Performing Arts

A maverick in New York City’s downtown dance scene, choreographer Jane Comfort has been recognized for issue-oriented works integrating text and movement since the late 1970s. Through Comfort’s metamorphosis from a polite Southern transplant into a prolific performer celebrated worldwide for bold political satire and irreverent social commentary, the film invites viewers to be inspired by an artist who defies expectations.

Subtitled "A Portuguese Comedy" and deliberately evoking the popular spectacles of yore, the film is both a sensuous and slow-burn circus act and a jewel of ingenious formal ideas and sublime lyricism. Considered by many to be Monteiro's crowning achievement, the film inaugurated a series of late-period romps featuring the endearing and dastardly João de Deus, the man you love to hate.

Since its premiere at Cannes in Un Certain Regard in 1993, Moving has been one Shinji Somai’s most beloved films. In this poignant family drama, Somai transcends the tropes of stories of children dealing with divorce to bring us a film filled with indelible images about an unforgettable teenage girl who encounters the unknown and refuses to succumb to it.

A comedy of behaviors and a study in variations, Hong Sangsoo’s first film with Isabelle Huppert ranks among his breeziest and most mindbending endeavors. In Another Country inaugurated one of the most fruitful actor-director collaborations in contemporary cinema.

Bella, is about the life, influence and impact of California-based artist and activist Bella Lewitzky. Designated one of America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures by the Dance Heritage Coalition Lewitzky’s life demonstrates how a “uniquely Californian” artist with vision and tenacity can change the lives of her fellow citizens.

Filmmaker Yale Strom explores the life and work of Lou Curtiss - creator of the San Diego Folk Festival, Adams Ave. Unplugged Festival, audiophile, folklorist, author, raconteur, radio host and proprietor of Folk Arts Rare Records, a mecca for some of the most celebrated American roots musicians in America.

In her first role for Hong, Lee Hyeyoung, a prominent theater and screen actress in South Korea, makes a captivating return to the big screen. With In Front of Your Face, Hong suggests that perhaps the most important things in this life are also the most immediate.

 A refreshingly sunny performance from Isabelle Huppert (The Piano Teacher, Elle) is at the center of this comic charmer from South Korean Master Hong Sangsoo. Intricately plotted with wit and charm to spare, CLAIRE'S CAMERA explores the power of images to transform us. 

Un Film Dramatique is a lively portrait of the first class to attend the newly constructed Dora Maar middle school, filmed over the course of four years. The group of 21 middle schoolers discuss the drama of their daily lives and experiment with cameras and equipment. They are the film’s subjects, and also its makers.

Forcefully removed from their ancestral home by the Ugandan government to protect the endangered gorilla population, the indigenous Batwa people start a music club in hopes to preserve their culture through song and story.

2017 ACADEMY AWARD® Nominee for Documentary Short Subject In Joe’s Violin, a donated musical instrument forges an improbable friendship between a 91-year-old Holocaust survivor and 12-year-old Bronx school girl, showing how the power of music to bring light in the darkest of times and how a small act can have a profound impact.

A collaboration between two Chinese artists, Xu Ruotao and Huang Xiang, and acclaimed American filmmaker J.P. Sniadecki, Yumen is a documentary-fiction hybrid that tells the story of a ghost town, a once-thriving oil-rich community in China's western Gansu province, through a series of wandering characters and inventive vignettes. Produced with the support of SEL

A fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the staging of a major operatic production, Verdi's masterpiece, "La Traviata," starring world-famous French coloratura soprano Natalie Dessay and directed by the celebrated Jean-Francois Sivardier.

For hundreds of years, the acoustic guitar has been made from the same species of Spruce. Today, due to an extreme logging practice known as clear-cutting, this tree is in danger of disappearing - and with it, the acoustic guitar. In this captivating documentary, owners of the top guitar makers unite with Greenpeace and travel to the largest forest in the US to meet with Native American landowners in the hope of finding a sustainable solution.

A fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the staging of a major operatic production, Verdi's masterpiece, "La Traviata," starring world-famous French coloratura soprano Natalie Dessay and directed by the celebrated Jean-Francois Sivardier.

A wonderful exploration of the life and work of groundbreaking director, actor and artist Andre Gregory. A witty and often hilariously funny raconteur, Gregory looks back on a career that spanned decades, from his influential theatre work to the making of the Louis Malle-directed classic My Dinner with Andre, in which he starred and co-wrote.

An up-close and emotionally resonant look at a diverse group of veterans, from Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, who come together to participate in a healing retreat. The Welcome offers an intimate view of life after war: the fear, anger and isolation of post-traumatic stress that affects veterans and family members alike.