Global Peace Films

Over the course of three decades, Jamie uses the camera to document life. When her loved ones succumb to unexplained illness she turns to the camera for refuge and ends up with a firsthand account of what will become the worst man-made epidemic in United States history. Anonymous Sister is a personal exposé of one family’s fall into opioid addiction, offering a poignant and timely study of what it means to suffer, to survive, to celebrate life, in all of its beauty and pain.

Take a left off of the Anacostia Freeway on to Firth Sterling Ave – what do you see? You see empty fields. You see shiny new buildings just breaking ground. Construction equipment. Sweeping views of the capital. As one community member states in this film, if you are a developer, you see a gold mine. But these empty fields hold powerful memories. Enslaved people once worked this land. Later, during Reconstruction, formerly enslaved individuals purchased it, and built one of DC’s first thriving Black communities. Here, the city constructed a sprawling public housing complex in the 1940s, beloved by insiders, if notorious to outsiders. Here, the movement for Welfare Rights took shape. Here, the Junkyard Band honed its chops on homemade instruments before putting a turbocharge into the city’s Go-Go music. Here, residents lived in the Barry Farms Dwellings up until 2019, when the final community members were removed for the redevelopment. This documentary film, a collaboration between the Bertelsmann Foundation and the DC Legacy Project, and directed by Sabiyha Prince and Samuel George, tells a story of a journey for community, land, and for justice. It is a story of Barry Farm, but it is also a story of Washington, DC. And, in the cycles of place and displacement, it is a story of the United States of America.

Dr. Eduardo Peña Dolhun is a family physician in San Francisco who passes the homeless every day on his walk to work. Moved by the social injustice of individuals sleeping on cold concrete, he decides to act. This inspirational story told by breathtaking photographs and intimate interviews of his unhoused neighbors is a global call to action.

Emily Tianshi is a young woman striving to raise awareness and create solutions for the global water crisis. At age 13, Emily transformed her garage into a science lab to research San Diego’s unique Torrey Pine tree and uncover how the tree is able to produce its own source of moisture from the atmosphere, enabling its survival through years of severe drought in California.

Do you wish you could make money from your passion and live the life of your dreams? Join me on a trip from New York to South Florida to meet 11 dynamic and diverse women from age 23-75 who are passionate about what they do. They offer unique wisdom for other women who would like to be their own boss, play by their own rules and follow their heart. Do you believe it's your time?

When Perween Rahman is murdered, her sister Aquila returns to Karachi, Pakistan to investigate. Finding herself caught up in powerful forces stealing the city’s water, her sister exposed the impact of corruption. Based on a true story of one activist who worked tirelessly to protect the rights of Pakistan’s poor.

Not Your Model Minority explores the origins of the stereotype and the intersections with past and present anti-Asian violence. The film reveals the many ways that the model minority myth has been used to create a wedge between communities of color and perpetuate divisive narratives. Not Your Model Minority also examines opportunities to build power and make progress toward addressing systemic racism in America.

Craft beer generates tens of billions of dollars annually for the US economy. Despite beer’s Egyptian and African heritage, these traditions have been mostly forgotten and are rarely found in American brewing culture. Today, Black-owned breweries make up less than 1% of the nearly 9,000 breweries in operation. Eager to shift the historical perception of who makes and drinks beer, Black brewers, brand owners and influencers across the country are reshaping the craft beer industry and the future of America’s favorite adult beverage.

During divisive times in America, a man sets off on a cross-country bicycle journey, with no food, no money, and the hope of gaining a better understanding of the human connection.

This award-winning documentary reveals that U.S. officials suppressed--for decades--the most important footage shot in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (including by the U.S. Army) after the atomic bombings. Why? What was the result and how does it haunt us today?

“Girls can’t do that.” Marin Alsop’s dream was to become a conductor. She persisted and never let go of her childhood dream of becoming a conductor. The film features a combination of intimate interviews with the Maestra, a look into her private life, unseen archival footage with her mentor Leonard Bernstein, and Vérité scenes conducting different orchestras and teaching the next wave of conductors who, like her, were being excluded from the classical music canon.

This multi award-winning documentary tells the story of one of the most significant, but not well-known, moments of the civil rights movement. The Friendship 9 staged a sit-in in Rock Hill, SC. They introduced and tested the “Jail No Bail” strategy that invigorates the movement and was the pre-cursor to the Freedom Rides. The film includes interviews and documents from five of the original participants of the sit-in.

Actor Gerard Butler embarks on a life-changing journey to see how his mother's favorite non-profit organization transforms the lives of children in some of the world's poorest countries.

A story of redemption, a story of democracy.
After winning a fight to restore voting rights for formerly incarcerated people, returning citizens Bobby Perkins, Nicole Hanson-Mundell and Monica Cooper go all-in to get out the vote in Baltimore, Maryland. Their efforts in the run-up to the 2020 election, in the face of misinformation, polarization, and a global pandemic, are filmed in this Bertelsmann Foundation documentary. Theirs is a story of the powerful positive impact of democratic engagement.

