Festival
Line-Up
All shows are 13+ to enter without a parent or guardian
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The Architects of Hope: The First Steps in Rebuilding Ukraine
The film follows five architects on their determined journeys to continue creating & building during wartime, as they seek a new people-focused identity for Ukrainian architecture. The work of these architects underscores the vital role of having a strong vision – because for them, 'hope' is not merely wishful thinking. Instead, Ukraine’s architects reveal that hope is the essential step in first imagining the future.
Natural Light: The Remarkable Transformation of a School on Detroit’s East Eight Mile
When a new leader arrives at one of Michigan’s worst schools, he seeks help from a unique firm known for solving “impossible” school problems. But the challenges are enormous, the project has no funding, and the effort will confront bureaucracy, skepticism, indifference, profiteering, and even a pandemic.
FRIDAY MAY 2ND
6:00 pm
REBUILD AND RISE
FRIDAY MAY 2ND
8:00 pm
SECOND CHANCES
Racing For Recovery
“Racing For Recovery" explores the life of Todd Crandell, a former addict who turned his battle with substance abuse into a mission to help others. After years of addiction and a final wake-up call in 1993, Todd founded Racing For Recovery, a nonprofit that offers a non-12-step approach to sobriety through physical fitness and plant-based living.
Unconditional: Zahara's Journey
Zahara, a street dog in Cairo, Egypt has been abused in an unspeakable manner at the hands of humans. This is the inspirational story of the 3 women who selflessly committed themselves to rescuing, rehabilitating, and giving her a new Iife. Her new life, filled with unconditional love, serves to inspire not only those with similar disabilities, but everyone she meets.
SATURDAY MAY 3RD
11:00 am
TRUTH IN COLOR
Welcome To Babel
Chinese-Australian Artist Jiawei Shen has a plan. His obsessive mission to create a monumental 130 square metre painting of the turbulent history of Communism. Jiawei’s 10-year deep dive into the bloody history of revolution is counterpointed by a profoundly intimate portrait of his marriage to artist wife Lan, forged in the chaos of Mao’s Chinese Cultural Revolution. Can Jiawei complete his epic Tower of Babel masterpiece while facing the considerable risks of revealing it to the world?
Edel Rodriguez: Freedom is a Verb
A vivid exploration of Cuban-American artist Edel Rodriguez's journey from his early life in Cuba to acclaim in the United States. The film explores his relentless pursuit of freedom that defines his life and work.
Farmacy of Light: A Quantum Leap In Healing
Are you eating enough LIGHT? With chronic disease and malnutrition skyrocketing, a renegade farmer uncovers the link between human health and the dire need for local, light-filled food. Will society align with the quantum physics of healing before it's too late? A story about light, food, how we heal, and what it will take to create a healthy, thriving world.
The Urban Rescue Ranch
Just over four years ago, Ben Christie was a senior at Baylor University studying professional selling and had a job lined up at Oracle in Austin. Now, he runs The Urban Rescue Ranch, a farm sanctuary and wildlife rescue in Waco, Texas with dozens of wild animals ranging from kangaroos to emus to capybaras.
Sex in the Soviet Union
A cinematic journey through seven decades of sexual ignorance, oppression, and suffering, brought to life through the words and experiences of the first Soviet sexologist. Ukrainian survivors of the regime recount the harsh realities they endured, from the pervasive suppression of sexual expression to the rampant exploitation and abuse that plagued Soviet society. Through archival footage, powerful personal testimonies, and the insights of leading experts, this documentary offers an unflinching exploration of the sexual mores and brutal repression that defined life in the USSR.
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Pink Belt
In the documentary , director John McCrite shines a light on India’s beloved feminist icon: Aparna Rajawat. Aparna is highly regarded as a changemaker in the city of Agra, saving the lives of young women and girls one self-defense class at a time. Pink Belt tells a complicated story of both tragedy and inspiration. While it is a heartbreaking account of mistreatment, it is also incredibly aspirational to see women finally fighting back.
