Elevator Pitch (2020)

Rising Phoenix

Elite athletes and insiders reflect on the Paralympic Games and examine how they impact a global understanding of disability, diversity and excellence.

Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train a Comin'

An account of the short life of genius musician Jimi Hendrix (1942-70), probably the most talented and influential guitarist of the twentieth century: his humble beginnings in Seattle, his time in New York, his rise to fame in swinging London… Live fast, love hard, die young.

102 Minutes That Changed America

The morning of September 11, 2001 is shown through multiple video cameras in and around New York City, from the moment the first WTC tower is hit until after both towers collapse.

Moments Like This Never Last

Dash Snow rejected a life of privilege to make his own way as an artist on the streets of downtown New York City in the late 1990s. Developing from a notorious graffiti tagger into an international art star, he documented his drug- and alcohol-fueled nights with the surrogate family he formed with friends and fellow artists Ryan McGinley and Dan Colen before his death by heroin overdose in 2009. Drawing from Snow’s unforgettable body of work and involving archival footage, Cheryl Dunn’s exceptional portrait captures his all-too-brief life of reckless excess and creativity.

OG: The Harry Jumonji Story

'OG' is a film about a legendary, Brazilian born, NYC skateboarder, Harry Jumonji. In the course of telling his story, through his triumphs and travails, Jumonji emerges in this portrait as an adolescent innocent, much like skateboarding itself. He is irrepressible, manically energetic and ultimately, pure. He has a transcendent presence, well beyond charm or charisma, of such unalloyed joy that nothing he does is unforgiveable. This is fortunate because, as a drug addict, unsurprisingly, he lies, cheats and steals. Harry is rendered as the poet, the sprite, the artist and the street saint he is.

Ellis Island, une histoire du rêve Américain

In 1892, Ellis Island, in New York Bay, became the main gateway to the United States for immigrants arriving increasingly from Europe. The story of immigration to the United States from 1892 to 1954, an enthralling polyphonic narrative that embraces both small and great history.

Quiet Storm: The Ron Artest Story

In the world of professional sports, no American athlete ever came back from a mental health disorder....until Ron Artest, now known to the world as Metta World Peace.

Whereabouts of Sound

As they play carefree music, their musicianship is met with surprise, wonder, and sometimes even laughter. Captivating all who watch, Otoasobi Project’s rich variety of expression reshapes the concept of improvised music. Formed in 2005 in Kobe, Japan, Otoasobi Project has some 50 members, including people with intellectual disabilities, musicians, and music therapists, who pursue music and well-being through improvised performances. After many years of numerous workshops, concerts, and other activities, they even held their first tour in the UK in September 2013. The movie “Whereabouts of Sound” depicts the appeal of the improvised music Otoasobi creates, and the beauty of its natural, honest expression.

Please Make Me Look Pretty

One hot summer, Eun-hye, a jobless who’s just knitting at home, becomes popular at ‘Munho River Market’ as an artist who draws ‘not pretty face’ pictures. When customers ask her to draw them to look pretty, she replies “But you’re already pretty”. Eun-hye takes great care for a long time to express each people’s personality and says that everyone is born pretty from the beginning. And now the number of happy faces has already reached 2,000.

The Police Tapes

The Police Tapes is a 1977 documentary about a New York City police precinct in the South Bronx. The original ran ninety minutes and was produced for public television; a one-hour version later aired on ABC. Filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond spent three months in 1976 riding along with patrol officers in the 44th Precinct of the South Bronx, which had the highest crime rate in New York City at that time. They produced about 40 hours of videotape that they edited into a 90-minute documentary.

American Swing

Chronicles the rise and fall of 1970s New York City nightclub Plato's Retreat.

The Rise & Fall of Penn Station

In 1910, the Pennsylvania Railroad successfully accomplished the enormous engineering feat of building tunnels under New York City's Hudson and East Rivers, connecting the railroad to New York and New England, knitting together the entire eastern half of the United States. The tunnels terminated in what was one of the greatest architectural achievements of its time, Pennsylvania Station. Penn Station covered nearly eight acres, extended two city blocks, and housed one of the largest public spaces in the world. But just 53 years after the station’s opening, the monumental building that was supposed to last forever, to herald and represent the American Empire, was slated to be destroyed.

