Fall 2024 Releases

One of the most acclaimed documentaries of the year, Sugarcane is a stunning tribute to the resilience of Native people and their way of life. In 2021, evidence of unmarked graves was discovered on the grounds of an Indian residential school run by the Catholic Church in Canada. After years of silence, the forced separation, assimilation and abuse many children experienced at these segregated boarding schools was brought to light, sparking a national outcry against a system designed to destroy Indigenous communities.

HOW TO HAVE AN AMERICAN BABY

How to Have an American Baby is a kaleidoscopic voyage into the booming shadow economy that caters to Chinese tourists who travel to the U.S. on “birthing vacations”—in order to obtain U.S. citizenship for their babies. Inside bedrooms, delivery rooms, and family meetings, the story of ahidden global economy emerges—depicting the aspirations and anxieties, fortunes and tragedies that befall the ordinary people caught in the web of its influence.

NOCTURNES

An immersive viewing experience of sound and imagery, Nocturnes weaves together an intricate and poetic tapestry of our world. Ecologist Mansi sets out on a quest to study moths in one of the most vibrant places on earth. She teams up with Bicki, a young man from the indigenous Bugun community. By focusing on a small, ephemeral, nocturnal creature like the moth, Nocturnes seeks to question a human-centric view of the world.

INTERCEPTED

2024 Gotham Award nominee for Best Documentary. After the February 2022 invasion, Ukrainian Security Services released intercepted phone calls from Russian soldiers to their families — sharing their innermost fears, contempt for Ukrainians, and hopes for a swift victory. Juxtaposing exceprts from these conversations with images of life in Ukraine, Intercepted evokes a vivid, haunting tableaux of war, and the psychological disconnect between oppressors and the lives they’ve destroyed.

IN THE SHADOW OF BEIRUT

From the makers of Gaza, and executive produced by Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, this documentary penetrates deep below the surface of Beirut, a still beautiful, yet deeply troubled city on the brink of financial collapse. Through intimate, character driven storytelling, the stark reality of life for the protagonists of the film is symbolic of the hundreds of thousands of others who fight for survival in the most diverse country in the Middle East.

AGAINST THE TIDE

Mumbai fishermen Rakesh and Ganesh are inheritors of the great Koli knowledge system—a way to harvest the sea by following the moon and the tides. Rakesh has kept faith in traditional fishing methods while Ganesh has embraced technology. A prize-winner at Sundance, Against the Tide is a tale of two men’s bond fractured by the weight of a changing world and a sea threatened by climate change

LOTUS SPORTS CLUB

Shot in Cambodia over 5 years, Lotus Sports Club, is an inspiring coming-of-age story that centers around Leak, a teenage trans man who plays football in the under-21s women’s team of Kampong Chhnang, and Pa Vann, the coach and father-figure to Leak and other LGBTQ+ players on the team. This compelling, fascinating, and empowering story will take the viewers on a unique and emotional journey through a world of love and solidarity between individuals who have finally found a community they would only have dreamt before.

BACKSTAGE

Aida (played by Co-director and dancer Afef Ben Mahmoud), a member of a Tunisian contemporary dance troupe touring Morocco, provokes during a representation in a small Middle Atlas town, her life and stage partner Hedi, who injures her onstage triggering a series of events through a long night across a forest, on the way to the next village’s doctor.

JACK AND SAM

From Executive Producers Julianna Margulies and Sarah Silverman, Jack and Sam is a poignant documentary about two Holocaust survivors miraculously reunited after 80 years. Mixing documentary, archival, and breathtaking animation, this heartwarming story explores the enduring power of connection and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity.

HOLDING BACK THE TIDE

A "wondrous and wonderful documentary" (The New York Times) that traces the oyster through its many life cycles in New York, once the world’s oyster capital. Now their specter haunts the city through queer characters embodying ancient myth, discovering the overlooked history and biology of the bivalve that built the city.

MOURNING IN LOD

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict told through three people whose fates become inextricably linked in a vicious cycle of violence. The outpouring of love, anger, forgiveness and sorrow that follows in their wake offers a glimpse of morning light to offset a collective state of mourning with no end in sight. The film provides a first-hand account of the way our individual actions reverberate, amplify and shape the course of each other’s lives.

THE HUMAN SURGE 3

Armed with a 360-degree camera, Argentinian director Eduardo Williams returns to the bold, time-and-continent-skipping world of his 2016 film The Human Surge and constructs something even more immense, fearless, and breathtaking. Different groups of friends wander in a rainy, windy, dark world. They spend time together, trying to get away from their depressing jobs, meandering constantly towards the mystery of new possibilities.

