Social Commentary

Filmmakers Present!

This documentary feature explores the social, economic and legislative issues that led to the decline of conventional public housing in America, and the city centers in which they resided, while tracing the personal and poignant narratives of several of the residents of the notorious Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex in St. Louis.

Esther Harris, a devout young woman praised for her virtue and devotion to Warren F. Vanderbilt’s Prophetic Watchman Ministries, has been given the opportunity of a lifetime – to attend Vanderbilt’s Kingdom Bible College.

The film, loosely based on writer/producer Andie Redwine’s own experiences, traces Esther’s story living with the fundamentalist pastor's family until she is banished for a committing a “sin” in the eyes of the church.  She takes up with her new-found friends and co-workers who reveal a brand new and more lighthearted world to her…

Director Morgan Spurlock Present

Celebrated filmmaker and ace provocateur, Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), is back with yet another tongue-in-cheek exposé about the more unappealing aspects of American life.

Director/Comedian Ahmed Ahmed Present

If there's one thing that culturally binds us all, it's that we all love a good laugh.  Just Like Us subscribes to that philosophy wholeheartedly, as the film uses the power of stand-up comedy to break down barriers between the west and the east.  This documentary sees acclaimed standup comedian Ahmed Ahmed travel to Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Egypt, demonstrating comedy's ability to unite, not to mention his own comedic chops.  Oft-documented himself on numerous talk shows, this film sees Ahmed turning an astute camera on himself, and his witty eye on the viewer.

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Winner of Best Film at the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival and recipient of numerous other awards, The Hedgehog is a darkly humorous and affecting film about the struggle to find your place in the world.

A promising debut from first time Columbian writer/director Carlos César Arbeláez, The Colors of the Mountain is a touching, sometimes humorous, and ultimately powerful story about the effect of conflict on the lives of ordinary people.

On the last sultry night of summer, four teenagers roam the suburban Detroit streets in search of elusive first kisses, wild parties, and cigarettes. David Robert Mitchell’s lauded feature debut is a dreamy, impressionistic mood piece that perfectly captures the longings and rebellions of the teenage years. Like those heady exploits of adolescence, the particulars of the plot are not as important as their mere existence.

The only debut feature in competition for the Palm d’Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, and the long-awaited narrative debut of prizewinning documentarian Sergei Loznitsa, My Joy is a shockingly surreal and dark road film, and a searing analysis on the state of the Russian soul. 

Director Ahmad Abdalla invited

Anticipating Egypt’s youth-led January democratic revolution, Ahmad Abdalla’s story about Egypt’s long-supressed counterculture movement is set against the dense cityscape of Alexandria. The follow-up to his widely acclaimed debut, Heliopolis, the film tracks recently repatriated Khaled as he attempts to readjust to life in his hometown. Feeling alone and dispirited, he takes to the streets in search of something, anything, to connect to. What he quickly finds is a vibrant underground arts and music scene, long suppressed by the Mubarak regime.

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From Award-winning Julio Hernandez Cordon, known for Gasolina (2008), comes a wacky story of musical escapades in the slums of Guatemala.