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Propaganda

February 2013 •English

An anti-western propaganda film about the influences of American visual and consumption culture on the rest of the world, as told from a North Korean perspective.

Hunky Blues

May 2009 •Hungarian

The internationally acclaimed director and recipient of the Erasmus Award in 2007, Péter Forgács created a documentary exploring the fate of hundred thousands of Hungarian men and women who arrived to the United States between 1890 and 1921. To tell their sagas Forgács weaved this grand epic from the early American cinema, found footage, photographs and interviews. The film reveals the difficult moments of arrival, integration and assimilation, which eventually fed the happiness of the later generations and their fulfillment of the American dream.

The House of Suh

May 2010 •English

The House of Suh” tells the story of Andrew and his sister Catherine, and how the values, conflicts, and dysfunctions of their Korean immigrant family led to the murder of Robert O’Dubaine. Eloquently narrated by Andrew, the documentary highlights issues of assimilation and the struggle between freedom and responsibility, raising questions about guilt, innocence, and the illusive gray area in-between.

American Dream Stories

December 2017 •English

This Is America Part 2

September 1980 •English

The sequel to This is America, aka Jabberwalk. This film goes inside the real America circa 1980 - a world of punks, orgies and worm-eating hicks! Romano Vanderbes back on the film making side and Norman Rose back on narrating duty for the second of the This Is America trilogy. Things kick off slightly louder this time with a performance by The Dictators doing a version of America the Beautiful while the titles role, then right into piece about punk star Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedy's running for mayor of San Francisco. Then back into a more This Is America feeling segment about a crazy fat bloke called Captain Sticky. Among some of the other more interesting segments we get a look at underground vagrants, a piranha attack, martial arts nuns, a family of worm eaters, a drug abusing church and ends with a death row electrocution.

Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies and the American Dream

March 1998 •English

This film discusses the effect on how major American films in Hollywood were influenced by the Eastern European Jewish culture that most of the major movie moguls who controlled the studios shared. Through clips of various films, the filmmakers illustrate the dominant themes like that of the outsider, the outspoken American patriotism, and rooting for the underdog in society.

My Life in China

November 2014 •Chinese

In America, everyone has a family story of immigration. Every family, at some point, has had somebody leave their native country behind to search for a better life. How did they hold onto their identity? How did they adapt to their new life? Every family has a special story. In my case, it's my Chinese-American story. My father would always tell us his story about walking for 7 days and 6 nights, before swimming for 4 hours to Macau to escape communism in 1966. His story would fall on my deaf ears until I returned to China with him.

Adonis

February 2024 •French

A hard-hitting documentary that tackles head-on a controversial but increasingly alarming subject: young men's obsession with the perfect body, and the use of performance-enhancing drugs to achieve it. Once the preserve of top-level athletes, the use of anabolic steroids has become endemic among teenagers and young men with a passion for bodybuilding. Daring to tackle head-on the taboo of male beauty standards, Adonis offers a field investigation into the heart of this muscle-building machine, questioning the reasons behind and the physical, psychological and social risks of this race to the perfect body. As he stages his own vulnerability, the filmmaker lifts the veil on the scale of the public health crisis that is looming.

Limbs of Sun

July 2016 •

A journey into time, landscape and consciousness: The Southwestern United States in the black-and-white moving images and unsettling instrumental music. Entropy of the American dream.

Building the American Dream

March 2019 •English

In Texas, construction workers face the deadliest conditions in the country. This documentary follows three immigrant families who are rising up to seek justice and equality in an industry rife with exploitation.

God Grew Tired of Us

December 2006 •English

Filmmaker Christopher Quinn observes the ordeal of three Sudanese refugees -- Jon Bul Dau, Daniel Abul Pach and Panther Bior -- as they try to come to terms with the horrors they experienced in their homeland, while adjusting to their new lives in the United States.

Bignattydaddy

September 2015 •English

Bignattydaddy became a viral internet sensation. At 15 years old, he chronicled his body building on social media, openly flaunting the fact he was on steroids - a controlled substance, illegal without a prescription in the USA. This film follows him as he explains why he does it and how he deals with those who criticize him.

Enhanced

March 2019 •English

How far are you willing to go to enhance your body and your life? Testing a diverse cocktail of illegal performance enhancing drugs throughout his life - bodybuilder an entrepreneur Tony Hughes, also known as Dr. Tony Huge, aims to prove that steroids are the next logical step to further human evolution. Chronicling a civil and criminal case against his controversial supplement company Enhanced Athlete, Enhanced is a documentary that explores the immense psychological depths of a man who believes that the government has a conspiracy against him and other like-minded individuals. Individuals who are fighting to prove that steroids are not only healthy, but essential if used correctly, and should be legal in the United States to improve our quality of life.

The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream

January 2004 •English

Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream. But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge...

Street Fighting Men

April 2017 •English

In a rapidly changing America where mass inequality and dwindling opportunity have devastated the black working class, three Detroit men must fight to build something lasting for themselves and future generations.

Night School

April 2016 •English

Indianapolis has one of the lowest high school graduation rates in the country. Night School follows three adult students living in the city’s more impoverished neighborhoods as they attempt to earn their diplomas while juggling other difficult responsibilities and realities. Through their stories, the filmmakers explore many issues that low-income Americans deal with, including unjust minimum wage and working conditions, arbitrary legal hindrances, and race and gender inequality.

Anarchism in America

January 1983 •English

A colorful and provocative survey of anarchism in America, the film attempts to dispel popular misconceptions and trace the historical development of the movement. The film explores the movement both as a native American philosophy stemming from 19th century American traditions of individualism, and as a foreign ideology brought to America by immigrants. The film features rare archival footage and interviews with significant personalities in anarchist history including Murray Boochkin and Karl Hess, and also live performance footage of the Dead Kennedys.

Only in Theaters

November 2022 •English

ONLY IN THEATERS, a film by actor/director Raphael Sbarge, is an intimate and moving journey taken with the Laemmle family, spanning nearly three years of challenges, losses, and personal triumphs. Laemmle Theatres, the beloved 84-year-old arthouse cinema chain 3rd generation family business in Los Angeles, is facing seismic change and financial pressure. Yet the family behind this multigenerational business – whose sole mission has been to support the art of film – is determined to survive.

Of Another Place

Invalid date •English

On a Summer afternoon, Pedro packs the last few boxes before having to leave his apartment in New York. 12 years ago, Pedro and Ana had arrived in America from Portugal, in search of a dream. Now, Ana's voice describes, from the other side of the ocean, that same country to which they are returning. As the rooms are emptied, Pedro bids farewell to one life, welcoming another. But the dream that brought him will remain forever in the city that never sleeps, awaiting his return.

The American Dream: Europeans in the New World

February 2019 •German

The history of Europeans in North America, from the arrival of Columbus in 1492 to the business success of German immigrants such as Heinz, Strauss or Friedrich Trumpf, Donald Trump's grandfather. During the 19th century, thirty million people — Germans, Irish, Scots, Russians, Hungarians, Italians and many others — left the old continent, fleeing poverty, racism or political repression, hoping to make a fortune and realize the American dream.