Reparations explores the four-century struggle to seek repair and atonement for slavery in the United States. Black and Asian Americans reflect on the legacy of slavery, the inequities that persists, and the critical role that solidarity between communities has in acknowledging and addressing systemic racism in America.

"She Had a Dream" is based on the personal account by Eula Johnson - in her own words - of what it was like organizing the 1961 Fort Lauderdale Beach Wade-Ins. Created as a digital resource to accompany History Fort Lauderdale's educational presentation "Civil Rights in Fort Lauderdale," this film juxtaposes historical events with a powerful message that democracy requires active practice of civil duty.

‘Sleeping Warrior’ is about the first female African Lacrosse team. The film follows these young women from their homes in Kenya to the World Championships in Canada and shows how an unimaginable opportunity transforms their humble lives. From getting their first passports, to discovering how their friends and families react, we learn how the power of sport changes these young women. There is heartbreak, joy and always strength of spirit.
During the course of filming, one player discovered that her deceased mother might be alive after all, so we follow her dramatic journey to find her real family. The title comes from a mountain the girls train under in Kenya called ‘Sleeping Warrior’ and these young women are so strong, yet have been oppressed their whole lives, they are truly warriors.

Vimal Kumar is the son of a sweeper, or “untouchable” in India’s cruel caste system. This film profiles his efforts to provide different options and more hope for other children of sweepers through education. The film follows him around India as he manages his “Movement for Scavenger Community” and observe his challenges... and his success.

They Are Gone explores Montana’s crisis of missing and murdered indigenous people, focusing primarily on Native voices and perspectives.
In Montana, natives make up less than 8% of the population, but account for 26% of missing persons in the entire state. I have spent the past year conducting interviews with native individuals who have been personally affected by this epidemic, as well as members of the department of justice, law enforcement, state senators, representatives and activists to build a comprehensive understanding of MMIP. They are Gone will provide a respectful, intimate view of Montana’s MMIP crisis, as well as a cold hard look at both its causes and potential solutions.

As Covid-19 leaves Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood under siege, Sherina Jones tirelessly combats food insecurity. With community ground support, she fights daily to keep the Village (Free)dge filled.
In the link, this short film is combined with "Monarcas," which tells the story of Guatemalan day laborers fighting wage theft on a journey of personal transformation.

16 Bars is a feature-length music doc that offers a rare glimpse at the human stories — and songs — that are locked away in our nation’s jails and prisons. In a Virginia jail’s makeshift recording studio, four men collaborate on an album with Grammy-winning recording artist, Todd “Speech” Thomas, from the hip-hop group Arrested Development. With the U.S. locking up more of its citizens per capita than any other nation on the planet, the music of 16 Bars serves as rare testimony to the raw and messy truth behind the criminal justice system‘s revolving door.

William Kelly, widely considered the social conscience of Australian art, once said “Art can’t stop a bullet, but it can stop a bullet from being fired.” Can it? Filmed on five continents, with contributions from over 20 artists, thinkers and activists, this documentary explores the power of art to influence the violence in our world. The film documents the creation of Kelly’s monumental artwork “Peace or War/The Big Picture”. It is a tapestry of history and art, drawn from major artworks and photos from the defining conflicts of their times. This immense visual collage allows the audience to navigate through time and place, meeting survivors of these horrific moments in history and the artists who have created work commenting on these periods, some of which have become iconic. Through Kelly’s drawings, the audience is transported to the concentration camps of the Third Reich, the bombing of Hiroshima, “the troubles” in Ireland, the race riots in the US and Pol Pot’s Year Zero. Interwoven with archival footage of these cataclysmic events, the audience is invited to visit antiwar and anti-gun demonstrations today, events that call for similar injustices to be stopped. The film is a parallel work to Kelly’s enduring masterpiece, unfolding to create the ‘Big Picture’ in documentary form.

As a sci-fi obsessed woman living in near isolation, Beverly Glenn-Copeland wrote and self-released Keyboard Fantasies in Huntsville, Ontario back in 1986. Recorded in an Atari-powered home studio, the cassette featured seven tracks of a curious folk-electronica hybrid, a sound realized far before its time. Three decades on the musician – now Glenn Copeland – began to receive emails from people across the world, thanking him for the music they’d recently discovered. Courtesy of a rare-record collector in Japan, a reissue of Keyboard Fantasies and subsequent plays by Four Tet, Caribou and more, the music had finally found its audience two generations down the line. Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story sees the protagonist commit his life and music to screen for the first time - an intimate coming of age story spinning pain and the suffering of prejudice into rhythm, hope and joy.

