Film Program

Writers/Directors: Lisa Addario, Joe Syracuse

An exiled dictator in hiding teaches a rebellious suburban teen how to overthrow the "mean girls" in her high school. Featuring Michael Caine, Odeya Rush, and Katie Holmes.

Writer/Director: Adam Rifkin

Former box office superstar Vic Edwards (Burt Reynolds) is forced to reassess his life when he is invited to a film festival to receive a lifetime achievement award. Featuring Ariel Winter, Chevy Chase, Clark Duke, and Ellar Coltrane.

Writer: Julie Rudd | Director: Alethea Jones

Four very different moms gather for a ladies’ night out that takes unpredictable but hilarious twists and turns. Featuring Katie Aselton, Toni Collette, Bridget Everett, Molly Shannon, Adam Scott, and Adam Levine.

Writer/Director: Geremy Jasper

Straight out of Jersey comes Patricia Dombrowski, AKA Patti Cake$, an aspiring rapper on an unlikely quest for glory. Featuring Danielle Macdonald, Bridget Everett, and Cathy Moriarty.

Director: Rory Kennedy

The remarkable story of a pioneering figure who changed the landscape of big wave surfing forever.

Writer/Director: Taylor Sheridan

An FBI agent teams with a veteran game tracker to investigate a murder that occurred on a Native American reservation. Featuring Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen.

Director: Pamela Yates

The third film in a 35-year trilogy which contributed to the downfall of Guatemala’s dictator. This sweeping story of resistance focuses on the nation’s indigenous Mayan population, poised to reimagine their society. Co-presented with Facing History and Ourselves.

Director: Jon Kean

Six courageous Holocaust survivors detail how they forged new lives after their liberation from Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Directors: David Alvarado, Jason Sussberg

A famous television personality struggles to restore science to its rightful place in a world hostile to evidence and reason.

Director: Alexandra Dean

The story of the glamorous Austrian-born Hollywood actress, focused on her groundbreaking but under-acknowledged work as an inventor.

Directors: Catherine Gund, Daresha Kyi

A portrait of iconoclastic singer Chavela Vargas, who was legendary throughout Latin America for her romantic songs, had a love affair with Frida Kahlo, and served as a muse to Pedro Almodóvar.

Director: Matthew Heineman

An immersive profile of a group of anonymous Syrian citizen journalists who risk their lives to stand up against ISIS and report the truth of the Syrian conflict to the outside world.

Directors: Dan Sickles, Antonio Santini

An unforgettable couple, both on the autism spectrum, navigate the complexities of sex and romance in this Sundance Grand Jury Prize winning film.

Directors: Jeremy S. Levine, Landon Van Soest

In this intimate coming-of-age story, a young African-American teenager is determined to make a better future for herself in her rough St. Louis neighborhood.

Director: Erik Nelson

The tragic fate of an Iraq veteran who was making a controversial political film fuels conspiracy theories in this insightful film executive produced by Werner Herzog.

Directors: Trish Adlesic, Geeta Gandbhir

Produced by Mariska Hargitay (Law and Order: SVU), this eye-opening documentary investigates the alarming backlog of untested evidence kits that have denied justice to sexual assault survivors.

Directors: Laura Dunn, Jef Sewell

A profile of the changing landscapes and shifting values of rural America, as witnessed by influential farmer, activist, and author Wendell Berry.

Director: Ema Ryan Yamazaki

The story of Hans and Margret Rey, who fled Nazi-occupied Europe as refugees, carrying with them one of the most beloved children’s book characters of all time.

Director: Jody Hassett Sanchez

Who gets to decide what is good art? A competition touting the biggest cash prize in the art world demonstrates what happens when the cultural elite butts up against Midwest populism.

Director: Ramona S. Diaz

An immersion into the experiences of new mothers in the world’s busiest maternity hospital, located in one of its poorest and most populous countries.

Director: Jonathan Olshefski

A portrait of a North Philadelphia family and the creative sanctuary offered by their home music studio, intimately filmed over a decade.

Directors: Pacho Velez, Sierra Pettengill

1980s news footage and videos produced by the Reagan White House reveal the first made-for-TV president, one uniquely suited to face off against a charismatic Russian rival.

Director: Neasa Ní Chianáin | Co-Director: David Rane

Set in private boarding school in Ireland - a real-life Hogwarts - a married pair of teachers contemplate retirement after more than 40 years.

