2024 Films and Events

Jimmie and De were classmates in 1965. Jimmie transferred his senior year from an all-Black high school to an affluent white high school in Charlotte - he was their first Black football star. Decades later, a shocking discovery reconnects the men and changes both their lives. Their story rooted in the South is also America''s story - one of slavery's legacy and our current racial divide. It’s a story of healing and shows a way forward as Jimmie and De explore their binding truth.

Taemin and Minji, a couple of Korean tourists, travel to the Northern part of the United States to see the Aurora Borealis for the first time. But, after Minji mysteriously disappears, Taemin becomes the main suspect, turning the desperate search of his girlfriend into a fight to stay alive.

Over a weekend visit in Los Angeles, two first-generation Sierra Leonean American brothers navigate the changing dynamics of brotherhood after a surprise announcement.

After 20 years, Jacobo reconnects with José Luis, the priest who scarred his childhood. His heart now harbors conflicting feelings of resentment, lust and affection.

The Landrys gather for the weekend to fix up their family home in Chicago. But what starts out as a benign family get-together ends up spiraling out of control as some bombshell news threatens to tear everything apart.

In the remote mountain villages in Afghanistan, a newfound passion for skiing attracts young athletes from rival ethnic groups who showcase their resourcefulness and skill on the slopes. Equipped with minimal gear, makeshift skis, and no chairlift, a determined ski coach organizes a ski race like no other, uniting the community in a moment of joy and camaraderie. However, when their country falls to the Taliban, many of the skiers are displaced across the globe as refugees, confronted with an uncertain future.

Through a mosaic of personal stories, Counted Out shows what’s at risk if we keep the status quo. Do we want an America in which most of us don’t consider ourselves “math people”? Where math proficiency goes down as students grow up? Or do we want a country where anyone can understand the math that undergirds our society—and can help shape it. The film is dedicated to Bob Moses, the civil rights leader and MacArthur genius who saw math access as the civil rights issue of our time, and whose work we follow in some of the last filmed interviews of his life.

After the sudden deaths of her parents, Maria returns to her childhood home on Cape Cod. When her estranged brother Nico shows up to help sort out the estate, tensions soon rise about how to best sell the decrepit house.

Sequestered in a remote desert villa, the final five contestants on a reality dating show unite to confront their deceitful suitor and the producers who manipulated them into falling in love.

For decades, scientists have tried to unlock the secrets of ancient DNA. But life’s genetic blueprint is incredibly fragile, and researchers have struggled to find DNA in fossils that could survive millions of years. Then, one maverick scientist had the controversial idea to look for DNA not in fossils or frozen ancient tissue – but in dirt. Join the hunt as scientists decipher the oldest DNA ever found and reveal for the first time the genes of long-extinct creatures that once thrived in a warm, lush Arctic.

After being brutally dumped, 17-year-old Sydnie discovers she is pregnant. Seeing this as an opportunity to get her ex back and give her life direction, she decides to keep the baby. She soon realizes that this won’t be the quick fix she had hoped for and finds herself caught in a complicated love triangle and totally lost.

The Wards are about to lose everything due to crippling debt, when a mysterious stranger arrives, promising a new life - for the right fee. But last-minute doubts see the pair fighting for everything they were about to abandon.

In 1775, a formerly enslaved couple faces obstacles as they seek to settle their homestead in the eastern hills of the territory now known as Vermont. Forty miles west, rebel instigator and land speculator Ethan Allen plots to drive out New York landlords who seek to impose their rule.

Louie, an acclaimed writer, returns to his dilapidated hometown after his father’s death. Confronted with a deluge of people from his past, Louie is forced to reconcile with the stories he’s stolen, misrepresented, or downright exploited for profit.

Amidst the chaos and destruction of the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine, three artists defiantly find inspiration and beauty as they defend their culture and their country. In a war waged by professional soldiers against ordinary civilians, Slava, Anya, and Andrey choose to stay behind, armed with their art, their cameras, and, for the first time in their lives, their guns. Despite daily shelling, Anya finds resistance and purpose in her art, Andrey takes the dangerous journey to get his young family to safety abroad, and Slava becomes a weapons instructor for ordinary people who have become unlikely soldiers. As the war intensifies, Andrey picks up his camera to film their story, and on tiny porcelain figurines, Anya and Slava capture their idyllic past, uncertain present and hope for the future.

Over her 89 years, journalist, vice-presidential advisor, White House official, author, humorist, political activist, and feminist leader Liz Carpenter was often front and center where history was unfolding, leaving her own indelible mark and pushing forward an agenda for women’s rights, political engagement, and the environment that is highly relevant today.

