Participant Media.
Description
Documents an entire school year at Frankford High School in Philadelphia with culinary arts teacher Wilma Stephenson, a tough and passionate teacher who shows her students how to work hard toward their goals as she prepares them to compete in a one-day cook-off where top chefs judge the students' skills and talents.
Description
Provided is an engaging and inspiring look at public education in the United States. This documentary has helped launch a movement to achieve a real and lasting change through the compelling stories of five unforgettable students such as Emily, a Silicon Valley eighth-grader who is afraid of being labeled as unfit for college, and Francisco, a Bronx first-grader whose mom will do anything to give him a shot at a better life. Included are featurettes,...
Description
Aaron Swartz was a programming prodigy who helped shape the digital landscape of today. He helped develop the internet protocol RSS and was a co-founder of Reddit. Chronicling his pioneering efforts crusading for open access and free speech and the resulting legal nightmare and tragedy that ensued, the documentary is a dynamic and moving portrait of a brilliant tech millionaire who renounced the values of Silicon Valley startup culture and used technology...
Description
Inspired by the powerful true story of a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg, On the Basis of Sex depicts a then-struggling attorney and new mother facing adversity in her fight for equal rights. When Ruth takes on a ground-breaking case, she knows the outcome could alter the courts' view of gender discrimination. Stronger together, Ruth teams up with her husband, Martin Ginsburg, to fight the case that catapults her into one of the most important public figures...
Description
"This portrait of Washington super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, from his early years as a gung-ho member of the GOP political machine to his final reckoning as a disgraced, imprisoned pariah, confirms the adage that truth is indeed stranger than fiction. A tale of international intrigue involving Indian casinos, spies, sweatshops, and a mob-style killings, this is a story of the way money corrupts our political process"--Container.
Description
This book explores politically charged topics through a series of essays by thinkers at the leading edge of educational innovation. It shows how failing schools destroy neighborhoods--not the reverse--and how research reveals that dedicated, attentive teachers are what help at-risk kids succeed. Inspired the film directed by "An Inconvenient Truth"'s Davis Guggenheim.
9) Roma
Appears on list
Description
With his eighth and most personal film, Alfonso Cuaron recreated the early 1970s Mexico City of his childhood, narrating a tumultuous period in the life of a middle-class family through the experiences of Cleo, the indigenous domestic worker who keeps the household running. Charged with the care of four small children abandoned by their father, Cleo tends to the family even as her own life is shaken by personal and political upheavals.
10) Lincoln
Formats
Description
A revealing drama that focuses on the 16th president's tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country, and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come.
12) Captive state
Description
Chicago of the future looks vastly different than the iconic American city it is today. It has been occupied by aliens, and now the city is Ground Zero in a battle for control. Some residents are more than willing to work with the extra-terrestrial forces, but others are determined to resist. People on both sides believe that they are doing what is best for the city. Is Chicago better off with these alien occupiers, or should it return to its previous...
13) The beaver
Description
A troubled husband and executive adopts a beaver hand-puppet as his sole means of communicating.
14) RBG
Description
At the age of 85, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has developed a lengthy legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon. But the unique personal journey of her rise to the nation's highest court has been largely unknown, even to some of her biggest fans - until now. RBG explores Ginsburg's life and career.
15) Human Flow
Description
Over 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war in the greatest human displacement since World War II. HUMAN FLOW, an epic film journey led by the internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei, gives a powerful visual expression to this massive human migration. The documentary elucidates both the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact. Official...
17) Wonder
Description
Based on the New York best seller, this tells the incredibly inspiring and heartwarming story of August Pullman, a boy with facial differences who enters fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time.
18) Shot caller
Description
After a DUI sent him down the rabbit hole of the American prison system, Jacob Harlon was transformed into Money, a stoic and ruthless prison gangster. Upon his release from prison, he learns that the grip of his new family, the prison gang, goes beyond bars. Chased by law enforcement and threatened by his incarcerated 'protectors', he must orchestrate one last dangerous crime.
Description
A Bolivian presidential candidate failing badly in the polls enlists the firepower of an elite American management team, led by the deeply damaged but still brilliant strategist "Calamity" Jane Bodine. In self-imposed retirement following a scandal that earned her nickname and rocked her to her core, Jane is coaxed back into the game for the chance to beat her professional nemesis, the loathsome Pat Candy, now coaching the opposition.
Description
Hidden inside overcrowded factories around the world, THE PRICE OF FREE tells the story of countless children who are forced into slave labor due to rising global demands for cheap goods. With the help of a covert network of informants, Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi and his dedicated team carry out daring raids to rescue and rehabilitate imprisoned children.