A journey within and at the same time a world-wide movement, MANTRA- SOUNDS INTO SILENCE shows how effective harmonious sounds can be in our noisy world of non-stop communication. In search of concentration, community and connection, thousands of people all over the world are turning to an ancient type of human gathering - community singing. A form of this phenomenon, the so-called 'Kirtan', involves singing mantras. Originally from India, this traditional form of chanting was first used in the West as a musical background for Yoga classes. But its power is such that it has now spread to a far wider public - as far as Grammy nominations for the stars of the scene such as Deva Premal & Miten, Krishna Das, Snatam Kaur, Jai Uttal and Dave Stringer. At concerts and festivals as well as in daily life, and at unusual locations such as San Quentin Prison near San Francisco, MANTRA-SOUNDS INTO SILENCE shows how communal chanting can dissolve walls between people and help them find themselves, and all through ravishing visual images and music that carries you away. It's a film free of esoteric mumbo jumbo, and full of passionate enthusiasm for life. In Georgia Wyss' documentary the following artists make an appearance Deva Premal & Miten, Manose, Krishna Das, Snatam Kaur, Jai Uttal, MC Yogi, Lama Gyurme & Jean-Philippe Rykiel, C.C. White, Dave Stringer, Mirabai Ceiba, Gaura Vani and Nina Rao.

Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique has become one of Africa’s most celebrated wildlife restoration stories. After a decade of renewed protection, Gorongosa’s large mammal population has increased 10-fold to over 100,000 animals. But the Park must also find a way to co-exist with the 200,000 people living in surrounding communities. Dominique Gonçalves, a young African elephant ecologist shares the inspiring story of how Gorongosa is becoming a new model for wildlife conservation and community development. By bringing large-scale, long-term health care, agriculture support, and girls’ education to surrounding communities, Gorongosa is redefining the identity and purpose of this.

Together with a number of like-minded Muslim activists, Sherin Khankan wants to open one of the first mosques in Europe led by female imams. The members of the mosque are united in one vital mission: They are fighting for a re-reading of the Qur’an build on tolerance, gender equality and Islamic feminism – an approach that is at odds with the typical patriarchal interpretation and the widespread Islamophobia. The mosque is fighting for the women’s right to be able to get a divorce and to marry across religions. But the women in the mosque are divided. Should they keep their fights hidden or go public – should they take small steps towards the goal or man the barricades? Sherin’s wish is to speed things up. But when she starts to talk publicly about interreligious marriages between Muslim women and non-Muslim men, a division threatening the future of the mosque takes its it tolls on the organization.

How far would you go for your beliefs? This film traces the spiritual and geographical journey of an intrepid group of Americans who leave the US in 1950 in search of a life of pacifism. They found it in a remote cloud forest in Costa Rica, a country that had just abolished its army. The documentary explores issues of peace and justice, cultural integration, and the climate change crisis that we face today. The film follows nine Quaker families from rural Fairhope, Alabama to the Costa Rica mountaintop village they named Monteverde. It addresses their pioneering work on environmental protection and ecotourism, their early clarion calls to fight climate change, and the legacy of their values and activism as passed down to succeeding generations. Director/Editor Robin Truesdale has won numerous awards for her video and documentary work (including a regional Emmy) and specializes in stories that celebrate diversity, peace, and the wisdom of elders. Producer Bill Adler lived in Monteverde from 2012-15 and co-founded and served as news director of its community radio station. He began work on this film while he lived there.

Swing State Florida takes the viewer on a journey through three critical Florida communities: migrant agricultural workers in Immokalee, the historically African-American Liberty City area of Miami, and the Hurricane-stricken panhandle. In each place, we hear from people facing challenges from climate change and migration, to political and economic marginalization. The documentary film, directed by the Bertelsmann Foundation’s Samuel George, mixes intimate portraits with expert commentary to give a vision of Florida in the run-up to the 2020 election. The challenges documented in the film present struggles replicated in swing states across the country.

By virtually every yardstick, antisemitism in the US and Europe is rising and worsening in ways not seen since the 1930s. It is coming in the forms of vandalism, social media abuse, assault and murder. Like a virus it is mutating and evolving across cultures, borders and ideologies making it all but impossible to stop. Filmmaker, Andrew Goldberg, explores its infectious behavior in his film Viral: Antisemitism in Four Mutations as he travels through four countries to speak first-hand with victims, witnesses, antisemites, and interviews with Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Fareed Zakaria, George Will, Deborah Lipstadt and others, with an opening narration by Julianna Margulies.
The film examines the far-Right in the US and how they have incited such acts as the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA. In Hungary, we see its leader launch a massive campaign against Jewish Holocaust survivor and billionaire George Soros that is very reminiscent of Nazi propaganda. Moving to the far-Left in England, we see a traditionally anti-racist party conflating Israel and Jews causing tremendous harm to the Jewish community, and in France, the film illuminates the seemingly endless wave of violence against Jews by Islamists and radicals.
The increasing violence within each of these four countries, when reviewed holistically, paints a terrifying portrait of how this kind of global hatred begins and how easily it disseminates. And as activist Maajid Nawaz says in the film, "If we don’t draw a red line in the sand when it comes to antisemitism, Muslims will be next, gays will be next and everyone else who is deemed a minority will be next.”

The Vow from Hiroshima is an intimate portrait of Setsuko Thurlow, a passionate, 85-year-old survivor of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. Her moving story is told through the lens of her growing friendship with a second generation survivor, Mitchie Takeuchi.
Setsuko was miraculously pulled out of a fiery building after the bomb was dropped and unable to save her other 27 classmates who were burned to death alive. That experience shaped her life forever and she endeavored to keep a pledge she made to her friends - that no one should ever again experience the same horrible fate.
The film is a timely exploration of the global dangers of nuclear weapons and provides an insider's perspective as we see Setsuko campaign with ICAN (the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons). The culmination of Setsuko's decades of activism is her acceptance speech at the 2017 Nobel Peace Awards.

