Cinemafile

A. Rimbaud is a biographical film written, produced and directed by Patrick Wang and starring Blake Draper, the sole actor in the film, as poet Arthur Rimbaud. Follows Arthur Rimbaud from his teen years in Paris to his later years in Abyssinia. Blake Draper is the only actor to appear in the film, with the other characters in Rimbaud's life are represented by musical instruments. Presented as a micro-budget epic of nearly three hours, an episodic piece taking place entirely within a “black box” stage space. Director, writer and producer Patrick Wang joins us to talk about his fascinating look...

Lance Hammer's extraordinary follow up film to his award winning debut film, BALLAST, Queen at Sea is a piercing examination of a woman and her stepfather face increasingly difficult choices while caring for her mother with dementia. Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche (The Taste of Things), Academy Award nominee Tom Courtenay (45 Years), Anna Calder-Marshall (Wuthering Heights), and Florence Hunt (Bridgerton) star in this unflinching drama, which won the Silver Bear Jury Prize at the 2026 Berlinale.

About the filmmaker - Lance Hammer is a filmmaker based in Los Angeles. He studied Architecture at the University of Southern California...

Director Dano Garcia's latest film, MICKEY, centers on Mickey Cundapí (she/her), known artistically as Mis$ Mickey, a trans multidisciplinary artist who, alongside García, uses play and performance to reimagine the past and inhabit the present. Over the past decade, Mickey has navigated her transition within the conservative context of Mazatlán, a city known for its vibrant carnival traditions yet marked by persistent homophobia and transphobia. Mickey and García first met at age 14 as students at the same Catholic school. Even then, Mickey's makeup and performances during mass scandalized priests. In a deeply collaborative process, the two...

A decade after his death, genre-defying filmmaker William Greaves has one last trick up his sleeve with what he considered the most important event he captured on film: a 1972 party he engineered with the living luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance. For four hours, this extraordinary group - many of whom had not seen each other in fifty years - reminisced, critiqued, argued, laughed and drank while wrestling with their place in a rapidly shifting cultural landscape. Shot on 16mm film, newly restored and now directed by Greaves' son David, this landmark film is at once a self-exploration and an...

Winner of the U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and hailed by Werner Herzog as “truly groundbreaking”, Nuisance Bear places viewers inside the world of a polar bear to deliver a cinematic pressure cooker and an urgent parable for our times. Filmmakers Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman follow a polar bear in Churchill, Manitoba — the self-styled “Polar Bear Capital of the World” — forced to navigate tourists, wildlife officers and hunters as climate change pushes it into town. Guided by Inuit narrator Mike Tunalaaq Gibbons, whose perspective resists simplification, Nuisance Bear overturns the conventions of the natur...

Set against the backdrop of a mysterious war, LITTERMATES follows two disoriented survivors who take refuge at an isolated cottage in the English countryside. After Liam and Mel arrive bloodied, speechless, and unable to fully understand what has happened to them, they are taken in by Chester, an enigmatic caretaker who bathes, feeds, and teaches them how to speak again. As sirens, smoke, and distant threats press closer, Liam and Mel go about their days relearning the most simple tasks inside Chester’s carefully controlled world, while earning “nifties” for good behavior that can be traded for small comforts like k...

Filmed over ten years, ONE IN A MILLION follows Israa from childhood to adulthood on an extraordinary journey from Syria to Germany — and back again. We first meet her at age 11 as she and her family are preparing to cross the Aegean Sea, risking everything in search of safety and a better life in Europe. What unfolds is a deeply personal chronicle of war, exile and heartbreak, as Israa grows up navigating adolescence, identity and belonging far from the home she was forced to leave. As Israa settles into life in Germany, new freedoms collide with the stabilizing pull of...

Between stealing bicycles and breaking into cars, Denny’s only social outlet is spending time with his mother who loves reading correspondence from their Japanese family overseas. Denny’s loneliness pushes him to sign up for a penpal service from a classified-ad. He begins writing letters to a woman named Tess, whom he develops feelings for, but lies to about his nonexistent wealth and success. Unbeknownst to Denny, the penpal service is a scheme Tess and her real-life boyfriend, Maury, run to take advantage of the lonely. Tess and Maury find themselves in financial trouble of their own and deci...

