Arts and Culture

From 1968 to 1973, the public television variety show SOUL!, guided by the enigmatic producer and host Ellis Haizlip, offered an uncompromising celebration of Black culture. The series was among the first to provide expanded images of African Americans on television, shifting the gaze from inner-city poverty and violence to the vibrancy of the Black Arts Movement. Mr. SOUL! captures a critical moment in culture whose impact continues to resonate, and an unsung hero whose voice we need now more than ever.

Celebrated by audiences at home and abroad, Indigenous artist Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu was one of the most important and acclaimed voices to ever come out of Australia. Blind from birth, he found purpose and meaning through songs and music inspired by his community and country on Elcho Island in far North East Arnhem Land. Living a traditional Yolngu life, his breakthrough album ‘Gurrumul’ brought him to a crossroads as audiences and artists around the world began to embrace his music.

From the director of the Oscar® -winning documentary 20 Feet from Stardom, and the critically-acclaimed Best of Enemies, The Music of Strangers tells the extraordinary story of The Silk Road Ensemble, an international musical collective created by legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The Sound of Silk follows this group of diverse instrumentalists, vocalists, composers, arrangers, visual artists and storytellers as they explore the power of music to preserve tradition, shape cultural evolution and inspire hope.

Over 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war in the greatest human displacement since World War II. Human Flow, an epic film journey led by the internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei, gives a powerful visual expression to this massive human migration. The documentary elucidates both the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact, following a chain of urgent human stories that stretches across the globe in countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, France, Greece, Germany, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, and Turkey.

“In My Room” is a coming of age film. It takes place within the walls of the rooms of 6 teenagers around the world. It is based on archival materials shot by them behind closed doors and then posted on YouTube. They are not internet sensations or celebrities, just teenagers talking to themselves and to anyone who is willing to listen. The film follows a chronological timeline. It starts in 2008, the year they shot their first videos, and follows them throughout their presence on YouTube.

When Ryan, a video game designer, learns that his young son Joel has cancer, he and his wife begin documenting their emotional journey in the form of an unusual and poetic video game. The result is a game called “That Dragon, Cancer” – an astoundingly honest and innovative work of art about the universal complexity of grief. Thank You For Playing follows Ryan and his family over two years, offering an intimate, revolutionary glimpse into how the fusion of art and technology – in this case, a video game – can document profound human experiences in the modern age.

A documentary by Academy Award winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams based on a book by Pulitzer Prize winning writer Ron Suskind.
Imagine being trapped inside a Disney movie and having to learn about life mostly from animated characters dancing across a screen of color. A fantasy? A nightmare?
Life, Animated is the real-life story of Owen Suskind, the son of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind and his wife, Cornelia. An autistic boy who couldn’t speak for years, Owen memorized dozens of Disney movies, turned them into a language to express love and loss, kinship, brotherhood.

CINEMA, MON AMOUR follows the story of Viktor Purice – manager, former projectionist and lifetime cinephile and his two loyal employees, Cornelia & Lorena, in their everyday battle to preserve Dacia Panoramic Cinema in Piatra Neamt – one of the last remaining cinemas in Romania today.
Having lived through “the golden age” of cinema, Viktor dreams of bringing back the good old glory days, yet struggles to keep up with the new harsh reality. In a theater that lacks heating and is slowly falling apart, with no support from the State who owns the place, it’s almost a Don Quixote fight.

This 3D film project about the soul of buildings allows six iconic and very different buildings to speak for themselves, examining human life from the unblinking perspective of a manmade structure. Six acclaimed filmmakers bring their own visual style and artistic approach to the project. Buildings, they show us, are material manifestations of human thought and action: the Berlin Philharmonic, the National Library of Russia Halden Prison, the Salk Institute, the Oslo Opera House, and the Centre Pompidou. The series explores how these landmarks reflects our culture and guards our collective memory.

For the first time, the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres opens its doors for an all-access tour with the master himself. The museum is a place that he poured his entire universe into, that synthesizes his life’s dedication to art. Dalí’s voice guides us through his unfinished last creation, bringing his work, thoughts and personality to life. Co-produced by the Dalí foundation, Dalí’s Last Masterpiece makes us a privileged audience to the magic of art.

Isaac Bashevis Singer, the famous Yiddish writer and Nobel Prize winner wrote with a ‘harem’ of dozens of translators behind him. Beyond simple translators, these women were a vital source of his creativity. The inspiration he drew from them came in many forms, often mixing romance with professional aspirations. Today nine remain to tell his story. Intimate, poignant interviews and exclusive archival footage combine to form the unknown story of an author who charmed and enchanted his audiences, just as he charmed and enchanted his translators. A film about the art of translation and one of the great figures of twentieth century literature.