films
CRIP CAMP
In the early 1970s, teenagers with disabilities faced a future shaped by isolation, discrimination and institutionalization. Camp Jened, a ramshackle camp “for the handicapped” (a term no longer used) in the Catskills, exploded those confines. Jened was their freewheeling Utopia, a place with summertime sports, smoking and make-out sessions awaiting everyone, and campers experienced liberation and full inclusion as human beings. Crip Camp is the story of one group of people and captures one moment in time. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of other equally important stories from the Disability Rights Movement that have not yet received adequate attention.
LITTLE AMERICA
Based on the first-person photo essay feature of the same name from Epic Magazine, “Little America” is a slice of life series that dramatizes real-life immigrant stories. The series goes beyond current events headlines “to look at the funny, romantic, heartfelt, inspiring and unexpected lives of immigrants in America, at a time when their stories are more relevant than ever.” Each of the eight half-hour episodes of Little America has its own unique story, from different parts of the world. Season two is already locked in and confirmed.
13th
Ava DuVernay’s 13th is a documentary about how the Thirteenth Amendment led to mass incarceration in the United States, but it’s also a gorgeous, evocative, and maddening exploration of words: of their power, their roots, their permanence. It’s about those who wield those words and those made to kneel by them. Many Americans by now are familiar with the coded language of the country’s racial hegemony. Some shun certain words while others make anthems out of them. DuVernay explores the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation's prisons are disproportionately filled with African-Americans.
UNREST
Jennifer Brea is about to marry the love of her life when she’s struck down by a fever that leaves her bedridden. When doctors tell her “it’s all in her head,” she turns her camera on herself and her community as she looks for answers and fights for a cure. In this story of love and loss, newlyweds Jennifer and Omar search for answers as they face unexpected obstacles with great heart. Often confined by her illness to the private space of her bed, Jennifer connects with others around the globe.
ASIAN AMERICANS
Asian Americans is a five-hour film series that will chronicle the contributions, and challenges of Asian Americans, the fastest-growing ethnic group in America. Personal histories and new academic research will cast a fresh lens on U.S. history and the role Asian Americans have played in it. It traces the epic story of Asian Americans, spanning 150 years of immigration, racial politics, international relations and cultural innovation. It is a timely, clear-eyed look at the vital role that Asian Americans have played in defining who we are as a nation. As the United States is rapidly becoming more diverse, but also more divided, how do we move forward together?
COLLIN IN BLACK AND WHITE
It is hard to understand privilege when you are born with it. In his semi-fictional series, Colin Kaepernick talks about “white-man privileges.” and the microaggressions he experienced during his high school years. The small behavioral indignities, intentional or not, that communicate derogatory racial insults influenced Colin to become an activist. Among other situations, Kaepernick explores how in a football league where over 70% of the players are black, less than a third of the quarterbacks are black.
DISCLOSURE
This documentary is an unprecedented, eye-opening look at transgender depictions in film and television, revealing how Hollywood simultaneously reflects and manufactures our deepest anxieties about gender. Leading trans thinkers and creatives, including Laverne Cox, Lilly Wachowski, Yance Ford, Mj Rodriguez, Jamie Clayton, and Chaz Bono, share their reactions and resistance to some of Hollywood’s most beloved moments. What emerges is a fascinating story of dynamic interplay between trans representation on screen, society’s beliefs, and the reality of trans lives.
PARIS IS BURNING
Few documentaries can claim to have sparked as much discussion and controversy as Jennie Livingston’s debut Paris is Burning (1991), the vibrant time capsule of New York’s ballroom subculture in the 80s. Seven years in the making, this stylish, poignant film followed African American and Hispanic gay men, drag queens and transgender women as they compete in simultaneously fierce and fun competitions involving fashion runways and vogue dancing battles, while sporting styles like Butch Queen, Town and Country and Luscious Body.
WHEN I WALK
Jason DaSilva was 25 years old and a rising independent filmmaker when a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis changed everything — and inspired him to make another film. ‘When I Walk’ is a candid and brave chronicle of one young man's struggle to adapt to the harsh realities of M.S. while holding on to his personal and creative life. With his body growing weaker, DaSilva's spirits, and his film, get a boost from his mother's tough love and the support of Alice Cook, who becomes his wife and filmmaking partner.
