New Books & Media: New Media

A concerned citizen documents the work of Dr. Riki Ott, a citizen activist who predicted the Exxon Valdez oil spill hours before it happened and came to the aid of her Alaskan community in their battle to get fair compensation for their loss of health and income. More recently Riki, a toxicologist, author, and activist, has been organizing the Gulf coast communities as they struggle to recover from the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. Taking the lessons she learned as an activist, she is also spearheading the campaign called Ultimate Civics, a complete civics curriculum she developed that empowers students to participate in their democracy. Recognizing the power of money in politics she advocates for a constitutional amendment to end corporate personhood, and to reform campaign finance laws. She lectures nationally and internationally, inspiring students from fifth grade through universities and adults to take action and showing by example how one person can make a difference.

Under the ocean is a mystical race of beings that control the tide and the changing of the seasons. One of these beings, a restless young girl named Chun, wants to experience the human world, not simply observe it. When she turns sixteen, she is allowed to transform into a dolphin to explore the human world. However, the world is a dangerous place. Trapped in a vortex, she is nearly killed but saved at the last minute by a human boy.

An enthralling celebration of Queen, their music, and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury, who defied stereotypes and convention to become one of history's most beloved entertainers. Following Queen's meteoric rise, their revolutionary sound and Freddie's solo career, the film also chronicles the band's reunion, and one of the greatest performances in rock history

Lee Israel made her living in the 1970s and 1980s profiling the likes of Katharine Hepburn, Tallulah Bankhead, Estee Lauder and journalist Dorothy Kilgallen. Though Lee Israel has undeniable profiling skills, her work has grown stale and hackneyed, rendering her profession unnecessary and insignificant. Now in times of financial hardship, Israel must find other ways to make a living. With assistance from her steadfast friend, Jack, the two endeavor to keep Israel afloat. With a dose of trickery and deceptive eye, they do just that.
Based on the book by Lee Israel.

Life has become a balancing act for Adonis Creed. Between personal obligations and training for his next big fight, he is up against the challenge of his life. Facing an opponent with ties to his family's past only intensifies his impending battle in the ring. Rocky Balboa is there by his side through it all and, together, Rocky and Adonis will confront their shared legacy, question what's worth fighting for, and discover that nothing's more important than family.

Don't give up your voice! is at first glance about Argentina, but it is also about the USA. Argentina elected its Trump, Mauricio Macri, a year before we elected ours. The two are quite similar in the tone of their campaigns and the policies they are promoting once in office. But Argentines are resilient, and they have fought right wing governments before. Don't give up your voice! looks at the widespread and creative resistance to Macri's policies--in organized labor, at worker co-ops and street protests, in theater and music. The film offers instructive parallels with the situation in the US, while illustrating the power of collective action.

An experiment in storytelling about trauma. When the hashtag #MyFirstHarassment swept across Brazil, it showed not only the widespread experience of sexual harassment and assault, but a widespread hunger to bring it out of the shadows. Faces of harassment amplifies this movement, by opening space for women to speak their own truth. The film was shot in a mobile storytelling van, parked in rich and poor neighborhoods alike across São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and open to any woman. The van was a free, autonomous space, where women spoke to the camera directly, no interviewer or other influence present. Faces of harassment offers an honest and unflinching look at the scourge of sexual harassment and assault -- and at the radical possibilities for dignity and healing that can happen when women are free to speak completely for themselves.

Filmmaker Michael Moore examines the current state of American politics, particularly the Donald Trump presidency and gun violence, while highlighting the power of grassroots democratic movements.

As the forces of ISIS and Assad tear through villages and society in Syria and Northern Iraq, a group of brave and idealistic women are taking up arms against them-- and winning inspiring victories. Members of "The Free Women's Party" come from Paris, Turkish Kurdistan, and other parts of the world. Their dream: to create a democratic Syria, and a society based on gender equality. Guns in hand, these women are carrying on a movement with roots that run 40 years deep in the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey. With scenes of solidarity, strength, and love amongst these brave women soldiers, Girls' War is a surprising story of Middle Eastern feminism on the front lines.

The Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning drama series returns with a second season shaped by Offred's pregnancy and her ongoing fight to free her future child from the dystopian horrors of Gilead. In season two, Offred and all our characters will fight against or succumb to this dark truth.

Flashing between past and present, a fractured family confronts haunting memories of their old home and the terrifying events that drove them from it.

The epic conclusion to the adventures of Bilbo Baggins. The dragon Smaug rains his fiery wrath down upon the defenseless men, women, and children of Lake-town. Obsessed above all else with his reclaimed treasure, Thorin sacrifices friendship and honor to hoard it as Bilbo attempts to make him see reason.

Sixteen-year-old Sebastian has spent most of his life with his Nana in their geodesic dome home, a tourist attraction where she raises him on the futurist teachings of her former mentor Buckminster Fuller in hopes that one day Sebastian will carry Fuller's torch and make the world a better place. Sebastian begins sneaking around with Jared, a punk-obsessed teen with a heart transplant and an overbearing dad. They form a punk band and with his Nana's dreams, his first real friendship, and a church talent show at stake, Sebastian must decide if he wants to become the next Buckminster Fuller, the next Sid Vicious, or something else entirely.
Based upon the novel by Peter Bognanni.

In the United States, there are over 6.8 million people in prison, jail, on probation or parole. That is one in every 35 adults. Perhaps even more alarming is that women are the fastest growing segment of the incarcerated population, increasing at nearly double the rate of men since 1985. The film is a feature length documentary that explores the reasons behind these staggering numbers. The film follows a group of inmates incarcerated in a maximum- security women's prison who are part of a writing workshop co-created by a Seattle police detective and a repeat offender serving a nine-year sentence.

