New American Documentaries
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- DirectorMichael Rossato-BennettStarsDan CohenLouise DuenoNell HardieDan Cohen, founder of the nonprofit organization Music & Memory, fights against a broken healthcare system to demonstrate music's ability to combat memory loss and restore a deep sense of self to those suffering from it.
- DirectorCarolyn JonesStarsLafayette BallardStephen BloeslJason CrossTHE AMERICAN NURSE is a heart-warming film that explores some of the biggest issues facing America - aging, war, poverty, prisons - through the work and lives of nurses. It is an examination of real people that will change how we think about nurses and how we wrestle with the challenges of healing America. THE AMERICAN NURSE is an important contribution to America's ongoing conversation about what it means to care. The film follows the paths of five nurses in various practice specialties including Jason Short as he drives up a rugged creek to reach a home-bound cancer patient in Appalachia. Tonia Faust, who runs a prison hospice program where inmates serving life sentences care for their fellow inmates as they're dying. Naomi Cross, as she coaches an ovarian cancer survivor through the Caesarean delivery of her son. Sister Stephen, a nun who runs a nursing home filled with goats, sheep, llamas and chickens, where the entire nursing staff comes together to sing for a dying resident. And Brian McMillion, an Army veteran and former medic, rehabilitating wounded soldiers returning from war.
- DirectorCheryl FurjanicStarsDavid BoudiaJimmy CarterSergei ChalibashviliFeature-length documentary about the greatest diver of all time. Four-time Olympic champion Greg Louganis has faced more than his share of challenges. In 2011, he is far from the public eye and struggling to pay his mortgage. Now, the openly gay, HIV+ world-class athlete returns to diving to mentor the USA Olympic hopefuls. This may be his best chance to regain the notoriety -- and financial stability -- he enjoyed at the height of his career.
- DirectorMichael BarnettStarsVanessa HalbyPeter HalbyIla HalbyA group of men and women with disabilities come together to star in a unique new western film in which they have the leading roles.
- DirectorDavid B. MarshallBeginning With the End takes viewers on a profound, and profoundly moving, journey with a group of high school seniors working as trained hospice volunteers -- a story of beginnings and endings in a year of self-discovery and awakening.
- DirectorKelly CoxStarsSaid AlharbiCassidy WilliamsBig Dream follows the intimate stories of seven young women who are breaking barriers and overcoming personal challenges to follow their passion in science, math, computing & engineering.
- DirectorBen CotnerRyan WhiteStarsTed OlsonChristopher D. DusseaultJeffrey J. ZarrilloA behind-the-scenes look inside the case to overturn California's ban on same-sex marriage. Shot over five years, the film follows the unlikely team that took the first federal marriage equality lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court.
- DirectorCindy BursteinTony HerizaWhen men in a prison art class agree to collaborate with victims of crime to design a mural about healing, their views on punishment, remorse, and forgiveness collide. At times the divide seems too wide to bridge. But as the participants begin to work together, mistrust gives way to genuine moments of human contact and shared purpose. Their struggle to find creative common ground raises challenging questions about punishment, justice and reconciliation -- the insights gained are reflected in the art they produce.
- DirectorDarius Clark MonroeStarsDante E. ClarkRosalyn ColemanEllie FoumbiTens years after robbing a Bank of America, filmmaker Darius Monroe returns home to examine how his actions affected the lives of family, friends...and victims.
- DirectorAnne de MareKirsten KellyThree homeless teenagers brave Chicago winters, the pressures of high school, and life alone on the streets to build a brighter future.
- DirectorGalen KnowlesStarsTravis RiceRobbie ToussaintChase JoseySometimes the rockiest roads lead to the highest peaks.
- DirectorAlan HicksStarsClark TerryJustin KauflinQuincy JonesA documentary that follows jazz legend Clark Terry over four years to document the mentorship between Terry and 23-year-old blind piano prodigy Justin Kauflin as the young man prepares to compete in an elite, international competition.
