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Private Notes
Bill Nye is a man on a mission: to stop the spread of anti-scientific thinking across the world. The former star of the popular kids’ show “Bill Nye the Science Guy” is now advocating for the importance of science, research and discovery in public life. With intimate and exclusive access—as well as plenty of wonder and whimsy—this behind-the-scenes portrait of Nye follows him as he takes off his Science Guy lab coat and takes on those who deny climate change, evolution and a science-based worldview. The film features Bill Nye, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Ann Druyan and many others.
Filmed with vérité intimacy for nearly a decade, QUEST is the moving portrait of a family from North Philadelphia. Beginning during the Obama presidency, Christopher "Quest" Rainey and his wife, Christine'a "Ma Quest," raise a family while nurturing a community of hip-hop artists in their basement home music studio. Epic in scope, QUEST is a vivid illumination of race and class in America and a testament to love, healing and hope. Official Selection, 2017 Sundance Film Festival. A co-production of ITVS and American Documentary | POV.
Jae-Chang Kim runs a children's choir in Pune, India. Although his quick temper earned him the nickname 'Angry Bird,' he has made significant changes in the lives of the choir children. But in need of income, their parents are reluctant to let them practice instead of work. In order to convince the parents, Angry Bird decides to train them to sing for a joint concert with their children.
The National Pyrotechnic Festival in Tultepec, Mexico, is a site of festivity unlike any other in the world. Conflagrant revelry engulfs the town for ten days. For the three-quarters of Tultepec residents that work in pyrotechnics, the celebration anchors their way of life. Plunging headlong into the fire, Brimstone & Glory honors the spirit of Tultepec and celebrates celebration itself.
In 2022, Qatar will host the biggest sporting event in the world, the FIFA World Cup. But right now, far away from the bright lights, star athletes and adoring fans, the tournament is being built on the backs of 1.6 million African and Asian migrant workers. The Workers Cup gives voice to the men who are laboring to build sport’s grandest stage and competing in a soccer tournament of their own.
For 20 years, Lindy has lived with an unbearable feeling of guilt. Committed to fulfilling her civic duty, Lindy sat with 11 other people on a jury that handed down the death penalty to a Mississippi man convicted of a double homicide. An overwhelming feeling of regret compels Lindy to track down her fellow jurors. A conservative, religious woman from the South, she manages to tackle this topic with humor, an open mind and sincere curiosity.
In the Taliban-controlled area of Waziristan in northwestern Pakistan, where sports for women are decried as un-Islamic and girls rarely leave their houses, young Maria Toorpakai defies the rules by disguising herself as a boy so she can play squash freely. As she becomes a rising star, however, her true identity is revealed, bringing constant death threats on her and her family.
Beatrice Vio has cultivated a passion for fencing since she was five years old. At eleven, she contracted severe meningitis which took her to the brink of death. The doctors gave her an unimaginable choice: keep her limbs and risk death, or amputate all four to ensure survival. She chose life. Now, Vio is a Paralympic champion and the only fencer in the world to compete without arms or legs.
When unarmed teenager Michael Brown is killed by police and left lying in the street for hours, it marks a breaking point for the residents of the St. Louis area and beyond. Whose Streets? is an unflinching look at the Ferguson, Missouri uprising. As the national guard rolls in, a new generation mounts a powerful battle cry not just for their civil rights, but for the right to live. Official Selection, 2017 Sundance Film Festival.
A village woman, despite not having finished her high school education, has become China’s most famous poet. Her book of poetry has become the best-selling poetry book in China for the past 20 years. Still Tomorrow follows the poet, Yu Xihua, a 39-year-old woman living with cerebral palsy, and her sudden fame, poignantly weaving her personal narrative with that of an ascendant, urbanizing China.
Male nurse Nori Sharif and his family experience many changes as conflicts continue with Iraqi militias and the Islamic State group in central Iraq's "triangle of death.''
Revealing stark realities for the poorest of rural Cubans with unique access and empathy, this is the story of a 30-something mother of four longing for a better life. The tension between wife and aging husband- one desperate to leave, the other content to stay-builds into a high STAKES family drama after her brother and the couple's neighbors escape. A co-production of American Documentary | POV and ITVS. A co-presentation with Latino Public Broadcasting.
Set in the Hasidic enclave of Borough Park, Brooklyn, 93Queen follows a group of tenacious Hasidic women who are smashing the patriarchy in their community by creating the first all-female volunteer ambulance corps in New York City. With unprecedented and insider access, 93Queen offers a unique portrayal of a group of religious women who are taking matters into their own hands to change their own community from within. A co-production of American Documentary | POV and ITVS.
Through the eyes of Sierra Leonean filmmaker Arthur Pratt, Survivors presents an intimate portrait of his country during the EBOLA outbreak, exposing the complexity of the epidemic and the sociopolitical turmoil that lies in its wake. During one of the most acute public health crises of the modern era, Survivors reveals the bureaucratic missteps that took place, as well as remarkable stories of individual bravery and the deep humanity of those caught in the middle of this unfolding crisis. A co-production of American Documentary | POV and ITVS.
Dark Money, a political thriller, examines one of the greatest present threats to American democracy: the influence of untraceable CORPORATE money on our elections and elected officials. The film takes viewers to Montana-a FRONTLINE in the fight to preserve fair elections nationwide-to follow an intrepid local journalist working to expose the real-life impacts of the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. Through this gripping story, Dark Money uncovers the shocking and vital truth of how American elections are bought and sold. Official Selection, 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
The Apology follows three former "comfort women" who were among the 200,000 girls and young women kidnapped and forced into military sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Seventy years after their imprisonment and after decades of living in silence and shame, the survivors give their first-hand accounts of the truth for the record, seeking apology and the hope that this horrific chapter of history not be forgotten. A co-presentation with the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM).
Bing Liu's debut film is a coming-of-age saga of three skateboarding friends in their Rust Belt hometown. In his quest to understand why he and his friends all ran away from home when they were younger, Bing follows 23-year-old Zack as he becomes a father and 17-year-old Keire as he gets his first job. While navigating a complex relationship between his camera and his friends, Bing explores the gap between fathers and sons, between discipline and domestic abuse and ultimately that precarious chasm between childhood and becoming an adult. A co-production of American Documentary | POV and ITVS. A co-presentation with the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM).
After their grandmother passes, brother and sister Jonathan and Elan Bogarin begin an epic excavation of their grandmother's belongings. Using actors to lip sync taped conversations and dramatic animated effects, 306 Hollywood is a magical realist documentary bending the boundaries of fiction and nonfiction. From their grandmother's home in New Jersey to ancient Rome, from fashion to physics, the film embarks on a journey in search of what life remains in the objects we leave behind. A co-presentation with Latino Public Broadcasting.