Summer 2006, rural New Zealand. 14-year-old Sid Bookman is caught between childhood and adolescence, navigating a burgeoning sexual curiosity and a desperate desire for acceptance. Her coastal town is quiet and contained, but glimpses of life beyond— flickering reality TV, American pop culture, and the occasional seedy chatroom—ignite both longing and restless possibility. Each summer, wealthy out-of-towners arrive, carrying with them a world Sid can only imagine. Drawn to their effortless glamour and an older group of teens, she shape shifts through versions of herself, hoping one might be enough. But the harder she tries, the more chaos she crea...

Everest: The Other Side chronicles an epic story of two elite ski mountaineers Jim Morrison and Hilaree Nelson who fell deeply in love while reaching the pinnacle of their sport. Their drive sharpened into a shared dream: to climb and ski the direct North Face of Everest — the most difficult and dangerous climb on the mountain and the most coveted ski line on Earth. Thousands have summited the mountain via Nepal's southeast ridge, but only a handful have ever reached the top by this route, and no one has successfully skied down. Already known for their extraordinary feats in th...

In October 1985, Santa Ana, California was shaken by a brazen act of political violence when Palestinian American Alex Odeh, a beloved teacher and community leader, was killed by a tripwire bomb planted in his office. Despite substantial evidence and identified suspects, the case was never solved. Who Killed Alex Odeh? reopens the mystery, tracking a renewed investigation in real time as new leads emerge, long-buried records come to light, and the forces behind a political assassination are finally confronted. Unfolding like a detective thriller, the film weaves archival footage, firsthand testimony, and new reporting to expose the violent fundamentalist...

Director Samuel Abrahams' high concept film, LADY, zeroes in on a seemingly deluded aristocrat Lady Isabella (Sian Clifford) who has hired a struggling director Sam (Laurie Kynaston) to document life at her imposing country estate, Ravenhyde Hall. When he discovers that the promise of a Netflix commission was a lie, and that Isabella only wants him there to film her taking part in a ridiculously low- stakes regional talent show held at the Hall, he’s ready to quit—until he realizes the narcissistic Lady is, quite literally, turning invisible. Though from different worlds, they form an unexpected bond, but...

Based on true events, "Tenzing” chronicles the little-known story of Tenzing Norgay (Genden Phuntsok), a gifted Himalayan climber who, alongside New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary (Tom Hiddleston), became the first to summit Mount Everest. Encouraged by his wife Dawa (Thinley Lhamo), Tenzing finds an ally in expedition secretary Jill Henderson (Caitríona Balfe). Together, they persuade Colonel John Hunt (Willem Dafoe) that Tenzing belongs on the British climbing team, rather than merely serving it. Where Western climbers see "Everest" as something to be conquered, Tenzing reveres "Chomolungma" as the sacred mother goddess. What follows is an ascent defined as muc...

PULP: What Do You Do For An Encore? is a celebration of one of Britain's most unusual bands, captured during their triumphant 2025 tour. Directed by longtime collaborator Garth Jennings and narrated by PULP frontman, Jarvis Cocker, the film weaves together footage from their ingenious live show with four decades of never-before-seen archival material, charting the band’s circuitous journey from Sheffield outsiders to unlikely cultural icons. Featuring twenty songs spanning the course of their career, PULP: What Do You Do For An Encore? is a tribute to a band of misfits whose sharp social commentary, sarcastic yet sincere wit, an...

THE LAST PLACE ON EARTH is a thrilling, nine-year journey into the heart of Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem—a 2.6-million-hectare rainforest where tigers, elephants, rhinos, and orangutans still roam free. Filmed by a dedicated mostly Indonesian crew, this investigative documentary follows a group of extraordinary wildlife activists as they risk everything to save one of Earth’s last untouched wildernesses from the devastation of the illegal palm oil industry. From dramatic animal rescues and high-stakes arrests of poachers to the reforestation of thousands of hectares, each victory underscores the power of human determination in the face of overwhelming odds. “The Last...

In 1977, PK, a 23-year-old street artist from a marginalized “untouchable” family in Delhi, set out on an extraordinary 6,000-mile journey across continents with little more than a handful of paintbrushes and a secondhand bicycle. Driven by an unwavering desire to reunite with Lotta, the Swedish woman who had captured his heart, he travels through unfamiliar landscapes, navigating borders, language barriers, and the limits imposed by class and circumstance. What begins as a deeply personal quest unfolds into a remarkable story of resilience, chance, and human connection. Along the way, PK encounters strangers who offer kindness, skepticism, and support, revealing the...

