2013 Movies : Documentary

With Tim Phillips

A shocking undercover investigation leads to a ban on animal circuses in Bolivia. But the circuses defy the law. The team behind the investigation returns, tracks down the illegal circuses and saves every animal. The confrontations, heartache and incredible risks the rescue team face are all captured before a joyous finale sees 25 lions airlifted to freedom in Colorado.

With Jaclyn Paris • Andrew J. Muscato • Ralph Branca • David Ritz • Bobby Valentine

A documentary that recounts the life of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca, who lost the 1951 National League pennant to the New York Giants by giving up the game-winning home run.

With Jason Osder

On May 13, 1985, a longtime feud between the city of Philadelphia and controversial radical urban group MOVE came to a deadly climax. By order of local authorities, police dropped military-grade explosives onto a MOVE-occupied rowhouse. TV cameras captured the conflagration that quickly escalated—and resulted in the tragic deaths of eleven people (including five children) and the destruction of 61 homes. It was only later discovered that authorities decided to “...let the fire burn.” Using only archival news coverage and interviews, first-time filmmaker Jason Osder has brought to life one of the most tumultuous and largely forgotten clashes between government and citizens in modern American history.

With Martha Shane • Lana Wilson

After Tiller explores the highly controversial subject of third-trimester abortions in the wake of the 2009 assassination of practitioner Dr. George Tiller. The procedure is now performed by only four doctors in the United States, all former colleagues of Dr. Tiller, who risk their lives every day in the name of their unwavering commitment toward their patients.

With Suzanne Mitchell

Running Wild: The Life of Dayton O. Hyde examines the inspirational life of Dayton O. Hyde as a modern-day renaissance man and one of the last old-style cowboys. Through heroic determination, he is preserving part of the American West with a breathtaking 12,000-acre prairieland Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary in South Dakota that he has maintained for the last 25 years and where more than 500 mustangs now run free—all rescued from the controversial wild horse roundups in the west.

With Nick Ryan

Documents a calamitous expedition up K2, the second-highest peak in the world. The project explores what happened to a group of 24 climbers -- 11 of whom were killed or vanished during a trek to the summit.

With Jenni Gold

This star studded documentary takes us on a thought provoking and humorous journey to explore the evolution of disability portrayals in film and television. From the early days of silent films to present day, from Chaplin to X-Men, disability portrayals are ever changing. This dynamic documentary takes a detailed look at the evolution of "disability" in entertainment.

With Doug Hamilton

The documentary feature chronicling the creation of the legit musical version of Green Day album “American Idiot”.

With Casey Tebo

The film captures Aerosmith at seven different venues during their 2011 tour across Japan. The footage that makes up the film was originally only intended for Aerosmith’s personal archives, but the band and its management found it so captivating that they wanted to make it available to their fans.

With Doug Hamilton

The documentary feature chronicling the creation of the legit musical version of Green Day album “American Idiot”.

With Jonathan Demme

Enzo Avitabile, renowned Neapolitan saxophonist and singer/songwriter, is here filmed by Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme, a longtime admirer of Avitabile’s music. This work represents an incredible opportunity as one of the world’s great directors tells us not just about the music of a singular artist in its fusion of Neapolitan, world music (and especially Arab with performances by Naseer Shamma and Palestinian singer Amal Murkus) and jazz but also of a city, Naples, with all of its treasures and contradictions, as Enzo creates amazing new music with collaborators from all over the world, including Eliades Ochoa of Buena Vista Social Club, Naseer Shamma, Daby Touré and Trilok Gurtu. Music and a movie you will never forget!

With Joe Brewster • Michele Stephenson

American Promise spans 13 years as Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, middle-class African-American parents in Brooklyn, N.Y., turn their cameras on their son, Idris, and his best friend, Seun, who make their way through one of the most prestigious private schools in the country. Chronicling the boys' divergent paths from kindergarten through high school graduation at Manhattan's Dalton School, this provocative, intimate documentary presents complicated truths about America's struggle to come of age on issues of race, class and opportunity.

With Rob Kuhns

In 1968, a young college drop-out named George A. Romero directed Night of the Living Dead, a low budget horror film that shocked the world, became an icon of the counterculture, and spawned a zombie industry worth billions of dollars that continues to this day.

Birth of the Living Dead shows how Romero gathered an unlikely team of Pittsburghers -- policemen, iron workers, teachers, ad-men, housewives and a roller-rink owner -- to shoot a revolutionary guerrilla style film that went on to become a cinematic landmark, offering a profound insight into how our society worked in a singular time in American history.

With Jonathan Demme

Enzo Avitabile, renowned Neapolitan saxophonist and singer/songwriter, is here filmed by Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme, a longtime admirer of Avitabile’s music. This work represents an incredible opportunity as one of the world’s great directors tells us not just about the music of a singular artist in its fusion of Neapolitan, world music (and especially Arab with performances by Naseer Shamma and Palestinian singer Amal Murkus) and jazz but also of a city, Naples, with all of its treasures and contradictions, as Enzo creates amazing new music with collaborators from all over the world, including Eliades Ochoa of Buena Vista Social Club, Naseer Shamma, Daby Touré and Trilok Gurtu. Music and a movie you will never forget!

With Matthew Leutwyler • Miranda Bailey • Joseph Levy

Follows three extraordinary restaurants and the incredible people who make them what they are. These stirring stories range from Alinea, recipient of three Michelin stars and the seventh-best restaurant in the world, whose chef must battle life-threatening cancer, to a 150 year-old family restaurant in Iowa with an unbreakable bond with its community, to a fledgling Mexican restaurant whose immigrant owners risk everything to provide a better life for their young daughter.

With Al Pacino • Jessica Chastain • Kevin Anderson

The unconventional feature documentary invites audiences into Al Pacino’s private world, as he explores the complexities of Oscar Wilde’s acclaimed play Salome, Wilde himself and the birth of a rising star, in actress Jessica Chastain.