stricken villages, her philanthropic work began. In Nepal, Maggie met six-year-old Hima, who was barely surviving on the few rupees she earned by breaking stones in a dry riverbed and selling them. Maggie helped Hima go to school, paying for her tuition, uniform, and books, and expanded her efforts to help more children. Maggie used $5,000 she had saved from babysitting to help even more children and phoned her parents at home to send her the money. With her money and more funds from supporters worldwide, Maggie purchased land in the Surkhet valley. Tope Malla, a Nepali that Maggie had met in India, joined her as a project partner.  Named CNN Hero of the Year in 2015, Maggie has been recognized globally for her school, children’s home, women’s center, and girls’ safe home projects in Surkhet, Nepal. For more go to: maggie-doyne.com/maggies-story

About the Blink Now Foundation – The BlinkNow Foundation provides an education and a loving, caring home for at-risk children. The foundation also provides community outreach to reduce poverty, empower women, improve health, and encourage sustainability and social justice – it fulfills its mission by providing financial support and management oversight to the Kopila Valley Children’s Home and Kopila Valley School in Surkhet, Nepal. In addition to the home and school, Kopila Valley runs a Health & Wellness program, Women’s Center, Home for At-Risk Students, Futures Career Readiness Program, and integrated Sustainability Program across all initiatives. For more go to: instagram.com/blinknoworg 

SOCIAL MEDIA

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instagram.com/jeremy_power_regimbal

instagram.com/maggiedoyne

instagram.com/topemalla

instagram.com/blinknoworg

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instagram.com/markduplass

instagram.com/jayduplass

instagram.com/meleslyn

#BetweenTheMountainAndTheSky 

#MaggieDoyne

Reviews:

“Between the Mountain and the Sky” is unusually refreshing when it doesn’t linger on the selfless work that Doyne has done, but provocatively asks at what point she needs to protect herself from giving too much to be useful. – Stephen Saito, Moveable Fest

“An inspirational and often moving documentary about a great role model.” – Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru

Mark Lo’s wildly entertaining thrill ride of a documentary, COUNT ME IN, drops us into the world of drumming zealots and quickly discover their joy and exhilaration to a life dedicated to driving the beat. In their own words, they share the passion that has taken them from banging on pots and pans as kids, to playing on some of the world’s biggest stages. Along the way, they pay tribute to the drummers that have influenced them, including the likes of Ringo, Charlie Watts, Keith Moon, John Bonham and Ginger Baker. You can have rhythm without music, but you can’t have music without rhythm.With interviews and narration from TAYLOR HAWKINS (Foo Fighters), ROGER TAYLOR (Queen), NICK MASON (Pink Floyd), STEWART COPELAND (The Police), CINDY BLACKMAN SANTANA (Santana), CHAD SMITH (Red Hot Chili Peppers), GINGER BAKER (Cream), CLEM BURKE (Blonde, Repo Man), ROSS GARFIELD (Off The Record with the Drum Doctor), TOPPER HEADON (The Clash), STEPHEN PERKINS (Jane’s Addiction), NICKO MCBRAIN (Iron Maiden), SAMANTHA MOLONEY (Hole, Eagles of Death Metal), JESS BOWEN (Bad Genius), BOB HENRIT (The Kinks), BEN THATCHER (Royal Blood), IAN PAICE (Deep Purple), RAT SCABIES (The Damned), EMILY  DOLAN DAVIES (The Darkness, Bryan Ferry), JIM KELTNER (Man of Steel), ABE LABORIEL JR. (Killers of the Flower Moon) and ANDY GRAY (composer, record producer).Director Mark Lo (Carol, Belle, The Railway Man, No Way Up) joins us to talk about how this film came into being, the infectious joy he absorbed from hanging out with these artist, shooting at Headley Grange, the18^th century manor house where Led Zeppelin (John Bonham) created their most celebrated albums, the loss of Taylor Hawkins and the inimitable Ginger Baker.

