America ReFramed

In 1968, Shirley Chisholm becomes the first black woman elected to Congress. In 1972, she becomes the first black woman to run for president. Shunned by the political establishment, she's supported by a motley crew of blacks, feminists, and young voters. Their campaign-trail adventures are frenzied, fierce and fundamentally right on.

Illustrating the adage that politics is a contact sport, Street Fight gives viewers a ringside seat. This up-close chronicle of the 2002 race for mayor in Newark, New Jersey is riveting with its dramatic account of youthful energy and ideals running headlong into old-guard machine politics and racial charged demagoguery. These opposing forces are, of course, nothing new in American elections. But, in Newark in 2002, a black mayor was using these tactics against a black challenger and fellow Democrat, caused deep rifts among African American leaders across the country.

When nine-year-old Carla suffers a life-threatening accident, her mother, Carmen, must leave her behind and make the dangerous and illegal journey from Bolivia to the U.S., where she hopes to earn enough to save her daughter's life. Working in New York to support Carla's medical needs, Carmen struggles in vain to legalize her immigration status, and wrestles with the prospect of never seeing her daughter again. Then, after six years of separation, Congress proposes "amnesty" legislation that could allow Carmen and Carla to be reunited at last - Filmed across three countries in a captivating cinematic narrative, LA AMERICANA is Carmen's story, and the story of millions of illegal immigrants who must leave their families behind to pursue the elusive American dream.

Madison Park Vocational High School, Boston, Massachusetts. This documentary film chronicles the stories surrounding the players of an inner-city high school basketball team over the course of a potentially historic season. It is as much about the challenges facing inner-city youth and the public school system, as it is about a school's passion for basketball and a coach's devotion to his players. The Madison Park Cardinals are a dysfunctional, but talented high school hoops team, sprung up from the Boston streets and playgrounds. For the players on the team, basketball is oftentimes their escape, their crutch, and their way forward. In the center of this kettle of hope and chaos is Coach Dennis Wilson, a unique hero for our times. A former semi-professional player, philosophizing history teacher and disciplinarian, Coach Wilson chants, harasses and cajoles his charges onto the court and in his classroom as a way to instill lessons that go beyond winning and losing. In the midst of a 19-0 season, on the eve of the state tournament, life for the MP Cardinals, players, coaches, family, and friends, proves to be anything but ordinary. As players struggle to stay in school and on the team, a slew of obstacles oppose them, from poverty to academics, from neighborhood rivalries to city-wide tragedies, they put to trial the team's season motto: "The only team that can beat Madison, is Madison." Before the end of the last whistle and as the team heads into the its' final regular season games and tournament showdowns, MP Pride will be sorely tested.

Passionate Politics is a new one-hour documentary that brings Charlotte's story to life, from idealistic young civil rights activist to lesbian separatist to internationally-recognized leader of a campaign to put women's rights, front and center, on the global human rights agenda. Every step of the way, this is also the story of modern feminist activism, from its' roots in the 1960's struggles for social justice to its' outward-branching connections with campaigns against gender-based violence in other nations, from the 1980's through the present day. A Joyce Warshow Film.

"TRUST is one of those brilliant pieces which remind us what documentary does best: captures small, specific stories which illuminate much broader issues and themes." ~ Huffington Post TRUST begins when Marlin, an 18-year-old Hondureña, shares a hidden history about her childhood with a neighborhood youth theater company. Marlin's story is about resilience: she endured rape as young girl, survived a harsh and difficult journey from Honduras to the U.S., suffered further abuse at the hands of her own brother, and overcame substance addiction. The film captures the amazing response from her fellow actors and the unexpected journey her story takes them on together: they transform Marlin's story into a daring, original play and Marlin re-claims power over the narrative of her life story. TRUST is about creativity and the unexpected resources inside youth who may be discounted because of their youth, race or ethnicity or because they come from under-resourced neighborhoods without access to arts programs.

The Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center: for more than 120 years, Mohawk ironworkers have raised America's modern cityscapes. They are called 'sky walkers' because they walk fearlessly atop steel beams just a foot wide, high above the city. Who are these Mohawk sky walkers? What is their secret for overcoming fear? Has 'sky walking' replaced an ancient rite of passage? Or is it the pure need to adapt in order to survive? And what is their life really like, when every Friday at quitting time, they jump in their cars and make the eight-hour drive up north to their families on the reservation? SKYDANCER is a feature length documentary that takes a provocative look at Indian life in the 21st Century: from the fragile hierarchy on top of the breath-taking steel structures in New York City to life 'on the Rez' where problems like unemployment and crime make it hard to see the pristine beauty of the surrounding lands. The film allows exceptional access to the lives of these ironworkers and in the process offers an intriguingly different perspective on contemporary Native Americans.