Waging Change shines a spotlight on the challenges faced by restaurant workers trying to feed themselves and their families off tips by intertwining stories of individuals, such as Nataki Rhodes of Chicago, Andrea Velasquez of Detroit and Wardell Harvey of New Orleans with the growing movement to end the tipped minimum wage. Featuring Saru Jayaraman, Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the film reveals an American workers’ struggle hidden in plain sight-- the effort to end the federal tipped minimum wage of $2.13 for restaurant servers and bartenders and the #MeToo movement's efforts to end sexual harassment. Directed by Peabody award winner, Abby Ginzberg, Waging Change helps all consumers see the important role they have to play in ending this two-tiered wage system.

Alternative Facts is a documentary about the false information and political influences that led to the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans. It sheds light on the people and politics that influenced the signing of the infamous Executive Order 9066 which authorized the mass incarceration of nearly
120,000 Japanese Americans. The film exposes the lies used to justify the decision and the cover-up that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. The film also examines the parallels to the current climate of fear, attitudes towards immigrant communities, and similar attempts to abuse the powers of the government.

Catching Giants is a heart-stopping film that follows the world’s preeminent giraffe researcher, Dr. Francois Deacon, as he attempts to put GPS collars on 20 giraffes, including ten males, which have never been collared and that we know so little about. The film takes viewers on an incredible journey alongside the conservationists in their quest to learn more about giraffes. For Francois and his family, catching and saving Africa’s giants is not just a passion but their mission.

Changing the Game takes us into the lives of three high school athletes – all at different stages of their athletic seasons, personal lives, and unique paths as transgender teens. Their stories span across the US – from a skier and teen policymaker in New Hampshire, to a track star in Connecticut openly transitioning into her authentic self and a Texas State Champion wrestler. Trans athletes have to work harder than their cisgender peers in order to thrive in their field while also having the courage and resilience to face daily harassment and discrimination. This film is their urgent, articulate plea for acceptance.

College Crucible features the stories, struggles, and coping strategies of 15 undergraduate students enrolled in a course called Body Liberation, Food Justice. Powerful testimony, digital art, and current research bring to life pressures and stressors such as binge drinking and drug use; body image and anorexia; and anxiety and depression. The documentary invites viewers inside contemporary college life, helping viewers envision how we might work together to create more humane, equitable, and just environments—on campus and beyond.

In the 1970s, the Bronx was on fire. Abandoned by city government, nearly a half million people were displaced as their close-knit, multi-ethnic neighborhood burned, reducing the community to rubble. While insidious government policies caused the devastation, Black and Puerto Rican residents bore the blame. This story of hope and resistance exposes the truth about the borough’s untold history and reveals how the embattled and maligned community chose to resist, remain and rebuild. Decade of Fire tells the story of the South Bronx that has not been heard before – and offers a roadmap for building the communities we want and truly deserve.

In a cinematic letter to his son, native Rapanui (Easter Island) filmmaker Sergio Mata’u Rapu explores the modern dilemma of their people who risk losing everything to the globalizing effects of tourism. The film follows four islanders, descendants of the ancient statue builders, who are working to tackle the consequences of their rapidly developing home. One leads recycling efforts to reduce trash, others use music to reunite their divided community while the fourth embraces the advantages of building new businesses. These stories intertwine to reveal the complexities of development and the contradictions within us all as we are faced with hard choices about our planet’s future.

In the wake of the landmark US Supreme Court case legalizing marriage equality, the Right has launched an effective, new, state-by-state campaign to limit the rights of America’s LGBTQ citizens across the country. Their backlash has been swift, severe and successful. For The Know Not What They Do takes us on a journey of understanding what connects us all and gives us the courage to embrace each other. Meet four American families whose stories are at the intersection of religion, sexual orientation and gender identity through their experiences of tragedy and triumph, rejection and validation. Above all, the film offers much needed healing, clarity and understanding.

Marching Forward is the history of two dedicated high school band directors – one black, one white – inspired by music to cross color lines in the Deep South and work together for the sake of their students. This courageous cooperation resulted in the experience of a lifetime for Orlando’s black and white students at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

A fortuitous encounter with twenty Vietnamese refugee women and The Birds actress Tippi Hedren in 1975 sparks the Asian nail salon as we know it. In this hour-long documentary, Nailed It presents a lineage of legacy moments in nails, like Mantrap, the first nail salon chain to cater to Black women in the ‘hood. The democratization of the manicure fans the fire of Vietnamese “discount” nail salons blazing across the country. Through the international journey embarked upon by Nailed It director Adele Pham, this unique film captures an unforgettable and often hilarious saga born of tragedy, charting the rise, struggle, stereotypes and steady hold Vietnamese Americans have on today’s $8 billion nail industry.