I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO
The film draws its inspiration from Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript, Remember This House, intended to be a personal recollection of his friends, the civil-rights leaders Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr.—all of whom were assassinated within five years of each other. Peck’s film relies almost exclusively on Baldwin’s writings, read by Samuel L. Jackson. This ingenious move allows viewers to fully appreciate Baldwin’s unmatched eloquence and form a portrait of the artist through his own words, even if the film largely (and somewhat inexplicably) omits a crucial aspect of his work and life: his sexuality.
more movies
Sins Invalid
The film witnesses a performance project that incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and queer and gender-variant artists. More info.
Paper Children
The film showcases a Honduran family’s experience of immigrating to the U.S. and raises awareness about the mistreatment of unaccompanied children by the U.S. government. More info.
Minding the Gap
This Oscar-nominated indie darling traces the friendship of three young men in Rockford, Illinois, who bond over a shared love of skateboarding. Director sourced 12 years of footage, to tell this coming-of-age tale set in the Rust Belt, tackling heavier themes of systemic racism and domestic abuse. More info.
Who Am I To Stop It
It is a documentary about the traumatic brain injury community made by a filmmaker with disabilities from brain injury. More info.
Agents of Change
It examines the untold story of the racial conditions on college campuses and in the country that led to these protests. More info.
Halmoni
The film tells the tale of 24-year-old Ju Hong’s first trip to South Korea in 13 years, in order to see his ailing 90-year-old grandmother. More info.
Latino Vote: Dispatches from the Battleground
Bernardo Ruiz’s immersive documentary aims to encourage the Latinx community to hit the voting booths. More info.
A Good Day to Die
Chronicles a movement that started a revolution and inspired a nation. It recounts the life story of Dennis Banks, the Native American who co-founded the American Indian Movement. More info.
In Whose Honor? - American Indian Mascots in Sports
The Cleveland Indians. Washington Redskins. Atlanta Braves. What's wrong with American Indian sports mascots? This moving, award-winning film is the first of its kind to address that subject. More info.
'The Eagle Huntress'
Breathtaking landscape is the backdrop for a young girl achieving something no other female has in her culture's most iconic feat of strength. More info.
'Feminists: What Were They Thinking'
A rare opportunity to hear from female artists, activists, and leaders of the feminist movement of the '70s. More info.
Tribal Justice
Two Native American judges foster greater safety in their communities, reduce incarceration rates and create a more promising future for their young, by looking back to traditional concepts of justice. More info.
Dear Homeland
In this documentary we follow the heartfelt story of Diana Gameros, an immigrant musician from Juarez, Mexico who is undocumented in the States. More info.
Precious Knowledge
Educational and political documentary that centers on the banning of the Mexican-American Studies (MAS) Program in the Tucson Unified School District of Arizona. More info.
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
Activist Victoria Cruz re-examines the 1992 death of LGBTQ+ icon—and Victoria's friend—Marsha P. Johnson, whose body was found floating in the Hudson River. More info.
Freedom Riders
The film chronicles the story behind hundreds of civil rights activists called Freedom Riders that challenged racial segregation in American interstate transportation during the Civil Rights Movement. More info.
'He Named Me Malala'
After the Taliban tries to kill her for speaking out on behalf of girls' education, Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai emerges as a leading advocate for children's rights and the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. More info.
'Miss Representation'
The film exposes how mainstream media contributes to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America. More info.
Harvest of Empire
The film analyzes how U.S. economic and military interests sparked waves of migration from the region. More info.
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
Filmmaker Stanley Nelson examines the rise of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s and its impact on civil rights and American culture. More info.
I Am Divine
The documentary shows how Divine was a trendsetter in so many ways, from the makeup to his music career, Divine truly is a cultural icon. More info.
Aoki: An Asian American Black Panther
A documentary film chronicling the life of Richard Aoki (1938-2009), a third-generation Japanese American who became one of the founding members of the Black Panther Party. More info.
The Murder of Emmett Till
The film chronicles the story of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy who was brutally murdered by two white men after a white woman falsely claimed that he had whistled at and groped her. More info.
We Shall Remain
Documentary series about the history of Native Americans in the United States, from the 17th century into the 20th century. More info.
"Life and Debt"
Searing documentary that examines the ways that policies of the International Monetary Fund (I.M.F.), the World Bank, and other aid organizations have changed the Jamaican economy over the past 25 years. More info.
The Hand That Feeds
Twelve undocumented immigrants face an uphill battle and the threat of deportation when they take on the popular restaurant in New York City where they work. More info.
The Latino List
This documentary offers a unique glimpse into the vibrant and burgeoning culture of Hispanic America. More info.
Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine
He was the victim of one of the most notorious hate crimes in American history. The 21-year-old died after a targeted homophobic attack in Laramie, Wyoming in 1998. More info.
