Pit Dhuwur (2024)

Old Growth Murder

A feature-length documentary exploring the unsolved murder of French bicyclist Alain Malessard who was found dead in an Oregon Coast campground on Thanksgiving 1987.

For the Love of Cats

In the small mountain town of Barga, Italy, a group of four filmmakers speak with local cat lovers and immerse themselves in the unique world of street-trotting felines and Gattaras.

Baraka

A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.

The Ants and the Grasshopper

Anita Chitaya has a gift: she can help bring abundant food from dead soil, she can make men fight for gender equality, and maybe she can end child hunger in her village. Now, to save her home in Malawi from extreme weather, she faces her greatest challenge: persuading Americans that climate change is real. Traveling from Malawi to California to the White House, she meets climate sceptics and despairing farmers. Her journey takes her across all the divisions that shape the USA: from the rural-urban divide, to schisms of race, class and gender, and to the American exceptionalism that remains a part of the culture. It will take all her skill and experience to help Americans recognise, and free themselves from, a logic that is already destroying the Earth.

We Can Be Heroes

Sometimes, finding your tribe requires a bit of magic. For attendees of a live action role-playing (LARP) camp in upstate New York, the deeply accepting environment has given neurodivergent, queer, and self-proclaimed "nerdy" teenagers the space and community for self-discovery that they have never found anywhere else. As the campers immerse themselves in this imaginative world, they discover inner strength, heal from past traumas, and emerge as the heroes they are meant to be, both in the fantasy realm and in real life.

Motel

As Niagara Falls transformed from honeymoon capital of the world to Las Vegas North, corporate hotel chains and casinos cast a long shadow over the independent motels that once populated the town. The Continental survived the transition by converting its rooms into affordable housing units, becoming a home for those with few places to go. The night manager, Brian, once a freelance photographer who survived the horrors of war in Vietnam, shares his duties with his colleague Linda. Together they manage both the Continental and the individual struggles of its tenants, providing more than a roof over the heads of those who live under their supervision. Bringing a fresh focus to one of the most photographed places on Earth, director and cinematographer Jesse McCracken develops an intimate and caring portrait of the residents of this modest micro-community set against the backdrop of neon-lit tourist attractions.

Whisper to be Heard

A group of musicians who have never met get together for a week to live in a mansion to write an album, record it in a studio, and perform it at a Masquerade Ball.

Micropubs - The New Local

Inspired by the original micropub craze in Kent, three entrepreneurial Londoners decide to open their very own micropub and revitalise their high streets through a love of real ale, conversation and community spirit.

Young At Heart

Documents the true story of the final weeks of rehearsal for the Young at Heart Chorus in Northampton, MA, and many of whom must overcome health adversities to participate. Their music goes against the stereotype of their age group. Although they have toured Europe and sang for royalty, this account focuses on preparing new songs for a concert in their hometown.

Four on Eleven : The Fading Glory Of Parsi Cricket

The Parsi Community has inked an incredible mark in Cricket, with a rich and storied legacy dating back to the early days of Cricket in India. Parsi Cricketers played a pioneering role in nurturing and popularising the game, producing some iconic cricketers. However, over time, the Parsi Community's influence on the sport has gradually declined, reflecting broader changes. While their contributions remain essential to the history of Indian cricket, the community's active participation on the field has diminished. But, is there still hope left?

Speeding, of Course

70-year-old Timo makes the most of his short ride to work. Speeding up on a bicycle ends up in a ditch, but the adrenaline rush leaves a feeling of pleasure.

Cathedrals

In CATHEDRALS, filmmaker Dan Algrant embarks on a journey to reconnect with two black collaborators from a film made nearly 50 years ago. CATHEDRALS becomes a powerful exploration of the bonds that tie us together and the experiences that shape our identities. Through the lens of a creative collaboration, the film illuminates the struggles and triumphs that define life in a close-knit community, ultimately reaffirming the importance of human connection and the power of collective memory.

Les aventurières du vélo

Plot unavailable

Mayor of Lowell

This short documentary chronicles the culture and arts of Cambodian Americans and the Lowell, MA community through the eyes of Sokhary Chau, the first Cambodian American Mayor in the United States. Chau immigrated to the U.S. at seven years old to escape the Khmer Rouge genocide. Through this unique story that showcases the best of Lowell—immigrant success, assimilation, history, and the development of the arts—we see a man born into a war-torn country who comes to America to be a first-in-the-nation leader.

Tupac Amaru, algo está cambiando: something is changing

Plot unavailable

Acts of Reparation

Two friends, one Black and one white, journey to their Southern ancestral homes, exploring reparations' meaning. Their travels uncover opportunities that transform their bond, communities, reclaiming and reckoning with their roots.

Between Land and Sea

This observational feature– at times intimate, at times epic – embeds itself in the Big Wave surf community to present a thoroughly engaging and visually stunning portrait of the ever-changing life at land's end. Against the backdrop of Ireland's stunning west coast, this film digs deep into the day to day lives of the surf community, taking the audience beyond the bluster of the typical adrenaline fueled film to create a very real portrait of those who choose the surf lifestyle.

The Lost Highway

Once the main road between Toronto and Ottawa, Highway 7 is a black ribbon of failed businesses and derelict properties. Howard Gibbs's 80-year-old gas station needs new tanks or the inspectors will shut him down. He's desperate to lure his daughter back from the city to help carry on the family legacy. Next door, David and Linda, a couple who moved from the city, are set to open an upscale B&B. But what would lead them to build here, along a derelict stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway?

