Literary Studies

2024 Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Short. Over 2,000 books have been removed from school districts in the U.S. The ABCs of Book Banning, directed by Sheila Nevins in her inaugural debut, follows the human toll the future will pay for depriving children of their right to read and learn about a complex world. Interviews with children and authors shed light on this ongoing dangerous precedent.

HERBERT. BARBARIAN IN THE GARDEN

Polish author Zbigniew Herbert is one of the most remarkable poets of the 20th century. His works have been translated into 40 languages, acclaimed and awarded around the world, mainly because of its timeless and universal dimension. However, behind the crystalline beauty of his poetry, there was a man struggling with everyday life. Featuring exclusive and intimate interviews with the poet and his wife, Katarzyna Herbert.

FOR VEGAS

Using the visual and cultural iconography of Las Vegas - a city whose roots were founded as a waystation, a temporary stop for so many over its storied history - For Vegas is a poem for and about a city and its culture as told through the eyes and heart of a traveler, a migrant, a seeker of truths (Egyptian writer Ahmed Naji who was accused in 2015 of referencing "transient lust and fleeting pleasure" in his novel and sentenced to two years in prison).

THE GRAVE OF ST. ORAN

Master storyteller Neil Gaiman narrates this strange tale of saintly murder and the dark history behind the chapel on the island of Iona. The story is brought to life by director Jim Batt with beautifully illustrated paper cutouts, meticulously animated using stop motion techniques and in-camera visual effects.

HORTON FOOTE: THE ROAD TO HOME

Chronicles the creative journey of acclaimed writer Horton Foote - a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and winner of two Academy Awards for screenwriting (Tender Mercies, To Kill a Mockingbird) - through his own eyes and voice at the end of his life. The documentary captures a personal and inside view of his life and work and it's connection his hometown.

THE DIASPORA SUITE

From the director of The Inheritance, Ephraim Asili's five-part series The Diaspora Suite is a personal and global study of the African diaspora. Made over the course of seven years and shot in Brazil, Canada, Ethiopia, Ghana, Jamaica, and the United States, this revelatory cycle of five short films collapses time and space to reveal the hidden resonances that connect the black American experience to the greater African diaspora.

FRANCISCA

Based on Agustina Bessa-Luís’ acclaimed novel, itself inspired by a true story that occurred in the 19th century, Manoel de Oliveira's Francisca recounts the life of a young man, a son of an English officer, who lets himself become a prisoner of love resulting in fatalism and disgrace. With its gorgeous cinematography, gloomy interiors, and show-stopping gala set-pieces, Francisca (The Strange Case of Angelica, I'm Going Home) is one of the legendary director’s crowning achievements.

SEGUNDA VEZ

This vital, revolutionary documentary isn't merely a biopic of Oscar Masotta - a pivotal theorist in the Argentinian avant-garde from the 1950s to 1970s - but a treatise on the artistic and political climate of the nation preceding the Dirty War, eerily mirroring the world today. The title, Segunda Vez, originates from a homonymous story written by a contemporary of Masotta’s, Julio Cortázar.

LETHEM

A multi-faceted portrait of the life and work of bestselling author Jonathan Lethem, whose acclaimed novels include The Fortress of Solitude, Gun With Occasional Music, and Motherless Brooklyn, Lethem considers the cultural influences that inform his writing and features interviews with family members, friends, and the author himself.

THE GRIEF OF OTHERS

At once literary and gently cinematic, Patrick Wang's (A Bread Factory, In The Family) second feature is based on Leah Hager Cohen’s critically acclaimed novel. After suffering a tragic loss, a family welcomes an unexpected visitor into their lives and find themselves growing more alert to the hurt, humor, warmth, and grief of others.

THE JOYCEAN SOCIETY

James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake has long been considered one of the most difficult texts in the English Language. The Joycean Society is an utterly absorbing and fascinating documentary about a small but dedicated group of Joyce devotees who have been reading the book for the last thirty years – highlighting the significance not just of Joyce’s novel but of the all-consuming power of literature.

WORLDS OF URSULA K. LE GUIN

An essential documentary exploring the remarkable life and legacy of the late feminist author Ursula K. Le Guin, best known for her classic Earthsea series and masterworks of science fiction such as The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed; with reflections from literary luminaries including Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, Michael Chabon, and more.

THE DEAD NATION

A work of startling power and originality, acclaimed director Radu Jude’s documentary-essay examines the rise of anti-Semitism in Romania prior to and during World War II almost entirely through the diary of a Jewish doctor in Bucharest juxtaposed with recently unearthed photographs of provincial life in Romania between the years of 1937 and 1944.

AND WHEN I DIE, I WON'T STAY DEAD

Embodying the spirit of his poems, the new film from Billy Woodberry, director of Bless Their Little Hearts, is a vivid appreciation of Bob Kaufman, the legendary Beat figure, featuring interviews with his contemporaries, readings, rare photos and footage, and a soundtrack with the likes of Billie Holiday and Ornette Coleman.

JACKALS AND ARABS

Straub’s abridged retelling of Kafka's story, which has been interpreted in myriad ways and embraced and rejected in equal measure by Arabs and Jews of divergent persuasions, bears fascinating affinities with his and Huillet’s interpretation of the author's Amerika in Class Relations.

THE DREAM OF SHAHRAZAD

An exploration of recent social and political upheavals across the Middle East, The Dream of Shahrazad contextualizes these events within a broader historical and cultural legacy by drawing on the famous collection of stories known as “The Arabian Nights."

THE DREAMED ONES

The tormented romance between celebrated poets Paul Celan and Ingeborg Bachmann – a Holocaust survivor and a daughter of a Nazi party member – is the subject of this innovative documentary in which two actors read from their nearly two decades worth of correspondence.

LETTERS FROM BAGHDAD

Voiced and executive produced by Tilda Swinton, Letters from Baghdad is a visually rich, beautifully crafted documentary that tells the story of Gertrude Bell, who, more influential than her friend and colleague Lawrence of Arabia, shaped the modern Middle East in ways that still reverberate today.

DREAMING AGAINST THE WORLD

This beautiful, evocative documentary captures the life, work and struggle of one of the most original yet under-recognized artists of the 20th century – the writer and visual artist Mu Xin.

THE ACADEMY OF MUSES

A university professor espouses the role of muses in art and literature as a means of romancing his students in this breathtaking new film from the acclaimed director of In the City of Sylvia.