When hip hop music was taking off in the 80s and 90s, hip hop fashion exploded on the scene. Both music and the associated fashion were largely male dominated but behind the scenes, and as the voices of female artists including Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliot and L’il Kim rose, so did the influence of the women designers. The Remix brings their stories to the forefront. Designers including April Walker, the innovator behind the streetwear brand Walker Wear, and fashion architect Misa Hylton are among industry leaders who have had a lasting impact on the fashion world. The film highlights the cultural impact of these women as well as groundbreaking designers Dapper Dan and Kerby Jean-Raymond whose styles have influenced fashion to this day. This vibrant film celebrates their achievements.

What would happen if political operatives tried to subvert the sacred American principle of “one person, one vote”? What if they hatched and pursues that plan for years before anyone noticed what they were doing? That is the frightening tale told in Rigged. Narrated by Jeffrey Wright, and filmed during the 2016 election, the film identifies and unpacks a shrewd ten-part strategy developed by Republicans to suppress votes that would be cast against them. In the wake of the 2018 elections, our democracy is in peril. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) states in the film, “I fear for our younger people. I fear they will not have the kind of democracy I experienced… Somebody’s got to say, ‘This is not right.' Somebody’s got to say, ‘We can do better.’”

Through the riveting stories of five rural communities, Right to Harm exposes the devastating public health impact factory farming has on many disadvantaged citizens throughout the United States. Filmed across the country, the documentary chronicles the failures of state agencies to regulate industrial animal agriculture. Known formally as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (or CAFOs) these facilities produce millions of gallons of untreated waste that destroys the quality of life for nearby neighbors. Fed up with the lack of regulation, these disenfranchised citizens band together to demand justice from their legislators.

Travel Ban is a poignant political comedy about being brown and immigrant in America as seen through the eyes of comedians of Middle Eastern origin.

Undeterred tells the story of community resistance in the rural border town of Arivaca, Arizona. Since NAFTA, 9/11 and the Obama and Trump administrations, border residents have been on the front-lines of the humanitarian crisis caused by increased border enforcement build up. This film provides an intimate portrait of how residents of the small rural community, caught in the crosshairs of global geo-political forces, have mobilized to demand their rights and to provide aid to injured, often dying people funneled across a wilderness desert.

Frank Lowy started with one Australian store and built his business into a global billion dollar enterprise – the shopping mall giant Westfield. Now in his late 80s, he faces the prospect of a merger that will lead to his retirement and also the bittersweet journey of his beloved wife’s decline due to Alzheimer’s Disease. In this film, he reflects on his past and on events that made him the fighter, survivor and philanthropist he became. Revisiting sites of his childhood and young adulthood the film takes us from the ghettos of Budapest in the 1930s to living as a refugee and emigrating to Australia, and chronicles the impact of a single life in the lives of so many.

How do you get over the worst thing to ever happen in your life? In 1985, Kathleen lost her brother Eddie, an American soldier, at the hands of the RAF (Red Army Faction), a German leftist terrorist organization. Now, decades later, she decides to seek out the group responsible for his murder. The film follows Kathleen as she travels to Germany to make peace with aging former members of the RAF. As Kathleen searches for some form of connection with former RAF members, memories are retold, intentions are uncovered, and remorse and redemption manifest in unexpected ways.

Before Christine Hallquist became the first Transgender candidate for Governor in the USA, she was a CEO fighting climate change. Denial tells exactly the kind of complex, deeply personal story about climate change we need at this moment.

In 1955, when racial segregation defined the South, Florida’s 1955 Little League State Championship represents a shining moment in our nation’s history when children led us forward. In one of the first integrated Little League games in the South, the all-Black Pensacola Jaycees and the all-White Orlando Kiwanis moved beyond fears, threats and the unknown to break with tradition and show the world what was possible. In addition to recollections from surviving members of the 1955 Little League teams, the film includes conversations with Major League Baseball icons Hank Aaron, Cal Ripken, Jr., Gary Sheffield, Davey Johnson and Ambassador Andrew Young who offer insight linking the past, the present, baseball and human dignity.

Since 1980 activists in lay and religious life have undertaken dramatic Plowshares protests, derived from the biblical injunction, “They shall beat their swords into Plowshares,” risking long prison sentences in an ongoing campaign to move the world away from the nuclear brink. This film follows two cases: the July 2012 break-in at the site known as America’s “Fort Knox of Uranium” where the intruders were an 82-year old Catholic nun and two fellow peace activists and the 2009 Plowshares action at a US naval base near Seattle, WA. It follows the activists’ legal efforts to justify their actions under international law and highlights the power of their moral conviction.

Remittance follows Marie, a foreign domestic worker from the Philippines as she struggles to cope with demanding employers, long hours of work, and separation from her family. Breaking from the conventional image of maids as labor, the story explores the transformations Marie goes through as a woman dealing with conflicting obligations and aspirations. This is a global story of the commodification of labor and the exportation of mothers from poor third world countries to first world nations that reveals a microcosm of what is happening across the globe. Remittance is a realistic portrayal of low-wage migrant workers in Singapore shot at real locations with a cast including actual domestic workers.

