The Edge of Democracy (2019)

Lula, the Son of Brazil

The true story of a working class boy who moves to the nation's financial capital at a young age and becomes one the most influential politicians in Brazilian history.

The Trial

The impeachment and removal from office of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in 2016 was triggered by a corruption scandal involving, among others, her then vice-president Michel Temer. Director Maria Augusta Ramos follows the trial against Rousseff from the point of view of her defence team. This is a courtroom drama that unfolds slowly: the appearances of the various parties gradually turn the proceedings into something akin to theatre. Inside the courtroom, grand emotions are played to full effect whilst, on the other side of the doors, lobbyists and supporters pace the corridors. Meanwhile, outside, in front of Brasília’s modernist government buildings, demonstrators are chanting like a Greek chorus. Only the main character, Rousseff herself, remains professional and aloof.

Nefta Football Club

In the south of Tunisia, two football fan brothers bump into a donkey lost in the middle of the desert on the border of Algeria. Strangely, the animal wears headphones over its ears.

Boy 23: The Forgotten Boys of Brazil

The film accompanies the investigation of the historian Sidney Aguilar after the discovery of bricks marked with Nazi swastikas in the interior of São Paulo. They then discover a horrifying fact that during the 1930s, fifty black and mullato boys were taken from an orphanage in Rio de Janeiro to the farm where the bricks were found. There they were identified by numbers and were submitted to slave labour by a family that was part of the political and economic elite of the country and who did not hide their Nazi sympathizing ideals.

Minha Fama de Mau

An emotional dive into the music and life of Erasmo Carlos, from his years as a young rock-and-roller looking for gigs through his enduring musical partnership with Roberto Carlos.

How Fernando Pessoa Saved Portugal

Lisbon, Portugal, 1927. The writer and journalist Fernando Pessoa accepts from his boss the commission to create an advertising slogan for the drink Coca-Louca; but conservative government authorities consider the new drink as revolutionary as it is diabolical.

Gus

The California Atoms are in last place with no hope of moving up. But by switching the mule from team mascot to team member, (He can kick 100 yard field goals!) they start winning, and move up in the rankings, Hurrah! The competition isn't so happy.

Empty Days

"Empty Days" tells the story of a day in the life of Jean and Fabiana, a couple of young boyfriends who try to reinvent their lives in a small town in the Brazilian interior. They are in their senior year of high school and live the old dilemma: either we leave this city or we stay here and continue the history of our parents. At the end of this day Jean commits suicide and Fabiana disappears. Two years later, Daniel and Alanis, another couple of young boyfriends, try to understand how everything happened.

The Madness Among Us

Leonor and Elizangela do not appear crazy at first sight in the way that society often imagines. They are victims of violent and uncontrollable seizure, which sometimes result even during filming in forcible confinement. The rest of the time they are endowed with sensitivity and clarity about their condition, which offers anyone who will listen to them the opportunity to familiarize themselves with what madness is, through their words, and also through their tragic and touching destinies.

VS.

VS. is an urban rites of passage drama set in the hostile and exciting UK rap battle scene.

Rolling Papers

On January 1, 2014, recreational marijuana sales began in Colorado. With all eyes on ground zero of the green rush, The Denver Post became the first major media outlet to embrace it and appointed the world’s first marijuana editor. Legalization is not just an experiment for society, but a risk for the dying industry of newspapers to hedge its bets on the booming business of marijuana. Ricardo Baca sets out to report on history in the making with a team of straight-laced staff writers and fish out of water freelancers in tow for The Cannabist as it unfolds. Policy news, strain reviews, parenting advice and edible recipes are the new norm in the unprecedented world of pot journalism.

Possible Loves

Fifteen year ago, Carlos went to the cinema to meet Júlia, his university colleague with whom he was in love. She never showed up. Carlos was left waiting in the lobby alone. While he waits, something happens which will change his life. A scene, an encounter, an unfinished sentence... Something insignificant, but which will determine the character's life. Fifteen years later, we follow three completely different versions of Carlos's life. In one, he is a man divided between the stability of a secure life in a lukewarm marriage, and the growing desire to live a great love affair. In the second, he is homosexual and places passion above all else. In the third possible life, Carlos is a man who hasn't yet discovered love, and lives through successive disastrous relationships in search of the perfect woman. One of them is his real life. Another is not his life. And a third is the life he'd like to lead. Which is his true life ?

