Kuci: Film School

The celebrated filmmaker duo of Bill Ross and Turner Ross (Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets & Contemporary Color, 45365) turn their pioneering hybrid approach to the cinematic road trip that is GASOLINE RAINBOW. This raw and deeply affecting film is an expansive portrait of the new generation as told in their own words. With high school in the rearview, five teenagers from inland Oregon embark on one last adventure together. Piling into a van with a busted tail light, they head out for a place they've never been -- the Pacific coast, five hundred miles away. The plan, in full: "Fuck it." Through desert wilderness, industrial backwaters, and city streets, they connect with outsiders on the fringes and discover their lives will be determined by the trails they blaze themselves. These are forgotten kids from a forgotten town, but they have their freedom and they have each other, hurtling toward an unknowable future -- and The Party at the End of the World. A SXSW and Venice Film Festival selection, GASOLINE RAINBO

Based on real events, I AM GITMO follows the reaction the United States to the 9/11 attack and the human cost that came about from the implementation of the War on Terror. The film focuses on Gamel Sadek, a Muslim schoolteacher as he is taken from his home and delivered to Bagram Air Base, a CIA black site, where he is questioned on the whereabouts of the 9/11 mastermind, Osama Bin Laden. He is tortured when he denies knowing him. Chained and hooded, he is put on a cargo plane to Guantanamo Bay. John Anderson, a military interrogator, is brought out of retirement and assigned to Gamel’s case leaving his daughter behind in New York. Despite relentless beatings, starvation, and torture in Gitmo, Gamel maintains he has no affiliation with Al Qaeda or Bin Laden. John struggles to accept the new torture methods imposed by General Miller, newly in command of the prison, and the mandate to force a confession at any cost. As Gamel prepares for a hearing on his status as an enemy combatant, he realizes he could be hel

Director Francis Galluppi’s feature film debut, The Last Stop in Yuma County, is a rockin’ good time of genre hopping mix of Western, Noir and desert dry humor. While awaiting the arrival of the next fuel truck at a middle-of-Arizona rest stop, a traveling young knife salesman is thrust into a high-stakes hostage situation by the arrival of two similarly stranded bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty—or cold, hard steel—to protect their bloodstained, ill-begotten fortune. THE LAST STOP IN YUMA COUNTY boasts an outstanding ensemble cast of Jim Cummings (The Wolf of Snow Hollow), Jocelin Donahue (The House of the Devil), Sierra McCormick (The Vast of Night), Nicholas Logan (I Care a Lot), Michael Abbott Jr. (Killers of the Flower Moon), Connor Paolo (A Creature Was Stirring), Alexandra Essoe (The Haunting of Bly Manor), Robin Bartlett (The Fabelmans), Jon Proudstar (Reservation Dogs), Sam Huntington (Being Human), Ryan Masson (Good Girls), and Barbara Crampton (Suitable Flesh, Re-Animator), with Gene

In Marija Kavtaradze’s latest film, SLOW, contemporary dancer Elena meets Dovydas when he is assigned to interpret via sign language in a class she is teaching to deaf youth. Their connection is immediate, kinetic, and frictionless. As they gravitate toward each other, resisting the forces and interventions of their separate daily lives, their bond deepens from platonic to romantic. When Dovydas discloses his asexuality, the couple commits themselves to honoring their individual needs in tandem. As they continue to weave more tightly together, they struggle to negotiate sacrifice and compromise and are forced to discover the edges of their generosity toward the other. The result is an instantly recognizable dance between self and other, this one choreographed with elegance, grace, and love. The two leads, Greta Grinevičiūtė (Elena) and Kęstutis Cicėnas (Dovydas), conjure up undeniable chemistry that is heartbreakingly complicated, stubborn, and humanizing. Director and writer Marija Kavtaradze’s (Summer Surv

RESISTANCE - THEY FOUGHT BACK provides a much-needed corrective to this myth of Jewish passivity. There were uprisings in ghettos large and small, rebellions in death camps, and thousands of Jews fought Nazis in the forests. Everywhere in Eastern Europe, Jews waged campaigns of non-violent resistance against the Nazis. For decades, the world believed that Jews faced their fate passively during the Holocaust, much like sheep to the slaughter. Most people have no idea how widespread and prevalent Jewish resistance to Nazi barbarism was. This ambitious and groundbreaking film unveils a different story, shedding light on the heroic stories of Jews who actively resisted their oppressors. They engaged in over 60 armed uprisings in ghettos, 25 within concentration and slave labor camps, numbered in the thousands among partisan units in the forests of Europe, and joined in non-violent resistance campaigns against the Nazis. Co-directors Paula S. Apsell and Kirk Wolfinger traveled to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Israel,