Veselka: The Rainbow on the Corner at the Center of the World

New York City's beloved Ukrainian restaurant Veselka is best known for its borscht and varenyky, but it has become a beacon of hope for Ukraine. As the second-generation owner Tom Birchard reluctantly retires after 54 years, his son Jason faces the pressures of stepping into his father’s shoes as the war in Ukraine impacts his family and staff.

The Gimp Monkeys

What has four legs, five arms and three heads? The Gimp Monkeys. Craig DeMartino lost his leg after a 100-foot climbing fall. Pete Davis with born without an arm. Bone cancer claimed Jarem Frye's left leg at the age of 14. While the three are linked by what they are missing, it is their shared passion for climbing that pushed them towards an improbable goal - the first all-disabled ascent of Yosemite's iconic El Capitan.

The Automat

The 100-year story of the iconic restaurant chain Horn & Hardart, the inspiration for Starbucks, where generations of Americans ate and drank coffee together at communal tables. From the perspective of former customers, we watch a business climb to its peak success and then grapple with fast food in a forever changed America.

Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation

The parallel lives of writer Truman Capote (1924-84) and playwright Tennessee Williams (1911-83): two friends, two geniuses who, while creating sublime works, were haunted by the ghosts of the past, the shadow of constant doubt, the demon of addictions and the blinding, deceptive glare of success.

The Ability Exchange

A documentary about an innovative Disability Studies class at NYU Tandon School of Engineering where engineering students and adults with cerebral palsy learn to communicate, connect, and cultivate their abilities by making movies.

Champions

Champions is a documentary in which filmmaker Helgi Piccinin follows the quests of his autistic brother Stéphane and his atypical friend Audrey. Born with an intellectual difference, Stéphane and Audrey want to prove to the world that they too can win medals. For three intense years marked by training and competitions, we follow them until the end of their ambitious dream, that of competing at the Special Olympics World Games in Dubai. Intertwining both sports odyssey and human portrait, this feel-good documentary offers an immersion into a fascinating world where athletes with an intellectual difference are at the forefront.

Fight Church

A documentary about the confluence of Christianity and mixed martial arts, including ministries which train fighters. The film follows several pastors and popular fighters in their quest to reconcile their faith with a sport that many consider violent and barbaric. Faith is tried and questions are raised. Can you really love your neighbor as yourself and then punch him in the face?

The Long Breakup

Ukrainian journalist Katya Soldak, currently living in New York City and working for Forbes magazine, chronicles Ukraine's history: its strong ties to Russia for centuries; how it broke away from the USSR and began to walk alone; the Orange Revolution, the Maidan Revolution, the Crimea annexation, the Donbass War; all through the eyes of her family and friends settled in Kharkiv, a large Ukrainian city located just eighteen miles from the Russian border.

Style Wars

Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant's PBS documentary tracks the rise and fall of subway graffiti in New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Un día en Nueva York con Woody Allen

Spanish filmmaker David Trueba travels to New York to interview Woody Allen, who reviews his filmography and his many personal and artistic concerns.

Into the Spotlight

On the heels of a tragedy and the COVID-19 pandemic, a Dallas-based theatre troupe comprised of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are determined to write, rehearse, and perform their 11th annual original musical.

32 Pills: My Sister's Suicide

Traces the life and mental illness of New York artist and photographer Ruth Litoff, and her sister's struggle to come to terms with her tragic suicide.

One Ticket Please

A documentary about a 78-year-old Indian woman in New York who is the world's most passionate theatergoer. Nicki Cochrane has been seeing a play every day for more than 25 years, acquiring free tickets using a variety of ingenious means.

Cabbage

An intimate film made in collaboration with the filmmaker's family, Cabbage looks at the complexities of bodily autonomy within an ableist paradigm. Taking place in the months leading up to an international move from Canada back home to Ireland – a country they had to leave a decade prior due to severe cuts in disability services – the film focuses on her brother’s writings using eye tracking technology and her mother’s memories to explore how we shape a sense of self under the pervasive weight of unspoken assumptions and fixed definitions that get placed onto bodies. Dissecting layers of language, agency and power, the film is a subtle examination of how a human life is measured and valued.

Keeping Track

Tribute to the workers responsible for maintaining and repairing the tracks, stations, terminals, and tunnels of the metro.