Jazz and decolonization are intertwined in a powerful narrative that recounts one of the tensest episodes of the Cold War. In 1960, the UN became the stage for a political earthquake as the struggle for independence in the Congo put the world on high alert. The newly independent nation faced its first coup d'état, orchestrated by Western forces and Belgium, which were reluctant to relinquish control over their resource-rich former colony. The US tried to divert attention by sending jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to the African continent. In 1961, Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba was brutally assassinated, silencing a key voice in the fight against colonialism; his death was facilitated by Belgian and CIA operatives. Musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach took action, denouncing imperialism and structural racism. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev intensified his criticism of the US, highlighting the racial barriers that characterized American society.
Self (archive footage)
Self (archive footage)
Journalist Shiori Ito embarks on a courageous investigation of her own sexual assault in an improbable attempt to prosecute her high-profile offender. Her quest becomes a landmark case in Japan, exposing the country’s outdated judicial and societal systems.
A Hong Kong cop named Kit busts a major gangster only to find his cover blown and his main witness gone. The gangster, in retaliation, has him kidnapped and put in a Thai jail with a false criminal identity. Lowly prison guard Chai, with his extraordinary fighting skills, guards Kit and prevents his escape. The prison guard’s daughter suffers from a rare form of leukemia and Kit is the only donor who can save her. The prison guard discovers Kit’s real identity and helps him to escape in return for his agreeing to save his daughter. Together, Kit and Chai must face and take down the gangster and his minions.
On her way to visit her childhood home in a colonial outpost in Northern Cameroon, a young French woman recalls her childhood, her memories concentrating on her family's houseboy.
Documentary about jazz great Chet Baker that intercuts footage from the 1950s, when he was part of West Coast Cool, and from his last years. We see the young Baker, he of the beautiful face, in California and in Italy, where he appeared in at least one movie and at least one jail cell (for drug possession). And, we see the aged Baker, detached, indifferent, his face a ruin. Includes interviews with his children and ex-wife, women companions, and musicians.
Set in a leper colony in the north of Iran, The House is Black juxtaposes "ugliness," of which there is much in the world as stated in the opening scenes, with religion and gratitude.
In a story that spans billions of years, a buoy and a satellite meet online long after humanity’s extinction. As they learn what life was like on Earth, they discover themselves and what it means to be alive and in love.
A young girl whose father is an ex-convict and whose mother is a junkie finds it difficult to conform and tries to find comfort in a quirky combination of Elvis and the punk scene.
On stage since she was a toddler, Googoosh has been an icon of Iranian pop culture since the 1970s. Her progressive style and raw singing talent attracted worldwide acclaim and saw her performing alongside the likes of Tina Turner and Ray Charles. But the star's career came to an abrupt halt after the Islamic Revolution, which banned women from singing in public. Googoosh was placed under house arrest, where she remained for the next two decades. Niloufar Taghizadeh's documentary, which includes interviews with the charismatic singer (now in her seventies, but still performing and advocating for women and girls) and arresting archival footage, offers both a loving portrait of a national icon and a fascinating historical and cultural record of Iran.
Told in her own words, this candid documentary charts the unstoppable rise, sudden fall and hard-won comeback of lifestyle icon Martha Stewart.
This film made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective shows the destruction of the occupied West Bank's Masafer Yatta by Israeli soldiers and the alliance which develops between the Palestinian activist Basel and Israeli journalist Yuval.
Struggling to survive in post-WWI Copenhagen, a newly unemployed and pregnant young woman is taken in by a charismatic elder to help run an underground adoption agency. The two form an unexpected bond, until a sudden discovery changes everything.
Marcel is an adorable one-inch-tall shell who ekes out a colorful existence with his grandmother Connie and their pet lint, Alan. Once part of a sprawling community of shells, they now live alone as the sole survivors of a mysterious tragedy. When a documentarian discovers them amongst the clutter of his Airbnb, his resulting short film brings Marcel millions of passionate fans, as well as unprecedented dangers and a new hope at finding his long-lost family.
