From New York City to the farmlands of the Midwest, there are 50,000 Chinese restaurants in the U.S., yet one dish in particular has conquered the American culinary landscape with a force befitting its military moniker—“General Tso’s Chicken.” But who was General Tso and how did this dish become so ubiquitous? Ian Cheney’s delightfully insightful documentary charts the history of Chinese Americans through the surprising origins of this sticky, sweet, just-spicy-enough dish that we’ve adopted as our own.
↧
The Search for General Tso
↧
Crazy About Tiffany’s
This documentary reveals the New York jeweller’s hand in matters ranging from luxury bling to the Superbowl trophy.
↧
↧
Deep Web
Deep Web gives the inside story of one of the the most important and riveting digital crime sagas of the century — the arrest of Ross William Ulbricht, the convicted 30-year-old entrepreneur accused to be ‘Dread Pirate Roberts,’ creator and operator of online black market Silk Road. The film explores how the brightest minds and thought leaders behind the Deep Web are now caught in the crosshairs of the battle for control of a future inextricably linked to technology, with our digital rights hanging in the balance.
↧
Wingsuit Warrior
Base jumper Jeb Corliss sustained grave injuries on a crash in South Africa. Through rehab, Jeb relearns the sport to tackle mountains in Europe.
↧
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.
↧
↧
Where to Invade Next
Academy Award-winning director Michael Moore returns with what may be his most provocative and hilarious film yet: Moore tells the Pentagon to “stand down” — he will do the invading for America from now on.
↧
Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon
A look at the history of the American comedy publication and production company, National Lampoon, from its beginning in the 1970s to 2010, featuring rare and never before seen footage, this is the mind boggling story of The National Lampoon from its subversive and electrifying beginnings, to rebirth as an unlikely Hollywood heavyweight, and beyond. A humour empire like no other, the impact of the magazines irreverent, often shocking, sensibility was nothing short of seismic: this is an institution whose (drunk stoned brilliant) alumni left their fingerprints all over popular culture. Both insanely great and breathtakingly innovative, The National Lampoon created the foundation of modern comic sensibility by setting the bar in comedy impossibly high.
↧
Love Is a Verb
Love Is A Verb is an examination of a social movement of Sufi-inspired Sunni Muslims that began in Turkey in the l960s and now spans across the globe. The group is called Hizmet, the Turkish word for “service” or The Gülen Movement after its inspiration and teacher, Fethullah Gülen, a man TIME magazine named as one of the most influential leaders in the world in 2013 for “…preaching a message of tolerance.”
↧
Mother’s Wish
An astronaut sends her young son a video message from outer space. In Mexico, a stripper dances night after night to keep a roof over her child’s head. In Canada, a woman becomes a mother for the first time after enduring seven miscarriages. Finnish filmmaker Joonas Berghäll has travelled to South African settlements, Nepalese terraced fields and Russia’s metropolis Moscow to investigate an unshakable and almost magical connection: the bond between mother and child. MOTHER‘S WISH portrays 10 women from the most varied of cultural and social backgrounds who all tell of the beauty and difficulty of being a mother. These are not only stories of love and pride – but also of disappointed hopes and the most precarious of life circumstances. Above all else, however, the protagonists tell of their determination – regardless of their current living conditions – to fight for a better future.
↧
↧
Requiem for the American Dream
Through riveting and candid conversation, Noam Chomsky, regarded as one of the most important intellectuals alive today, provides the definitive discourse on the “Two Americas.” Filmed over the course of four years, the Chomsky interviews expose how a half-century of policies have created a state of unprecedented economic inequality: concentrating wealth in the hands of a few at the expense of everyone else. At times deeply personal, these interviews take a closer look at Chomsky’s own activism and political involvement as well as diving into his profound insight on the death of the middle class and the end of functioning democracy. Requiem For the American Dream provides a unique opportunity to introduce Chomsky to a broader audience and to widen the discussion regarding events that deeply impact all of our lives.
↧
Janis: Little Girl Blue
Musician Cat Power narrates this documentary on Janis Joplin’s evolution into a star from letters that Joplin wrote over the years to her friends, family, and collaborators.
↧
Noma: My Perfect Storm
A creative journey into the unique mind of René Redzepi, chef and co-owner of Noma, voted best restaurant in the world four times.
↧
Barista
Five top baristas find themselves pushing the limits of coffee perfection to win the National Barista Championship – a surreal competition where even one mistake is far too many.
↧
↧
Il Solengo
A documentary about the story of Mario de Marcella, a hermit that lived in the woods near Rome. He was called by hunters “Il Solengo” because that’s how they call the lone boar that is cut off from the rest of the pack.
↧
Ice and the Sky
Documentary about the work of Claude Lorius, who began studying Antarctic ice in 1957, and, in 1965, was the first scientist to be concerned about global warming.
↧
Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art
The titular troublemakers are the New York–based Land (aka Earth) artists of the 1960s and 70s, who walked away from the reproducible and the commodifiable, migrated to the American Southwest, worked with earth and light and seemingly limitless space, and rethought the question of scale and the relationships between artist, landscape, and viewer. Director James Crump has meticulously constructed Troublemakers from interviews (with Germano Celant, Virginia Dwan, and others), photos and footage of Walter De Maria, Michael Heizer, Robert Smithson, Nancy Holt, and Charles Ross among others at work on their astonishing creations.
↧
The Winding Stream
The Winding Stream is the story of the American music dynasty, the Carters and Cashes, and their decades-long influence on popular music.
↧
↧
We Are Blood
We Are Blood is a modern day skate epic featuring Paul Rodriguez and other top skateboarders as they travel the globe pushing the limits of what’s possible on a board and four wheels while celebrating the unconditional bond created by the simple act of skateboarding. Shot on location in Brazil, China, Dubai, and the United States.
↧
Song of Lahore
Until the late 1970s, the Pakistani city of Lahore was world-renowned for its music. Following the Islamization of Pakistan, many artists struggled to continue their life’s work. Song of Lahore turns the spotlight on a group of stalwart musicians that kept playing and ultimately attracted listeners from around the world.
↧
Elena
Elena, a young Brazilian woman, travels to New York with the same dream as her mother, to become a movie actress. She leaves behind her childhood spent in hiding during the years of the military dictatorship. She also leaves Petra, her seven year old sister. Two decades later, Petra also becomes an actress and goes to New York in search of Elena. She only has a few clues about her: home movies, newspaper clippings, a diary and letters. At any moment Petra hopes to find Elena walking in the streets in a silk blouse. Gradually, the features of the two sisters are confused; we no longer know one from the other. When Petra finally finds Elena in an unexpected place, she has to learn to let her go.
↧