Health

Within the human struggle to live and work on a changing planet, questions of value, extraction, and adaptation echo across seemingly disparate worlds. A Common Sequence examines shifts of life and labor through a critically-endangered salamander and plant patents in the apple industry. Weaving the stories of Dominican nuns running a conservation lab, a group of fisherman attempting to live off of a depleting lake, engineers developing AI-driven harvesting machines, and an indigenous biomedical researcher resisting the commodification of human DNA, the film becomes a meditation on the shifting border between the natural and unnatural world, and the dynamics of power at play.

In Our Body, veteran documentarian Claire Simon observes the everyday operations of the gynecological ward in a public hospital in Paris.  In the process, she questions what it means to live in a woman’s body, filming the diversity, singularity and beauty of patients in all stages of life. 

What started as a 7-week nutrition program for women seeking healthier diets, has become a Latina-led movement to enact change in their own communities. Known as Kitchenistas, these women are showing how healthy food traditions can lead to physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing as well as big change in the home, at schools, within city hall, and in the healthcare system.

Filmmaker Maxine Trump turns the camera on herself and her close circle of family and friends as she confronts the idea of not having kids, and explores the cultural pressures and harsh criticism childfree women regularly experience.

In Pursuit of Silence is a meditative exploration of our relationship with silence, sound and the impact of noise on our lives. This critically acclaimed documentary takes us on an immersive cinematic journey around theglobe.

Humorous and candid, Kartemquin Films' documentary Almost There is a fascinating portrait of eccentric "outsider" artist Peter Anton. Living in a home that has been consumed by mold and filth, the octogenarian has produced a startling collection of unseen paintings, drawings, and notebooks. The film’s remarkable journey follows this witty and gifted artist through startling twists and turns.

The Abortion Hotline allows viewers inside the lives and tireless grassroots efforts of a group of young lesbian and feminist activists who put their lives at risk to run an underground abortion hotline in Chile, one of six countries in the world where abortion is prohibited under any circumstance, even in cases of rape or risk to the life of the mother.

An intimate observation of the complete process of home birthing - a trend on the rise in many communities, including Jewish communities practicing Orthodoxy - Miriam: Home Delivery follows a charismatic, Brooklyn-based, home birth midwife who has helped mothers giving birth at home for more than two decades, as she’s on call, and provides care to mothers in various stages of their pregnancies.

A complex tale of social justice, urban forestry and community politics, City of Trees portrays the struggles of a DC non-profit to challenge the cycle of poverty and violence in blighted urban areas by implementing an ambitious "green jobs" program that hires 150 unemployed residents to plant trees in underserved parks.

2015 Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Short Subject, Joanna is a tender and heartbreaking portrait of a young wife and mother facing terminal cancer who, wishing to leave something behind for her eight-year-old son, begins writing an online journal that resonates with and becomes embraced by millions of devoted readers.

2014 Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Short Subject, Prison Terminal is an extraordinary chronicle of death and dignity behind bars, an incredibly moving story of a terminally ill prisoner's final days and the hospice volunteers (prisoners themselves) who care for him. Issues surrounding America's aging prison population and the profound impact hospice programs can have on the lives of the incarcerated are explored in this remarkable film.

Like many instances of discrimination faced by people with disabilities around the world, the troubling escalation of violence against people with Albinism in Tanzania has been fueled by societal prejudices, lack of education and deep-rooted superstition. In The Shadow of the Sun follows the efforts of two individuals who are risking their lives to combat this virulent prejudice.

A profoundly moving and compelling portrait of one of the world's most remarkable hospitals, located in the bustling heart of Mexico City, which provides affordable, life-saving and life-transforming facial reconstructive surgery for local children. A truly remarkable documentary from the producer of Two Spirits .

A heart-wrenching documentary, Restoring the Light observes the work of a dedicated ophthalmologist who operates a non-profit mobile eye clinic in one of China's poorest regions, as well as the lives of his patients. It captures the adversities and hopes of a population that has been left behind in the wake of China's dizzying economic boom.

Winner of the prestigious Best Documentary prize at the International Film Festival Amsterdam, Planet of Snail is a mesmerizing, critically-acclaimed documentary about an accomplished young poet who can no longer hear or see and his relationship to the world around him.

An extremely insightful examination of the psychiatrist-patient relationship, this innovative documentary uses role-playing techniques that allow patients to express their innermost thoughts about their psychiatrist and experience in mental institutions. People in White offers a fresh look at the mental health industry and the treatment methods used by mental health care professionals.

When FSA photographer Arthur Rothstein came to Virginia in 1935, his assignment was to photograph local residents displaced by Shenandoah National Park. But as this documentary uncovers, Rothstein would play a role in the forced institutionalization and sterilization of many of the area's residents, establishing a disturbing connection between the American eugenics movement and Depression-era documentary work.

On December 2, 1984, forty tons of poisonous gas leaked from a Union Carbide (DOW Chemical) pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, killing over 20,000 people. Today, hundreds of thousands continue to suffer from chronic diseases and disabilities. Bhopali is an invaluable examination of the world's worst environmental disaster.