In County Durham, England, 1984, a talented young dancer, Billy Elliot, stumbles out of the boxing ring and onto the ballet floor. He faces many trials and triumphs as he strives to conquer his family’s set ways, inner conflict, and standing on his toes in a musical that questions masculinity, gender norms and conformity.
American television programming dominates around the world at the expense of regional cultural voices.
People from different ethnic backgrounds with "difficult" names by Western standards share their experience with moving through the world with an identity that challenges others to simply just say their name. A short social docu-film by Mariam Meliksetyan, “Say My Name” is a meditation on identity, otherness, assimilation, community, and ancestral roots.
A family must come to grips with its culture, its faith, and the brutal political changes entering its small-town world.
The film tells the story Hung, who was loved by his family as a child and lived in the protective arms of his parents. But the more the boy grew up, the more people slandered him about his gender. Pressure from family, and arguments from neighbors and people, the boy decided to run away to fulfill his "dream" of being himself, finding the light on the lottery stage. On stage, Hung becomes a charming and beautiful actress. People call her Hong Hoa, not Hung. She fulfilled her dream: to sing, to be praised, to be admired. But somewhere, deep inside her, there is still a smoldering wound called "family" - an emptiness that can never be filled.
Aliko & Ambai is a feature film about two young women facing the challenges of growing up in the beautiful Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. The challenges are significant: tribal conflict, poverty, bullying, domestic violence,and forced marriage. Aliko struggles to complete her education and Ambai searches to escape her abusive home and reunite with her biological father. They navigate the many obstacles in their lives and endeavour to build brighter futures for themselves, supported by the strength of friendship.
The film focuses on the positive side of Africa rarely seen. The film presents the cultural richness of Africa and explains ancient customs and traditions while celebrating the music, dance and welcoming nature of the majority of Africans.
A documentary that takes an in depth look at a government sanctioned art school in Cuba and its students. Interviews of various artists attending the school allow viewers a glimpse into their personal and professional lives.
A short documentary film that explains why ancestral languages are dying and promotes their preservation.
Pianist Rosa Torres-Pardo presents the figure of Antonio Soler. Father Soler composed one of the largest and most amazing musical corpuses in the history of Spanish music. The documentary is a journey of the pianist who set out to find lost musical scores.
BURNING MAN: BEYOND BLACK ROCK goes behind the scenes of a social revolution to explore the philosophy that fuels it, the social contract that drives it, and the transcendent experience that makes it a worldwide cultural force. Granted unprecedented access to the inner workings of the Burning Man organization, the filmmakers spent 18 months with the founders, organizers, artists and participants to document the full complexity and diversity of the Burning Man community. But, true to its title, the film goes beyond the city they raise in the desert - revealing the Burning Man's plans to bring its unique culture to the rest of the world. BEYOND BLACK ROCK tells, for the first time ever, the real story of Burning Man - from the inside out.
American Aloha: Hula Beyond Hawai’i shows the survival of the hula as a renaissance continues to grow beyond the islands. With the cost of living in Hawai'i estimated at 27 percent higher than the continental United States, large numbers of Hawaiians have left the islands to pursue professional and educational opportunities. Today, with more Native Hawaiians living on the mainland than in the state of Hawai'i, the hula has traveled with them. From the suburbs of Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay Area, the largest Hawaiian communities have settled in California, and the hula continues to connect communities to their heritage on distant shores.
Upon his father's death, Florante, a classically trained guitarist returns to the Philippines after 12 years of absence. During his stay he rediscovers the music of harana - a long-forgotten tradition of Filipino serenading when men sang under the window at night to fearlessly declare their love for a woman. Intent on unearthing these unheralded songs, Florante travels to the remote provinces where he discovers three of the last surviving practitioners - a farmer, a fisherman and a tricycle driver. Astounded by their golden voices, Florante asks them to travel with him to perform and record these unknown songs. During their travels, the haranistas meet Brian, a shy young man who for years has been secretly in love with a schoolmate. The haranistas, who have not serenaded in the last thirty years, offered their services to serenade Brian's object of affection, resulting in one of the most tender moments of genuine harana captured on film.