Fitriya: Muslim On and Off The Court
A captivating short documentary that chronicles the remarkable journey of Fitriya Mohamed, a Muslim female athlete and the visionary behind the Muslim Women's Summer Basketball League
Unpunished
Daughter of Mine
When a Black motorist dies in Louisiana police custody, a whistleblower state trooper risks everything to expose the truth. As body camera footage reveals the brutal reality behind the cover-up, Ronald Greene's family fights a powerful system of corruption, igniting a battle that challenges the very foundation of law enforcement accountability in America.
In DAUGHTER OF MINE, Rosemarie D’Alessandro recounts the story of Joan’s brutal murder and the nearly 50-year battle to keep her daughter's killer in prison. Filmmaker Vanessa Martino examines the crime that left an enduring mark on her quiet suburban hometown, and how the community rallied behind the strength of a mother to make landmark changes to the justice system.
Trail Mix
Trail Mix follows a 2,000-mile journey from Georgia to Maine, uncovering the personal struggles and healing of hikers seeking solace, purpose, and transformation. Directed by Glenn Sweitzer, the film reveals how nature becomes a powerful path back to wholeness.
The Path to Uhuru
A group of veterans come together to conquer Mount Kilimanjaro as we hear the stories of the mountains in their own lives they’ve climbed; supporting a variety of causes aimed to help veterans receive the help they might need.
Extra Innings: Grandpa Got Game
Heartwarming and amusing documentary about the Over the Hill Gang, a softball league for a close-knit group of old-timers who never gave up playing the sport they love. The film beautifully demonstrates that we can continue to follow our passions well into our golden years – despite the toll that aging takes on our minds, bodies, and spirits.
Bobby Up the Block
Many people have some stories. Some people have many stories. Bobby is one man with too many stories. Enjoy this heartwarming short documentary about dreams, disappointments, and Dr Hook.
Saving Walden's World
When a young arms dealer discovers his work is harming families in less affluent societies, he has an ethical crisis and begins a decades-long journey to redeem himself and make the world a better place.
The Big Rotting Apple: The Dirty Truth Behind the City's Trash Epidemic
New York City has been struggling to stay clean since the pandemic brought budget cuts, wreaking havoc across the Sanitation Department. Activists on the street have been fighting back in hopes of a cleaner city, but are the new containerization initiatives proposed by the city really going to solve any problems?
Saturday, October 7
At dawn on October 7, 2023, thousands of Israelis woke to what seemed like a routine rocket barrage from Gaza. Within hours, their world would change forever. Through intimate testimonies of seven survivors, "Saturday October 7" chronicles the darkest day in modern Israeli history, when Hamas terrorists infiltrated civilian communities across southern Israel. What makes this documentary unique is not just its harrowing firsthand testimonies, but how it captures the psychological toll of survival. Our subjects struggle with questions that haunt them: Why did I survive when my friends didn't? How do I sleep at night knowing what humans are capable of? How do I face a world that questions whether this even happened?
Voices of Tomorrow
"Voices of Tomorrow" captures the work educators in America are doing with students to restore civic culture in a hyperpolarized society. By fostering viewpoint diversity and free speech in their school communities through civil discourse practices with Sphere Education Initiatives, these educators and their students are revitalizing the most important characteristics of strong democratic citizens - respect, curiosity, and openness.
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Rebel with a Clause
One fall day in 2018, Ellen Jovin set up a folding table on a Manhattan sidewalk with a homemade sign that said “Grammar Table.” Right away, passersby began excitedly asking questions, telling stories, and filing complaints.
What happened next is the stuff of grammar legend.
Ellen and her filmmaker husband, Brandt Johnson, took the table on the road, visiting all 50 US states as Brandt shot the grammar action.
People from every imaginable background visited the table to share a laugh, settle disputes, and talk about their grammar insecurities.
But this story transcends grammar. It’s the story of an epic quest to bring us all closer together. In a time of extreme social and political division, the Grammar Table is a place of unity and connection. The conversations at the table help answer the question “How can we all get along?”
Come for the grammar. Stay for the humanity.
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The Nose Knows: Foreignness and Fortune in China
Throughout Chinese history, noses have been used to separate Chinese people from foreigners.
In the present day, they can also be the key to changing your destiny.
If we know more about noses, perhaps we can better understand how China sees itself and its increasingly important place in the world.