Let the Canary Sing takes the audience on a nostalgic exploration of the life and career of legendary pop icon Cyndi Lauper, with a boisterous narrative anchored by the inimitable Lauper herself. The film traverses her upbringing in a lower-class Queens neighborhood through her rebellious youth pushing back against intolerance, all the way to her meteoric rise in the music scene crafting classic songs that are vibrant and catchy as well as socially resonant. Ellwood presents a revealing and honest Lauper alongside lively archival footage of her cheeky personality and many absorbing performances through the years. The result is a film that captures Lauper’s body of work as an outspoken feminist artist who has been a stalwart advocate and champion for others.
It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2023
And She Could Be Next tells the story of a defiant movement of women of color, transforming politics from the ground up by fighting for a truly reflective democracy. The series follows candidates and organizers across the country, asking whether democracy itself can be preserved—and made stronger—by those most marginalized.
Filmed through the 2018 election cycle and on into 2019 by an all women of color filmmaking team, the two-part docuseries follows a dynamic slate of history-making women as they move from candidates to leaders: Stacey Abrams (GA), Rashida Tlaib (MI), Lucy McBath (GA), Veronica Escobar (TX), Maria Elena Durazo (CA), and Bushra Amiwala (IL).
https://www.andshecouldbenext.com/
Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin is a feature documentary exploring the remarkable life and legacy of the late feminist author Ursula K. Le Guin. Best known for groundbreaking science fiction and fantasy works such as A Wizard of Earthsea, The Left Hand of Darkness, and The Dispossessed, Le Guin defiantly held her ground on the margin of “respectable” literature until the sheer excellence of her work, at long last, forced the mainstream to embrace fantastic literature. Her fascinating story has never before been captured on film.
Produced with Le Guin’s participation over the course of a decade, Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guinis a journey through the writer’s career and her worlds, both real and fantastic. Viewers will join the writer on an intimate journey of self-discovery as she comes into her own as a major feminist author, opening new doors for the imagination and inspiring generations of women and other marginalized writers along the way. The film features stunning animation and reflections by literary luminaries including Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, David Mitchell, Michael Chabon, and more.
Produced by Radiant Features for History Channel. Project Impossible is an original series that follows a new generation of epic engineering projects that were considered unthinkable just a few years ago. In partnership with Autodesk, each episode is a deep look into the ambitious projects transforming our world, and highlights the people, tools, and technological breakthroughs critical to their success.
These projects include the new Tappan Zee Bridge, built using 220 million pounds of All-American steel, the world’s largest moveable structure that will slide over the leaking nuclear reactor at Chernobyl, a 5,000 foot deep gold mine in South Dakota that will help solve a mystery of the universe, and many more.
After taking a long list of medications every morning, 89 year-old Phyllis Sabatini loves to visit friends, go for a walk, help put on a big Italian dinner and go dancing. “Grandmom” may only be 4’ 7’’ but she has a big spirit, a ready laugh and smiling eyes. At 90, her husband Joe doesn’t say much and sleeps much of the time. He tends to keep to himself as his body fails him, sneaking late night snacks that will trigger his diabetes.
Phyllis and Joe live in Palm Desert, California with their daughter Sarah and her husband and precocious nine year-old daughter Jacqueline, who sees her grandparents as the annoying siblings she wishes she had. As Phyllis watches her daughter Sarah struggle to care for everyone from nine to ninety, she determines to go back east to stay with her other daughter Angie, where she can visit the rest of her family and friends.
As health problems mount and the time to say goodbye nears, Nine To Ninety explores delicate moments of aging through the intimate perspectives of three generations of this Italian American family.
'Country: Portraits of an American Sound' is a documentary film that explores the history and culture of country music through the lens of photography, which has portrayed the ideals, lifestyle and personalities of country music artists for over 80 years. The film features imagery and commentary from Grand Ole Opry photographer Les Leverett, the late celebrity photographer Leigh Wiener, documentary photographer Henry Horenstein, iconic music photographers Henry Diltz and Raeanne Rubenstein, and contemporary photographers David McClister and Michael Wilson. Over a dozen country music artists also appear, including Rosanne Cash, Roy Clark, Merle Haggard, Lyle Lovett, Charley Pride, LeAnn Rimes, Kenny Rogers, Tanya Tucker, The Band Perry and Keith Urban. The film weaves iconic images, historical footage and over 25 country music hits into a dynamic look at this uniquely American sound.
Exploring the intersection of commercialism and immigration in American culture, the documentary filmmakers follow their friend and fellow filmmaker Tom Xia on an intimate, humorous journey to get to know his neighbors. Tom has spent his life in between Chinese and American culture, constantly negotiating between his home life and everything else in the California suburbs where he’s grown up since emigrating from mainland China at age eight. With deep ties to his extended family back home and increasing pride in China’s huge steps forward in the new millennium, Tom is incensed by how China is so misunderstood, particularly in American media. Tom’s neighbors – the Joneses – are a young family trying to keep their children safe when a series of Chinese toy recalls forces them to have their son tested for lead poisoning.
Devising a plan to put American fears of China in context, Tom challenges his neighbors to go through the Christmas season without any Chinese products. Taking on the consumer mission-impossible, the Joneses discover that they’re giving up not just their toys, plates, lamps, and clothes, but the beloved hair dryer, coffeemaker, X-Box, and most of their Christmas decorations.
Meanwhile down the street, Tom’s parents are finishing construction on their new home, using Chinese materials to proudly build their American dream. As the challenge intensifies and Christmas Day approaches, Tom and the Joneses enter into a heated cultural interchange in which Tom finds himself challenged by the Joneses to confront his own identity. Forced to filter through cultural misconceptions, Tom’s family and the Joneses wrestle with our American drive to consume cheap products from China and find common ground as Tom celebrates his first Christmas around their tree.
Sunday Driver is a 2005 documentary film, directed by Carol Strong, that chronicles The Majestics, California's oldest black lowrider car club, which was originally founded in Compton. With up close and candid interviews that were recorded while hanging out with the club, the movie delivers an upfront look at the lowriding lifestyle of Southern California.