Connection | Isolation

Connection | Isolation presents eight intimate portraits of trans and post-gender individuals navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst moments of connection and isolation, these participants reveal a deepening awareness of gender, their bodies, and trans community. Created by an all trans and queer crew, this hybrid documentary film interlaces portraits with reenactments, integrating archival material documenting what so many experienced and many still do.

The White Caravan

The neon sign ‘Circus’ illuminates the wide street of Naples’ suburbs: four circus families were abandoned by the institutions, and now they’re awaiting the pandemic will disappear, like a magic show. The circus has stopped, but their lives go on.

Cultural Preservation

'Cultural Preservation' is a short documentary film which discusses the importance of community and how the development of gentrification can become a threat to it. With this film, Hussain looks at Whitechapel Road market in East London, one of the most popular markets in London and uncovers the reason behind this popularity. Through interviews with the public, he learns about the problems the community face within itself and with the changes to the area.

The Story of a Slough

When the Tanana River bridge was installed in Salcha, Alaska, the community worried about the levee's effects on fish wildlife. Salcha Elementary School, along with the help of Tanana Valley Watershed Association, conducted a 10-year scientific project with students to study the effects the levee had on Piledriver Slough. Tori Brannan - the filmmaker's mother - is a retired principal at Salcha Elementary and was the project's centerpiece. She shares her experiences with the project, the community, and how her daughter's involvement strengthened their relationship.

Making Dust

Making Dust is an essay film, a portrait of the demolition of Ireland's second largest Catholic Church, the Church of the Annunciation in Finglas West, Dublin. Understanding this moment as a 'rupture', the film maps an essay by architectural historian Ellen Rowley on to documentation of the building's dismantling. Featuring oral interviews recorded at the site of the demolition and in a nearby hairdressers, the film invites viewers to pause and reflect on this ending alongside the community of the building. The film is informed by Ultimology, and invites its audience to think about the life cycles of buildings and materials, how we mourn, what is sacred, how we gather, what we value and issues of sustainability in architecture.

La fuga

The internal journey of eight men, who, through a theater workshop, go through the different prisons they inhabit. Practicing the art of seeing themselves, in Boal's words, this group of men reflects on their masculinity as a representation to hide their true strength: their vulnerability.

Wild Horses at the Door

(Short Documentary) A homeless man recovering from alcoholism escapes to a remote southern Colorado mesa and forges a new path living amongst wild horses.

Set In Stone

The race to save the world's only dedicated Māori World War One Memorial from collapse reveals an unknown soldier's heroic story to the community he was once part of.

The Pool

Bondi Icebergs is the most photographed pool in the world. This is where generations of children have learnt to swim, where the diehard have braved the frigid waters of one hundred winters, where the young and beautiful have come to bond and bake in the hot sun. THE POOL is a stunning cinematic experience with a soundtrack that harks back to the 1960s and a cast of characters who each have a story to tell. It speaks to the enduring power of community and our collective longing to find it. No matter your background or where you’re at – everyone is equal in their swimsuits.

Sydney Castells: Spirit of Catalunya

'Sydney Castells: Spirit of Catalunya' is a documentary exploring Catalan climbing and culture. Bringing light to a relatively unknown community based in Sydney, NSW. Viewing insights into the personal lives of individuals who partake in this thrilling sport.

We Will Speak

The Cherokee language is deeply tied to Cherokee identity; yet generations of assimilation efforts by the U.S. government and anti-Indigenous stigmas have forced the Tri-Council of Cherokee tribes to declare a State of Emergency for the language in 2019. While there are 430,000 Cherokee citizens in the three federally recognized tribes, fewer than an estimated 2,000 fluent speakers remain—the majority of whom are elderly. The covid pandemic has unfortunately hastened the course. Language activists, artists, and the youth must now lead the charge of urgent radical revitalization efforts to help save the language from the brink of extinction.

We Met in Virtual Reality

Filmed entirely inside the world of virtual reality (VR), this immersive and revealing documentary roots itself in several unique communities within VR Chat, a burgeoning virtual reality platform. Through observational scenes captured in real-time, in true documentary style, the film reveals the growing power and intimacy of several relationships formed in the virtual world, many of which began during the COVID-19 lockdown, while so many in the physical world were facing intense isolation.

Freedom Road: Women / Ikwewag

Shoal Lake 40 women talk about their struggles, and those of their parents and grandparents, in trying to raise their families in a hazardous state of enforced isolation. Everyone in the community has a harrowing story of a loved one falling through the ice while trying to get across the lake, with pregnant women and new mothers fearing for their babies and having no choice but to make the trek in dangerous conditions. The film shows the key role of the community’s women in demanding funding for the road from three levels of government, and how their reconnection to culture and ceremony give them the strength to keep going.

Adventure Never Ends: A Tabletop Saga

From dungeon-like basements to worldwide phenomenon, ADVENTURE NEVER ENDS: A TABLETOP SAGA explores how tabletop role-playing games have fought their way through decades of trial by fire to emerge at the height of pop culture- now shaping and bringing together millions of lives through storytelling. The film takes a behind the curtain look at an open community of fans, as well as youth programs who use tabletop role-playing games to promote socialization, team building, and empathy.

Rom Boys: 40 Years of Rad

When a tragedy strikes the worlds most unique skate park, a dogged group of old school skaters, BMXers and street artists team up to fight for its survival.

Backpedal

An urban documentary illuminating the struggles of pedestrians, bike and skateboard commuters in Charleston, SC experience on a daily basis.

The Kitchenistas of National City

Healthy communities start around the kitchen table. Follow the struggles and transformations of the Kitchenistas as they learn to conquer a health crisis in their community by cooking traditional dishes in a healthy way.