- DirectorSandy SmolanStarsLexie ButlerLisa CoronadoMiles DewarWith the rapid emergence of digital devices, an unstoppable, invisible force is changing human lives in ways from the microscopic to the gargantuan: Big Data, a word that was barely used a few years ago but now governs the day for many of us from the moment we awaken to the extinguishing of the final late-evening light bulb. This massive gathering and analyzing of data in real time is allowing us to not only address some of humanity biggest challenges but is also helping create a new kind of planetary nervous system. Yet as Edward Snowden and the release of the Prism documents have shown, the accessibility of all these data comes at a steep price. The Human Face of Big Data captures the promise and peril of this extraordinary knowledge revolution.
- DirectorSebastian JungerStarsBrendan O'ByrneTwo journalists and two veterans examine war.
- DirectorJulianna BrannumStarsLaDonna HarrisBiographical documentary shining a spotlight on the leadership role Comanche LaDonna Harris has had in Native and American and international civil rights since the 1960s.
- DirectorJames RedfordPaper Tigers follows a year in the life of a high school that has radically changed it's approach to disciplining its students, becoming a model for how to break the cycles of poverty, violence and disease that affects families.
- DirectorDoug PrayStarsMark AlbrechtRick AlbrechtKathleen AndersonThe Story of Michael Heizer's Monolithic Sculpture.
- DirectorCynthia HillStarsKit GruelleDeanna WaltersStacy CoxOklahoma Cop Deanna was kidnapped by Robbie, her estranged husband, and beaten in the cab of his truck over a harrowing four-day journey. They were pulled over by police and she was taken to the hospital. In spite of Deanna's devastating injuries, Robbie was not arrested. Private Violence, a feature-length documentary, follows Deanna's journey as she rebuilds her life and fights to place Robbie behind bars. Accompanying Deanna is Kit Gruelle, a domestic violence victim turned advocate who navigates the complex world of domestic violence courts, shelters, and law enforcement.
- DirectorLacey Schwartz DelgadoJames AdolphusStarsLacey Schwartz DelgadoSarah BrokawBruce CorwinA film about denial, race, family secrets and a search for identity.
- DirectorSandy McLeodChad ChamberlainSEEDS OF TIME follows agriculture pioneer Cary Fowler's global journey to save the eroding foundation of our food supply in a new era of climate change.
- DirectorJesse MossStarsJay ReinkeAndrea ReinkeAlan MezoBroken, desperate men chase their dreams and run from their demons in the North Dakota oil fields. A local Pastor risks everything to help them.
- DirectorPaul LazarusStarsDean KamenSlingShot focuses on noted Segway inventor Dean Kamen and his work to solve the world's water crisis. An eccentric genius with a provocative world view, Kamen is an inspiration for future scientists. His inventions help people in need and ease suffering. SlingShot is about an indomitable man who just might have enough passion and innovative thinking to create a solution for a crisis affecting billions. Kamen lives in a house with secret passages, a closet full of denim and a helicopter garage. His latest passion: the SlingShot water purification system created to obliterate half of human illness on the planet. Kamen reminisces about improving home dialysis technology and choosing to forgo parenthood while lamenting he has only one lifetime for inventing. SlingShot is both an inspirational character study and a look at Kamen's vapor compression distiller from its earliest development through recent trials in rural Ghana and beyond.
- DirectorLuis LopezClay TweelStarsChris AndersonBruce BradshawCraig BroadyFollows the people racing to bring the hot new 3D printing technology to your home, documenting the "Macintosh Moment" of this revolution and exploring what it takes to live the American Dream.
- DirectorSara NewensMina T. SonStarsAriel HsingMichael LandersLily ZhangThree teenagers' quest to qualify for the 2012 US Olympic table tennis team.
- DirectorJeff ReichertFarihah ZamanStarsStan BrockA documentary on the annual three-day "pop-up" medical clinic organized by the non-profit Remote Area Medical (RAM) in Bristol, Tennessee's NASCAR speedway.
- DirectorS. David WashburnA documentary film about a farming community, an unprecedented crime, and the determination to build a place of worship.
- DirectorMary DoreStarsChude Pamela AllenAltaJudith ArcanaA documentary that resurrects the buried history of the outrageous, often brilliant women who founded the modern women's movement from 1966 to 1971.