Watch at CountMeInMovie

About the filmmaker – Director Mark Lo has worked on films and TV across many genres for over 20 years and has made a career of specializing in music for moving picture. As an Executive Music Producer, he worked on films including Todd Hayne’s Carol (Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara), Paul Haggis’s Third Person (Liam Neeson, Mila Kunis and James Franco), The Railway Man (Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman and Stellan Skarsgard), Amma Asante’s Belle (Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson and Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and Lee Tamahori’s The Devil’s Double. Mark set up Asylum Giant as a creative hub to develop and produce a slate of Film and TV projects, with a close family of creative talent. He recently produced and directed the feature music documentary Count Me In; a wild celebration of drummers that includes contributions from Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters), Roger Taylor (Queen), Nick Mason (Pink Floyd), Stewart Copeland (The Police), Cindy Blackman Santana (Santana), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and many more.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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85% on RottenTomatoes

“With the vastness of Count Me In, there is more richness here than you can shake a stick at.” – Michael Talbot-Haynes, Film Threat

“The film might not be enough for the music scholars, but as a breezy, likeable portrait of a few of the people who have “the best job in the world”, it’ll do.” – Graeme Tuckett, The Post NZ

“A documentary tribute that is long overdue and, while a touch uneven, the musicians are articulate and tell a genuinely intriguing story about an underrated art form” – Benjamin H. Smith, Decider

“…CMI is propelled as much by a desire to inform about the past as it is to inspire the next generation; the ideal audience are young people who are hoping to find a future in music, and should find this a persuasive invite to the loudest imaginable party…” – Eddie Harrison, film-authority.com

“You don’t have to have an obsession with drummers to enjoy the movie, but you do have to have a curiosity about the elements that go into great music.” – Steven Prokopy, Third Coast Review

In director Colleen Thurston’s exceptional feature documentary, DROWNED LAND, history, water rights and family collide into a scathing expose on public / private sector corruption that threatens to destroy the lives of thousands of powerless people. Winding its way through southeastern Oklahoma, the Kiamichi River is a bastion of ecological diversity. Already twice-dammed, the state of Oklahoma and a Texas corporation are now trying to dam and divert the remaining water from the river.. For a group of locals, this   isn’t just a fight for the Kiamichi River; it is a lifelong reckoning with the cycle of land theft and displacement that began with the Trail of Tears. Now, in a region where the community relies on the Kiamichi’s ecosystem for subsistence, taking the water out of the watershed could mean yet another relocation. The narrative arc follows the river as its main character—witnessing the ebb and flow of its life-giving ability through the seasons, and the detrimental impact caused by damming and development projects. The director, Colleen, explores the effects of her grandfather’s work designing dams for the Army Corps of Engineers, her tribe’s ongoing struggles with resource exploitation, and how it shapes her reconciliation of the past with the present. Interwoven are the stories of the river’s advocates—residents, Choctaw culture-keepers, and  scientists— who have come together to save the river and initiate a paradigm shift grounded in ideals of re-matriation and the Rights of Nature, reinforcing a commitment to end the cycle of disconnection from our land. Director Colleen Thurston stops to talk about the importance of water, local control of vital resources, and our primal connection to land and our shared history.

For more go to: drownedland.com

For screenings go to: drownedland.com/events

Request a screening: drownedland.com

About the filmmaker – Colleen Thurston is a documentary storyteller, producer and film curator from Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has created non-fiction film and videos for the Smithsonian Channel, Vox, and museums, public television, and federal and tribal organizations. Her work has screened at international film festivals and broadcast nationwide. Grounding her practice in place-based narratives, her films intertwine Indigenous world views and center exploratory artistic approaches. In 2025 Colleen is premiering her first feature documentary, DROWNED LAND, which examines the cycle of displacement as it is related to resource extraction in her tribe, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Colleen is a current Tulsa Artist Fellow and an International Documentary Association Fellow

FEATURED KIAMACHI RIVER ADVOCATES

Dr. Ken Roberts – Local landowner on Kiamichi, Chairperson for the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Tulsa. President of the Kiamichi River Legacy Alliance.

Sandy Stroud (Choctaw) – Community based researcher with the Choctaw Nation, culture keeper, a self identified “voice of the River”.