Chicago Syndicate

An ex-military accountant is recruited by the FBI to infiltrate the mob in Chicago in an attempt to break open the rackets. To complicate his job, two women stand in his way, each with their own agenda.

Lower House

During 2016, a film crew embeds inside the Brazilian Congress while lawmakers plot to overthrow the country's elected president, Dilma Rousseff.

The Cave

Deep beneath the surface in the Syrian province of Ghouta, a group of female doctors have established an underground field hospital. Under the supervision of paediatrician Dr. Amani and her staff of doctors and nurses, hope is restored for some of the thousands of children and civilian victims of the ruthless Syrian civil war.

American Factory

In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand blue-collar Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.

The Milk of Sorrow

Fausta is suffering from a rare disease called the Milk of Sorrow, which is transmitted through the breast milk of pregnant women who were abused or raped during or soon after pregnancy. While living in constant fear and confusion due to this disease, she must face the sudden death of her mother. She chooses to take drastic measures to not follow in her mother's footsteps.

Oprah Winfrey Presents: When They See Us Now

Oprah Winfrey talks with the exonerated men once known as the Central Park Five, plus the cast and producers who tell their story in "When They See Us."

Whisky

When his long-lost brother resurfaces, Jacobo, desperate to prove his life has added up to something, looks to scrounge up a wife. He turns to Marta, an employee at his sock factory, with whom he has a prickly relationship.

Life Overtakes Me

Hundreds of refugee children in Sweden, who have fled with their families from extreme trauma, have become afflicted with 'uppgivenhetssyndrom,' or Resignation Syndrome. Facing deportation, they withdraw from the world into a coma-like state, as if frozen, for months, or even years.

Emicida: AmarElo - It's All for Yesterday

Between scenes from his concert in São Paulo's oft-inaccessible Theatro Municipal, rapper and activist Emicida celebrates the rich legacy of Black Brazilian culture.

Hour of the Star

Macabéa has just moved to the big city after her aunt, who raised her, died. She gets a job as a typist and moves into a boarding house with three other women. In her spare time, she listens to a radio station called Time; on Sundays, she likes to ride the metro. Then she meets Olímpico, a northeasterner like herself, who has dreams of becoming a congressman.

Whindersson Nunes: Adult

Brazilian YouTube sensation Whindersson Nunes revisits his humble beginnings and much more in a series of playful stories and peculiar songs.

Racionais MC's: From the Streets of São Paulo

Armed with music and a message, influential hip-hop group Racionais MC's turned their street poetry into a powerful movement in Brazil and beyond.

DJ Cinderella

Cintia is modern princess, she's connected, decided and loves music. This "pop" princess used to live with their parents in a huge castle with a nice view to the city. Every night she looked through the window and watch the view dreaming with a prince she didn't met yet. But one day her castle crumbles with everything around her, after her parents divorce she went to live with her aunt and stops believing in love. What she didn't knew was that there was a charming prince in her history, that wanted to break the ice around our modern day cinderella.

Gridlocked

Former SWAT leader David Hendrix and hard-partying movie star Brody Walker must cut their ride-along short when a police training facility is attacked by a team of mercenaries.

Pixote

10-year-old Pixote endures torture, degradation, and corruption at a local youth detention center where two of its members are murdered by policemen who frame Lilica, a 17-year-old trans hustler. Pixote helps Lilica and three other boys escape and they start to make their living by a life of crime which only escalates to more violence and death.

The Best Man Holiday

When college friends reunite after 15 years over the Christmas holidays, they discover just how easy it is for long-forgotten rivalries and romances to be reignited.

Pelé

Against the backdrop of a turbulent era in Brazil, this documentary captures Pelé's extraordinary path from breakthrough talent to national hero. Mixing rare archival footage and exclusive interviews, this documentary celebrates the legendary Brazilian footballer who personified football as art.

To the Wonder

After falling in love in Paris, Marina and Neil come to Oklahoma, where problems arise. Their church's Spanish-born pastor struggles with his faith, while Neil encounters a woman from his childhood.

Beats

An agoraphobic hip-hop prodigy and a disgraced former music manager cross paths in Chicago’s South Side and help each other face demons of their pasts.