Beginning in the 1960s, a small band of young scientists headed out into the wilderness, driven by an insatiable curiosity about how nature works. Immersed in some of the remote and spectacular places on Earth – from the majestic Serengeti to the Amazon jungle; from the Arctic Ocean to Pacific tide pools – they discovered a single set of rules that govern all life. Now in the twilight of their eminent careers, these five unsung heroes of modern ecology share the stories of their adventures, reveal how their pioneering work flipped our view of nature on its head and give us a chance to reimagine the world as it could and should be.

On November 8, 2016, a young, hijab-wearing mother of three named Ilhan Omar made history, becoming the first Somali Muslim woman to be elected to state office in America. She was hailed by The New York Times as “one of the brightest lights in post-election darkness,” and the documentary film Time for Ilhan intimately chronicles her hard-fought campaign for State Representative in Minnesota’s Senate District 60B, home to the nation’s largest Somali community. A fresh take on the old story of the American Dream, Time for Ilhan offers an inspiring, stereotype-busting portrait of a rising political star as she begins a bold and powerful political career.

In June 1964 hundreds of college students traveled to Mississippi, starting what would be known as Freedom Summer. That same month, two groups of young men – musicians, students and record collectors – also traveled to Mississippi. Each had come to find an old blues singer and coax him out of retirement. Mississippi that summer was a tense and violent place. With hundreds teaching in freedom schools and registering voters, the Ku Klux Klan and police force vowed that Freedom Summer would not succeed. Two Trains Runnin’ pays tribute to a pioneering generation of musicians and also cuts to the heart of our present moment, offering a crucial view of the evolving dynamics of race in America.

Playing Frisbee in North Korea is the first documentary produced and directed by an African-American female filmmaker from inside North Korea. It follows Ms. Washington’s journey inside North Korea, offering a first-time glimpse into the everyday life of its people. Through interviews with North Korean refugees, long time aid workers, scholars, and experts on the topic, this documentary provides an authentic, inimitable perspective of the lives and struggles of a people.

Amidst the uprising in Ferguson, seven St. Louis college students evolve into advocates and activists as they demand change through policy and protest. The students become involved in an advocacy internship with the Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis, an organization that goes far beyond protesting on street corners and into the realm of fighting institutionalized racism and injustice through education, empowerment, advocacy; raising up individuals – like these seven – who already have a voice as they learn to use it more effectively.

Musician Daryl Davis has played all over the world with legends like Chuck Berry and Little Richard, but it’s what Daryl does in his free
time that sets him apart. In an effort to find out how anyone can “hate me without knowing me,” Daryl likes to meet and befriend members of the Ku Klux Klan – something few black men can say. In his travels, he’s collected robes and other artifacts from friends who have left the
Klan, building a collection piece by piece, story by story, and person by person in hopes of eventually opening a “Museum of the Klan,” a
testimony to what knowledge and respectful, personal communication can accomplish.

Orlando police officers and inner-city children form a dragon boat racing team and reveal their emotional journeys as the program grows. This ancient sport, rooted in Chinese culture, is introduced at a critical time in the lives of both cops and kids in some of the city’s toughest neighborhoods. Success in dragon boating comes only when all 20 paddlers are in complete synchrony. Told from their perspectives, these cops and kids, the “Dueling Dragons”, are transformed from wary participants to steadfast teammates. Along the way, they build trust and mutual respect, compete for medals and deal with the tragic loss of one of their mentors, OPD Officer Lt. Debra Clayton.

Footprint takes a dizzying spin around the globe, witnessing population explosions, overconsumption, limited resources, and expert testimony as to what a world straining at its limits can sustain. Meet indigenous health workers, activists, and the ordinary people in the Philippines, Mexico, Pakistan and Kenya, women who all challenge the idea that our world can continue to support the weight of humanity’s footprint. Footprint offers unprecedented access to the people on the ground who are all in their unique way challenging the status quo and making us rethink what’s really at stake.

At its core, Forgive–Don’t Forget is about the connection between two very different cultures and the importance of remembrance. When Japan surrendered to the U.S. at the end of World War II, numerous Japanese swords were confiscated and taken back to the United States. The Japanese Sword, while once a symbol of wartime aggression, is also deeply embedded in Japan’s rich history and spiritual heritage. In order to better understand the past and build a bridge between cultures in the present, an American filmmaker attempts to return one of these surrendered swords to its original owner.

Guangzhou, aka Canton, is southern China’s centuries-old trading port. Today it is a mecca of mass consumption, its vast international trading centers crammed with every “Made in China” good imaginable. Every year more than half a million Africans travel to Guangzhou where they buy goods to sell back in Africa. Over time, some have chosen to stay, and for these Africans, China looks like the new land of opportunity, a place where anything is possible. But is it? Following a filmmaker’s journey from Ghana to China and back to Africa, Guangzhou Dream Factory provides a rare glimpse of African aspirations in an age of endless outsourcing.

