2012 Movies : Documentary

With Stacy Peralta

Featuring Tony Hawk and directed by Stacy Peralta (Dogtown and Z-Boys), Bones Brigade: An Autobiography is a very personal story of a group of young, dorky, strait-laced American kids who did the impossible through a combination of work, skill, passion, and the belief that anything is possible: they succeeded in turning skateboarding from a fringe pastime to a thrilling action sport filled with extraordinary gravity-defying feats, and generated a billion dollar industry. The Bones Brigade was the team they formed that revolutionized not only their lives, but international popular culture as well.

With Michael Brown

Eleven veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan join an expedition to climb the 20,000 foot Himalayan giant Mount Lobuche. With blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer and a team of Everest summiters as their guides, they set out on an emotional and gripping climb to reach the top in an attempt to heal the emotional and physical wounds of the longest war in U.S. history.

With Amiel Courtin-Wilson

A documentary about pop music, spirituality and celebrity, Ben Lee: Catch my Disease is an acerbic, playful yet profoundly intimate portrait of a unique child pop star who stepped through the looking glass of fame.

With Max Leitman • Mike Blabc • Darryl Franklin • Bret Anthony Johnston • Jacob Rosenberg • Crystal Ackley • Ken Block • Hana Ripperger-Suhler

This documentary follows skateboarding legend and action sports pioneer Danny Way on his journey to jump China’s Great Wall, and reveals the passion, grit, determination and psyche behind one of the world’s athletes.

With Elizabeth Mims

Only the Young is the story of the children that inhabit a small desert town in Southern California – a town dominated by foreclosed homes and underpasses, unfilled swimming pools and skate parks. The three teenagers of focus must find things to do in a place that offers nothing – but in observing their day-to-day lives, we see them discover friendship, first love, heartbreak, and what it means to be young.

With Dan Hayes

Volunteers race against the clock to fly thousands of WWII veterans to Washington, DC to see the memorial constructed for them in 2005, nearly 60 years after the War. The trips are called "Honor Flights" and for the veterans, who are in their late 80s and early 90s, it's often the first time they've been thanked and the last trip of their lives.

The 24-hour journey is full of surprises that deep ly move all who are involved. It’s uncommon for World War II veterans to talk about the War, but the Honor Flight experience brings their stories out. Many veterans say, with the exception of their wedding day and the birth of their children, the trip is the best day of their life.

With Alex Gibney

Exposes the abuse of power in the Catholic Church and a cover-up that winds its way from the row houses of Milwaukee Wisconsin, through the bare ruined choirs of Ireland's churches all the way to the highest office of the Vatican.

With Ken Burns

In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem were arrested and later convicted of brutally beating and raping a white woman in New York City’s Central Park. New York Mayor Ed Koch called it the “crime of the century” and it remains to date one of the biggest media stories of our time. The five eachspent between 6 and 13 years in prison before a shocking confession from a serial rapist and DNA evidence proved their innocence. Set against a backdrop of a decaying city beset by violence and racial tension, THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE tells the story of how five lives were upended by the rush to judgment by police, a sensationalist media and a devastating miscarriage of justice.

With David Giancola

Addicted to Fame is the outrageous, couldn't-make-it-up, rare glimpse into the making of the B-movie 'Illegal Aliens', starring the late '90s icon Anna Nicole Smith. Director David Giancola embarks on the project with the intention of making a 'movie that mocks B-movies', but finds himself mired in an uncontrollable drama brought on by eccentric personalities, tragedy and the madness that is the movie business. 'Illegal Aliens' bombed at the box office but the story was the second most-reported of 2007, only after coverage of the Iraq War. With 'Addicted To Fame', Giancola grants the public the first-ever look behind-the-scenes on the set of Anna Nicole Smith's last movie, dubbed by some critics to be 'the worst movie ever made', starring the most controversial and tragic figure of the 1990s.

With Duncan Bridgeman

The film showcases the richness of Mexican music both young and old, from traditional music to pop rock and rap blended with interviews from Diego Luna, Lila Downs and many more leading personalities.

With Antonino D'Ambrosio

Chronicles how a generation of artists, thinkers, and activists channeled their creativity into an organized response and resistance to the reactionary politics that increasingly defined American culture in the 1980s.

With Peter Jackson • Ken Kamins • Damien Echols • Fran Walsh • Amy Berg

Starting with a searing examination of the police investigation into the 1993 murders of three, eight year old boys Christopher Byers, Steven Branch and Michael Moore in the small town of West Memphis, Arkansas, the film reveals the story from the inside. West of Memphis uncovers new evidence surrounding the arrest and conviction of the other three victims of this shocking crime – Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley; all three of whom were teenagers at the time of their arrests and all three of whom were imprisoned for crimes they did not commit.