Participant Media
2) Lincoln
Summary
A revealing drama that focuses on the 16th president's tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country, and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come.
Summary
A decade since an extraterrestrial force has occupied the planet, deceiving humanity with the promise of peace and unity, Chicago Police Officer William Mulligan is tasked with maintaining law and order in a city on the brink of rebellion. Gabriel, the young brother of a fallen militant and the son of Mulligan's ex-partner, is faced with the crucial choice: Collaborate, or fight back.
Summary
Provides an engaging and inspiring look at public education in the United States. This documentary has helped launch a movement to achieve a real and lasting change through the compelling stories of five unforgettable students such as Emily, a Silicon Valley eighth-grader who is afraid of being labeled as unfit for college, and Francisco, a Bronx first-grader whose mom will do anything to give him a shot at a better life.
5) RBG
Summary
At the age of 85, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has developed a lengthy legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon. But the unique personal journey of her rise to the nation's highest court has been largely unknown, even to some of her biggest fans - until now. RBG explores Ginsburg's life and career.
6) Food, Inc
Summary
Examines the industrial production of meat (chicken, beef, and pork), calling it inhumane and economically and environmentally unsustainable. The second segment looks at the industrial production of grains and vegetables (primarily corn and soy beans), again labeling this economically and environmentally unsustainable. The film's third and final segment is about the economic and legal power, such as food labelling regulations of the major food companies,...
7) The Beaver
Summary
A troubled husband and executive adopts a beaver hand-puppet as his sole means of communicating.
Summary
Former Vice President Al Gore presents evidence that the negative effects of global warming have increased since the release of the film "An inconvenient truth" a decade earlier.
A decade after An Inconvenient Truth brought climate change into the heart of popular culture comes the follow-up that shows just how close people are to a real energy revolution.
9) Zero days
Summary
A black ops cyber attack launched by the U.S. and Israel on an Iranian nuclear facility unleashed malware with unforeseen consequences. The Stuxnet virus infiltrated it's pre-determined target only to spread it's infection outward, ultimately exposing systemic vulnerabilities that threatened the very safety of the planet. Delve deep into the bourgeoning world of digital warfare in this documentary thriller from Academy Award winning filmmaker Alex...
10) No
Summary
An ad executive comes up with a campaign to defeat Augusto Pinochet in Chile's 1988 referendum.
11) The Fifth estate
Summary
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his colleague Daniel Domscheit-Berg team up to become underground watchdogs of the very powerful. They create a platform that allows whistleblowers to anonymously leak covert data. But when Assange and Berg gain access to the biggest trove of confidential intelligence documents in U.S. history, they battle each other and a defining question of our time: what are the costs of keeping secrets in a free society, and...
12) Contagion
Summary
A thriller centered on the threat posed by a deadly disease and an international team of doctors contracted by the CDC to deal with the outbreak.
13) Human Flow
Summary
Over 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war in the greatest human displacement since World War II. HUMAN FLOW, an epic film journey led by the internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei, gives a powerful visual expression to this massive human migration. The documentary elucidates both the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact. Official...
Summary
Hassan is a culinary ingenue with the gastronomic equivalent of perfect pitch. Displaced from their native India, his family settles in a quaint village in the south of France. They plan to open an Indian restaurant, that is, until Madame Mallory, the owner of a classical French restaurant, gets wind of it. Her icy protests against the new Indian restaurant so near her own escalate to all out war; until Hassan's cooking talent and love for Mme. Mallory's...
17) Citizenfour
Summary
With unprecedented access, this behind-the-scenes chronicle follows director Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald's encounters with whistle-blower Edward Snowden in a hotel room in Hong Kong, as he hands over classified documents that provide evidence of mass indiscriminate and illegal invasions of privacy by the NSA.
18) Ivory tower
Summary
Is college worth the cost? Groundbreaking filmmaker Andrew Rossi asks the critical question about the value of higher education, revealing how colleges have come to embrace a business model that often promotes expansion over quality learning. With student-loan debt now over the one trillion dollar mark, the once-great American institution is at a breaking point. The film explores the current education crisis from the halls of Harvard, to community...
Summary
An intimate portrait of Malala Yousafzai, who was wounded when Taliban gunmen opened fire on her in Pakistan's Swat Valley. The shooting of the then fifteen-year-old teenager sparked international media outrage. An educational activist in Pakistan, Yousafzai has since emerged as a leading campaigner for the rights of children worldwide and in December 2014, became the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.