This film is a portrait of New York in the 1980s by famed photographer Steven Siegel, including footage of the subways, the parks, Times Square and other neighborhoods. The film is narrated by teenagers of that era.
Social & External
A Queens man has discovered enough hidden treasure — bits of diamonds, rubies, platinum and gold — on the gritty sidewalks of Midtown’s Diamond District to make a living.
La Salsa Vive is a vibrant cinematic exploration of Afro-Cuban music's history, tracing its roots from New York's lively streets to Cali, Colombia, now the global salsa capital.
Taken in 1896 on the Boulevard (upper Broadway) on the occasion of a bicycle parade in the heyday of the wheeling craze. Old-fashioned horse cars lend interest to the scene.
Martin Scorsese’s electrifying concert documentary captures The Rolling Stones live at New York’s Beacon Theatre during their A Bigger Bang tour. Filmed over two nights in 2006 with an all-star team of cinematographers, the film combines dynamic performances with archival footage and rare glimpses behind the scenes, offering a vibrant portrait of the band’s enduring energy and legacy.
Max Gimblett: Original Mind documents the life and process of eccentric, creative genius Max Gimblett. One of New Zealand’s most successful and internationally prominent living painters, Gimblett has been working in America since 1962. The filmmakers spent a week in Gimblett’s Soho loft where he and his devoted studio assistants generously revealed the techniques and philosophy behind his beautiful art.
New York cab and black car drivers are facing economic and emotional hardship in a city dominated by ride-share apps. As these long standing industries are decimated by economic and political forces, drivers are forced to cope or fight back.
New York City's beloved Ukrainian restaurant Veselka is best known for its borscht and varenyky, but it has become a beacon of hope for Ukraine. As the second-generation owner Tom Birchard reluctantly retires after 54 years, his son Jason faces the pressures of stepping into his father’s shoes as the war in Ukraine impacts his family and staff.
A film essay contrasting the modern metropolis with its "golden age" from 1830-1930, with the participation of some of New York's leading political and cultural figures. Made at a time when the city was experiencing unprecedented real estate development on the one hand and unforeseen displacement of population and deterioration on the other. Empire City is the story of two New Yorks. The film explores the precarious coexistence of the service-based midtown Manhattan corporate headquarters with the peripheral New York of undereducated minorities living in increasing alienation.
"This film explores how freedom of speech — including dissent — is afforded to all Americans, and shows freedom of expression in art, music, dance, architecture, and science. The film also emphasizes the importance of the individual’s contribution to the whole of society and demonstrates how a productive and creative society is formed by the open and respectful exchange of ideas. The film was written, produced, and directed by William Greaves" (National Archives).
Stories from survivors frame this documentary detailing the sex-trafficking trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, a socialite and accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein.
A documentary about a case of police brutality in the 80's NYC, the killing of graffiti artist Michael Stewart
The shape-shifting and enigmatic hip hop artist Kool Keith has managed to surprise, shock, and enrage fans and detractors alike with virtually every album he has released. His many personas include Dr. Octagon, under which he released 1996's Dr. Octagonecologyst, a futuristic masterpiece that flouted traditional hip hop mores in favor of intriguingly disruptive, warped rhymes. He is also the Black Elvis, Dr. Doom, Mr. Gerbik, and Rhythm X, and is formerly of the Bronx group the Ultramagnetic MCs, with whom he first established himself as a rapper that pushes the envelope and is not afraid to be critical of the system within which he operates. This DVD release features multiple interviews with the artist, as well as live concert footage. Keith takes his audiences on a tour of Manhattan and the Bronx. Keith also explains why he loves seltzer water.
1989, New York City's Alphabet City and East Village. A year after the Tompkins Square Park Riot, squatters and their community allies try to stop the demolition of their building after an arson. Police forces occupy the neighborhood while the demolition continues. A portrait of an East Village that is no more. An homage to the voices and sounds of a neighborhood before its gentrification.
Artist Ron English travels across the country illegally putting up artwork of President Obama and Abraham Lincoln merged together.
One neighborhood in New York City, March 2020: the coronavirus is spreading rapidly, the federal government is clueless, and life seems increasingly surreal. A month later, the city has become an epicenter of the pandemic as the death rate spirals upwards. Then the racial justice protests erupt... Strange Days Diary NYC is an intimate account of living through a disruptive, frightening, yet inspiring time.
"In this half-hour documentary, Producer Sandra King provides an intimate portrait of a public phenomenon: Graffiti. Over an 18 month period, King and her crew followed the teenage members of a graffiti 'crew,' Vandals on the Street, as they painted and rapped and moved through the streets of downtown Newark. What emerges is a unique glimpse behind the 'tags' at the kind of inner city kids who write on walls, but who also make art; who create out of wedlock children, but who also form binding relationships; who drop out of school and never read a book, but who create their own brand of poetry through the medium of 'rap.'