Big Nick is back on the hunt in Europe and closing in on Donnie, who is embroiled in the treacherous and unpredictable world of diamond thieves and the infamous Panther mafia, as they plot a massive heist of the world's largest diamond exchange.
A young Donald Trump, eager to make his name as a hungry scion of a wealthy family in 1970s New York, comes under the spell of Roy Cohn, the cutthroat attorney who would help create the Donald Trump we know today. Cohn sees in Trump the perfect protégé—someone with raw ambition, a hunger for success, and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win.
Since his wife's death, Victor has raised his daughter Angela alone. After she and her friend return from a three-day disappearance with missing memories, they begin displaying frightening behavior reminiscent of the MacNeil possession fifty years prior.
Unlikely hero Mickey Barnes finds himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living.
Two brothers are divided by marriage and fate during the 100 horrifying days of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Is the story of a generation of thieves who achieved their greatest victories in the sixties; their distinctive code of ethics, the various categories of delinquents inhabiting the citys streets, their alliances with high ranking police officials that allowed them to operate, the betrayals that followed, and the price they ended up paying.
Documentary portrait of Karel Köcher, supposedly the most important communist agent to infiltrate the CIA.
This film shows how far we have come since the cold-war days of the 50s and 60s. Back then the Russians were our "enemies". And to them the Americans were their "enemies" who couldn't be trusted. Somewhere in all this a young girl in Oklahoma named Shannon set her sights on becoming one of those space explorers, even though she was told "girls can't do that." But she did.
An optician grapples with the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-1966, during which his older brother was exterminated.
Three generations of Saudi women reflect on their lives through the decades of dramatic regional cultural, political and religious changes. Ajyal (Generations) begins when Saudi Arabia launched its first school for girls in 1960 and continues through the post-9/11 era.
Singer Tina Turner rises to stardom while mustering the courage to break free from her abusive husband Ike.
On April 11th of 2002 a coup d'état against the venezuelan president Hugo Chávez Frías kept the country in a state of total uncertainty regarding his whereabouts, two days later he returned to power. This is a chronicle of those days.
As the Space Race ensues, seven pilots set off on a path to become the first American astronauts to enter space. However, the road to making history brings forth momentous challenges.
From 1957 —the year in which the Soviets put the Sputnik 1 satellite into orbit— to 1969 —when American astronaut Neil Armstrong walked on the surface of the moon—, the beginnings of the space conquest were depicted in popular culture: cinema, television, comics and literature of the time contain numerous references to an imagined future.
The story of Dian Fossey, a scientist who came to Africa to study the vanishing mountain gorillas, and later fought to protect them.
In the midst of one of the most significant moments in human history - the Moon landing - a guy working at a NASA warehouse has his own little passion project: the invention of the first urinal net.
The Japanese volleyball players called the “Oriental Witches” are now in their 70s. From the formation of the team at the factory until their victory at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, memories and legends rise to the surface and blend inextricably.
Five American soldiers fighting in Europe during World War II struggle to return to Allied territory after being separated from U.S. forces during the historic Malmedy Massacre.
The story of the first major battle of the American phase of the Vietnam War and the soldiers on both sides that fought it.
Red Terror documents the soviet occupation of Lithuania and the resistance movements that sprang up in opposition to the brutal tactics used by the communists from 1941 up to 1991. Stories of deportation, life in the Gulag, exile to Siberia, KGB prison torture, confiscation of land are told by living survivors. Resistance fighters and those who aided them also share their stories for the first time to an American audience. Rare historical photos and moving images are used to bring these stories to life.
This 135-minute documentary offers to reopen this magical parenthesis which has seen the birth of a whirlwind of artists with very different styles. From Chantal Goya to Annie Cordy, from Pierre Perret to Carlos. They knew how to bring each in their own way generations of children into their poetic universe.
Two soldiers from opposite sites get stuck between the front lines in the same trench. The UN is asked to free them and both sides agree on a ceasefire, but will they stick to it?
Three young Irish women struggle to maintain their spirits while they endure dehumanizing abuse as inmates of a Magdalene Sisters Asylum.