Director: Owsley Brown

This portrait of a classical music school in Haiti - before and after the earthquake - is a poignant testament to resilience, hope, and the power of music.

Director: Oren Jacoby

Before Banksy, there was Richard Hambleton. A pioneer of street art in early 1980s New York City, he succumbed to personal demons - but now stands on the brink of a comeback.

Directors: Jeff Malmberg, Chris Shellen

Once upon a time there was a tiny village in Tuscany whose residents found a remarkable way to confront their issues – they turned their lives into a play each summer.

Director: Amanda Lipitz

High-school seniors in the inaugural class of the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women strive for success both academically and through their fierce step dancing team.

Director: Jamie Meltzer

A team of men, exonerated for crimes they did not commit after decades in prison, work together to investigate other wrongfully convicted innocents.

Writer/Director: Angus MacLachlan

Siblings wrestle with questions of family, legacy, and generational responsibility when a group of strangers arrive possessing a surprising connection to their land.

Writer/Director: Jared Moshé

Aging sidekick Lefty Brown (Bill Pullman) has ridden with Wild West legend Eddie Johnson (Peter Fonda) his entire life. Forced out from his partner’s shadow, Lefty must confront the ugly realities of frontier justice. Featuring Kathy Baker, Jim Caviezel, and Tommy Flanagan.

Writer/Director: Eliza Hittman

A suburban Brooklyn teenager leading a double life faces dark consequences when he tests the limits of his emerging desire.

Writer/Director: Laura Terruso

Struggling writer David (Wyatt Cenac) finds it hard to escape the shadow of his published wife’s success in this satire of literary world pretension.

Sponsored by LIFETIME

Writer/Director: Elijah Bynum

Lonely teen Daniel (Timothée Chalamet), sent away to Cape Cod for the summer of 1991, re-invents himself when he befriends the charismatic town rebel (Alex Roe).

Director: Matt Spicer

Ingrid (Aubrey Plaza) is excited to move to Los Angeles to be closer to her BFF, Taylor (Elizabeth Olsen), a “lifestyle guru” whose Instagram documents her seemingly perfect life. 
 

Writer/Director: Gillian Robespierre | Writer: Elisabeth Holm

Secrets and lies abound in this 1990s set dramatic comedy following the dysfunctions of a Manhattan family. Featuring Jenny Slate, Jay Duplass, John Turturro, and Edie Falco.

Sponsored by LIFETIME

Writer/Director: Ryan Eggold

Adam (Justin Long), still harboring feelings for his ex, Allison (Cobie Smulders), tries to brave the awkwardness of her wedding in this romantic comedy.

Writer/Director: Jeff Baena

A young servant fleeing from his master takes refuge at a dysfunctional convent in medieval Tuscany. Featuring Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Kate Micucci, Aubrey Plaza, Nick Offerman, John C. Reilly, and Molly Shannon.

Writer/Director: Russell Harbaugh | Writer: Eric Mendelsohn

After the death of her husband, a mother and her two grown sons navigate the peaks and valleys of life over the next several years. Featuring Andie MacDowell, Chris O'Dowd, and James Adomian.

Writers: Logan Sparks, Drago Sumonja | Director: John Carroll Lynch

Lucky (Harry Dean Stanton), a 90-year-old self-sufficient loner living in a desert town, embarks on a journey of self-discovery to try to come to terms with his own mortality.

Writer/Director: Michael Almereyda

In the near future, Marjorie, suffering from dementia, is told the story of her life by a hologram in the form of her late husband. What would we remember, and what would we forget, if given the chance? Featuring Jon Hamm, Geena Davis, Lois Smith, and Tim Robbins.

Writer/Director: Joshua Z Weinstein | Writers: Alex Lipschultz, Musa Syeed

Within Brooklyn’s Hasidic Jewish community, a widower struggles to prove himself a worthy father to retain custody of his son in this gentle drama.

Writer/Director: Kirsten Tan

A chance encounter with an elephant named Pop Aye kicks off an eventful road trip for both man and beast.

Writer/Director: Gabe Klinger | Writer: Larry Gross

Two outsiders in Portugal - Jake (Anton Yelchin), an American loner, and Mati (Lucie Lucas), a French student - experience a brief but intimate connection that leaves a haunting impression.

Writers/Directors: Christopher Radcliff, Lauren Wolkstein

In this engrossing, atmospheric mystery, an innocent road trip into the woods by two brothers is not all as it seems. Featuring Alex Pettyfer and James Freedson-Jackson.