From Alison Reid, the director of the critically acclaimed documentary about the late and beloved zoologist Anne Innis Dagg, The Woman Who Loves Giraffes, comes her latest feature documentary, THE ART OF ADVENTURE. An exhilarating road-trip film and a heartfelt love letter to the natural world, The Art of Adventure is an inspiring and deeply human documentary about the extraordinary lifelong friendship between world renowned wildlife artist Robert Bateman and fearless biologist Bristol Foster. Now in their 90’s, they still find sanctuary in nature. Their story is a moving reflection on legacy, mortality and the wisdom of our elders, an...

Over a decade after Miss Representation exposed the media's contribution to the under- representation of women in leadership, Miss Representation: Rise Up dives deep into the cultural backlash against women's agency and power. With the proliferation of AI and deepfakes, this new era of tech-facilitated violence is exacerbating sexism and misogyny towards women and girls, in an attempt to control and silence them. With inspiring young women at its core, Miss Representation: Rise Up interweaves young women’s personal journeys alongside powerful voices in media, culture, leadership, and academia to reimagine a future that finally uplifts women and girls. We...

Following the Yellow Vest protests of Paris in 2018, internal affairs officer Stéphanie Bertrand must investigate the conduct of her fellow police officers during the demonstrations. Though striving to remain objective, Stéphanie’s position leaves her at stark odds with the rest of the police force. When she scrutinizes the near-fatal assault of a teenage protester from her hometown, Stéphanie is met with growing institutional pressure to drop the case and move on. The further her investigation develops, the more Stéphanie’s faith in the system she belongs to is tested. From Dominik Moll, the award-winning French d...

Directed by Susanne Rostock (Sing Your Song), FOLLOWING HARRY joins legendary artist and civil rights leader Harry Belafonte as he embarks on a deeply personal and reflective journey, inspiring the next generation of entertainers and activists to disrupt injustice across the globe, striving for impactful change. FOLLOWING HARRY is an intimate documentary that chronicles the last twelve years of legendary Harry Belafonte’s life, highlighting the artist-activist's enduring commitment to social justice. Fueled by his tremendous sense of urgency to inspire the next generation of entertainers and activists to stand for justice, the film provides a window into both hi...

Inspired by Roscher’s own biracial experience, BIRD IN HAND follows the newly engaged Bird Rowe (Alisha Wainwright) as she returns to her rural hometown to plan the wedding with her narcissistic hippie mother Carlotta (Christine Lahti). Bird also has a hidden agenda, one that leads her to her mother's new neighbors, a misguided couple on a mission to 'rebrand' a plantation. Truth, lies, and fantasy collide against that backdrop, leading to a surprising climax as tender as it is funny. Roscher's bitingly comic feature film debut weaves themes of race, belonging, and family into Bird’s mercurial journey back...

In The Last Message, Kelsie Kimberlin travels to Ukraine to uncover why her 21-year-old cousin Andrii Rachok was killed by Russian forces during their full-scale invasion. Kelsie, a popular American-Ukrainian singer, struggles to record her song Star in his memory, realizing she must first seek absolution and witness Ukraine’s fight herself. Along the Ukrainian frontline, she meets soldiers, commanders, luminaries, and ordinary citizens enduring Russia’s unjust war, and visits Andrii’s gravesite amid drone and missile attacks. Through her journey, she discovers that Andrii has forgiven her and that every Ukrainian is a star and hero, defending their...

STALIN BOYS follows four Mexican American middle school boys in a tiny Texas border town who have developed an unusual obsession with Joseph Stalin. When their teacher tells them about the Texas State History Fair, they decide to write and perform a play about the Soviet dictator and his efforts to destroy all who opposed him. Armed with cardboard props and fur hats purchased on the internet, the boys enter the competition as underdogs and leave home for the very first time. What begins as an eccentric school project develops into a funny, surprising and deeply engaging exploration of...