Heather Booth is the most influential person you never heard of – a tireless organizer during the most pivotal progressive movements of the last 50 years. Heather Booth: Changing the World is an urgent response to the recent change in administration. At a time when many are wondering how to make their voices heard, when civil and women’s rights are under attack, this empowering documentary is an inspiring look at how social change happens. The film blends interviews, from close friends, clients, political colleagues and current Midwest Academy students to explore Heather’s legacy. Anyone who has been confused or disheartened by the recent election needs to see this film

Photographer Seth Hancock was asked to make a documentary on a subject that meant nothing to him….senior citizens and hunger. He’d never gone hungry a day in his life and rarely thought about getting old. In Leftovers. he travels the country to discover why seniors are the new face of hunger in America, why they’re often treated as second-class citizens and what is being done to make a difference in their lives. Leftovers. is his personal journey. One where he quickly realizes how vast the problem is, what it will take to feed the seniors of this county, how much food gets wasted and how senior hunger will affect us all.

Love the Sinner is a personal documentary exploring the connection between Christianity and homophobia in the wake of the shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Queer filmmaker Jessica Devaney grew up deeply immersed in Evangelical Christianity in Florida. After breaking with her youth as a nationally recognized activist and leader among conservative Evangelicals, Jessica left Florida and didn’t look back. She built a life that took her as far away from home as possible. Over time, her daily life became a progressive echo chamber. The mass shooting at Pulse was a wake up call. By avoiding hard conversations with church leadership, had she missed opportunities to challenge homophobia? Love the Sinner probes our responsibility to face bias in our communities and push for dignity and equality for all.

Even the worst of events can bring us together and show the best that being human can mean. On August 6th, 1945, among the tens of thousands that lost their lives in the bombing of Hiroshima were 12 American POWs. Shigeaki Mori witnessed the blast and survived, but was forever changed. Paper Lanterns tells the story Shigeaki Mori and his lifelong calling to tell the story of not only the many Japanese victims of the bomb, but of Norman Brisette, Ralph Neal and the ten US airmen caught in the hell on earth of that day.

Tidewater explores the challenge of sea level rise in the Tidewater region of Virginia and North Carolina, encompassing Hampton Roads, arguably the region whose vulnerability most affects our overall national security. Hampton Roads requires $1 billion in urgent infrastructure repairs with its roads and electric grid threatened by permanent flooding. Faced with unprecedented challenges that can only be tackled by a wide range of stakeholders, Tidewater highlights the innovative problem-solving model being pioneered by local leaders. If Hampton Roads succeeds, they’ll save their homes, schools, businesses and the naval base. But they’ll also create a powerful template for success, a model other regions can use – and a model that can demonstrate how people, businesses and government can pull together to solve any complex problem.

When an energy company begins searching for natural gas in New Brunswick, Canada, indigenous and white families unite to drive out the company in a campaign to protect their water and their way of life.

With the Syrian conflict now in its sixth year, millions of people continue to be displaced. After Spring is the story of what happens next. By following two refugee families in transition and aid workers fighting to keep the camp running, viewers will experience what it is like to live in Zaatari, the largest camp for Syrian refugees. With no end in sight for the conflict or this refugee crisis, everyone must decide if they can rebuild their lives in a place that was never meant to be permanent. Executive Produced by Jon Stewart.

At the core of The Anthropologist are the parallel stories of two women: Margaret Mead, who popularized cultural anthropology around the world; and Susie Crate, an environmental anthropologist currently studying the impact of climate change. Uniquely revealed from their daughters' perspectives, Mead and Crate demonstrate a fascination with how societies are forced to negotiate the disruption of their traditional ways of life, whether through encounters with the outside world or the unprecedented change wrought by melting permafrost, receding glaciers, and rising tides.

Best of Enemies is a documentary about the lengthy debates between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley, which came to define a new era of political discourse in media, demarcating the moment that TV's political ambition shifted from narrative to spectacle. In the summer of 1968, ABC News hired Buckley, leading light of the neo-conservative movement, and Vidal, a leftist novelist and polemicist, a Democrat by heritage, a cousin to Jackie Onassis. Each thought the other's political ideologies were dangerous for America. Like rounds in a heavyweight battle, they slugged out policy, political insult, and revisionist histories. These discussions beg the question, "what has television done to the way we talk about politics?"

In a society where materialism reigns, what is the real secret to happiness? Award-winning filmmaker Daniel Karslake (For The Bible Tells Me So) tells the unforgettable stories of five regular folks-- a boy, a college student, a thirty-something, and two seniors-- whose lives went from ordinary to extraordinary based on one simple decision-- to engage. Each chose action over apathy, and in the process, each one has had a significant and lasting impact on two of the most challenging, yet solvable, issues of our time, hunger and extreme poverty. Every Three Seconds is about doing well by doing good-- about changing the world and changing your own life in the process.

Women are the fastest-growing segment of the incarcerated population, increasing at nearly double the rate of men since 1985. The IF Project explores the reasons behind these numbers by intimately following Kate Bogucki, a heroic Seattle police officer, and the inmates with whom she worked to create a writing workshop at a maximum-security prison. The inmates are challenged to answer a simple question: what if things had been different; if there was something someone could have said or done that would have changed the path that led theme here, what would it have been?

