STREET SMART: Lessons from a TV Icon

STREET SMART: LESSONS FROM A TV ICON is a feature documentary about Sonia Manzano — known to millions as “Maria” from SESAME STREET. The film follows Sonia’s remarkable journey, from a young girl in the South Bronx finding refuge in television, to becoming the first Latina on American TV in a regular role, through 44 years on screen on SESAME STREET, and now as a creator of ALMA'S WAY. Featuring interviews with luminaries, original animation, and scripted scenes that blend humor and heart, this inspirational documentary invites viewers to learn once again from this beloved icon.

Ashadh Ka Ek Din

A literary film based on a play in three acts, Ashad Ka Ek Din portrays the love of Mallika and Kalidasa, the renowned Sanskrit poet and dramatist. Vilom, a friend to both and interested in Mallika, is a passive onlooker for the first two acts. Kalidasa leaves his verdant mountain valley home for the splendour of far off Ujjain, where he wins fame. The action of the film is rooted in the village to which Kalidasa returns years later and finds Mallika married to Vilom and the mother of his child. Mallika sacrificed her love so that the poet could pursue his muse.

Viva

A clandestine operation for freedom faces collapse when a shocking betrayal ignites a fiery confrontation between two key revolutionaries on the morning of their planned uprising.

Pasajera

The Generators

Set in a time of extreme energy poverty, one man struggles to support his ailing husband. A story of humanity set against a future we can change.

Walter

The grief of a newly widowed man is disrupted when the harassment of local youths pushes him to seek justice.

When He Comes Back

In Seattle, a young immigrant faces love, loyalty, and identity dilemmas. A weekend retreat meant for introspection turns eerie, forcing her to address her future against a backdrop of trauma and cultural dislocation.

Sound of Sun

The discovery of self-awareness in a twisting venture between dreams and reality. (The first piece of the director's Transformational Trilogy)

Trade Center

The voices of five gay men who cruised for sex at the World Trade Center in the 1980s and 1990s haunt the sanitized, commerce-driven landscape that is the newly rebuilt Freedom Tower campus.

Espectro

Meus Sentimentos

During a man’s funeral, his mother, his wife, and his daughter gather to pay tribute to his memory. When they realize that none of them actually wrote the speech, a discussion arises, marked by old tensions and words that say more than they intend.

Lee's Adventures

A video game nerd must beat through the game in order to time travel and meet his ex-girlfriend once more before they were apart.

Something Pointless

When an unhappy young boy discovers an older man quietly affixing painted eggshells to a disused wall in their neighbourhood, he begins to understand how even the smallest, strangest acts can leave behind something lasting.

An American Rhapsody

A Hungarian family forced to flee the Communist country for the United States must leave a young daughter behind. Six years later, the family arranges to bring the absent daughter to the United States where she has trouble adjusting. The daughter then decides to travel to Budapest to discover her identity.

tint

Lance can't seem to shake an awkward encounter after a stranger touches his hair.

Sand Castle

Faced with obstacles big and small, some out of her control, a young girl builds a sand castle.

Rituals

A husband and wife recall an event when their love was tested amid Punjabi pre-wedding customs, as their family continued to create a scene due to cultural and racial differences, which persisted despite the customs.

Bobby and the Magical Forest

Oded, a 17-year-old boy suffering from loneliness and trauma, lives with his brother Amit in the city of Sderot. After a news report about a monster desecrating graves, the two set out into the forest to check on the grave of their beloved dog, Bobby. What begins as a mysterious adventure quickly becomes a psychological journey, as Oded is torn between fear, memories, and illusion. As the journey deepens, reality starts to unravel.

It's My Party

Nick, a gay, HIV-positive architect, begins to display severe symptoms of AIDS and makes preparations to kill himself before he is unable to function normally. He arranges a party to reconnect and say goodbye to his closest friends and his confused parents. But when his ex-partner, Brandon, a television director who left Nick when he was diagnosed with HIV, shows up, what was supposed to be a celebratory event becomes much more difficult for everyone.