Lauren Haygood – PhD candidate in Geosciences at Oklahoma State University, with research focused on paleoenvironmental reconstructions of Quaternary marine sediments and a background in metal biogeochemistry of river environments

Betty & Joe Brown – Long-time Sardis residents who maintain the cemetery. They lost their land and recollect their neighbors similar fates.

Charlotte Robbins Leonard (Choctaw) – is a Kiamichi River basin landowner and water protector for the river. She advocates for food sustainability and sovereignty through the wild foods and plants she grows and harvests along the river.

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In remembrance of Sacha Jenkins

LOUIS ARMSTRONG’S BLACK & BLUES offers an intimate and revealing look at the world-changing musician, presented through a lens of archival footage and never-before-heard home recordings and personal conversations. This definitive documentary, directed by Sacha Jenkins, honors Armstrong’s legacy as a founding father of jazz, one of the first internationally known and beloved stars, and a cultural ambassador of the United States. LOUIS ARMSTRONG’S BLACK & BLUES shows how Armstrong’s own life spans the shift from the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement, and how he became a lightning rod figure in that turbulent era. LOUIS ARMSTRONG’S BLACK & BLUES is a project of Imagine Documentaries and Polygram Entertainment with a production team that includes Sara Bernstein, Justin Wilkes, Michele Anthony, Brian Grazer, and Ron Howard. Director and producer Sacha Jenkins joins us for a conversation on the profound impact that Louis Armstrong has had on American music, specifically jazz, his multi- hyphenated career as a singer, trumpeter, actor,  bandleader, artist, ambassador of American culture, his life-long partnership with his wife, Lil, and how important it was for Jenkins to re-set the perception of this humble man with a thorough recounting of his personal, professional and musical life.

Film School Radio

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To watch go to: apple.com/louis-armstrongs-black-blues

About the filmmaker – Sacha Jenkins was born in Philadelphia, in 1971. Jenkins was seven years old when his parents separated. His father, Horace Byrd Jenkins III—an Emmy Award winner for his work as an original producer on Sesame Street—moved to Harlem shortly thereafter, while Jenkins, his mother, Monart, and his sister ended up in Astoria, Queens. While still in high school, he borrowed money from his mother to create the graffiti zine Graphic Scenes & X-plicit Language,  and, in 1992, Jenkins and his childhood friend Haji Akhigbade created Beat-Down, widely considered to be the the first hip-hop newspaper. Two years later, Jenkins teamed up with former  Beat-Down music editor and TV producer Elliott Wilson to found the seminal hip-hop and skateboarding magazine Ego Trip. Other members of the editorial team included Jeff “Chairman” Mao, Brent Rollins, and Gabe Alvarez. Though it published for only 13 issues, the self-proclaimed “arrogant voice of musical truth” had an outsized influence on rap culture throughout the 1990s and 2000s, eventually yielding the books Ego Trip’s Book of Rap Lists and Ego Trip’s Big Book of Racism! The Ego Trip team also went on to produce several TV shows for VH1, including Miss Rap Supreme and Ego Trip’s the (White) Rapper Show. Jenkins was the music editor of Vibe from 1997 to 2000, wrote for Spin and Rolling Stone, and co-authored Eminem’s autobiography The Way I Am. His later career, however, was largely defined by his directorial efforts, among them the films Word Is Bond and Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues and the documentary series  Rapture and Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men, the latter of which earned him an Emmy nomination. Until his death, Jenkins served as the creative director of Mass Appeal, a brand he’d helped to relaunch after becoming a partner at Decon in 2012.