I’M “GEORGE LUCAS”: A CONNOR RATLIFF STORY

Five years into performing as renowned filmmaker George Lucas in the NY cult comedy show "The George Lucas Talk Show", comedian Connor Ratliff questions the need for its continuation and his own drive for success and fulfillment in show business. By following the live performances and behind the scenes for one year, the mysteries of Connor’s inner self are explored in this portrait of an artist, and his own feelings on his history, value, and legacy are revealed.

KNIT'S ISLAND

Shot entirely in a virtual environment, Knit’s Island is an exceptionally cinematic and contemplative documentary. The film is set in a rural game world that is both impressively realistic and uncannily not quite right. What is still “real” in this virtual existence, which will probably play an important role in the lives of more and more people in the future? With this question, the filmmakers set out to explore the sparsely populated 250 square kilometers of the game.This mysterious, post-apocalyptic rural landscape is revealed as a meeting place, where stories, ideas and friendships are shared.

A PICTURE TO REMEMBER

A Picture to Remember is an essayistic account of a family's long journey through the war. It chronicles the search for a way to handle terrible and recurring losses experienced by three generations of Ukrainian women-those of the director, her mother, and that of her grandmother. The Kyiv-based filmmaker uses old family films in her attempt to bridge the distance between her and her grandmother in Donetsk.

MÁRIO

From Billy Woodberry, acclaimed director of Bless Their Little Hearts and When I Die, I Won't Stay Dead, Mário follows the story and legacy of Mário Pinto de Andrade, founder of the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), Pan-African thinker and activist whose critical mission within the African liberation movements of the 60’s and 70’s laid the groundwork for the identity and representation of the newly formed African nations after European colonization.

HAPPY CAMPERS

Every summer, working-class families enjoy waterfront living in a scrappy trailer park off the coast of Virginia. When the relentless march of capitalism threatens their shabby Shangri-La, the denizens ofInlet View face the inevitable, and reveal the secrets to a rich life. As the familiar narrative of the “haves” displacing the “have-nots” plays out once again, the proletariats hold tight to their final days in the sun. The well-to-do crowd that moves in will never be as wealthy.

WE WILL NOT FADE AWAY

Written and directed by Ukranian filmmaker Alisa Kovalenko, We Will Not Fade Away is a tender and emotional multi-portrait of five Ukrainian teenagers, trapped in the war zone in Donbas, who dream of freedom and discovering the world outside. Andriy, Lisa, Ruslan, Lera and Illia grew up in small coal mining towns, right on the front line. They fight against the boredom and the multiple frustrations of finding out who you are.

BLOOD, SWEAT AND BEERS OR HOW THE SLOPPY BOYS MADE AN ALBUM ON A FARM IN WEST TEXAS

In 2022, journalist and documentarian Robert Holguin reached out to the band The Sloppy Boys (Tim Kalpakis, Mike Hanford, Jefferson Dutton of IFC's The Birthday Boys sketch show) with a proposition— he would arrange for the boys to stay for a week at the legendary Sonic Ranch Studios in Texas if they’d allow him to film the making of their fourth album. Legendary producer Money Mark (Beastie Boys, Beck, David Byrne) joined them to create Sonic Ranch.

BEYOND THE AGGRESSIVES: 25 YEARS LATER

Two decades ago, the groundbreaking film The Aggressives showcased the remarkable stories of Chin, Octavio, Trevon, and Kisha — a watershed moment of visibility for masc-presenting BIPOC individuals that gave voice to a community that hadn’t seen themselves authentically represented in cinema before. Now, nearly 20 years later, the same four protagonists reunite to reflect on their past and envision new futures.

FOREIGN PARTS

In the shadow of baseball’s new Mets Stadium, the neighborhood of Willets Point, Queens is an industrial zone fated for demolition. Joe, the last original resident, roams the streets like a lost King Lear, while two lovers struggle for food and safety through the winter. In its scrap yards and auto salvage shops, Foreign Parts discovers a strange community where wrecks, refuse and recycling form a thriving commerce.

A LONG HARD STREAK

This is a story of the struggle for redemption through art, and a man's powerful legacy within an isolated community of the South. Billy Dean Anderson was a prolific outsider artist and criminal who escaped prison multiple times. He was added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List and fled to live in a Tennessee cave for almost five years. The cave became his home and spiritual refuge, while his paintings were a means of communication with the outside world.

SOMNILOQUIES

In their film Somniloquies, Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel overcome the boundaries between inner dreamscapes and human bodies. Songwriter Dion McGregor became famous in the 1960’s for narrating his dreams in his sleep. His flatmate recorded him doing so. A roving camera that moves indiscernibly from one contour and orifice to another, one body to another, one gender to another, one ethnicity to another, one animal to another. Somniloquies is a descent into the dream-world of our unconscious.