Passion River Films
1) Ivan & Ivana
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After the Kosovo war devastates a young couple's homeland and their dreams for a normal life, they set out unexpectedly from the Balkans, along a wild journey to rebuild their lives anew in America. Arriving in California amidst the peak of a housing boom that would soon burst, the film reveals their trials and tribulations over five years of turbulent economic, political and personal tides to reveal an unorthodox depiction of the American immigrant...
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Beyond the Wall follows five formerly incarcerated men who are attempting to rebuild their lives on the outside with little support from our criminal justice system. Through personal stories of reentry-including relapse, recovery and redemption, Beyond the Wall puts a human face on the social, economic and emotional barriers encountered by returning citizens, their families and their communities.
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It's 1980 in San Francisco. Comic geniuses Robin Williams and Dana Carvey spearhead a new era of stand-up comedy. Next in line for the "big time" are three talented comics: Will Durst, Larry "Bubbles" Brown and Johnny Steele. But then, the comedy "crash" hits. Now, like millions of other downsized Americans, they scramble to survive, while also staying funny, relevant, and true to the art form, they love.
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The Workers Cup is set inside the labor camps of Qatar, where the World Cup is being built on the backs of 1.6 million migrant workers.
The film follows a team of laborers living a real-life version of fantasy football. By day they sweat to build the World Cup; by night they compete in a "workers welfare" football tournament, playing in the same stadiums that will one day host the world's greatest players.
We join one team of men from Nepal,...
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Connected By Coffee tells the story of Latin American coffee farmers and how our daily brew is deeply connected to the region's troubled past and hopeful future. Following a 1000-mile journey from Mexico to Nicaragua, the film shows how equitable trading relationships are helping empower communities and take a step towards social justice. On every step of the film's journey we see the indomitable spirit of people who are determined to live joyfully...
6) Victorious
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Visionary, award-winning filmmaker Robert Mac depicts the powerful, raw, and often surprising world of the D.C. Divas, one of America's toughest full-contact, tackle football teams who just happen to be female.
Victorious follows an eclectic group of full-contact female football players for one season as they fight: fight to balance their lives as mothers, daughters, wives, partners, and employees; fight to raise funds for training and equipment...
7) Mitt
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Director Greg Whiteley is granted unprecedented access to Mitt Romney and his family as he runs for President.
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An expectant mother determined to give her unborn child a life she never knew. A devoted son torn between seeking freedom and living far from the home and mother he loves. A daughter struggling to comprehend the cost of losing her family in order to begin one of her own in a new land. This is the story of AFTER THE AMERICAN DREAM.
10) Circle of Poison
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A global look at communities impacted by the export of toxic pesticides made in America and how they are fighting back.
11) Life After Life
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Life After Life follows the stories of Harrison, Noel, and Chris as they return home from San Quentin State Prison. After spending most of their lives incarcerated, they are forced to reconcile their perception of themselves with a reality they are unprepared for.
Each struggles to overcome personal demons and reconstruct their fractured lives. Grappling with day-to-day challenges and striving for success, they work to reconnect with family and...
12) Pennhurst
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Pennhurst is a story of segregation, abandonment, and the meaning of home as told by the people that lived in, worked at, and crusaded for one of the largest and oldest Intellectual and Developmental Disability Institutions in the United States.
13) I'm With Phil
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When a New Yorker named Phil Campbell discovers a rural town in Alabama that shares his name, he invites Phil Campbell's from all over the world to join him there. The town starts preparing for the hoedown and the arrival of the Phil Campbell's, but then a tornado strikes the town; an unimaginably horrible tornado, killing 27 people. And in a town of barely 1,000, everybody knew the victims. Nobody in the area has ever seen anything like it. Hailing...
14) Art Bastard
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What is art and how does it relate to society? Is its value determined by its popularity or originality? Is the goal profit or expressing one's personal vision? These are some of the questions raised as we follow fiercely independent New York artist Robert Cenedella in his artistic journey through decades of struggling for creative expression. A student, protégé and friend of German artist George Grosz, Cenedella is now passing on the legacy of...
15) Tattoo Nation
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For years people saw tattoos as a sign of rebellion. A middle finger salute to the rest of the world. Outlaw bikers got tattoos. Sailors on leave in Singapore got tattoos. Lifers in the joint got tattoos. But now in the United States one out of every three adults under forty has a tattoo! So what happened? How did tattoo go from something that was put on you to an expression that comes from within you? Tattoo Nation tells the story of a few people...
16) Natural Life
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Natural Life is a feature length experimental documentary challenging inequities in the U.S. juvenile justice system by depicting, through documentation and reenactment, the stories of five individuals who were sentenced to Life Without Parole (Natural Life) for crimes they committed as youth. The youthful status and/or lesser culpability of these youths, their background and their potential for rehabilitation, were not taken into account at any point...
17) Jesus Town, USA
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For 88 years, a small Oklahoma town has pantomimed a passion play on a bizarre reproduction of Jerusalem built into the Wichita foothills. Jesus Town USA is a light-hearted and comedic documentary chronicling the journey of a 100-strong amateur cast, a dozen horses, and very devout community. Once boasting audiences of over 200,000. the Pageant now struggles to find any audience at all. When the man playing Jesus for 8 years retires, his replacement,...
18) We Are the Ones
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When tribal feuds ignite a firestorm of violence, three surgeons unite for peace. Francis grew up with little schooling during the Sudanese Civil War. Ajak is a Lost Boy who has returned to the tribe he fled as a child. Both men are protégés of Glenn, a grizzled, but brilliant American surgeon. We Are the Ones follows these healers as they fight to prevent illness and mend wounds in the world's newest country. After long-running tribal divides erupt...
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Intimate, personalized portrait of women of the 1960's through the eyes of one colorful class that graduated in 1969 - same year as Hillary Clinton - and recently turned 65, starting to explore the New Old Age. At a time when these Boomers' parents were asking less of themselves, many of these distinguished citizens are asking more, feeling a Third Wind. Where will it take them? Some are determined to keep making waves. The trigger for these revelations/reminiscences...
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Holy Man: The USA vs. Douglas White is the story of Douglas White, an 89 year old Lakota Sioux medicine man from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, who spent 17 years in federal prison for a crime he did not commit. During the making of this film, filmmakers uncovered new evidence of White's actual innocence" and brought the case back to federal court. Holy Man offers a rare glimpse into the mysterious world of Lakota religion, their intimate...