MY LOUISIANA LOVE traces a young woman's quest to find a place in her Native American community as it reels from decades of environmental degradation. Monique Verdin returns to Southeast Louisiana to reunite with her Houma Indian family. But soon she sees that her people's traditional way of life is threatened by a cycle of man-made environmental crises. Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil leak are just the latest rounds in this century-old cycle that is forcing Monique's clan to adapt in new ways. Monique must overcome the loss of her house, her father, and her partner - and redefine the meaning of home.

Meat Hooked is part history of butchering but mostly an entertaining look at the current phenomenon of environmentally conscience twenty and thirty-somethings bringing butchering back as a kind of new green color job.

ABUSED: THE POSTVILLE RAID presents the devastating effects of US Enforcement Immigration Policies on communities, families and children. The film tells the gripping personal stories of the individuals, the families and the town (Postville, Iowa) that survived the most brutal, most expensive and largest immigration raid in the history of the United States and serves as a cautionary tale of government abuses. ( CH THIS DESCRIPTION NEEDS TO BE SOFTENED) Description entered in Protrack - ABUSED: THE POSTVILLE RAID looks at the effects of US Enforcement Immigration Policies on communities, families and children. The film tells the gripping personal stories from Postville, Iowa, the site of the most expensive and largest immigration raid in the history of the United States.

The intimate bond between two identical twin brothers is challenged when one decides to transition from male to female; this is the story of their evolving relationship, and the resurrection of their family from a darker past.

90 Miles depicts the heartfelt story of a young Cuban boy and his family's journey into exile. Migrating to Miami in 1980 during the Mariel boatlift, Juan Carlos Zaldívar and his family explore the struggles of exile, and the ambitions and disappointments of starting a new life in America. After his father's dreams were destroyed by the Cuban Revolution, and later defeated by the 'American Dream', Zaldívar struggles to understand his own father. Crossing borders, this film explores crossed family loyalties and cross-cultural turmoil. Despite his struggles, Zaldívar presents his successes of moving to New York to become a filmmaker, and his courage to come out as a gay man. A Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) Co-presentation. A Diverse Voices Project Selection.

In "ALL ME: The Life and Times of Winfred Rembert," we see firsthand the depiction of the day-to-day existence of African Americans in the segregated South. The artist relives his turbulent life, abundantly visualized by his extensive paintings and, in a series of intimate reminiscences, shows us how even the most painful memories can be transformed into something meaningful and beautiful. A glowing portrait of how an artist-and his art-is made, "ALL ME" is also a triumphant saga of race in contemporary America.

A young Latino man, William Caballero, juggles unconditional family love with the challenges of breaking the cycle that has kept so many relatives from reaching their dreams. Set against a backdrop of Coney Island and Fayetteville, North Carolina, an NYU graduate student turns the camera on his Puerto Rican-American family plagued by social, medical and public health issues. U.S. health care and culture is examined through this young man's lens, which also explores both his and family's dreams. Many immigrants in the U.S. aspire to achieve the American dream and this Latino family comprised of immigrants to second-generation Americans is no different. As subjective as the barometer of reaching this goal is, the film begs the ultimate question: who attains their American dream?

Susan Retik and Patti Quigley are two ordinary soccer moms living in the affluent suburbs of Boston until tragedy strikes. Rather than turning inwards, grief compels these women to make the courageous journey from their comfortable neighborhoods to the most desperate villages in Afghanistan, where the terrorists who took their husbands' lives were trained. From the ruins of the World Trade Center to those of Kabul and back, theirs is a journey of personal strength and international reconciliation, and a testament to the vision that peace can be forged - one woman at a time.

Portraying the lives of various gay Orthodox Jews who struggle to reconcile their faith and their sexual orientation, this film follows several gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews and includes interviews with rabbis and psychotherapists about Orthodox attitudes towards homosexuality.