A Faithful Man

Marianne leaves Abel for Paul, his best friend and the father of her unborn child. Eight years later, Paul dies and Marianne returns to Abel. However, things have changed for the both of them and feelings of jealousy surround their new relationship.

For Sama

A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.

Giant Little Ones

Two popular teen boys, best friends since childhood, discover their lives, families, and girlfriends dramatically upended after an unexpected incident occurs on the night of a 17th birthday party.

He's Out There

On vacation at a remote lake house, a mother and her two young daughters must fight for survival after falling into a terrifying and bizarre nightmare conceived by a psychopath.

Stop Making Sense

A concert film documenting Talking Heads at the height of their popularity, on tour for their 1983 album "Speaking in Tongues." The band takes the stage one by one and is joined by a cadre of guest musicians for a career-spanning and cinematic performance that features creative choreography and visuals.

Daisies

Two teenage girls embark on a series of destructive pranks in which they consume and destroy the world around them.

Monica and Friends: Bonds

Fluffy, Jimmy Five's pet dog, vanished. He develops an infallible plan to rescue the little dog, but, he will need help from his faithful friends: Monica, Maggy and Smudge. Together, they will face challengers and live incredible adventures to get Fluffy back home.

Pumping Iron

Amateur and professional bodybuilders prepare for the 1975 Mr. Olympia and Mr. Universe contests as five-time champion Arnold Schwarzenegger defends his Mr. Olympia title against Serge Nubret and the shy young Lou Ferrigno.

Columbus The Lost Voyage

Columbus' 4th voyage has been a total failure: he has not found the westward passage, he has no gold to show, he has lost men and ships and his efforts to build a colony have fallen through. The monarchs of Spain are not going to restore the rights and privileges which were taken away from Columbus after the first voyage. And Columbus will be shamed. Many of his sailors who have survived, can't face the journey home. They will choose to remain on Hispaniola or neighbouring Puerto Rico.

Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing

Shut Up and Sing is a documentary about the country band from Texas called the Dixie Chicks and how one tiny comment against President Bush dropped their number one hit off the charts and caused fans to hate them, destroy their CD’s, and protest at their concerts. A film about freedom of speech gone out of control and the three girls lives that were forever changed by a small anti-Bush comment

Dig!

A documentary on the once promising American rock bands The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. The friendship between respective founders, Anton Newcombe and Courtney Taylor, escalated into bitter rivalry as the Dandy Warhols garnered major international success while the Brian Jonestown Massacre imploded in a haze of drugs.

In the Realms of the Unreal

In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.

Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You

Arguably the most influential creator, writer, and producer in the history of television, Norman Lear brought primetime into step with the times. Using comedy and indelible characters, his legendary 1970s shows such as All In the Family, Maude, Good Times, and The Jeffersons, boldly cracked open dialogue and shifted the national consciousness, injecting enlightened humanism into sociopolitical debates on race, class, creed, and feminism.

When Two Worlds Collide

In this tense and immersive tour de force, audiences are taken directly into the line of fire between powerful, opposing Peruvian leaders who will stop at nothing to keep their respective goals intact. On the one side is President Alan Garcia, who, eager to enter the world stage, begins aggressively extracting oil, minerals, and gas from untouched indigenous Amazonian land. He is quickly met with fierce opposition from indigenous leader Alberto Pizango, whose impassioned speeches against Garcia’s destructive actions prove a powerful rallying cry to throngs of his supporters. When Garcia continues to ignore their pleas, a tense war of words erupts into deadly violence.

Manakamana

A documentary about a group of pilgrims who travel to Nepal to worship at the legendary Manakamana temple.

Dykes, Camera, Action!

The film examines the ways that women directors have contributed to this genre and emphasizes the role that the media play in representation of sexuality and gender, underscoring the power that film has to shape our perceptions of one another. Visually, this documentary comes to life on screen through compelling and intimate original interviews, intercut with emotionally-charged archival footage, photographs, ephemera, inspired music, and film clips.

Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations

Starting with a long and lyrical overture, evoking the origins of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, Riefenstahl covers twenty-one athletic events in the first half of this two-part love letter to the human body and spirit, culminating with the marathon, where Jesse Owens became the first track and field athlete to win four gold medals in a single Olympics.

