Michael Franti - The San Francisco Foundation Community Leadership Awards

Michael Franti, winner of the San Francisco Foundation 2009 Community Leadership Awards (the Helen Crocker Russell Award) - artist, activist, founder of Spearhead, for embodying a social movement of justice and activism and being a voice for the vulnerable. By founding the music groups Spearhead and the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, as well as the Power to the Peaceful festival, Michael built an underground movement to spread a message of social justice and advocated for underrepresented people. His recent film, I Know I'm Not Alone, highlights the human cost of war and empowers people to utilize their vote and recognize their collective power to impact American foreign policy.

Mylène Farmer, la star secrète

India's Wandering Lions

Once facing extinction, Asia's last wild lions live dangerously close to India's villages.

Mai

As the months pass through her, Mai gives us a glimpse into old age that explores between being abandoned and being belonged, passing the time and living the time.

The Unreserved

The Unreserved is an inquiry into the lives of passengers who use the Unreserved Compartment, the cheapest way to travel across India on the Indian Railways system. The film portrays the passengers’ aspirations, efforts and opinions through conversations and personal stories.

Peace Pilgrim

A silver haired woman, Mildred Norman, calling herself "Peace Pilgrim," walked more than 25,000 miles, from 1953 to 1981, on a personal pilgrimage for peace. She vowed to "remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace, walking until given shelter and fasting until given food." In the course of her 28-year pilgrimage she touched the hearts, minds, and lives of thousands of individuals all across North America. Her message was both simple and profound: "This is the way of peace: Overcome evil with good, and falsehood with truth, and hatred with love." This hour-long documentary presents an overview of Peace Pilgrim's life and work.

The River of Life and Death

The River of Life and Death captures the slow time in the well-known Indian pilgrimage place of Benares, the act of purification by water, the burning funeral pyres, and the dandling snakeheads under the temple stairs.

Last Days Here

Documentary follows Bobby Liebling, lead singer of seminal hard rock/heavy metal band Pentagram, as he battles decades of hard drug addiction and personal demons to try and get his life back.

Uttarakhand, aux sources du Gange

Min morfar hade en rymdhund

The eccentric Per Emil Brusewitz influenced both world history and his entire family with his dramatic motorcycle journeys through Revolutionary Russia. When artist Leo Brusewitz follows in the footsteps of his adventurous grandfather, it becomes an animated exploration, lined with spy-stories, comics and contact with spirit worlds, mixed with images from the young Soviet state and thoughts of justice and society.

Monkey Warriors

Hindu legend tells of white warrior monkeys fighting to rescue the god Hanuman from evil demons. Centuries later in Jodhpur, India, the Hanuman langurs are fighting still. Comprised of 20 or more females and their young, and governed by a ‘Warlord, ‘ 29 langur ‘gangs’ have carved up the city between them. Warlords reign for three or four years before they’re overthrown. When a new Warlord comes to power he will purge the gang of young males, creating a society of ‘Lost Boys’ whose only chance is to violently displace another Warlord. Natural selection is harsh indeed, but what better way to build a culture of warriors?

Black Trans Masculine Experience

"Last year in the summer, I was speaking to Kings-Lee Rose in my living room in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, about my transition. The drastic shift in social perception is quite destabilizing and ultimately isolating, because there aren't many people I can turn to who might have some understanding of what this shift could feel like. I'm 41, so the shift is drastic. Everything has changed, but everything is the same all at once. Kings-Lee then shared candidly his truth in his transition, and with his permission, I recorded the conversation. I took the recording and felt inspired to compose music around it. Over the course of a month, I used my iPhone to shoot slow-motion footage of my life on tour, as well as intimate moments with loved ones in my Queer and Trans community in Brooklyn..." - TYGAPAW

From Source to Sea

Flirting with Fascism

Exploring police brutality in the world's second happiest country.

Gregory Peck, le gentleman acteur

A legend of the Hollywood Golden Age, Gregory Peck (1916-2003) had an exemplary career, working under some of the greatest directors: Alfred Hitchcock, Elia Kazan, Raoul Walsh, Vincente Minnelli... Portrait of an actor with irresistible charm and strong political commitments.

The World of Nat King Cole

Combining rare original archive footage, home movies and authored by 40 intimate interviews with friends and celebrity fans this feature length film charts Nat "King" Cole's battle with racist 50’s America to become a superstar. An intimate portrait, it’s filled with music and accompanied the release of the album of the same name.

Elementary Genocide

Elementary Genocide is a documentary executive produced by award winning journalist/filmmaker Rahiem Shabazz. The documentary appeals to a wide general viewership by addressing the social, cultural, political and personal ramifications of how the federal government allots money to each state, to build prions based on the failure rate of 4th and 5th graders. In America, where half of the 4th grade is reading below grade level and more African-American males are in jail than are in college, Elementary Genocide serves as a striking reminder of a flawed system in need of repair.

