Film Library

The story of playwright Liza Jessie Peterson’s shutdown 2020 performance of her acclaimed play The Peculiar Patriot at Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentiary, America’s largest prison-plantation. The documentary examines what led to the shutdown of the performance, the material that confronted a system, and how the impact of Peterson’s visit rippled through Angola long after the record of her visit was erased by prison authorities.

Featuring an original new song written and performed by Mel Brooks, The Automat which Premiered at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival tells the 100-year story of the iconic restaurant chain Horn & Hardart, the inspiration for Starbucks, where generations of Americans ate and drank coffee together at communal tables. From the perspective of former customers entertainer Mel Brooks, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Secretary of State Colin Powell, the Horns, the Hardarts, and key employees – we watch a business climb to its peak success and then grapple with fast food in a forever changed America.

Executive Produced by Meryl Streep, Sell/Buy/Date is a hybrid doc/narrative following Tony winning performer and comedian Sarah Jones. As a mixed-race Black woman in America, Sarah, alongside the multicultural characters she’s known for, explores her own personal relationship to one of the most misunderstood issues in our current culture: the sex industry.

At the height of the international occupation of Afghanistan, two women – Gulnaz, raped and impregnated by her uncle, and Farida, on the run from an abusive husband – are imprisoned on charges of “moral crimes” by an Afghan justice system that is supported by billions of dollars of aid money from the European Union. Shot over ten years, With This Breath I Fly follows these two courageous women as they fight for their freedom against a patriarchal Afghan society determined to keep them bound to tribal culture, while exposing the complicity of the European Union in censoring their voices, and how the international press – and our documentary – forever alters the course of their lives.

BODY PARTS traces the evolution of “sex” on-screen from a woman’s perspective, uncovering the uncomfortable realities behind some of the most iconic scenes in cinema history and celebrating the bold creators leading the way for change.

The Seeds of Vandana Shiva tells the remarkable life story of Gandhian eco-activist Dr. Vandana Shiva, how she stood up to the corporate Goliaths of industrial agriculture, rose to prominence in the ecological food movement, and is inspiring an international crusade for change.

So long as we are watching history, history is not over. Three minutes of footage, shot by David Kurtz in 1938, are the only moving images remaining of the Jewish inhabitants of Nasielsk, Poland before the Holocaust. Narrated by Helena Bonham Carter, THREE MINUTES — A LENGTHENING explores the human stories hidden within the celluloid.

Civil rights legend James Meredith never fit in – not as the first Black person to attend the University of Mississippi, not surrounded by fellow activists on the Meredith March, not working for ultraconservative Jesse Helms or stumping for ex-Klansman David Duke. “Mississippi Messiah” is a nuanced exploration of Meredith’s complicated life as a public figure.

The story of Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, the indigenous trailblazer who battled racism, gender discrimination, and political opposition in her quest to become the first Nepali woman to summit Mt. Everest. Her courageous, tragic journey would greatly move her country, inspiring new generations to reach for their rights.

Once upon a time there was a sea… Aral Sea. The sea that has vanished. And along with the sea, seaside life and work disappeared. Only the dead desert terrain remained here, and wrecks of huge fishing boats lying in the sand… and people who have been living on the shores of the dry port for years, dreaming of high water and longing to sail at least once again. A film about consequences of human decisions and actions, how they can affect daily life of one Uzbek town and its inhabitants. As the reporter Ryszard Kapuściński states: “There is no such nonsense a human mind could not invent.”

‘Battleground’ is an urgently timely window into the intersection of abortion and politics in America, following three women who lead formidable anti-abortion organizations to witness the enormous influence they wield. As the nation faces the end of Roe, the film also depicts those on the front lines of the fierce fight to maintain access.

Fashion designer Amy Powney of cult label Mother of Pearl is a rising star in the London fashion scene. Raised off-the-grid in rural England by activist parents, Amy has always felt uneasy about the devastating environmental impact of her industry. When she wins the coveted Vogue award for the Best Young Designer of the Year, which comes with a big cash prize, Amy decides to use the money to create a sustainable collection from field to finished garment, and transform her entire business. Over the following three years, her own personal revolution becomes the precursor of a much bigger, societal change.