Deep Water

DEEP WATER is the stunning true story of the fateful voyage of Donald Crowhurst, an amateur yachtsman who enters the most daring nautical challenge ever – the very first solo, non-stop, round-the-world boat race.

A Man, When He Is a Man

What are the social climate and cultural traditions in Costa Rica which nurture "machismo" and allow the domination of women to continue in Latin America?

Making 'The Shining'

Directed and edited by Stanley Kubrick's daughter Vivian Kubrick, this film offers a look behind the scenes during the making of The Shining.

Control Room

A chronicle which provides a rare window into the international perception of the Iraq War, courtesy of Al Jazeera, the Arab world's most popular news outlet. Roundly criticized by Cabinet members and Pentagon officials for reporting with a pro-Iraqi bias, and strongly condemned for frequently airing civilian causalities as well as footage of American POWs, the station has revealed (and continues to show the world) everything about the Iraq War that the Bush administration did not want it to see.

Nirvana: Unplugged In New York

A live album by American rock band Nirvana, the album features an acoustic performance recorded at Sony Music Studios in New York City on 18 November 1993, for the television series MTV Unplugged.

Metal: A Headbanger's Journey

The film discusses the traits and originators of some of metal's many subgenres, including the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, power metal, Nu metal, glam metal, thrash metal, black metal, and death metal. Dunn uses a family-tree-type flowchart to document some of the most popular metal subgenres. The film also explores various aspects of heavy metal culture.

The Decline of Western Civilization

The Los Angeles punk music scene circa 1980 is the focus of this film. With Alice Bag Band, Black Flag, Catholic Discipline, Circle Jerks, Fear, Germs, and X.

12 September: Coup Diary

Turkish democracy got over May 27 and March 12 and set off again, but the storm did not subside, and the mutual reckoning was not over. On the contrary, new fronts were opened in the country and blood began to flow like a gutter. Finally, on September 12, there was a knock on the door again. Those who came that day changed everything, everything. Nothing will ever be the same again

Demirkırat: Fight

It's easy to say... After 23 years of single-party rule, Turkey decided to try democracy once again in 1946. In every attempt up to that time, the regime had been turned upside down and given up in a short time. Now a new one was coming. Would he be able to reach the multi-party regime that has been pursued since Atatürk this time? The calendar of democracy began to run on the morning of Monday, January 7, 1946. That day was a turning point in Turkish political history. The Republic of Turkey woke up with a single party in the morning, it was now multi-party...

Mur Murs

Venturing from Venice Beach to Watts, Varda looks at the murals of LA as backdrop to and mirror of the city’s many cultures. She casts a curious eye on graffiti and photorealism, roller disco & gang violence, evangelical Christians, Hare Krishnas, artists, angels and ordinary Angelenos.

Tell Me

Chantal Akerman meets with elderly Jewish women in Paris, all of them survivors of the Shoah, and listens to their family stories. Between interviews, Akerman's mother Natalia speaks of her own family. Made for a French miniseries on grandmothers.

The Cats of Mirikitani

Documentary about red-bereted Jimmy Mirikitani, a feisty painter working and living on the street, near the World Trade Center, when 9/11 devastates the neighborhood. A nearby film editor, Linda Hattendorf, persuades elderly Jimmy to move in with her, while seeking a permanent home for him. The young woman delves into the California-born, Japan-raised artist's unique life which developed his resilient personality, and fuel his 2 main subjects, cats and internment camps. The editor films Jimmy's remarkable journey.

What the #$*! Do We (K)now!?

Amanda is a divorced woman who makes a living as a photographer. During the Fall of the year Amanda begins to see the world in new and different ways when she begins to question her role in life, her relationships with her career and men and what it all means. As the layers to her everyday experiences fall away insertions in the story with scientists, and philosophers and religious leaders impart information directly to an off-screen interviewer about academic issues, and Amanda begins to understand the basis to the quantum world beneath. During her epiphany as she considers the Great Questions raised by the host of inserted thinkers, she slowly comprehends the various inspirations and begins to see the world in a new way.

Lesbian Avengers Eat Fire Too

An insider's look at the first year of an activist group known as the Lesbian Avengers.