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100% on RottenTomatoes

“Like one of Armstrong’s great solos, it feels packed with dynamics, sprinkled with astonishing high notes, and immensely pleasurable.” – Leslie Felperin, Guardian

“With all that’s been said, reported and written about Louis Armstrong over the decades, it’s shocking how eye and ear-opening Sacha Jenkins’ new documentary about him is.” – Roger Moore, Movie Nation

“Sacha Jenkins eloquently shares the story of a legend that we barely knew as a musician or a man. Louis Armstrong blazed a trail in jazz, but had a side that will surprise, elate and leave audiences with a different kind of respect for his legacy” – Carla Renata, The Curvy Film Critic

“Jenkins is undaunted by the complexity of his subject, plunging ahead with swagger and not worrying if we have unanswered questions at the end.” – John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter

“With this tuneful, tender documentary, director Sacha Jenkins convincingly makes the case that there was no more significant music figure in the entire 20th century than Louis Armstrong.” – Bill Newcott, Movies For The Rest Of Us

DUSTY AND STONES intimately chronicles the remarkable ride of cousins Gazi “Dusty” Simelane and Linda “Stones” Msibi, a determined duo of struggling country singers from the tiny African Kingdom of Swaziland* who long for their big break. When they are unexpectedly invited to record their songs in Nashville and compete in a Texas battle of the bands, Dusty and Stones embark on their long-awaited first pilgrimage to the ancestral heart of country music. Over a momentous ten-day road trip through the American South, Dusty and Stones bring their music to life in a top Nashville recording studio, explore the storied locales of their favorite country songs, and excitedly engage with the culture they’ve long felt part of from afar. But this sense of kinship is abruptly thrown into question when they arrive in the small town of Jefferson, Texas to compete in the battle of the bands. There, the hostile leader of the local backing band threatens to derail the cousins’ debut American performance. As their family and friends back home wait for good news, a shell-shocked Dusty and Stones must take the stage and fight to bring home an award for Swaziland, now known as Kingdom of Eswatini. Director Jesse Rudoy stops by to talk about how he discovered Dusty and Stones on Facebook, when he decided to embark on this remarkable journey that has lasted over four years, getting to know these two cousins, and seeing how their talent, following and legacy continues to grow in the Kingdom of Eswatini and around the world.

Film School Radio

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For more go to: dustyandstonesfilm.com

The award-winning documentary Dusty and Stones is now available on Amazon & Apple TV!

Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature – Atlanta Film Festival

Jury Award for Best Director – RiverRun International Film Festival

Jury Award for Best Debut Feature – Florida Film Festival

Audience Award for Best Documentary – San Luis Obispo International Film

Festival Jury Award for Best Feature – Thin Line Festival

About the filmmaker – Jesse Rudoy is a filmmaker, musician, and born-again country fan based in New York City. He was most recently an editor on Season 2 of HBO’s The Jinx. Jesse has composed original music for brands like Adidas and National Geographic and released music on the record label Let’s Play House. His work has been supported by HBO, the Gotham Film & Media Institute, Film Independent, and Durban FilmMart. Dusty & Stones is his first film.

About the filmmaker – Melissa O. Adeyemo is a Nigerian-American producer and the founder of Ominira Studios, a New York-based production company. Her first feature, Eyimofe, premiered at the 2020 Berlinale, has shown at over 20+ festivals, and was acquired by Janus Films. It is currently a part of the Criterion Collection, where Melissa is the first-ever African female producer to be featured in her own standalone spotlight interview. Eyimofe was nominated for an NAACP Award and won five African Movie Academy Awards. Dusty & Stones is her first documentary feature film. Melissa started her filmmaking career with Spike Lee’s Inside Man and Steven Spielberg’s Munich.

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Reviews:

“An often captivating crowd-pleaser that weaves contemporary politics in its backdrop…a character study rife with terrific music and presence.” – The Film Stage

“A wondrous ten-day road trip through the American south.” – DOC NYC

“One of the most compelling and joyful music documentaries of the year.” – Living Life Fearless

