Film Library

Shares a fresh perspective on the many ways we navigate successfully through grief or companion others along their journey.  Wisdom from contemporary authors, grief experts and spiritual teachers is woven through personal stories of loss to explore the roles of compassion, community and connection in this sacred journey.

A high school administrator talks down a troubled student.

In the age of mechanical reproduction, this intimate, beautiful film celebrates handmade pursuits. Jan and Crispin Elsted have been making fine art books by letterpress for over 30 years. Partners in life and work, the couple are achingly aware they may be the last of a kind.

Made using hand-crafted stop-motion collage animation, “Toys” tells the autobiographical father-daughter story of actress Peggy Pope. In 1930s farm country, Peggy’s father wanted a son, but he got her. He tries to toughen up his little girl by giving her toys intended for boys: knives, bats, lariats, guns. One day, he brings home an archery set. To his astonishment, she proves a savant and goes on a shooting spree around the yard, coming into her own and making him fear for his life. The film is narrated by Pope, now 86, looking back on this momentous encounter with her dad.

At a remote Mojave Desert high school, extraordinary educators believe that empathy and life skills, more than academics, give at-risk students command of their own futures. This coming-of-age drama watches education combat the crippling effects of poverty in the lives of these so-called “bad kids.” 

Shaienne Knox is a rising junior at Mesa Ridge High where she is a leader of the school’s marching band and head of the Diversity Club. Shaienne applied to YDA wanting to make a film exploring black hair: the variety of hair styles that African American girls wear, the commodification of black hair, the pressure to straighten nd conform to white standards of beauty, and the role of hair in a political movement for change. Shaienne’s access to an intergenerational sample of African American girls and women – and an intimacy with which she enabled in her interviews – bring depth and dimension to this lively topic.

The personal account of one girl’s harrowing escape from the imprisonment of Boko Haram.

May, an 8-year-old detective, lives with her mother in the suburbs. Left to her own devices, May, alongside her trusted toy robot, investigates the neighborhood. She inspects every abandoned cigarette butt and eavesdrops on her neighbors in search of a mystery. Then, while investigating one day, she discovers the aftermath of a violent death and learns that her world is far more mysterious and consequential than she thought.

Jude Gassaway is a retired geologist who roamed the grounds of the American West for decades, gleaning all sorts of unique objects. Now, sifting through the collections that fill her home, she reflects on how collecting helped her come out of the closet in her 40s.

Two comedians. One apocalypse. When all power and communication systems mysteriously shut off, down on their luck comedians Gabriel Diani and Etta Devine pack up their things and hit the road in search of a safe haven to wait out the possible extinction event. Accompanied by their trusty dog Watson and their miserable cat Mrs. Peel, the duo must struggle against the mundane realities of the collapse of civilization while retaining their decency and rationality as the rest of humanity starts getting really, really weird.

The filmmaker becomes fascinated by a homeless Japanese-American artist who lives near her New York City apartment. When 9/11 threatens him, she brings him to her home, and embarks on a journey to confront his painful past. An intimate exploration of the lingering wounds of war and the healing powers of friendship and art.

Two inspiring teachers working at the only boarding school in Ireland for children ages 7 to 12 are followed for a year, as they begin to prepare for the end of their tenure.