It Will Be Chaos unfolds between Italy and the Balkan corridor, focusing on two unforgettable refugee stories of human strength and resilience in search for a better and safer future. Aregai, an Eritrean man fleeing repression and deprivation, embarks on a risky Mediterranean crossing from Libya. The overloaded boat capsizes at night, tragically killing hundreds including members of his family, but Aregai manages to survive and is rescued by Italian fishermen. On the small Italian island of Lampedusa, Aregai faces new challenges as he becomes trapped in Italy's faltering immigration system. Later, Syrian couple Wael and Doha make the perilous Mediterranean crossing from Turkey with their four young children in a small, inflatable dingy, only to face the long trek across multiple countries to Germany, a journey that's even more physically and emotionally taxing than they imagined. Both of these dramatic tales are intercut with scenes illustrating the escalating clash between the growing number of migrants and concerned locals in small towns, who are often left to deal with the influx without help from the government. Stirring, honest and revealing, It Will Be Chaos puts a human face on the tens of thousands of refugees who risk their lives to reach the shores of Europe, only to encounter rising anti-immigrant populism and a slew of logistical issues keeping them from living in freedom and safety.

The buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is warming the oceans, and the waters off New England's coast are seeing some of the most dramatic temperature increases on the planet. This is having a major effect on lobster populations and the fishermen who rely on them. The southern New England lobster fishery has collapsed and the catch has moved north into cooler waters. Lobster war documents an escalating conflict between the United States and Canada over waters that both countries have claimed since the end of the Revolutionary War. The disputed 277 square miles of sea known as the Gray Zone--the swath of water surrounding Machias Seal Island at the entrance to the Bay of Fundy--were traditionally fished by US lobstermen. But as the Gulf of Maine has warmed lobsters have migrated north and the Gray Zone's previously modest lobster population has surged. As a result, Canadians have begun to assert their sovereignty in the area, contesting American claims to the bounty and foreshadowing potential conflicts exacerbated by climate change.

From acclaimed director David Sutherland comes this unique look at the immigration issue. The film follows the efforts of Elizabeth Perez, a decorated United States Marine veteran, to reunite her family after the deportation of her husband, an undocumented worker from Mexico. Her struggle begins to challenge her assumptions about justice and fairness in the nation for which she fought.

Cameron is sent to a gay conversion therapy center after getting caught with another girl in the back seat of a car. Run by the strict and severe Dr. Lydia Marsh and her brother, Reverend Rick, the center is built upon repenting for same sex attraction. In the face of intolerance and denial, Cameron meets a group of fellow sinners, including the amputee stoner Jane and her friend, the Lakota Two-Spirit Adam. Together, this group of teenagers forms an unlikely family as they fight to survive.

The movie is based on the 1951 novel by Daphne Du Maurier and tells the story of a young Englishman who plots revenge against his mysterious, beautiful cousin, believing that she murdered his guardian.
Based on the novel by Daphne Du Maurier.

A team of detectives work in the future, in a time where people are prosecuted based on brain analysis which can predict whether or not certain people will commit crimes.

A cinematic essay set against a contemplative backdrop of 16mm urban California landscapes. The Royal Road offers up intimate reflections on nostalgia, the pursuit of unavailable women, butch identity and Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo alongside a primer on Junipero Serra's Spanish colonization of California and the Mexican American War. Featuring a voiceover cameo by Tony Kushner.

Shadow girl is the extraordinary story of a filmmaker struggling with the prospect of losing her vision. While editing her last film in Toronto, Chilean-born filmmaker María Teresa Larraín suddenly begins to go blind. After she's denied disability benefits by the Canadian government, she returns home to Chile. There, inspired by the resilience and wisdom of the blind street vendor she meets, María Teresa confronts her fears and steps courageously into her new life while reclaiming her dignity and her voice as an artist. This powerful and poetic film raises complex questions about art and "vision", able and dis-abled, and poverty and privilege.

An artful and intimate meditation on the life and works of the acclaimed novelist. From her childhood in the steel town of Lorain, Ohio to '70s-era book tours with Muhammad Ali, from the front lines with Angela Davis to her own riverfront writing room, Toni Morrison leads an assembly of her peers, critics, and colleagues on an exploration of race, America, history and the human condition as seen through the prism of her own literature.

Seven years. Six million displaced people. The biggest humanitarian emergency of our time. The Syrian refugee crisis remains at the forefront of the global consciousness: as statistics, as photographs, as a bargaining chip in international politics. But inside the camps real people settle in to a life in limbo. Watan (Homeland) explores two of the biggest refugee camps in Jordan - Zaatari and Azraq - along with neighbouring city Jerash, to paint intimate portraits of the men, women and children who have found themselves there. Through observation of daily life, Watan builds a simple yet powerful series of interwoven stories that go beyond the statistics to find the human heart of the refugee crisis

Every day, 5 million children in the U.S. either witness or are victims of domestic violence. One in four women will be a victim of domestic violence at some point. In the current system, a judge is more likely to award child custody to the violent father if the mother tries to escape the abusive relationship. In fact, fathers win up to 70 percent of contested cases even when they've been found guilty of domestic or sexual violence against the mother or the children. Most people are unaware of the shocking imbalance of power and how hard mothers have to fight to protect their children. In this film, mothers, lawyers, and domestic violence experts share personal stories, facts and frank discussions about what is wrong with the system and how to fix it. Features 86-year-old Charlotta Harrison, who stayed 60 years in an abusive marriage to protect her son. She speaks of the pressures and fears that made it so difficult to leave. Presents other women and children who have been separated, silenced, and pushed to extreme solutions in order to escape, and what they're doing to fight back.