For many Anita Pallenberg was at various points in her life a newspaper headline: a “rock n’ roll goddess,” a “voodoo priestess,” and an “evil seductress.” She was accused of trying to break up the Rolling Stones, among other things. What is made clear in co-directors Alexis Bloom & Svetlana Zill’s compelling documentary CATCHING FIRE: THE STORY OF ANITA PALLENBERG those who loved her considered her an exciting cultural force, and a loving mother – and innocent of the accusations. The film includes never-seen-before home movies and family photographs explore life with the Rolling Stones and tell a bittersweet tale of both triumph and heartbreak. From Barbarella to the Swiss Alps, and the Lower East Side to London, Anita Pallenberg was a creative force ahead of her time. CATCHING FIRE: THE STORY OF ANITA PALLENBERG is a vital portrait of the charismatic and fierce rock ‘n’ roller, actress, muse, and mother who rose to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s after a chance encounter with the Rolling Stones. Scarl

Within hours of his funeral, Hong Kong movie studios began to produce hundreds of unauthorized biopics, spin-offs and rip-offs starring a competing roster of Bruce Lee lookalikes. Over the next decade, ‘Bruceploitation’ would become a staple of global cinema. Director David Gregory examines this fascinating phenomenon via interviews with Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Bruce Liang and Dragon Lee; martial arts legends like Angela Mao, David Chiang, Phillip Ko and Sammo Hung; and the producers, directors, distributors and experts – along with copious clips from the films themselves – that for the first time reveal the history, controversy and legacy behind one of the most bizarre genres in movie history. Director, cinema aficionado and founder of Severin Films David Gregory (Lost Souls: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau) joins us for a spirited conversation on the twisted tale of Bruce Lee’s actual career in film, the shadow careers of look-a-likes and the filmmakers willing to push the limits of

In this quietly powerful documentary, Little Empty Boxes a strong and independent woman, Kathy Lugavere finds herself struggling with her own memory. In a quest to find his mother the best care, 32-year-old son Max moves home to New York City and begins to consult with top health experts to investigate the origins of Dementia, a disease which now affects a staggering 55 million people globally. The deeply personal film chronicles Kathy’s experience with Dementia as Max explores methods outside of prescription medication to slow her illness down. LITTLE EMPTY BOXES presents a raw perspective of Kathy's journey, the hardships of being a caretaker, and a son willing to do anything to save his mother. Co-directors Max Lugavere (Genius Foods) and Chris Newhard (Are You Lonely, Self Tape) join us for a conversation about their loving and observant film about a woman grappling with her own mortality and a devoted son doing his best to help her navigate the relentless cruelty of dementia. For theatrical screenings

James Norton (Bob Marley: One Love, Little Women) stars as John, a 35-year-old window cleaner who has dedicated his life to bringing up his 4-year-old son, Michael (Daniel Lamont), after the child’s mother left them soon after giving birth. When John is given only a few months left to live, he attempts to find a new, perfect family for Michael, determined to shield him from the terrible reality of the situation. Although initially certain of what he is looking for in the perfect family, John gradually abandons his early convictions, over- whelmed by doubts on the decision. How can he judge a family from a brief encounter? And does he know his own child well enough to make this choice for him? As John struggles to find the right answer to his impossible task, he comes to accept the help of a young social worker, opening himself to solutions he would never have considered. And he finally comes to accept his anger at the injustice of his destiny, the need to share the truth with his son, and to follow the child’

After the Civil War, freed African Americans settled in the floodplains along North Carolina's Tar River. This land becomes Princeville, the first town chartered by Blacks in America. FREEDOM HILL is an immersive tour of this historic site that chronicles the ongoing legacy of this community. Guided by Princeville native Marquetta Dickens, the camera captures what makes the town so special: a car caravan to celebrate the106th birthday of a beloved resident, aunties who love to tell stories, and a classic North Carolina barbecue.The town of Princeville sits atop wet, swampy land along the Tar River in North Carolina. In the 1800s this land was disregarded and deemed uninhabitable by white people. After the Civil War, this indifference left it available for newly freed enslaved Africans to settle. Before its incorporation, residents called it ‘Freedom Hill,’ gradually establishing a self-sufficient, all Black town. Resting along the floodplain of the river, Princeville and its residents are not strangers to adv

Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal tells the dramatic and inspiring story of the ordinary women who fought against overwhelming odds for the health and safety of their families. In the late 1970s, residents of Love Canal, a working-class neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, discovered that their homes, schools and playgrounds were built on top of a former chemical waste dump, which was now leaking toxic substances and wreaking havoc on their health. Through interviews with many of the extraordinary housewives turned activists, the film shows how they effectively challenged those in power, forced America to reckon with the human cost of unregulated industry, and created a grassroots movement that galvanized the landmark Superfund Bill. Director / Producer Jamila Ephron (Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies) joins us for a conversation on her detailed look into the incredible story of Niagara Falls, developer and con man William T. Love, hydro-electric power, Hooker Chemical, birth defects, cancer, m

FINDING THE MONEY follows American economist Stephanie Kelton on a journey through Modern Money Theory or “MMT”. Kelton provocatively asserts the National Debt Clock that ticks ominously upwards in New York City is not actually a debt for us taxpayers at all, nor a burden for our grandchildren to pay back. Instead, Kelton describes the national debt as simply a historical record of the number of dollars created by the US federal government currently being held in pockets, as assets, by the rest of us. MMT bursts into the mainstream media, with journalists asking, “Have we been thinking about how the government spends money, all wrong?” But top economists and politicians from across the political spectrum condemn the theory as “voodoo economics”, “crazy” and “a crackpot theory”. FINDING THE MONEY traces the conflict all the way back to the story we tell about money, injecting new hope and empowering countries around the world to tackle the biggest challenges of the 21st century: from climate change to inequali

BREATHE is a heart pounding thriller set in the future.  After Earth is left uninhabitable due to lack of oxygen, a mother Maya ( Jennifer Hudson) and her daughter Zora (Quvenzhané Wallis) are forced to live underground, with short trips to the surface only made possible by a coveted state of the art oxygen suit made by Maya’s husband, Darius (Common), whom she presumes to be dead. When a mysterious couple arrives claiming to know Darius and his fate, Maya tentatively agrees to let them into their bunker but these visitors are not who they claim to be ensuing in mother and daughter fighting for survival. Director Stefon Bristol (See You Yesterday) joins us to talk about working with writer Doug Simon, finding the right “look” for this dystopian tale, what he learned turning his time as an assistant to Spike Lee and how he assembled a superb cast that includes; Jennifer Hudson, Milla Jovovich, Quvenzhané Wallis, Raúl Castillo, Common and Sam Worthington.   For more go to: capstonepictures.com/breathe

Cooper Ganz’s (Daniel Dorr) seemingly perfect life quickly unravels when he is diagnosed with a crippling form of OCD called Pure Obsessional. This often-misunderstood illness forces him to question his identity and sanity, all while trying to keep it together for his fiancé, Emily (Hope Lauren) family, and co-workers. As he struggles to accept his disease, and the vulnerability that comes along with it, his world starts to open up. The addiction recovery clients he works with at a high-end Malibu drug rehab center return the favor and help Cooper through his darkest hour. Inspired by the filmmaker's own story, director / producer / writer / editor and songwriter Dillion Tucker joins us for a conversation on his own personal journey to tackle a litany of universal issues: grief, coming-of-age, addiction, redemption and the power of social connection. For more go to: gooddeedentertainment.com/pure-o

For 50 years, Chinese American photographer Corky Lee documented the celebrations, struggles, and daily lives of Asian American Pacific Islanders with epic focus. Determined to push mainstream media to include AAPI culture in the visual record of American history, Lee produced an astonishing archive of nearly a million compelling photographs. His work takes on new urgency with the alarming rise in anti-Asian attacks during the COVID pandemic. Jennifer Takaki’s intimate portrait reveals the triumphs and tragedies of the man behind the lens. Corky Lee was born in 1947 in New York to Chinese immigrants who owned a laundry in Queens. He majored in history at Queens College and became a community organizer in Manhattan’s Chinatown in the 1970s. Over the next five decades he photographed countless protests and cultural events in the Asian American Pacific Islander community. Lee’s photographs documented the birth and growth of the Asian American movement for social justice and he became known as “The Undisputed, Un