“A triumph of musical storytelling.” – Sonic Cinema

Co-directors Peter Yost & Michael Rohatyn’s DROP DEAD CITY is the first-ever feature documentary devoted to the NYC Fiscal  Crisis of 1975, an extraordinary, overlooked episode in urban American history that saw an already crumbling city of eight million people brought to the edge of bankruptcy and social chaos by a perfect storm of debt, greed, ambitious social policy and poor governance. Named after the famous New York Daily News headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead,” Drop Dead City overturns present day assumptions about politics and compromise, showing what bitter rivals achieved through shared sacrifice. It stands as a cautionary tale to every city facing post-Covid challenges of plunging revenue and ever-greater public service obligations. Built entirely of 16mm archival footage, it features present day interviews with people who were “in the room,” in an immersive, ticking-clock drama, by following a year in the life and near-death of this iconic city. It examines the origins of the crisis and documents the increasingly desperate clashes of stakeholders – unions, banks, local, state and federal governments, and average citizens  – as, together, they slide ever nearer to the unthinkable – bankruptcy.  Co-directors Peter Yost & Michael Rohatyn join us to talk about their personal connection to the financial crisis and finding many of the key people who worked to get New York City back on solid financial footing, gathering together an amazing array of archival material and the satisfaction of telling a very complex story in a way that illuminates the recent past while putting forward a noteworthy perspective on our own future.

For more go to: dropdeadcitythemovie.com

Drop Dead City directors Michael Rohatyn and Peter Yost will participate in Q&A’s after the evening screenings on May 22 at the NoHo and May 23 and 24 at the Monica Film Center.

About the filmmaker – produced/directed dozens of high-end documentary projects for leading broadcasters and streamers through his company, Pangloss Films. Peter recently produced and directed the acclaimed, nationally broadcast 4-part series for WGBH / PBS Mysteries of Mental Illness about the history of psychiatry. Past projects include Inside North Korea and The Color Of Oil (both Emmy nominated); and Solitary Confinement, which led to prison reforms in Colorado and elsewhere. He has also produced seven films for PBS/NOVA, including Infinite Universe Revealed and Rise of the Drones, and more than a dozen films for National Geographic’s “Specials” unit. 

About the filmmaker – Producer/Director Michael Rohatyn is a screenwriter and musician who has worked in features and documentaries such as Forty Shades of Blue (dir. Ira Sachs) and Maggie’s Plan (dir. Rebecca Miller). He scored the Emmy-nominated doc Arthur Miller: Writer for HBO. As a boy in 1975, Michael had a front row seat to many of the dramas that are featured in DROP DEAD CITY, and knew many of the players personally. Felix Rohatyn, chairman of MAC, was his father.

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100% on RottenTomatoes

“An extraordinary historical documentary. The delight of “Drop Dead City” is that it’s a symphony of voices, past and present. Tells an enormously complex story… with a deft touch and a brisk sense of wonder.” – Richard Brody, The New Yorker

“An evenhanded account of how things got so bad, who was to blame, and what New York inevitably lost in the process.” – Alissa Wilkerson,  The New York Times

“The footage from the period paints a vivid depiction of the era; how people dressed, talked and interacted (the music choices on the soundtrack enhance this portraiture) as the filmmakers effectively show how the complexity of NYC led to financial chaos.” – Joseph Neff, Spectrum Culture

“The archival footage is splendid…The filmmakers also convey, crisply and succinctly, what exactly made the city so expensive to maintain.” – Jason Bailey, RogerEbert

“Drop Dead City succeeds superbly… Entertaining and unexpectedly poignant.” – Chris Barsanti, Pop Matters

“Gripping. “Drop Dead City” charts how those pivotal months of 1975 unfolded like a thriller. A fascinating glimpse into how New York City’s financial crisis revealed a crack in the liberal dream.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

“Despite its focus on events 50 years ago, the film raises striking parallels with the present. The 103-minute film is a visual delight for anyone who enjoys footage of vintage New York City…Set to a funk and soul soundtrack that would make Quentin Tarantino’s music supervisor bow in respect.” – WNYC / Gothamist