When lightning ignites a firestorm in their redwood forest sanctuary in Northern California, longtime lovers and artists Beth Stephens & Annie Sprinkle are forced to evacuate. Their lives are forever changed as they blend loss and grief into ecosexual art by fusing humor, community care, and environmental awareness into a lush and fiery journey of transformation. Humorously narrated by a mythical white peacock, PLAYING WITH FIRE: AN ECOSEXUAL EMERGENCY documents their adventures in the wake of disaster, while also honoring the broader communities impacted by ecological and social fires. Said Stephens and Sprinkle, "Fire is one of our greatest teachers...

Joining us on this edition of Cinemafile is Antoinetta Stallings, the Head of the MAXSCENE Division at Tyler Perry Studios, a new specialty division dedicated to expanding theatrical opportunities for filmmakers with distinctive voices. This new arm of Tyler Perry Studios will focus on creator-first and audience-focused projects that are unbound to any blueprint. Maxscene will develop, produce, and distribute films across various genres — giving storytellers the opportunity to build upon an established audience while forging one of their own.

The division is named in honor of Tyler Perry's mother, Maxine Perry, whose belief in her son sh...

As a brutal winter grips the Canadian wilderness and the fur trade begins its collapse, the isolated inhabitants of a remote trading outpost enlist Cole Franklin, an American mercenary haunted by his past, to investigate the silence that has fallen over a nearby Indigenous settlement. What he discovers is a scene of unimaginable terror and an overwhelming sense that something ancient and unnatural still lingers in the wilderness. As fear spreads back to Fort William, an unseen presence begins to take hold. Paranoia, hunger and violence consume the isolated community, driving neighbor against neighbor as reason gives way to...

SONGS OF SLOW BURNING EARTH was filmed during the first two years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, documenting the lives of civilians, children and aid workers as war becomes part of everyday life. It’s an intimate and deeply human film about what it means to continue living, working and raising families amid circumstances that have changed the country forever. It captures a collective portrait of Ukrainians fleeing the grindstones of war, and those who stayed and are forced to adapt to life under constant shelling. Songs of Slow Burning Earth premiered at the Venice Film Festival and...

This Is Buzz is experimental and music-driven documentary, illustrating the tale of the seismically influential, yet somehow forgotten, MTV slice of life docuseries BUZZ, which only ran for 13 episodes in 1990. The show took an experimental approach to uncovering often undiscussed corners of global life. With fast-paced edits giving the show an avant-garde feel, the series would tackle specific subjects with each entry. This dream-like almost subliminal feel pre-dated the media oversaturation we feel today as we are drawn to a constant conveyor belt of content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram which act to familiarize us with cultures around...

Sofia works as a location scout for a TV pilot filming in New York City. It’s her job to find the homes, businesses, and exteriors where the show will be filmed. Driving around the city's different neighborhoods, she enters the private spaces of strangers to photograph their cozy apartments and eclectic shops, stepping into the fabric of their lives while trying to satisfy the demands of her erratic employers. Over a day filled with these encounters, Sofia witnesses moments of curiosity, vulnerability, and quiet tension until her work takes a sudden, personal turn. Drawing from her own experience as...

Director Felipe Bustos Sierra's award winning documentary, Everybody to Kenmure Street, is set in motion by a remarkable series of events on a May 2021 morning in Glasgow, Scotland. A U.K. Home Office raid grabbed two Pakistani immigrants from their homes, locked them in a van, and triggered one of the most successful acts of civil resistance in recent memory. In Pollokshields, Scotland's most diverse neighborhood, residents rushed to the street to stop the deportation of their neighbors. And everybody, it seems, filmed it on their phones. Featuring Emma Thompson, also an Executive Producer of the film, this urgent...

POWWOW PEOPLE is a vérité-style documentary grounded in the rhythms, relationships, and lived experience of contemporary Native powwow culture. Told through the lens of artist and filmmaker Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk/Pechanga), the film is an intimate portrait of a powwow organized, hosted and documented through the production of this film. Rather than entering as outside observers, the filmmakers organized the powwow itself, inviting dancers, singers, vendors, and community members to participate in the making of the film.

About the filmmaker - Director/Producer Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians) is a fil...