Bienvenidos a Los Angeles, Yaya, The Innkeeper, Save the Cat, Lichtblick - Glimmer of Hope, My Father's Name

The Natural, Lunchbox, Looking Forward, KISS, Hello?, Da's, Deep Tish, Days of Hate

Dérive, Scratch-Off, Until He's Back, The Heart of Texas

The Queenʻs Flowers, Out of the Dark: Jaleen Roberts, Jane's in the Freezer, Chicho, A Dreamer, Barely Breathing, A Day In The Life

Single Malt, Losing It, Golden Child, [subtext], 5 A.M., Egg Timer, Crisis, Dragon Agent-Wreckers of Boston

Anyuka, Big George, What Happened To You, Stalled In Eight Etudes, Forward

Valley of Souls, The Lure, The Chain, Spoor, Neo Dome, Nap, Cetology, I Wanna Be A Statue

Elephant, The Unseen, The Bee, Spear. Spatula. Submarine., Gath & K'iyh: Listen to Heal, Forbidden Pond, Footprints on Katmai, Light at the Edge of the Universe: The Black Hole Explorer

A Family Portrait, Queens, Break/Fix, Dog Days, My Dear Aunt Sally, Sally, Get the Potatoes, Sparkle, Tidy House

The Lost Weekend, The Day Keeper, Smile, Gorgeous, She, Who Dared

A mythical cowboy appears in the corrupt logging town of Sourdough Creek, and with the aid of his slide guitar and a giant Hellbug, battles the evil mayor and his equally selfish twin brother to try to clean up the town .

Lino Tagliapietra is widely held as the greatest master glassblower in history, beloved by millions across the globe. He began his journey with glass at the age of 11 as a factory worker in Murano, Italy, and now at 88, he prepares for his final hot shop session while grappling with age, identity and the struggle of watching his protégés continue his legacy as his famed career comes to a close.

Stewart Udall, America's most famous Secretary of Interior, was also a fighter for racial justice, peace, the arts, and environmental protections.

Follows three stars of the new ''golden age'' of kids lit— as they push boundaries and create experimental work that reflects the mysteries of childhood, champions the marginalized, and provides children with windows and mirrors, even when the creators' own lives are not fairy tales. Through rare archival, untapped insights, and stop-motion paper animation, we also come to understand why classics such as “Goodnight Moon,” “Where the Wild Things Are,” “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” and “The Snowy Day” changed the art form and stand the test of time.

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. Set amidst a groundbreaking investigation, SUGARCANE illuminates the beauty of a community breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma and finding the strength to persevere.

In the segregated Memphis of the 1960s, blues masters and beatniks created a music festival that rocked the foundations of a conservative world. The Blues Society weaves together hypnotic and unforgettable performances with animation, archival images, and a chorus of diverse voices to create a moving image mixtape that both celebrates the music and re-evaluates the era.

In Baltimore, Brandon Scott, an idealistic young leader with an ambitious plan to stop chronic violence in the city, is elected mayor. Throughout his first year in office, he fights powerful political forces to save lives in Baltimore and reveal a pathway toward healing for the nation.

Javi, an undocumented immigrant facing imminent deportation, unexpectedly reunites with his long-lost best friend, Hunter, a vivacious bachelor seeking deeper connections. Together, they embark on a heartfelt journey to prevent Javi's expulsion from the only country he has ever called home.

In the internet era, the dream of the struggling artist is to go viral. That’s what happened to Philip Labes, a singer-songwriter who found a following on TikTok after posting his clever, heartfelt songs during the pandemic. When his music reached the ears of one of his heroes, Grammy-winner Jason Mraz, he was invited on his very first tour and a chance to play live in front of thousands - a chance he hopes will lead to a real career in music where he isn’t relying on the whims of an algorithm.

Over the course of a night, a storyteller captures bar patrons with his tale of mysterious magic and petty crime. As new customers enter the bar and new events unfold in the story, we dive into the listener’s imaginations to reveal a unique version of the oddball characters the rhapsodist has created.

Amidst the redwood trees on the California-Oregon border sits one of the most infamous prisons in US history. Pelican Bay is a labyrinthine construction of solid cement blocks – a supermax prison designed specifically for mass-scale solitary confinement. For decades, it held men alone in tiny cells indefinitely. Then one day in 2013, 30,000 prisoners, against all odds, launched the largest hunger strike in U.S. history.

Chris Johns made some of the the most recognizable pictures of our time. He's the only field photographer to rise through the ranks of National Geographic to become Editor-In-Chief, heading the world's most iconic magazine during a period of industry disruption, digital transformation and ecological crises. After spending a career as a journalist walking the tightrope between worry and wonder, he's now being shadowed by a visual artist with her own distinct ethos. His daughter Louise Johns, who picked up a camera as a child during her father's last field assignment, is shaping her own photography vision one image at a time.

In 1970, at the height of the sexual revolution, Bobbie is determined to lose her virginity on the day of her 17th birthday, but she will lose more than that. When she discovers her mother’s infidelity and acts out furiously, she sets off a chain of confrontations that forces her father and mother to face their own insecurities as accomplished middle-class intellectuals. On each of their birthdays, hopes are dashed, and secrets revealed.

Jamshid is an Iranian who came to study in 1970’s America, but due to the Revolution, never went “home.” As a guidance counselor in Seattle, his best work takes place on the playing field with “his kids,” the children of refugees and immigrants. Mr. Jamshid is the charismatic, fiery, funny human with a Frisbee in hand, who shows that love wins on the field, off the field, at home with family, or boldly forging a new community, in a new country - one kid, chicken, ultra-endurance race, and friend at a time.