A Fuller Life

Friends and admirers of iconoclastic film director Sam Fuller read from his memoirs in this unconventional documentary directed by Fuller's only child, Samantha.

The Dreamed Ones

It’s not uncommon for a film to have a moving love story at its core. Yet this particular set-up is unusual. The lovers here are Ingeborg Bachmann and Paul Celan, both important representatives of post-war German-language poetry. The story of the relationship between the Austrian and the Jew from Czernowitz is told through their nearly 20-year correspondence (1948–1967). Or, more precisely, by a young woman and a young man reading from their letters in a studio in Vienna’s venerable Funkhaus.

The Mighty Spirit

An overview of Brazilian spirituality and religions.

Jango

The story of João "Jango" Goulart, the Brazilian left-wing president deposed by the military.

The United States of America

A conceptual bicentennial film dealing with spatial and temporal relationships between two travelers, their car, and the geographic, political, and social changes from NY to Los Angeles.

Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon

Supermensch documents the astounding career of Hollywood insider, the loveable Shep Gordon, who fell into music management by chance after moving to LA straight out of college, and befriending Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix. Shep managed rock stars such as Pink Floyd, Luther Vandross, Teddy Pendergrass and Alice Cooper, and later went on to manage chefs such as Emeril Lagasse, ushering in the era of celebrity chefs on television.

The Cheshire Murders

In the early-morning hours of July 23, 2007, in Cheshire, Conn., ex-convicts Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky broke into the family home of William Petit, his wife, Jennifer, and their daughters, Michaela, 11, and Hayley, 17. Dr. Petit was beaten and tied to a pole in the basement. The three women were bound in their bedrooms while the men ransacked the house. The brutal ordeal continued throughout the morning, ending with rape, arson and a horrific triple homicide.

Visions of Europe

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

Doing Good

Margreth Olin has filmed 22 persons i their meeting with the well known voluntary healer Joralf Gjerstad. For 65 years more than 50.000 has gone to him to be healed from illnesses and ill-doings. He has never asked for a penny for this

Tall Poppy: A Skater's Story

A child who just loved to skate from the age of eight, Poppy Starr Olsen became the number one female bowl skater in Australia at 14 and went on to take out bronze at the XGames at 17 - the ultimate competition in the world of skateboarding. The same year, skateboarding was announced as an official additional sport category at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Now faced with the opportunity to represent Australia on the world stage Poppy grapples with the transition from skater to athlete and the pressure of competition mounts in a way it has never done before.

Doomed Beauty

Documentary film about Czech actress Lida Baarova, who fell in love with Joseph Goebbels in the 30s.

The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story

There's not a person in the world who wouldn't recognize Mickey Mouse. But until now, not many knew the man who originally gave shape, movement and personality to the world's most beloved icon. "The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story" takes you behind the scenes to meet Walt Disney's best friend and chief animator.

A Greater Society

It’s the 2014 midterms and residents of a South Florida retirement community feel the weight of democracy on their shoulders. In one of the most influential counties of America’s largest swing state, these political kingmakers trade their golf clubs for clipboards and hit the pavement to get out the vote. A GREATER SOCIETY is a feature documentary to inspire voter turnout. Inside the gates of Wynmoor Village are three miles of manicured lawns lined with palm trees, a golf course, and carefully maintained condominiums. At first glance, it’s just another retirement community where elders go to enjoy their golden years relaxing by the pool and taking ceramics classes; but look further and you’ll see that the people who live in this community share something unique: the power to have a real impact on national politics.

Eldorado XXI

The panoramic shots are breathtaking: a majestic mountain landscape in winter, flat-roofed tin shacks cowering next to one other, women perched on steep slopes using primitive tools to break through pieces of rock. La Rinconada is situated over 5,000 meters high in the Peruvian Andes, on the edge of a gold mine. This 21st century El Dorado is an inhospitable place, where untold numbers of people live and work in the most precarious of conditions, hoping both for gold and a better life. Salomé Lamas has constructed a cinematic diptych to convey the extremity of this situation and the dimensions of its misery without having to resort to graphic images.

We Feed the World

A documentary that exposes the shocking truths behind industrial food production and food wastage, focusing on fishing, livestock and crop farming. A must-see for anyone interested in the true cost of the food on their plate.