Yusef, a first-generation Pakistani engineering student, moves off-campus with a group of Muslim punks in Buffalo, New York. His new “unorthodox” housemates soon introduce him to Taqwacore - a hardcore, Muslim punk rock scene that only exists on the West Coast. As the seasons change, Taqwacore influences the house more and more. The living room becomes a mosque during the day, while it continues …

Shirley Adams spends her days caring for her disabled son, Donovan - he was shot in the back of the neck on his way home from school one afternoon over a year ago. Since then the Adams family has lost all their worldly possessions to medical bills. Shirley has no money, no job and no husband - he left without a trace months ago. Shirley’s life now consists of trying to make ends meet by shoplifting …

Janet Mino has taught her class of students with autism for four years. When they graduate in spring 2012, they will leave the security of the public school system forever. Best Kept Secret follows them the year before graduation. The clock is ticking to find them a place in the adult world, so they do not end up where their predecessors have, sitting at home, institutionalized, or on the streets.

DEPROGRAMMED chronicles Ted ‘Black Lightning’ Patrick’s anti-cult crusade. His practice of ‘deprogramming’, also known as reverse brainwashing, started in the early 1970s and quickly snowballed into a vast underground movement composed of concerned parents, ex-cultist-turned-deprogrammers and some sympathetic law-enforcers whose mission was to physically and mentally remove individuals from …

These days, sex doesn't just sell, it saturates our culture. In the age of runaway social media and "sexting," raunchy rap songs on pop radio and hardcore pornography at the click of a mouse—what's it like to be a woman? A girl? A teenage boy? Their parents? In this feature documentary, the directors follow a trio of characters to reveal the toll all this titillation is taking on America and forces …

From Kim A. Snyder, director of the Peabody Award-winning documentary Newtown, comes an insightful, rousing coming-of-age story of a generation of youth leaders determined to take the reins and fight for justice at a most critical time in our nation’s history. Sparked by the plague of gun violence ravaging schools, US KIDS offers unprecedented access to the March For Our Lives movement, following …

As I Open My Eyes gives us a look at Tunisian youth on the eve of the Jasmine Revolution as they are pulled in all directions by conflicting forces: disenchantment, fear, creativity, rebellion against dictatorship, rejection of conservatism, and the courage to pursue their desires. Farah (Baya Medhaffar) is a young woman at a crossroads. Her medical-school application has just been accepted, and nothing …

The story of five unfinished films from the Communist era in Afghanistan, and the people who went to crazy lengths to make them - bringing together newly rediscovered and restored footage with new footage shot in the same locations, and stories from behind the scenes, as told by the directors, actors and crew who were there.

50 Years of Fabulous recounts the rich history of the Imperial Council, the oldest LGBT charity organization in the world. Founded in San Francisco by renowned activist, drag queen and performer Jose Sarria (the first openly gay man to run for political office), the Council has helped shape LGBTQ+ life and social history in San Francisco and beyond throughout the last five decades.  From its genesis …

Unearthing a treasure trove of archival footage, filmmakers Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine have fashioned a dazzlingly entrancing ode to the revolutionary twentieth-century dance troupe known as the Ballets Russes. What began as a group of Russian refugees who never danced in Russia became not one but two rival dance troupes who fought the infamous “ballet battles” that consumed London society …

13-year-old Rodrigo is a solitary teenager who finds solace in his intimate relationship with his mother, Valeria. She is his best friend, his protector, and his entire world. When her new boyfriend comes to live in their small house on the outskirts of Mexico City, however, Rodrigo nds his domain completely disrupted. He must decide if he should accept his new family or fight back and hurt the person … More

One of the most acclaimed debuts of recent years, and winner of the FIPRESCI Prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, Bogdan Mirică’s Dogs is a haunting and gruesome Western. When a man returns home to sell his grandfather's' land, he runs afoul of a local crime lord and his men.

As we float through the streets of Lesotho, following a cross-bearing woman and an omnipresent figure wearing wings, a tumultuous history of sorrow and suffering between the motherland and its people unravels. The through line of symbolism pairs with the reading of a raw and affecting letter lamenting the loss of a home once known, in which every line is more acerbic than the last.

In Eagle Pass, Texas, where the U.S. and Mexico meet along the Rio Grande, a cattleman and the mayor face the dawn of a new reality. In the matter of a few turbulent months, the specter of cartel violence begins to loom from upriver, leading to an indefinite border closure and its rippling consequences on the homefront. Martín Wall’s livelihood depends on bringing cattle across the border to market, … More

It’s been 75 years since the start of the Atomic Age, with the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing hundreds of thousands of civilians, but its trail of destruction has never ended. Dark Circle covers both the period’s beginnings and its aftermath, providing a scientific primer on the catastrophic power of nuclear energy while also relating tragic human stories detailing the … More

The insect apocalypse is here. For decades, scientists have recorded plummeting insect numbers around the world. And when insects go, so do large swathes of complex ecosystems: bird populations decline, fish vanish, and humans feel the effects. It is the worst mass extinction event in millions of years.  Shot in Europe, Japan, and the United States, INSECTICIDES: A LICENSE TO KILL makes a powerful … More

For years, Sonia Warshawski (92) has been an inspirational public speaker at schools and prisons, where her stories of surviving the Holocaust as a teenager have inspired countless people who once felt their own traumas would leave them broken forever. But when Sonia is served an eviction notice for her iconic tailor shop (in a dead mall), she's confronted with an agonizing decision: either open up … More

A kaleidoscopic portrait of Shelly Brown, an urban misfit recently released from a psychiatric hospital. The film is an evocative picture of a contemporary rebel and gives pathos to the frenzy of the youthful desire for acceptance.

Lynn Shelton's debut feature draws on her past as a stage actress but WE GO WAY BACK is no autobiographical drama. Kate (Amber Hubert) is a struggling actress who has given up her happiness and her sense of self for her career. That is until she finds a stash of letters written when she was a thirteen year old girl full of confidence and creativity and ambition. Plunged into depression, her younger … More

Queer Genius explores the remarkable lives and work of five queer female artists: Barbara Hammer, Eileen Myles, Black Quantum Futurism, Moor Mother, and Dynasty Handbag / Jibz Cameron. Deep, affectionate and intimate portraits resonate across generations as these critically acclaimed and notoriously radical artists overcome personal and political obstacles to find new ways to live, and share their … More