In director Eli Craig’s (Tucker and Dale vs Evil) latest twisted tale, Quinn and her father have just moved to the quiet town of Kettle Springs hoping for a fresh start. Instead, she discovers a fractured community that has fallen on hard times after the treasured Baypen Corn Syrup Factory burned down. As the locals bicker amongst themselves and tensions boil over, a sinister, grinning figure emerges from the cornfields to cleanse the town of its burdens, one bloody victim at a time. Welcome to Kettle Springs. The real fun starts when Frendo the clown comes out to play. Based on Adam Cesare’s fast paced novel the script Craig leans into the subtext of a country staring into the abyss of a generational divide that much of the country, if not the world, faces today. Frendo the clown, in happier times, was a beloved company mascot but now he has morphed into a symbol embodying all the embitterment, spite and aggrievement— those emotions that conflate violence with justice— of those left behind. Director and co-screenwriter Eli Craig joins \us to talk about gathering together a terrific cast of upcoming and veteran actors, led by Katie Douglas, Carson MacCormac and Will Sasso, that bring to life a fevered tale where rural Gen Z are humanized; both rebellious and flawed but also forward thinking and hopeful. 

For more go to: clowninacornfield.com

About the filmmaker – Eli Craig is an American/Canadian director, writer, and actor who was the director and co-writer for CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD. He is previously known for writing and directing the horror-comedy cult classic, Tucker and Dale vs Evil, The Netflix Adam Scott & Evangeline Lilly comedy Little Evil and the award winning comedy short, The Tao of Pong. Before moving towards writing and directing, he acted in several feature films such as: Space Cowboys, Carrie II: The Rage, and Deal of a Lifetime. He also worked for many years as an Outward Bound instructor and a mountain guide. He currently lives in North Vancouver, Canada with his wife, actor and ex-power-ranger Sasha Craig, his two children, Noah and Colin, and his dog Fluffy. 

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75% on RottenTomatoes

“One of the biggest surprises of 2025. This throwback slasher re-lives the fun of the early 2000 entrants into the genre while somehow managing to produce a few laughs along the way as well.” – David Griffiths, Subculture Entertainment

“[It’s] a love letter to the slashers of the late ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, invoking the mood of Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Scream. But while those slashers were for adults about teens, Clown in a Cornfield has a YA heart and tone for a new audience.” – Sara Clements, Peliplat

“Clown in a Cornfield is the rare slasher movie with meta-commentary and humor that actually feels fresh. The gnarly kills are a sweet bonus, enough to guarantee a new following for Frendo among horror fans.” – James Preston Poole, Discussing Film

“Craig is so in command of the movie’s tone that he can have a character say, “It’s like we’re stuck in some awful ’80s slasher movie,” without diminishing the genuine terror of clowns in cornfields.” – Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

“Douglas makes Quinn an intriguing Final Girl; she’s quite good, smart and tough. Like everything else in the movie, there is an obvious self-awareness and a meta quality to how she and the other teens navigate the horror.” – Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

Loosely based on Iair Said’s real-life experiences when his own father died, MOST PEOPLE DIE ON SUNDAYS is the story David (Iair Said), a young middle-class Jewish man–corpulent, homosexual and afraid of flying–returns to Buenos Aires from Europe for the funeral of his uncle. On his return, David learns that his mother has decided to disconnect his father’s respirator, the only thing that has kept him alive for years. David will oscillate between living in close quarters with his mother, alienated by the pain of the imminent loss of her husband, and a voracity to fill his existential anguish, occupying his hours learning to drive, seeking low-cost medical  treatments, and trying to have sex with any man who shows him a little attention. Circumstances do little to help David mature until he is finally forced to face his father’s mortality head-on and begin thinking about the future in concrete terms. Deftly wielding both pathos and humor, writer / director Iair Said starts from the question: What is the price that those of us who are left have to pay when a loved one dies? In addition to writing and directing, Iair Said also stars as David. He joins us to talk about the insiration for the film and how he went about assembling a stellar cast that includes; legendary Latin American stage and screen actor Rita Cortese (“Wild Tales,” “Herencia”), famous Argentine singer Juliana Gattas and Pablo Larrain favorite Antonia Zegers (“The Club,” The Punishment”).

For more go to: bigworldpictures.org/mostpeopledieonsundays

Opening in New York and Los Angeles

Opens 5/2/25 Quad Cinema, New York, NY – Theatrical Premiere!