After pulling himself out of a drug dealing street life, Puerto Rican-American rapper Hamza Pérez became a Muslim, and moved to Pittsburgh's tough North Side to start a new religious community, rebuild his shattered family and take his message of faith to other young people through hard-hitting hip-hop music. But when the FBI raids his mosque, Hamza must confront the realities of the post-9/11 world, and himself. Produced in association with Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) and the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM).

BROTHER OUTSIDER: THE LIFE OF BAYARD RUSTIN (2003) Long before Martin Luther King Jr. rose to national prominence, Rustin was putting his life on the line in pursuit of racial equality. His advocacy of pacifism and Gandhian nonviolence made him a pioneer in the 1940s and, a decade later, an inspiration to King. But he was also a political liability, and eventually the civil rights movement shunned him, because he was gay. Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times wrote that this film by Nancy Kates and Bennett Singer "moves through the complications of Rustin's life - a black man who stayed out of the spotlight because he knew his homosexuality would cost the movement mainstream credibility - like a lunar cycle, tracking all of the turbulence around him and the power of his own gravitational pull.

After Happily Ever After is Emmy winning filmmaker Kate Schermerhorn's quirky, funny and moving personal quest for the secret to a happy marriage and for answers to some timely questions about an institution which might just be due for some review. This engaging doc features an eclectic mix of long married couples - from a couple who dress alike every day; to a pair of nudists and a newlywed pair of mothers, to a feisty English widow. A lively and world-renowned group of marriage experts - including psychologist John Gottman (who can predict divorce with 90% accuracy), marriage historian Stephanie Coontz, and a Beverly Hills divorce attorney, ground the film in fact as they piece together the history and possible future and motivations for marriage. Along the way, Schermerhorn chronicles the joys and heartbreaks of her own marriage and finds that even the best advice can't always guarantee a happily ever after.

Several months after documentarian Doug Block's mother dies, his father announces that he plans to sell the family's Long Island, N.Y., home and move to Florida with his former secretary, Carol "Kitty" Duffy. Though Doug always believed his parents had a happy marriage, his father's sudden decision makes him wonder if their relationship was more complicated than he realized. In the weeks before his father moves, Doug interviews family and friends to learn more about his parents.

In this two part documentary, master storyteller Jennifer Fox lays bare her own turbulent life to penetrate what it means to be a free woman today. As her drama of work and relationships unfolds over four years, our protagonist travels to over seventeen countries to understand how diverse women define their lives when there is no map. Employing an ingenious new camera technique, called "passing the camera", Fox creates a documentary language that mirrors the special way women communicate. Over intimate conversations around kitchen tables from South Africa to Russia, India and Pakistan, she initiates a groundbreaking dialogue among women, illuminating universal concerns across race, class and nationality.

In this two part documentary, master storyteller Jennifer Fox lays bare her own turbulent life to penetrate what it means to be a free woman today. As her drama of work and relationships unfolds over four years, our protagonist travels to over seventeen countries to understand how diverse women define their lives when there is no map. Employing an ingenious new camera technique, called "passing the camera", Fox creates a documentary language that mirrors the special way women communicate. Over intimate conversations around kitchen tables from South Africa to Russia, India and Pakistan, she initiates a groundbreaking dialogue among women, illuminating universal concerns across race, class and nationality.

This program captures the journey of legendary master teacher Robert Cazimero and the only all-male hula school in Hawai'i as they prepare to compete at the world's largest hula festival. Beyond deep-rooted stereotypes of "grass-skirt girls," the film tells a story of Hawaiian pride as the men celebrate their 30th anniversary in continuing the revival of men dancing hula.

Mental illness is a topic rife with stereotypes and misunderstanding. Made with depth and compassion, West 47th Street is an intimate cinéma vérité portrait of four people struggling to recover from serious mental illness. They've all come to Fountain House, a renowned rehabilitation center in New York City's Hell's Kitchen. Over three years, the film follows its subjects as they deal with drug regimens, health issues, group homes and work programs with courage and humor.

In this intimate portrait, several dwarfs who appeared in Jan Krawitz and Thomas Ott's 1982 film Little People welcome the camera into their lives once again. Through a prism of "then and now," the characters in the film confront physical and emotional challenges with humor, grace, and sometimes, frustration.

FOLLOW THE LEADER is a political coming-of-age documentary about three boys who want to be President. Over three life-changing years, each rethinks his beliefs and discovers who he truly wants to be as an adult.