Seeing is to painting what listening is to politics. Survival as an artist demands both. Paint Until Dawn is a documentary on art in the life of James Gahagan (1927-1999), who painted all night to push the limits of vision. His life and thought reveal a correlation between art and activism through an interesting angle: the creative process itself.
Street art, creativity and revolution collide in this beautifully shot film about art’s ability to create change. The story opens on the politically charged Thailand/Burma border at the first school teaching street art as a form of non-violent struggle. The film follows two young girls (Romi & Yi-Yi) who have escaped 50 years of civil war in Burma to pursue an arts education in Thailand. Under the threat of imprisonment and torture, the girls use spray paint and stencils to create images in public spaces to let people know the truth behind Burma's transition toward "artificial democracy." Eighty-two hundred miles away, artist Shepard Fairey is painting a 30’ mural of a Burmese monk for the same reasons and in support of the students' struggle in Burma. As these stories are inter-cut, the film connects these seemingly unrelated characters around the concept of using art as a weapon for change.
A cinematic portrait of the homeless population who live permanently in the underground tunnels of New York City.
Eleven-year-old New York City public school kids journey into the world of ballroom dancing and reveal pieces of themselves and their world along the way. Told from their candid, sometimes humorous perspectives, these kids are transformed, from reluctant participants to determined competitors, from typical urban kids to "ladies and gentlemen," on their way to try to compete in the final citywide competition.
This one has it all, the apprentice, the multiplying brooms, the buckets of water, everything that the Fantasia sequence has.
Two teenagers are playing by night in a dirty parking lot. After they are driving on an empty road, they start to tease each other on the way to the sea, but they seem to be too young to drive and the road is a bit strange.
On the highways of the Ruhr region, the paths of four people cross as they try to fulfill their long-lost dreams. One of them is Georg, the coach of a Bundesliga soccer team that has to win that evening's cup match if he wants to keep his job. He is about to be sacked and realizes that the business and its mechanisms are beginning to turn against him. Dieter, the roving TV reporter, is on the hunt for spectacular pictures day and night. Although he loves his son, who lives with his ex-wife Rita, he takes too little care of him.
An aging model, in a grave desperation, faces a life choice that could redeem or ruin her.
A look at how mall producers design malls in order to maximise traffic and sales.
Joy flies to Hong Kong, where she meets her best friend Alain. With him, she visits the hottest districts of the city. She is kidnapped and imprisoned in a brothel and has to pay a high price for her freedom.
A provocative, psycho/sexual thriller about a struggling, rough-edged girl named Leah Lamont who takes it upon herself to raise the money her girlfriend Alina Lupei needs to fly home to be with her ailing family member in Romania. With no quick fix available, under the name "Candy Cummings," Leah performs online strip shows from her apartment for thousands of strangers every day, never fully knowing the extent of evils that could be watching on the other side of the screen.
Maggie Cook has spent her teenage life alone in her room, but with the world set to end in 24 hours, her classmate Hazel Norcross finally brings her out of her shell.
A group of men meet in the woods for strange kinks.
Paco is a fisherman with a distant relationship with his neighbors. He lives in a small town that preferred to earn money rather than the well-being of its inhabitants. The discovery of a strange artifact will radically change the relationships between them all.
A young couple who collect rare folk ballads discover the dark side of love when they surreptitiously record and translate an ancient, taboo folk song from the deep, forgotten past.
Mexican feature film
"The Waltz of the Monsters" is a narrative fantasy short about two young dreamers that chase a better way of living by setting up a journey to prove the existence of an old legend, only to find themselves stuck as their divergent objectives get on the way.
Set on an island in an undisclosed location, a top secret U.S. government program to create genetically modified super soldiers goes awry when the unstable test subjects escape from their holding cells and wreak havoc.
A working man's life is changed after he breaks the routine.
Dick Romans is a washed up TV host whose wife walks out on him the day before their ten year anniversary celebration. Alone with his thoughts, his dog, and a ton of booze, Dick decides to go through with the week-long party... by himself. The seven event-filled days become Dick's reluctant vision quest, filled with odd characters, awkward romance, and some long-overdue self examination.
Mahmoud Darwish was a Palestinian poet and author who was regarded as the Palestinian national poet. He won numerous awards for his works. Darwish used Palestine as a metaphor for the loss of Eden, birth and resurrection, and the anguish of dispossession and exile.
The dashing mountaineer Zaur (B. Bestaev) kills a Russian "imperialist" thereby becoming an abrek, member of a roving band of outlaws.