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Jack and the Jukebox

Standing before the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, "St. Elmo's Fire" screenwriter Carl Kurlander recounts how his Grandpa Jack, in the middle of the Great Depression, bet everything on a coin-operated phonograph — realizing that while no one had money for records, everyone had a nickel to play their favorite song. Jack helped kickstart the careers of stars like Frank Sinatra and Harry Belafonte and, along with his fellow Cleveland coin men, promoted the music of Black artists that radio stations refused to play — music that first became known there as "rock and roll." But as the jukebox became a symbol of America's twin evils — juvenile delinquency and organized crime — a young Robert F. Kennedy, working for the Senate hearings on organized crime, targeted Jack and his associates as a front for the mob. Today, as AI algorithms pick songs for young people to listen to, "Jack and the Jukebox" reminds us of the community this forgotten marvel of art and technology — the "Spotify of its day" — once built, and how it changed the way Americans listened to music and the music we listened to.

Gondola

GONDOLA focuses on the story of the hotly contested Dodgers gondola, a high powered private/public proposal to whisk passengers, in aerial cars, from Union Station, 1.2 miles to the stadium — and r

Haunted by Helen Liu Fong

Investigating the disappearance of visionary designer Helen Liu Fong from American design history, architect Mina Chow is haunted by her own fears of being forgotten.

FOUND

Found follows the filmmaker’s personal search for the truth behind the story of his abandonment as an infant in rural southern Greece in1963 — found in a basket left hanging from the branch of an o

Syria Justice

After more than a decade of brutal mass-killing, torture, siege, detention, and enforced disappearances, Syrian witnesses, investigators, and lawyers are leading the effort to end the Al-Assad regime’s impunity.

Immortal

Following the groundbreaking creation of an immortal heart cell in his lab, a world renowned stem cell researcher is accused of a murder-suicide.

My House of Spirits

Feminist trailblazer and literary icon Isabel Allende sets out on her last global book tour, reckoning with love, loss, and legacy as she turns her extraordinary life into her greatest story yet.

TRACES

TRACES begins when a beloved lion pride is found poisoned in northern Botswana.

Invisible Legend

Bruce Langhorne was a child prodigy studying violin at Juilliard when an accident with a homemade rocket claimed three of his fingers.

True False Hot Cold

Over the course of one hot summer, through intimate time spent with the locals of Emery County, Utah, a story is woven about life in this sparse region, where the residents have less belief in clim

Living on Methadone

Living on Methadone is a feature hybrid documentary that follows people navigating one of the most effective yet most stigmatized treatments for opioid addiction.

Psychedelics and Mental Health

PSYCHEDELICS AND MENTAL HEALTH is a very cinematic and visually stimulating documentary that creates an awareness of the proven and safe benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapies when properly adm

After Seventh Grade: Clinton, 1996

After Seventh Grade: Clinton, 1996 is a feature documentary about memory, education, and the long shadow of childhood in a small American town.

Keeping The Faith With Morrie

Morrie Turner, the pioneering African American cartoonist whose newspaper comic strip and television show reached millions of Americans with a powerful message of tolerance from the Civil Rights er

Relief

RELIEF follows aid workers from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the largest provider of aid in Gaza, as they struggle to bring life-saving assistance to Palestinians.

Little Amens

Throughout the span of twenty five years, from 1970 to 1995 and beyond, the cultural environment in the rural town of Ada, Oklahoma (population 17,000) produced an extraordinary number of nationall

Camp Secrets: The Founding of Camp Heartland

In the summer of 1993, a twenty-two-year-old college student named Neil Willenson opened the first summer camp in America for children living with or affected by HIV/AIDS.

Edge of Belonging

EDGES OF BELONGING, The Stories We Carry Forward

Painted Down: The Ernie Robinson Story

The granddaughter of Ernie Robinson takes us through her journey, learning about her grandfather’s legacy.

Our Land, Our Freedom

Set in Kenya, a powerful woman, Wanjugu Kimathi’s search for her father's remains becomes an investigation into British colonial atrocities, including concentration camps and land theft that left h

Certified Fresh: The Untold Story of Rotten Tomatoes

Certified Fresh is a feature documentary about the wild rise of movie reviews, from buried blurbs in the back of newspapers to a single score that can make or break a film. At the center?

And She Could Be Next

In a polarized America, where the dual forces of white supremacy and patriarchy threaten to further erode our democracy, a game-changing transformation is happening at the grassroots.

Unbroken Smile

Unbroken Smile is a powerful five-year case study following a young woman's relentless fight for justice after police officers shattered her teeth and attempted to frame her.

Janz in the Moment

At the age of 80 artist Robert Janz is at the height of his abilities.

Baptizing Feminism

As evangelical patriarchy rises in the United States, Baptizing Feminism brings to the forefront a bold evangelical and Christian feminist movement rising again from silenced, faithful women, and f

Incarnations of I

INCARNATIONS OF I is the story of a Bengali American woman, who after decades of devotion a Hindu warrior goddess, gives voice to unspoken trauma through the traditional art of clay idol-making—dis

Flowering Dusk

Driven from Ireland when the revolution she'd given thirty years to turned grey and administrative, Ella Young arrived in California speaking the language of mountain spirits, sea-voices, and the o

Whose Land? O'odham Land!

Whose Land? O'odham Land!

The Adoptees

Vietnamese adoptee Mike Frailey searches for the truth behind the life and death of his childhood best friend 50 years after they were evacuated from their home country together as part of Operatio

Come Dance With Me

COME DANCE WITH ME is a feature documentary film about the life of JACQUES D’AMBOISE, legendary ballet dancer and founder of National Dance Institute, and how he impacted millions of children’s liv

Magic Town

For nearly 90 summers a tiny village in rural Michigan, dubbed “The Magic Capital of the World,” has attracted thousands of magicians for an annual magic convention.

Into the Storm

In 1995, Sandy Salas lost both of her parents in a murder-suicide after years of domestic violence. But the story she carried with her was never that simple.

Halloween Parade

HALLOWEEN PARADE captures the spirit of a beloved, iconic institution – New York at its most subversive, outrageous, and creative.

Lyuba's Hope

Lyuba’s Hope follows lawyer-activist-political candidate Lyubov Sobol, formerly the head of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation.

The Way Everything Was

This film will revisit a powerfully formative event in my life: being bullied daily in a high school classroom nearly 4 decades ago.