Dark Girls
Filmmakers Bill Duke and D. Channsin Berry explore a deep-seated bias within black culture against women with darker skin. More info.
Birth of a Movement
In 1915, Boston-based African American newspaper editor and activist William M. Trotter waged a battle against D.W. Griffith's technically groundbreaking but notoriously Ku Klux Klan-friendly The Brith of a Nation. More info.
Circus of Books
A couple tells the story of how they've come to own Circus of Books, a porn bookstore that over the decades has become an important space for the queer community in Los Angeles. More info.
What Was Ours
A Shoshone veteran, a teenage powwow princess, and an Arapaho journalist discover their purpose on the Wind River Indian Reservation as they seek lost artifacts. More info.
Kū Kanaka/Stand Tall
A professor, chanter, activist and leader in the Native Hawaiian struggle for civil rights, Kanalu helped his people heal from national trauma and embrace their Hawaiian identity. More info.
She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry
Filmmaker Mary Dore chronicles the events, the movers and the shakers of the feminist movement from 1966 to 1971. More info.
Little White Lie
Filmmaker Lacey Schwartz thinks her dark skin and hair are from a Sicilian ancestor. When she uncovers the lie that haunted her parents' marriage, she begins a journey to reconcile her past as she embraces her African-American heritage. More info.
Accidental Courtesy
Black musician, Daryl Davis, has an unusual hobby: meet and befriend members of the Ku Klux Klan. More info.
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise
The story of iconic writer, poet, actress and activist Maya Angelou whose life intersected some of the most significant moments in the recent history of the United States of America. More info.
Call Her Ganda
When a transgender Filipina woman is found dead in a motel room and the leading suspect is a U.S. Marine, grassroots activists demand accountability. More info.
Incident at Oglala
Robert Redford narrates this documentary about the Pine Ridge Shootout on an Oglala Sioux reservation in South Dakota. More info.
Vessel
A fearless sea captain and doctor navigates through loopholes in international law to provide abortions on the high seas leaving behind her a network of emboldened activist and women rights movements. More info.
A Secret Love
Amid shifting times, a former baseball player keeps her lesbian relationship a secret from her family for seven decades. More info.
How to Survive a Plague
In the late 1980s, members of Act-Up and other AIDS activists battle hostility and indifference to bring attention to the disease and try to reduce the number of victims while hoping to lead the drive to find a cure. More info.
Ethnic Notions
Documentary film that examines anti-Black stereotypes that permeated popular culture from the ante-bellum period until the advent of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. More info.
Girl Rising
Stories of nine girls from developing countries, showing how they are overcoming great obstacles to obtain an education and change their fates. More info.
Gloria: In Her Own Words
Gloria Steinem remains one of the most outspoken and visible symbols of the women’s movement today. More info.
Kumu Hina
An exploration of gender diversity, tradition and acceptance in Hawaii as a transgender teacher supports an outwardly female student in leading an all-male hula performance despite the confusion of some in their Honolulu community. More info.
All In My Family
The film follows a traditional heterosexual family where the son is a gay Chinese man who has chosen to have children via surrogates with their same-sex partner. More info.
The Empowerment Project
Driving over 7,000 miles from Los Angeles to New York over the course of 30 days, five female filmmakers spotlight 17 positive and powerful female leaders across a variety of lifestyles and industries to inspire the next generation of strong women. More info.
¡Palante, Siempre Palante! The Young Lords
The documentary surveys Puerto Rican history, the Young Lords' activities and philosophy, the torturous end of the organization and its inspiring legacy. More info.
A Path Appears
In this film we follow Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn and a group of dedicated actor/advocates to Colombia, Haiti, Kenya, and throughout the United States. More info.
Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts
An intimate portrait of RuPaul's Drag Race alumnus Trixie Mattel, ie Milwaukee-raised Brian Firkus. More info.
God Loves Uganda
Filmmaker Roger Ross Williams explores the role of American religious extremists in Uganda, as a bill to make homosexuality punishable by death in that country gains a strong foothold. More info.
Mala Mala
A look at the diverse and vibrant transgender community in Puerto Rico and the power of transformation. More info.
!Women Art Revolution
This documentary explores the slow but steady rise of the women's art community, which first blossomed when the Feminist Movement exploded in America during the 1960s and 1970s, thereby increasing cultural awareness of women artists. More info.
The Ascent Of Woman
Historian Dr Amanda Foreman explores human history to discover how women's roles from 10,000 BC onwards have shaped the modern world. More info.