Landfill Harmonic follows the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, a Paraguayan musical group that plays instruments entirely out of garbage. When their story goes viral, the orchestra is catapulted into the global spotlight. Under the guidance of the idealistic music director Favio Chavez, the orchestra must navigate a strange new world of arenas and sold-out concerts. However, when a natural disaster strikes their country, Favio must find a way to keep the orchestra intact and provide a source of hope for their town. The film is a testament to the transformative power of music and the resilience of the human spirit.

The American Dream is the cultural motif that has inspired North America for the last century. Work hard, save, sacrifice, and you will get ahead. America offers the freedom of upward mobility. But over the last decade the American Dream has been called into question. For many, it no longer seems to be working. As the Millennial generation becomes the most significant portion of the workforce, what will change about what we want from our jobs, what our education will look like, what kinds of companies will succeed in the new economy, and what kinds of living communities will be desired? And what can cities and regions do to attract the new economy?

The Nuclear Requiem is a musical meditation, with an original composition by Alain Kremski, which he performed during the 70th year of the nuclear age. Melding the music with sequences filmed during 2015 in the United States and Europe, along with footage previously filmed in Japan, the interviews were conducted by director Robert E. Frye, creates a narrative reflecting the ongoing struggle of dealing with the most lethal weapon ever invented, the nuclear weapon.

Planetary is a wakeup call, a cross-continental cinematic journey that explores our cosmic origins and our future as a species. It is a reminder that it's time to shift our perspective, to reconsider our relationship with ourselves, each other, and the world around us-- to remember that we are Planetary. The film interweaves imagery from NASA Apollo missions with visions of the Milky Way, Buddhist monasteries in the Himalayas, and the cacophonous sounds of downtown Tokyo and Manhattan, with interviews from renowned experts including astronauts Ron Garan and Mae Jemison (the first African-American woman in space,) environmentalist Bill McKibben, National Book Award winner Barry Lopez, anthropologist Wade David and many others who shed new light on the ways our worldview is profoundly affecting life on our planet.

In the post-industrial city of New Bedford, Massachusetts, an 18-year-old entered a gay bar and brutally attacked three patrons with a hatchet and gun. Puzzles tells the story of this working-class community in all of its complexity, from the Juggalos, followers of the white-rap/horrorcore band Insane Clown Posse (ICP), to drag queens. And along the way, reveals the deep alienation that many American youth struggle with and its counterpart: the abiding need for family.

Academy-Award-winning actress Frances McDormand narrates this tale about activists who-- despite reversals, diversions, and disappointments-- persist in their mission for more than twenty years and foster a national movement to preserve open spaces, and shape the environmental movement of today. Rebels with a Cause tells the story of the dreamers and schemers who fought to keep wealthy developers from taking over-- and destroying-- breathtaking natural landscapes. It is the story of a small regional effort that grew into a legacy of National Seashores, National Park and National Recreation Areas around the nation; a struggle that crosses party lines, unites seemingly antagonistic foes, falters and is nearly extinguished many times, but is ultimately victorious.

Using never-before-seen archival footage and interviews in South Africa and the US, the filmmakers tell the unknown story of Robert F. Kennedy's 1966 visit to South Africa during the worst years of apartheid. The film evokes the connections between the American Civil Rights movement and the Anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa. RFK in the Land of Apartheid follows Senator Kennedy to the site of his famous "Ripple of Hope" speech at the University of Cape Town and his encounter with Afrikaans students at the pro-Apartheid university. The film tells an unusual story through words and actions of an American politician whose legacy continues to advance human rights around the world.

This award-winning film goes on an extraordinary journey with one of the greatest humanitarians of all time, the Dalai Lama of Tibet. The Nobel Peace Prize winner offers a vision of how we can create lasting peace within ourselves and on a global level. With intimate behind the scenes access and a candid personal interview, this film is a close to a flesh-and-blood encounter with the Dalai Lama as you can get. Filmed during the Dalai Lama's last UK visit before he stepped down as the exiled Political Leader of Tibet, it captures his sense of humor, integrity, and extraordinary ability to connect with people on a personal level. It demonstrates how any one can create change within our own lives and transform the world in which we live.

The Speed Sisters are the first all-women race car driving team in the Middle East. Grabbing headlines and turning heads at improvised tracks across the West Bank, these five women have sped their way into the heart of the gritty, male-dominated Palestinian street car-racing scene. Weaving together their lives on and off the track, Speed Sisters takes you on a surprising journey into the drive to go further and faster than anyone thought you could.

America is facing a food crisis driven by profitability and a lack of consumer education. While the window to transforming our heartland continues to shrink, passionate individuals have emerged who provide hope that the health of our nation might still remain within our grasp. Sustainable weaves together expert analysis of America's food system with a powerful narrative of one extraordinary farmer who is determined to create a sustainable future for his community. In a region dominated by commodity crops, Marty Travis has managed to maintain a farming model that is both economically viable and environmentally safe. Through his example and various expert interviews, the film explores options for reversing the issues facing America's heartland.

Population growth has been left out of the climate debate because it is seen as controversial, yet it is one of the most important factors. The global population has passed the 7 billion mark and India is overtaking China as the most populous nation in the world, but one state in southern India has found the solution. The unique history of Kerala and "the Kerala Model" is outlined, using it as an example of achieving population control in developing countries without coercion.