Passionate Politics: The Life and Work of Charlotte Bunch

Passionate Politics is a one-hour documentary that profiles activist Charlotte Bunch, from idealistic young civil rights organizer to lesbian activist to internationally recognized leader of a campaign that put women’s right on the global human rights agenda.

Sueños colectivos

Elementary Genocide 3

World renowned journalist, and award-winning filmmaker Rahiem Shabazz presents the third installment of his docu-series Elementary Genocide: Academic Holocaust. The first two documentaries in the series; The School To Prison Pipeline and Elementary Genocide 2: The Board Of Education vs. The Board of Incarceration received critical acclaim and launched Shabazz as a political pundit and academic ambassador for the African American community. Elementary Genocide: Academic Holocaust adds more statistical proof of the scholastic inequalities faced by Original people around the country. The documentary revisits the importance of education and its impact on self-image, family structure, financial freedom, and the collective future of African/indigenous people in America and abroad.

Sidney

This revealing documentary honors the legendary Sidney Poitier—iconic actor, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. Featuring interviews with Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Halle Berry, and more.

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

Christopher Reeve portrayed the Man of Steel in four Superman films and played dozens of other roles that displayed his talent and range as an actor, before being injured in a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. After becoming a quadriplegic, he became a charismatic leader and activist in the quest to find a cure for spinal cord injuries, as well as a passionate advocate for disability rights and care.

Audrey

An unprecedented and intimate look at the life, work and enduring legacy of British actress Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993).

Come See Me in the Good Light

In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.

Love, Antosha

From a prolific career in film and television, Anton Yelchin left an indelible legacy as an actor. Through his journals and other writings, his photography, the original music he wrote, and interviews with his family, friends, and colleagues, this film looks not just at Anton's impressive career, but at a broader portrait of the man.

For Sama

A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.

Cameraperson

As a visually radical memoir, CAMERAPERSON draws on the remarkable footage that filmmaker Kirsten Johnson has shot and reframes it in ways that illuminate moments and situations that have personally affected her. What emerges is an elegant meditation on the relationship between truth and the camera frame, as Johnson transforms scenes that have been presented on Festival screens as one kind of truth into another kind of story—one about personal journey, craft, and direct human connection.

John Candy: I Like Me

Those who knew iconic funnyman John Candy best share his story, in their own words, through never-before-seen archival footage, imagery, and interviews.

Val

For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood's most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors, has been documenting his own life and craft through film and video. He has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from 16mm home movies made with his brothers, to time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster movies like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, and Batman Forever. This raw, wildly original and unflinching documentary reveals a life lived to extremes and a heart-filled, sometimes hilarious look at what it means to be an artist and a complex man.

I Am Not Your Negro

Working from the text of James Baldwin’s unfinished final novel, director Raoul Peck creates a meditation on what it means to be Black in the United States.

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

The life of internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin is told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis.

Fuck

A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.

I Know That Voice

Filmmaker Lawrence Shapiro discusses voice-over acting with the talented people behind the characters.

Salinger

An in-depth investigation into the private world of the American writer J. D. Salinger (1919-2010), who lived most of his life behind the impenetrable wall of a self-imposed seclusion: how his dramatic experiences during World War II influenced his life and work, his relationships with very young women, his obsessive writing methods, his many literary secrets.

S4: The Bob Lazar Story

Over 35 years after Bob Lazar's revelations, this documentary exposes secrets of a facility the government still denies. Featuring Lazar's testimony, recreations, and new evidence, it reopens a case that continues to spark global curiosity

DMT: The Spirit Molecule

THE SPIRIT MOLECULE weaves an account of Dr. Rick Strassman's groundbreaking DMT research through a multifaceted approach to this intriguing hallucinogen found in the human brain and hundreds of plants, including the sacred Amazonian brew, ayahuasca. Utilizing interviews with a variety of experts to explain their thoughts and experiences with DMT, and ayahuasca, within their respective fields, and discussions with Strassman’s research volunteers, brings to life the awesome effects of this compound, and introduces us to far-reaching theories regarding its role in human consciousness.

TINA

Tina Turner overcame impossible odds to become one of the first female Black artists to reach a mainstream international audience. Her road to superstardom is an undeniable story of triumph over adversity. It’s the ultimate story of survival – and an inspirational story of our times.

13th

An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.

I Am Ali

Unprecedented access to Muhammad Ali's personal archive of "audio journals" as well as interviews and testimonials from his inner circle of family and friends are used to tell the legend's life story.

I Am: Celine Dion

A raw and honest behind-the-scenes look at the iconic superstar's struggle with a life-altering illness. Serving as a love letter to her fans, this inspirational documentary highlights the music that has guided her life while also showcasing the resilience of the human spirit.