Piano Love

A hustling hop-hop artist and an up-and-coming amapiano dancer put aside their differences to join forces to defeat genre-defining stereotypes and support each through life struggles.

Life in a Day

A documentary shot by filmmakers all over the world that serves as a time capsule to show future generations what it was like to be alive on the 24th of July, 2010.

And the Band Played On

The story of the discovery of the AIDS epidemic and the political infighting of the scientific community hampering the early fight with it.

Fuck

A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.

6 Days to Air: The Making of South Park

Viewers will get a look at Parker and Stone's thought process as they approach a new episode and the 24/7 grind they subject themselves to each time the show is in production. The documentary also includes in-depth interviews with Parker and Stone about their working partnership and reflections on highlights from their careers.

Parting Glances

Michael and Robert, two gay men living in Brooklyn, spend their last day together before Robert leaves for Africa on work assignment. Michael still has feelings for his friend Nick, who has AIDS.

Gia

Gia Carangi meteorically rises to modeling fame in the late 1970s but becomes overconsumed by persistent loneliness and drug addiction.

Louis Theroux: Twilight of the Porn Stars

In 1997, Louis Theroux made a documentary about the world of male porn performers in Los Angeles. 15 years later, he returns to find a business struggling with the deluge of free porn on the internet. Louis revisits some of the original programme's contributors as well as meeting the latest crop of porn performers dreaming of porn stardom.

Van Gogh: Painted with Words

A drama-documentary presented by Alan Yentob, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role. Every word spoken by the actors in this film is sourced from the letters that Van Gogh sent to his younger brother Theo, and of those around him. What emerges is a complex portrait of a sophisticated, civilised and yet tormented man.

Romería

Marina, 18, orphaned at a young age, must travel to Spain’s Atlantic coast to obtain a signature for a scholarship application from the paternal grandparents she has never met. She navigates a sea of new aunts, uncles, and cousins, uncertain whether she will be embraced or met with resistance. Stirring long-buried emotions, reviving tenderness, and uncovering unspoken wounds tied to the past, Marina pieces together the fragmented and often contradictory memories of the parents she barely remembers.

The Godfather Family: A Look Inside

A documentary on the making of the three Godfather films, with interviews and recollections from the film makers and cast. This feature also includes the original screen tests of some of the actors for "The Godfather" film, and some candid moments on the set of "The Godfather: Part III."

Dallas Buyers Club

Loosely based on the true-life tale of Ron Woodroof, a drug-taking, women-loving, homophobic man who in 1986 was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and given thirty days to live.

Rent

The story of several friends in New York City facing financial poverty, homophobia, AIDS, and, of course, rent.

Gray's Anatomy

The film documents, in an often dramatic and humorous fashion, Gray's investigations into alternative medicine for an eye condition (Macular pucker) he had developed.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

An African-American woman becomes an unwitting pioneer for medical breakthroughs when her cells are used to create the first immortal human cell line in the early 1950s.

Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway

Set in New York City's gritty East Village, the revolutionary rock opera RENT tells the story of a group of bohemians struggling to live and pay their rent. "Measuring their lives in love," these starving artists strive for success and acceptance while enduring the obstacles of poverty, illness and the AIDS epidemic.

American Pie: Revealed

Documentary about the making of American Pie (1999), American Pie 2 (2001) and American Wedding (2003).

Lead Me Home

Poignant stories of homelessness on the West Coast of the US frame this cinematic portrait of a surging humanitarian crisis.

Return to Zero

Based on the true story of a successful couple, Maggie and Aaron who are preparing for the arrival of their first child.

28 Up

Just two years away from turning 30, participants in Michael Apted's documentary series are facing serious questions of identity and purpose, wondering whether they've found their place in the world.

Seven Up!

A group of British children aged 7 from widely ranging backgrounds are interviewed about a range of subjects. The filmmakers plan to re-interview them at 7 year intervals to track how their lives and attitudes change as they age.