- DirectorSean AddoStarsSean AddoBriana AugustSonjah AugustA Ghanaian American filmmaker looks to bridge the divide between his African pedigree and American birthright by confronting the question: "Who am I, and where do I belong?"
- 20141h 30m7.2 (189)64MetascoreDirectorThomas Allen HarrisStarsArthé AnthonyAnthony BarbozaHugh BellA film that explores how African American communities have used the camera as a tool for social change from the invention of photography to the present. This epic tale poetically moves between the present and the past, through contemporary photographers and artists whose images and stories seek to reconcile legacies of pride and shame while giving voice to images long suppressed, forgotten, and hidden from sight.
- DirectorLinda G. MillsStarsKhalid LatifYehuda SarnaSet against the dramatic backdrop of 9/11, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the tension between Jewish and Muslim students on college campuses, Of Many focuses on the surprising and transformative relationship between an orthodox rabbi and imam, who serve as university chaplains in New York City. Through a series of voyages to communities struck by catastrophe, we witness young religious Jews and Muslims working together and overcoming long-standing divides. Timely and funny, this short documentary offers an inspiring and hopeful narrative of friendship and cooperation between faiths.
- DirectorJudd EhrlichStarsDontae AngusEd DunnSalvatore HendersonGermantown and Martin Luther King High Schools were bitter rivals for over 40 years. This past year, a budget crisis caused Philadelphia to lay off over 4000 employees and close two dozen schools, including Germantown High. Now Germantown must merge with their former rival, King. Against overwhelming odds, a 27-year old first time head coach and a new principal fight to inspire young men from difficult circumstances to come together and lift each other toward a better future.
- DirectorIrene TaylorCamp that encourages children who lost close family members to open up about their feelings.
- DirectorBob HerculesGordon QuinnStarsNana AmoahBill T. JonesLindsay JonesA Good Man follows acclaimed director/choreographer Bill T. Jones for two tumultuous years, as he tackles the most ambitious work of his career, an original dance-theater piece in honor of Abraham Lincoln's Bicentennial.
- DirectorJaime EkkensStarsEmmett GoodmanEmmett Goodman'A Live with Aspberger's' is an animated documentary that explores the challengers of growing up and living with Asperger's Syndrome. It is a voice over narrative that demonstrates that Asperger's is not simply 'being a little awkward', rather it is about adapting to one's limitations in the face of anxiety and isolation. The technique is a collage of photography, rotoscope, animated characters and live action footage.
- DirectorZachary MaxwellStarsZachary MaxwellLucas MaxwellWhen his school remains open during a winter storm, an ambitious young documentary filmmaker searches for answers from the adults calling the shots.
- DirectorJeff DupreStarsKehinde WileyFamous for his vibrant reinterpretations of classical portraits featuring African-American men, New York-based painter Kehinde Wiley has turned the practice of portraiture on its head and in the process has taken the art world by storm. Kehinde Wiley: An Economy of Grace follows the artist as he steps out of his comfort zone to create a series of paintings of women for the first time. Kehinde casts his models on the streets of New York and then enlists Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy to create couture gowns for each woman. The film traces the artist's process from concept to canvas as he reveals to us another side of black femininity.
- DirectorMike RauchTim RauchBlanca Alvarez and her husband risked crossing the border to immigrate into the U.S. and then struggled to make ends meet. They hoped to shelter their children from these harsh realities, but Blanca's daughter Connie reveals how much children can really see of their parent's lives -- and the inspiration they draw from their struggles.
- DirectorJoanna RudnickStarsRick GuidottiSarah KanneyNadia MerchantON BEAUTY follows fashion photographer Rick Guidotti, who left the fashion world when he grew frustrated with having to work within the restrictive parameters of the industry's standard of beauty.
- DirectorMike RauchTim RauchCarl McNair tells the story of his brother Ronald, an African American kid in the 1950s who set his sights on the stars.
- DirectorHeidi BergDoron DorStarsJazz DimetLenny DimetLost and alone in a crowded market, young Jazz follows a look-alike into the reflective layers of her dream. As she gets closer, she begins to wonder whether she's chasing another girl - or herself.