The Secret Life of Geisha

Documentary about the world of the Japanese geisha. Unattainable by all but the wealthy and powerful, geisha are the ultimate massagers of the male ego. Behind the delicate fan and enigmatic smile can also be found a darker side to the geisha story, including treachery and suicide.

エンディングノート

Recently retired from a company after some 40 years of service, Sunada Tomoaki, father of filmmaker Sunada Mami, is diagnosed with terminal cancer and only has a few months left to live. True to his pragmatic core, Sunada sets out to accomplish a list of tasks before his final departure: playing with his grandchildren, planning his own funeral, saying “I love you” to his wife, among others. In a voice over, using words taken from her father’s diary, filmmaker Sunada speaks tenderly in first person as the elder Sunada.

Los reyes del pueblo que no existe

San Marcos, a town in northwestern Mexico partially submerged under water because of the construction of a nearby dam, is besieged by the violence of armed groups. Nevertheless, four families refuse to leave.

De brand van Leuven

At the end of August 1914 Leuven became the victim of blind rage war. Virtually the entire city center was systematically destroyed by the Germans. War journalist Rudi Vranckx explains what happened.

Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story

This soulful documentary illuminates the hell-and- back life of the late, great L.A. alto sax legend Frank Morgan. A prodigy who was acclaimed as the natural heir to his bebop mentor, Charlie Parker, Morgan derailed his career with heroin, which led him into a life of crime. After decades in prison, he made an astonishing comeback, leaving behind recordings of deep, melancholy beauty. Framed by a tribute concert held in San Quentin, where Morgan’s 19-year-old Asian-American protégé, Grace Kelly, performs a heart-stopping version of “Over the Rainbow,” N.C. Heikin’s film is filled with revealing interviews with the colleagues, lovers, family and wives who accompanied Morgan on his long and rocky journey to redemption.

Little White Lie

Lacey Schwartz grew up in a typical upper-middle-class Jewish household in Woodstock, NY, with loving parents and a strong sense of her Jewish identity - despite the open questions from those around her about how a white girl could have such dark skin. She believes her family's explanation that her looks were inherited from her dark-skinned Sicilian grandfather. But when her parents abruptly split, her gut starts to tell her something different. At age of 18, she finally confronts her mother and learns the truth: her biological father was not the man who raised her, but a black man named Rodney with whom her mother had had an affair.

The Hacker Wars

h)ac(k)tivist-noun: a person who uses technology to bring about social change. The Hacker Wars - a film about the targeting of (h)ac(k)tivists, activists and journalists by the US government. There is a war going on- the war for our minds. The Hacker Wars.

Dark Horse

The larger than life true story of how a barmaid in a poor Welsh mining village convinces some of her fellow residents to pool their resources to compete in the "sport of kings" with a racehorse they would breed and raise.

Return of the River

A documentary on the world's largest dam removal project and its effects on the river ecosystem and surrounding communities.

Myra Hindley. the Untold Story

An in depth description of the lives of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady, otherwise known as the Moors Murderers. It focuses on their relationship and the series of events that led to them murdering 5 children. A drama-documentary series about the life and crimes of Moors Murderer Myra Hindley. Exploring her turbulent childhood and relationship with Ian Brady.

Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman

Acclaimed filmmaker Jennifer Fox maps the world of female life and sexuality today -- from the dramatic turns in her own life to the stories of women around the globe that shed light on the universal issues all women face. Employing a groundbreaking camera technique, called "passing the camera", this powerful series creates a new type of documentary language and storytelling that mirrors the special way women communicate.

Time

Fox Rich, indomitable matriarch and modern-day abolitionist, strives to keep her family together while fighting for the release of her incarcerated husband. An intimate, epic, and unconventional love story, filmed over two decades.

The Mystery of Agatha Christie, With David Suchet

David Suchet, TV's Poirot, has spent more of his life acting out the plots and dramas created by Agatha Christie than anyone else in the world. Suchet is embarking on a journey to learn more about the woman who created Poirot and whose books remain outsold only by Shakespeare and the Bible. Suchet's journey takes him to the places Christie lived, the landscapes that inspired her and to meetings with people who knew the woman behind the fame and those inspired by her extraordinary legacy. He explores the close links between Christie's extraordinary life and her work and discovers what it was about the woman from a small seaside town that allowed her to become the best-selling murder mystery writer in history.

Vierzehn

Four girls—Laura, Fabienne, Lisa, and Steffi—are in love for the first time, have sex, and become pregnant. At 14 years old, they suddenly have to make life-or-death decisions. Abortion seems like the obvious solution, but the girls decide to live with their children. In the film, we experience firsthand the ups and downs the four girls go through and how they face extraordinary challenges day after day. The film ends in the first months after the babies are born.

Back to Bosnia

Filmmaker Sabina Vajraca documents her Bosnian Muslim family's return to their home of Banja Luka, Bosnia, to recover their stolen belongings many years after being forced to flee to the United States. In Bosnia, they witness the devastation of the city, visit war crimes sites, and confront the family that has been living in their former apartment -- with all their furnishings -- for a decade.

Out of Print

A documentary exploring the importance of revival cinema and 35mm exhibition - seen through the lens of the patrons of the New Beverly Cinema - a unique and independent revival cinema in Los Angeles.

Awful Normal

Celesta and Karen Davis grew up in a loving family. They shared many wonderful childhood moments and, at the time, thought it all was normal. But when Karen and Celesta were molested in 1978, little was being done about sexual abuse. Their parents' lack of action was neither questioned nor challenged, including years of continued social contact with the perpetrator, his wife and their two young children. Twenty-five years later, feeling unresolved, they begin their quest to find the man who took advantage of their innocence and to ask him something that has haunted them for almost their entire life: "Why?"

Les ludions

The Film That Buys the Cinema

A collection of films from an eclectic array of contributors commissioned to raise funds for the Bristol independent cinema The Cube.

An Open Secret

An investigation into accusations of teenagers being sexually abused within the film industry.