Opens 5/9/25 Laemmle Royal, West L.A., CA

Opens 5/9/25 Laemmle Town Center, Encino, CA

About the filmmaker – Director, writer Iair Said graduated as a scriptwriter at Patricio Vega’s school. His first short film, “9 vacunas,” won the BAFICI (2013) and the “Black PearlAward” for best short film at Abu Dhabi Film Festival (2012), having participated in more than 30 festivals. His second short film, “Imperfect Present,” was selected in the official competition at the Cannes Film Festival 2015 and at BAFICI, among other festivals. His first feature-length film, “Flora’s life is no picnic,” was shown for 9 months at the MALBA Museum, Buenos Aires.

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83% on RottenTomatoes

“A marvel, chaotic, sweet and sour, emotional and purely detailed…” – Spanglish Cinema

“It’s a slight but fast-moving mixture of reality, regret and the absurdity of life: it is unexpectedly moving and funny at the same time.” – Alexa Dalby, Dog and Wolf

“But this work by Said, as sensitive as it is intimate, focuses on overcoming conflicts and accepting identity, individually and collectively, with infinite tenderness.” – Pablo De Vita, La Nación 

“Brings this somewhat mournful portrait to a quietly moving grace note suggesting the silver lining of loss is a motivational reminder to the living.” – Ioncinema

“A tender tribute to the misfits, to those who, from their peripheral and marginal position, see the world better than the winners.”– Troiscouleurs 

Director Peter McDowell’s emotionally gripping journey, JIMMY IN SAIGON takes us right into the heart begins of his personal exploration into the mysterious death and radical life of his brother, Jimmy McDowell, an American 24-year-old Vietnam veteran who died as a civilian in Saigon in 1972, when the filmmaker was only five years old. While  investigating Jimmy’s drug use and sexuality, Peter takes us from the US Midwest to Vietnam, France and back home again. In his quest to get to know his brother, he uncovers a hidden romance, new family ties and a remarkable global love story. Jimmy’s rejection of his family’s traditional Midwestern values coupled with his death, created deep trauma within the lives of his surviving family. Peter begins filming relatives and friends who knew Jimmy, hoping to put Jimmy’s memory to rest. While getting to know Jimmy through countless interviews and hundreds of his letters, Peter travels to Saigon hoping to meet members of the Vietnamese  family Jimmy lived with — the Trần family — specifically the two eldest siblings, Luyến and Dũng, who knew Jimmy best during the last year of his life. Director and brother Peter McDowell joins us to talk about his own journey of discovery and reconciliation with the death of Jimmy,  the emotional state of the McDowell family and working with Executive Producer San Savage.

For more go to: jimmyinsaigon.com

About the filmmaker – Director, Producer and subject Peter McDowell’s storytelling reflects his training as an actor, musician, curator and producer, stemming from a childhood surrounded by opera and the arts. Previous films, including the acclaimed I Dream of Dorothy, have been shown at festivals around the world. A recipient of the highly competitive DeVos Institute for Arts Management International Fellowship at the University of Maryland, Peter also received a Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events Individual Artists Program grant and a California Humanities Council grant for Jimmy in Saigon. Peter lived in San Francisco from 1992-1996 and 2010-2011. He worked for the San Francisco Opera and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, where he was part of the inaugural staff. Two of Peter’s short films played at the Frameline Film Festival, in 1994 and 1995. Peter is the founder of Peter McDowell Arts Consulting and recently served as the Director of Development for American Friends of the Louvre. He currently resides in Los Angeles. 

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89% on Rotten Tomatoes

“Confronting a veil of sadness that he’s always felt in his family, filmmaker Peter McDowell documents his impressive investigation to discover the facts about the big brother he barely knew.” – Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

“a poetic documentary that exposes the secrets, lies, and taboo love that existed a half century ago, as well as the self-hatred and homophobia inherent in both the Vietnamese and American cultures.” – Frank J. Avella, Edge Media Network

“Deftly edited with an eye for detail, this is a personal story which reminds us that history is comprised not simply of great events but of human experiences.” – Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film

“Engrossing, heartfelt and gripping.” – Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru

“…McDowell takes viewers along the same discovery process he experienced …This approach works well, particularly for viewers too young to remember the 1970s…” –  Sarah Boslaugh, TheArtsStl

