One Wedding and a Revolution

The 1920s saw a revolution in technology, the advent of the recording industry, that created the first class of African-American women to sing their way to fame and fortune. Blues divas such as Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Alberta Hunter created and promoted a working-class vision of blues life that provided an alternative to the Victorian gentility of middle-class manners. In their lives and music, blues women presented themselves as strong, independent women who lived hard lives and were unapologetic about their unconventional choices in clothes, recreational activities, and bed partners. Blues singers disseminated a Black feminism that celebrated emotional resilience and sexual pleasure, no matter the source.

The unknown and fascinating origins of cinema and audiovisuals from prehistory to the beginning of the 20th century.

Four unrelated moments following a young cat wandering the living room of her house.

Activist-pranksters Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonnano pull the rug out from under mega-corporations, government officials and a complacent media in a series of outrageous stunts designed to draw awareness to the issue of climate change.

Alcoholics Anonymous is a community of men and women who share their experience, hope and support with each other so that they can address their common problem and help others to break free from alcohol addiction. The documentary follows the stories of ten people who have been on the verge of alcoholism for almost their entire lives.

Documentary examining the 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke and the cover-up that ensued.

Violeta leads a normal life in a well-off family, with loving parents, surrounded by everything the heart of an eleven-year-old girl might wish for. But she hasn’t always been the pretty girl she is today; she was born a boy. At age 6, she baffled her parents (the famous adult movie stars Nacho Vidal and Franceska Jaimes) when she told them she wanted to be called and dress as a girl. After the initial shock, they decided to give her all their support on the long and tough road that will lead to her becoming a woman someday. Violeta faces many challenges, medical (such as deciding whether or not to take hormone-blockers to stop the development of masculine features as soon as puberty kicks in) and legal (obtaining an ID card with her new name and gender). Later, she may consider getting a sex reassignment procedure, or the possibility of becoming a mother through adoption.

Using restored, colorized archives and testimonies from all the players in this conflict, this documentary covers the hundred days of apocalyptic fighting that wrote History. June 1944, the Allies landed in Normandy. This odyssey was meticulously prepared for months. The construction of two artificial ports, the transport of Anglo-American troops, their training cost colossal efforts, and caused many cold sweats: the secret of D-Day almost came to light several times. The documentary reveals the inner workings of Operation Overlord, it also deciphers the military operations, and evokes the choices of the high command. Placed at human level, it retraces the fate of Norman civilians subjected to deadly bombings, the attitude of the Allied soldiers and their German adversaries, as well as the aspirations of the French population, torn between fear and hope.

More than 60,000 of Ernest Cole’s 35mm film negatives were inexplicably discovered in a bank vault in Stockholm, Sweden. Most considered these forever lost, especially the thousands of pictures he shot in the U.S. Told through Cole’s own writings, the stories of those closest to him, and the lens of his uncompromising work, the film is a reintroduction of a pivotal Black artist to a new generation and will unravel the mystery of his missing negatives.

After the impressive Gulistan, Land of Roses (VdR 2016), the Kurdish filmmaker Zaynê Akyol returns with these conversations with imprisoned members of the Islamic State, alternating their words with aerial views of the countryside. An unexpected look at a far-reaching current political issue and a film whose subject matter and rhythm create an impressive cinematic object.