AN AMERICAN BOMBING: THE ROAD TO APRIL 19TH looks at the surge in homegrown political violence through the story of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, showing the roots of anti-government sentiment and its reverberations today, along with the emotionally charged warnings of those who suffered tragic losses in the deadliest homegrown attack in U.S. history. The Oklahoma City bombing was the single, deadliest act of homegrown terrorism against the government in U.S. history. On April 19, 1995, American Timothy McVeigh ignited a truck bomb outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people, including 19 children. AN AMERICAN BOMBING: THE ROAD TO APRIL 19TH parses the details of that day, the experiences of the people who were there, the manhunt for the perpetrators, and the pivotal moments of the trials. The film also goes back in time to reveal the personal trajectory of McVeigh, his struggles after serving his country in the Gulf War and his association with pro-gun, anti-government groups. AN AMER

Zarrar Kahn’s feature film debut focuses on the lives of Mariam (Ramesha Nawal), her younger brother Bilal (Jibran Khan) and their mother, Fariha (Bakhtawar Mazhar) in a tiny apartment in Karachi. When Mariam’s maternal grandfather passes, his brother tries to manipulate them into signing over their apartment to him, a common occurrence in Pakistan, where women’s property rights are fragile. Mariam’s mother, grieving and isolated, is easy to influence. Mariam, distraught by her mother’s foolishness, finds solace in a secret romance with a fellow student, Asad. When their relationship takes an unexpected turn, Mariam becomes consumed by nightmares. Meanwhile, her mother, caught between her coercive Uncle and a murky legal system, is oblivious to her daughter’s deteriorating mental state. Mariam’s nightmares begin to bleed into reality. Mother and daughter must come together if they hope to overcome the real and phantasmal forces that threaten to engulf them. Director and writer Zarrar Kahn joins us for a conv

LOST ANGEL: THE GENIUS OF JUDEE SILL is an intimate documentary portrait of a one-of-a-kind singer-songwriter from 1970s LA – Judee Sill.  It charts her life from a troubled adolescence of addiction, armed robbery and prison through her meteoric rise in the music world and early tragic death. In two years, Judee went from living in a car to a deal with Asylum Records  and the cover of  Rolling Stone. As told by David Geffen, Linda Ronstadt, JD Souther, Jackson Browne and Graham Nash -- along with Judee herself -- the film explores Judee’s unique musical style and the inspiring recent rediscovery of her singular music fostered by Shawn Colvin, Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes, Adrianne Lenker and Buck Meek of Big Thief, and  Weyes  Blood.   Co-directors Brian Lindstrom and Andy Brown join us for a conversation how they discovered this nearly forgotten artist, their search for archival material on Judee Sill, finding the “right” way to tell her story, and connecting with wide array of artist, young and older who h

BRANDY HELLVILLE & THE CULT OF FAST FASHION dives int a world where fashion is identity for teenage girls and one brand, Brandy Melville, has developed a cult-like following despite its controversial “one size fits all” tagline. Hiding behind its shiny Instagram façade is a shockingly toxic world, a reflection of the global fast fashion industry. Through a calculated social media presence and promoting an unattainable aesthetic, fueled by Instagram campaigns featuring its own employees and select “Brandy girls,” Brandy Melville conferred a sense of coolness to the teens who wore the tiny clothes that quickly exploded and today has nearly 100 stores in over 15 countries and over 80 cities worldwide. Fast fashion isn’t all glitz and glamor – it’s an exploitative business that pollutes the planet for the sake of profit. Media stories have exposed some of Brandy Melville’s unsavory practices and that’s why some call it Brandy Hell-Ville. BRANDY HELLVILLE & THE CULT OF FAST FASHION examines the far-reachin

From the award winning team of Jesse Moss (The Overnighters, The Family) and Amanda McBaine (Boys State, The Mission) comes their latest mesmerizing documentary GIRLS STATE. The film follows 500 adolescent girls from all across Missouri as they come together for a week-long immersion into a sophisticated democratic laboratory, where they organize a Supreme Court to consider the most contentious issues of the day. Among the many questions posed in this sibling follow up to their 2020 Sundance Grand Jury prize, BOYS STATE, what would American democracy look like in the hands of teenage girls? What political and social issues would they focus on? How will the concurrent BOYS STATE session, being held at the same Missouri school, be perceived by these young women? GIRLS STATE is a political coming-of-age story and a stirring re-imagination of what it means to govern, follows young female leaders — from wildly different backgrounds across Missouri — as they navigate an immersive experiment on how to build a gover