Art Connect is a feature length documentary that reveals the impact that art and creativity had in a group of 'at risk' teenagers from Laventille, the most marred by violence community in Trinidad and Tobago. The story is told by these children who had access to different forms of art to express themselves.
By talking, painting, singing, dancing and filming they will allow us to come into their world.
On the framework of the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 (the first on South America in over 35 years) there was, on the continent, a true exodus of hundreds of thousand of football fans, who, with or without tickets, crossed their borders to support their respective National Teams.
Who are those that are capable of moving through nations for such a sport even for the simple fact of being close to the place of action?
What´s the feeling that moves and encourgaes them?
What´s the deepness of this factos on their respective societies, and even more important, who are those that really govern their norm and rules?
Those are some of the questions that this movie contemplates, counting with the investigation of several social issues regarding football, expressed on narrative development and with interviews of several fans from around the world, while it follows the campaign of the South American teams on the competition, especially the Argentina´s National Team.
Argentina
A farmer's fight for equal education in Northampton County, NC transforms him and his county in unimaginable ways. Chairman Jones tells the story of the director's father, James H. Jones, a self-educated farmer who disregards racism and lack of education and emerges as a trailblazer during the tense 1969 school desegregation crisis in Northampton County, leading the fight to end nearly a century of inequality in education. After freeing himself from Jim Crow sharecropping in the 1950's, he launches a campaign to free black children from Jim Crow education.
Jones places his own children on the front lines, brings blacks and whites together for dialogue, helps integration tip toe into Northampton, and transforms the educational landscape for everyone. His leadership as North Carolina’s first black school Board Chairman introduces a new era in education and has a marked effect on racial progress in the state.
Born on a former slave plantation in 1916, Jones died in 1984, the year that the Northampton County school system received accreditation for the first time in its history largely due to his vision and efforts. His story unfolds through his daughter Anna's conversations with those who lived during that time and witnessed his extraordinary courage and leadership.
United States
The African continent has always been a place that evokes a deep sense of wonder and fantasy. It is naturally diverse, with a vast array of people, cultures, and natural beauty. Being the home to ancient civilizations, it is considered the “birthplace of humanity” or “the motherland”. But could it also be the birthplace of style? Africans and their cultures are inspiring the aesthetic world today more than ever. From the runways of the world to the meccas of visual art, there is an undeniable presence of african influence and a growing number of african trendsetters. Bangaologia sets out to explore the raison d´être behind the recent growth of the african aesthetic in the world, including from the most unexpected places.
Bangaologia takes a voyage that spans from Angola to the US and Europe in journey to discover why this mysterious african “it factor” called “banga” has been inspiring so many in and out of Africa, and how it is bringing the world closer to the Motherland of style.
Ours has been called the age of loneliness. Immersed in our own echo chambers, our very health is being impacted by social isolation. Despite advances in technology, living conditions, education and healthcare, we seem to be unhappier than ever. At the same time, modern urban lifestyles are destroying our sense of community.
Why are we all so disconnected? Making a link between the various causes, this film asks what community wellbeing means to us and why it even matters. On a journey through the cities of North America, wellness expert Tamer Soliman learns that where we choose to live, what we choose to value, and with whom we choose to spend our time can have a profound impact on our health and happiness.
Meeting with not only experts but also ordinary people on the streets of Toronto, Vancouver and Los Angeles, Tamer discovers the truth in that old nursery rhyme: “The more we get together the happier we’ll be”.
(Cayman Islands)On May 4, 2014, Norma Bastidas, a single mother and fearless survivor of human trafficking, sexual violence, abuse, and addiction, shattered the Guinness World Record for longest triathlon by running, biking, and swimming 3,762 miles (6,054 km) from Cancún, Mexico to Washington D.C. as her stand against human trafficking. Norma’s mission is to educate and empower, demonstrating to the world that one’s past does not dictate one’s future, and prove that everyday people are capable of making extraordinary strides in the fight against the problems facing the world today.
Be Relentless is the binational, bilingual, feature-length documentary that captured every grueling step of Norma’s record-breaking expedition across two countries. Through Norma’s persistence, Be Relentless proves that everyday people can make an extraordinary impact in seemingly unchallengeable issues.
Be Relentless will capture conversation about the realities of child trafficking, inspire the world to address this issue, prevent what happened to Norma from happening to others, and prove to survivors and the to world that one’s past doesn’t dictate one’s future.
United States
A Bridge Between Two Worlds relates how Muslim and Catholic farmers, on the island of Flores, Indonesia, overcome poverty and enhance their environment with the support of North American and European families. This astonishing chain of solidarity was initiated by Gilles Raymond, a Canadian volunteer from Québec who has forged deep bonds in Flores over the past 15 years. This is the beginning of a worldwide family, which distance cannot affect, a story that is punctuated by hard work, children’s smiles and ancestor worship. This engaging adventure builds a living bridge between our two hemispheres, at a time when foreign aid is too often being questioned.
CanadaThis documentary sheds light on gun culture in America focusing on urban and suburban neighborhoods. It breaks down & investigates the environment, results, and motives of our gun culture.
“The Culture” follows a variety of people with contrasting opinions over the issue of violence in our country and how to attack the problem with reasonable solutions. It chronicles street outreach workers, conservatives, and victims of gun violence. “The Culture” is the first documentary that truly gives unbiased look of guns in our country.
United States
In their remote home in the North Atlantic the Faroe Islanders have always eaten what nature could provide, proud to put local food on the table. The land yields little, so they have always relied on harvesting their seas.
