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Jewish Film Festival / ‘Rabbi on the Block’ about a Jewish Soul Sister in Chicago

Directed by Brad Rothschild for Menemsha Films, Rabbi on the Block is an engaging and heartwarming documentary about Tamar Manasseh, a stereotype-busting rabbi and community activist from the south side of Chicago. As a woman who is both Black and Jewish, Rabbi Manasseh aims to make a difference by bridging two communities that have not…

32 Sounds Review: A Festival of Sound

The art of storytelling has evolved over time, especially in recent history, with home audiences once attentively glued to the sounds emanating from their radios. While music remains popular and people may still tune in to listen to their local radio station while commuting, the visual art of film and television has largely replaced that…

Apolonia, Apolonia Review – A Portrait of An Artist & Her Filmmaker

Making art is a very personal process, and it’s often hard to capture how someone else works. The best way to do so can be to simply watch them doing what they love and to inquire about what motivates them. It’s especially interesting to see if those two approaches match up, or if there are…

Last Song from Kabul : Exclusive Interview with Director Kevin MacDonald

Check out more of our video interviews on our YouTube channel. Kevin MacDonald is an accomplished director, winning an Oscar for his 1999 documentary One Day in September and acclaim from BAFTA for The Last King of Scotland and The Mauritanian. He splits his time between narrative and documentary filmmaking, including nonfiction films about Mick…

Stamped from the Beginning/ An Informative Chronicle of Racism in America

People are prone to prejudice, to latch on to beliefs they may have about a particular person or group and apply them broadly. In most cases, there is little basis to these preconceived notions, and they can be incredibly damaging. But there is a reason they exist, because stereotypes are perpetuated by those who wish…

‘Every Body’ DOC NYC Film Review – An Eye-Opening Look at Intersexuality

Much of society embraces the idea of binary definitions of what a person is. A recent push in liberal communities to recognize new gender identities, sexual orientations, and a variety of other descriptors has been met with intense pushback from traditionalists who feel that the recognition of something that hasn’t been historically acknowledged is somehow…

“Mediha” : The Story of How Terror Effects a Person / A Review of Doc NYC’s Winning Film

@Courtesy: Loveworld Media “Mediha” is about a young Yazidi girl who was a prisoner of ISIS after they attacked the Yazidi people back in 2014. The story shows her life after she and two of her brothers were freed from enslavement. The three live with their uncle as he tries to find their parents and youngest…

‘The Trials of Alan Dershowitz’ DOC NYC Film Review – A Principled and Controversial Man

Alan Dershowitz is a lawyer about whom many have complicated feelings. Throughout his career, he has defended a number of clients who were considered to be pariahs in society and few lawyers would have wanted to be associated with in any way. Three decades after being portrayed in the Oscar-winning film Reversal of Fortune by…

‘American Symphony’ DOC NYC Film Review – A Story of Love, Music, and Passion

Ecstasy and devastation sometimes overlap, when the highest point of a person’s life or career coincides with the lowest. It can be difficult to square those two contradictory things, and to be able to be fully present in the understandable joy of a moment when something truly miserable is occurring at the same time. American…

“David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived”: A Story of Courage Before and After Tragedy / DOC NYC Film Review

@Courtesy: HBO Documentaries When people watch movies with dangerous stunts or fighting, it’s supposed to make you believe that it’s real. That is what a good stuntman or fight coordinator is supposed to do, keep it safe but look unsafe. Most people, if not everyone, has seen or heard of the “Harry Potter” franchise. You…

‘36 Seconds: Portrait of a Hate Crime’ DOC NYC Film Review – A Stirring and Ever-Relevant Spotlight on The Importance of Naming Hate

In February 2015, three young Muslim-Americans were killed by a white neighbor in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The deaths of Deah Barakat, his new bride Yusor Abu-Salha, and her sister Razan Abu-Salha rattled a place known for its diversity, and it took very little time to find the perpetrator. Tarek Albaba’s film 36 Seconds: Portrait…