Co-directors Jay Arthur Sterrenberg & Kelly Anderson compelling and informative documentary EMERGENT CITY tales place over a decade, within the borders of a single Brooklyn community district, a microcosm of American democracy emerges. Residents of Sunset Park face a tangled web of rising rents, a legacy of environmental racism, and the loss of the industrial jobs that once sustained their community. When a global developer purchases Industry City — a massive industrial complex on the waterfront — and begins to transform it into an “innovation district,” a battle erupts over the future of the neighborhood and of New York City itself.  EMERGENT CITY is a meticulously crafted civic epic. It sheds light on power and process, illuminating systems and giving viewers a front-row seat to the public and private spaces where the city is shaped. With extraordinary access, it tracks an ensemble of participants, including the local council members, Industry City’s developers, and community members with divergent stakes. The film explores the profound intersections of gentrification, climate crisis, and real estate development and asks how change might emerge from dialogue and collective action in a world where too many outcomes are constrained by money, politics, and business as usual. Co-directors Jay Arthur Sterrenberg and Kelly Anderson join us to talk about their commitment, professional and personal to document a story that is playing out across America and much of the world regarding residential displacement in a world where massive hedge funds and corporate real estate projects take priority over the interests of the people live and work in local communities.

For more go to: emergentcitydoc.com

The theatrical premiere of directors Kelly Anderson (My Brooklyn, Chair of the Department of Film and Media Studies at Hunter College, CUNY) and Jay Arthur Sterrenberg (co-founder of the Meerkat Media Collective), Emergent City opens in U.S. theatres starting Friday, April 25^th (New York’s DCTV Firehouse Cinema) after world premiering at Tribeca Festival 2024 (Spotlight Documentary) and screening at DC/DOX and Big Sky Documentary Film Fest among other festivals.

About the filmmaker – Kelly Anderson is a Sunset Park based documentary filmmaker whose most recent film is Rabble Rousers: Frances Goldin and the Fight for Cooper Square (w. Ryan Joseph and Kathryn Barnier). Her 2012 film My Brooklyn, about the hidden forces driving gentrification, was broadcast on PBS’ America ReFramed. Kelly produced and directed Every Mother’s Son (PBS, 2004, w. Tami Gold), about mothers whose children were killed by police, which won the Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award and aired on POV. She also produced and directed Out At Work (HBO, 2000, w. Tami Gold), which premiered at Sundance and won a GLAAD Best Documentary award. From 2015-17 she co-chaired the cooperative distribution company New Day Films. Kelly is currently the Chair of the Department of Film and Media Studies at Hunter College (CUNY).

About the filmmaker – Jay Arthur Sterrenberg is a New York City based director, and editor. His documentary editing credits include Academy Award short-listed Dark Money (PBS, 2018), Emmy winning Trophy (CNN Films, 2018), Tribeca award-winning Untouchable (2016), Academy Award short-listed Netflix Original After Maria (2019) and the 2020 Netflix doc series Immigration Nation, which won a Peabody Award and Best New Documentary Series at the Independent Spirit Awards. Jay is a co-founder of the Sunset Park based Meerkat Media Collective. His short documentary Public Money (PBS, 2018) is an observed portrait of an experiment in participatory democracy in Sunset Park.

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100% on RottenTomatoes

“The best New York City-based documentary in a decade.” – Max Rivlin Nadler, Hell Gate

“An old-school documentary that tells a story by presenting and arranging information and expecting you to meet it halfway rather than having everything spoon-fed to you.”  Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com

“‘An absorbing study…you can see the architecture of how modern cities are designed and who they are made for.” – Stephen Saito, The Moveable Feast

“‘Emergent City is not a polemic, nor does it fall into the “all sides” trap of equivocation. It’s curious and patient, taking the time to understand its subject. It leaves enough wiggle room for the audience to make up its own mind, a kind of nonfiction Rorschach test to help us illuminate how we really think about everything from housing costs to climate change.” – Alan Zilberman, Washington City Paper

“A vividly thrilling story about democracy.”- Kathy Ou, Hyperallergic