Filmmaker Pamela Yates follows Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the dedicated prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, for three years, as he works tirelessly--without the support of a dedicated police force--to capture and bring war criminals, perpetrators of genocie and other human rights abusers to trial and conviction. This film is a true life thriller that grips audiences as it stirs them to righteous indignation about how powerful perpetrators elude responsibility for their criminal behavior.
While following award-winning NY Times journalist Nicholas D. Kristof on his 2007 reportorial journey to the Congo to investigate ongoing conflict and poverty, filmmaker Eric Daniel Metzgar calls into question the ways in which evolving modernized media is effective--or not--in bringing important news to public awareness and contributing--or not--to the healthy functioning of a participatory democratic process.
In Durban, South Africa, Bobbi Bear is an organization that counsels and adovcates for sexually abused children, and tries to bring their abusers to justice. Filmmaker Kim Longinotto introduces five exceptional women--the rouch aunties are Bobbi Bear founders Jackie, Mildred, Eureka, Sdudla and Thuli--who use teddy bears to help abused children overcome their traumas and find hope in their lives--and as they incessantly push authorities to punish child abusers.
R.J. Cutler's revealing profile of Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue for 20 years, is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the world's most powerful fashion influencer and how she operates during the nine months of preparation for the magazine's September issue. This is a real life "Devil Wears Prada"--only better.
Based on Samantha Power's biography, "Chasing the Flame," filaker Greg Barker presents the story of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN Ambassador to Iraq who was, in August of 2003, the victim of a bombing attack on UN headquarters in Baghdad. The film recreates that day, and is a moving testimonial to a peacemaker who worked tirelessly to make the world a better, safer place for all.
Filmmaker Liz Garbus' penetrating study about the status of free speech in post 9/11 America.
Using extensive archival footage and interviews with fist hand witnesses from both corners of the ring, director John Dower delves into the legendary third boxing match between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali that took place in Manila in 1975 and shows Frazier, who's interviewed in the film, as an unsung hero who withstood Ali's racially charged taunting and a betrayal of their onetime friendship.
Filmmaker Ngawang Choephel records age-old traditional folk songs now known and understood by only a handful of musicians in his ongoing effort to preserve Tibet's cultural identity, under ongoing threat of complete domination by imported and officially imposed Chinese pop culture.
Documentarian Ondi Timoner focuses on Josh Harris, a New York City-based Internet pioneer whose experimental projects included "Quiet: We Live in Public," in which 100 artists lived in pods with 24-hour surveillance recording their every move. After 30 days, FEMA stopped the project. Harris turned his surveillance on himself, recording and streaming everything he and his girlfriend did in their loft. But the project ended in disaster for Harris. Broke and dejected, he retreated to upstate New York. Timoner followed Harris for about a decade, and augments her own verite footage with Harris’s archival footage to focus attention on how Big Brother syndrome effects contemporary culture.
In this insightful documentary portrait of The Doors and legendary lead singer Jim Morrison, filmmaker Tom DiCillo uses archival footage shot during the years from 1966 to 1971 to strip away the myth and present the real story of the band and their complicated relationships, as well as an astute and compelling depiction of the troubled times during which they ruled popular culture.
Filmmakers Emily and Sarah Kunstler take a look at the life and legacy of their father, famed lawyer William Kunstler, who stood beside Martin Luther King in the struggle for civil rights and, later, transitioned to representing Mafia bosses and other famous criminals in high profile cases--including the accused in the Central Park jogger trial--and always influenced how Americans see and understand the law.
Italian filmmakers Paolo Serbandini and Giovanna Massimetti tell the story of Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian journalist who was assassinated in 2006, following her critical coverage of the Russian government's brutality in Chechnya and elsewhere. Since 1991, the Russian Union of Journalists has kept records of journalists who've been assassinated in their country, the directors interview Anna's journalist husband and colleagues and incorporate her writings to render this documentary a stunning depiction of a troubled contemporary Russia.