As Omaha is shaken by protests and a death that becomes a movement flashpoint, filmmaker Nick Beaulieu navigates family conflict, personal reckoning, and the lived realities of racial justice activists. What begins as an investigation into division becomes an intimate exploration of what it takes to stay connected when our deepest beliefs pull us apart. Director and subject Nick Beaulieu joins to talk about his personal decision to begin documentary about the widening gap between he and is dad, what he has learned about his father and why it should matter to all of us in these uncertain times. <...

A guard vanished on his first night at an old psych hospital in 2023. His bodycam footage shows unexplainable incidents that continue to baffle investigators. We're joined by the director and co-producer Nicholas Pineda

About the filmmaker - Nicholas Pineda is a filmmaker and creative director who earned his BFA from Laguna College of Art and Design and his MFA from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. He is the co-founder and managing partner of the creative agency Dotexe, where he has led high-impact collaborations with major brands and digital creators. His work blends cinematic storytelling with a...

A team of young doctors embarks on a humanitarian mission to the Amazon rainforest, full of enthusiasm to help those in need, but each of them with their own agenda. However, not everyone reacts kindly to their arrival, and their visit awakens an ancient predator: the Boiúna. This mythical creature, which hunts both on land and in water, returns to defend its territory. In the midst of the dense jungle, a merciless struggle for survival ensues, in which the boundaries between hunter and prey, hero and villain, become increasingly blurred. Director Mike P. Nelson joins us to talk a...

TRACES OF HOME follows filmmaker Colette Ghunim on an extraordinary journey of self-discovery as she sets out to reunite her parents with the ancestral homes they were forced to flee as children in Palestine and Mexico. Filmed over five years and featuring evocative animation and archival footage, the film is both a meditation on memory and an unflinching exploration of what it means to find our way back home—to ourselves. Colette and her brother Ramsey had a typical American childhood. Raised in suburban Schaumburg, Illinois, there were birthday parties, school events, and family outings. Her father, Hosni, and mo...

IVY, 17, is a cancer survivor, in remission. Once one of the popular girls at school, she’s now angry and withdrawn, riddled with survivor’s guilt. She hates pity and she definitely doesn’t want to be a Make-A-Wish kid. Her parents are worried and convince her to go to CRF Camp, or Children Run Free Camp, a four week long summer camp for teenagers affected by cancer to help her “find herself”. When she reluctantly agrees to go to this ‘Chemo Camp’, after seeing the impact her illness has had on her family, she discovers that it really is as disappoi...

Bolivia’s entry for the 2027 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, THE CONDOR DAUGHTER, tells the story of Clara, a teenager growing up in a small indigenous community high in the Andes. Her adoptive mother, a midwife who took her in as a baby, has taught her the ancient songs used to guide women through childbirth, melodies passed down for generations, believed to bring new life safely into the world. But while her voice carries on this tradition, her dreams lie elsewhere: she longs to leave the mountains behind and become a folkloric music star in the big ci...

A global race to develop a new male contraceptive that could revolutionize family planning and improve women’s lives globally. Give It A Shot follows the indomitable 83-year-old Dr. Sujoy Guha in India, the California-based team of Elaine Lissner and L.R. Fox, as well as Kevin Eisenfrats in Virginia, on a quest to successfully launch the first reversible male contraceptive since the modern condom, invented 200 years ago.It is a funny, moving and ultimately urgent film. This film is a timely, intimate and character driven story of the quest to successfully launch the next reversible birth control for me...

Every year, the top under-18 braille readers and writers from across the English-speaking world gather in Los Angeles to compete in the Braille Challenge. For one weekend, blind and low-vision kids are no longer the minority in the room. They're competing, forming friendships, going head-to-head against rivals, and being recognized not for their disability, but for their skill. In the captivating documentary film, BRAILLED IT, the camera is placed directly in their hands. As the kids document the competition themselves, their fragmented imagery and candid moments of nerves, boredom, joy, and triumph invite audiences to experience the event on...

YOU HAD TO BE THERE is a hilarious, emotional, and revelatory documentary about the legendary 1972 Canadian production of Godspell that changed entertainment forever. The Toronto production of the musical about the life of Jesus starred a then-unknown cast of Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Victor Garber, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas, et al, with Paul Shaffer serving as musical director – a crazy confluence of talent rivaling ‘Paris in the 20s.’ The production lit the spark that ignited the comedy revolution that followed, leading to Saturday Night Live, SCTV, and a host of movies and TV shows all the way up to...