Hunting whales and seabirds kept them alive for generations, and gave them the way of life they love; a life they would pass on to their children. But today they face a grave threat to this tradition.
It is not the controversy surrounding whaling that threatens the Faroese way of life; the danger is coming from the whales themselves.
The Faroese are among the first to feel the affects of our ever more polluted oceans. They have discovered that their beloved whales are toxic, contaminated by the outside world. What once secured their survival now endangers their children and the Faroe Islanders must make a choice between health and tradition.
Faroe IslandsA four thousand kilometre journey across outback Australia. Seven amateur adventurers. Two second-hand flying machines. What could possibly go wrong?
This is the tale of Aidan, Daryl and their fiancees’ dream to pull off a daring feat that few have attempted before – to fly two microlights, otherwise known as ‘motorbikes with wings,’ across the largest island on earth. Led by Aboriginal elders Carroll Karpany and Bart Sansbury, the adventurers navigate tough flying conditions and crocodile infested swamps as they journey deep into the spiritual heartland of Australia and connect with a culture thousands of years old. The ultimate Aussie adventure story!
Australia
A feature-length adventure documentary that brings to light the consequences of our global disposable lifestyle. We thought we could use plastic once and throw it away with negligible impact to humans and animals. That turns out to be untrue.
Producers Adam Leipzig (March of the Penguins) and Jo Ruxton (BBC Blue Planet) take you through the plastic journey from source to solution. Featuring legendary broadcaster Sir David Attenborough and world renowned oceanographer, Dr. Sylvia Earle. This film has potential to make great contributions to the way viewers begin to engage in behaviourial change in their own lives and families. For even greater impact, our campaign will support a core subset to become advocates for this issue - going beyond their own homes and motivating others in their workplaces, schools, and communities to create an ongoing ripple effect from the film.
A Plastic Ocean is an epic global adventure following a documentary filmmaker and a world record free-diver as they travel the earth discovering the shocking impact plastic is having on our oceans and the marine animals that live there. The film investigates how our addiction to plastic is impacting the food chain and how that is effecting every one of us through new and developing human health problems. The expedition leads the two adventurers to unusual scientific discoveries, heart-breaking truths and important solutions to one of the biggest problems confronting mankind.
During its four-year production period, A Plastic Ocean was filmed in 20 locations around the world in beautiful and chilling detail to document the global effects of plastic pollution–and introduce workable technology and policy solutions that can, if implemented in time, change things for the better.
Cayman Islands
Songs Of Redemption is a Jamaican documentary made in the prisons of Kingston.
Songs Of Redemption captures the moving story of redemption and rehabilitation of inmates of the General Penitentiary located in Kingston, Jamaica. The film features riveting interviews and powerful reggae music created, performed, and produced in a unique partnership by inmates and wardens.
Trinidad
I Go Back Home – Jimmy Scott tells the story of jazz legend Jimmy Scott, and disillusioned producer and composer Ralf Kemper who took on the journey to produce an album with the almost-forgotten icon.
Jimmy Scott, friend of Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and one of the last connections to the golden age of jazz, was described as “perhaps the most unjustly ignored American singer of the 20th century,” by the New York Times.
Personally discontented, Kemper becomes obsessed with the idea of bringing attention to his hero, but it takes a tragedy to put his thoughts into action.
By the time Kemper and Scott meet, Scott is 85 years-old and living in obscurity in Las Vegas. Reliant on his wife and reliant on a wheelchair, Kemper is shocked by Jimmy’s surprisingly bad health condition which puts his dream at risk before it even begins. While Ralf’s problems grow, Jimmy’s bloom more and more.
Ralf gathers some of the most important jazz musicians in the studio in tribute for Scott. Together with many of Scott’s old friends like Quincy Jones, Joe Pesci and James Moody, Kemper pursues his dream. He can’t give up. He spares no expense and reaches the limits of what can be done to capture Jimmy’s unique voice in a race against time.
United States
The actors of Saint Petersburg theatre "Bitkom" were given a camera and one simple task: documenting their surroundings. How does an actor live? Who are they, people capable of controlling viewer’s emotions from a stage? And, if for a viewer, theatre begins with a coat hanger, where does it begin and where does it end for an actor?
The film characters are trying to formulate answers to seemingly simple questions. Attempting to take a look inside themselves, they raise the curtain in front of an audience, allowing a look at what is usually hidden from view. Rehearsals, corporate parties and concerts, movie shoots and music videos, families, children, common everyday joys and sorrows. They’re ordinary people, and yet, so unlike most of us: do they act in their everyday life, or do they live on stage?
Russia
The Sereer people groups live in an ancient culture that was historically steeped in Animism, Voodoo and spirit worship. In the past two centuries modern Islam has taken a stronghold here. The people hold fast to the pillars of Islam. They pray five times a day, they fast during Ramadan, They give to the poor (though they are incredibly poor themselves). It seems they so desperately want to please God, but they don’t know God because they don’t know the truth about who Jesus is.
Short-term missionaries Alton and Barbara Lanier have made many trips to Senegal, each time bringing with them a team of other like-minded believers. Their goal is simple, to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with those among the Sereer who have never heard. They have invested themselves in the lives of the people; building real relationships and becoming like family to them.
Incredibly, in one village they have even been given permission by the chief’s eldest son to teach Christ to the children in the schools. “Perhaps they will be the generation who believes your message,” he said, though he himself professes Mohammed and does not believe in Christ. A door to these hearts, hungry for the gospel has been flung wide open for a season. But it is not clear how long this door will remain open.
United States